just another manic... friday

Ok, so that's not how the song goes, but really, Monday's are not that bad in the HR life. Well, at least in my HR life. I don't know how other people's HR lives are, but mine is... um, well... I forgot what I was talking about. But nevermind. That's what happens after a manic Friday. You see, apparently Friday is the best day to quit your job. Without notice. At 4:30, just 1/2 hour before the office closes. Never mind that there are reams of paperwork that go along with terminations ("terms" as we call them in the HR world. lol). I can hear the HR director's voice echoing in my head now, "Make sure he signs off on that." Paperwork is our way of covering our butts.

So anyway, there were 9 terms today, 3 of which showed up at or later than 4:25. I now know why there is a monstrous counter separating me and the people I serve. Its not for my protection, no. Nor is it to keep employee information private. Nor is it so that not everybody can see that I am really not "working," per se, but instead checking my facebook. Those reasons are good, but they have nothing to do with the counter. The mamoth counter is there in order to protect "problem employees." You know, the ones who, were it not for the akwardly large and poorly designed counter, would have otherwise been strangled by my scrappy (a description coined originally by Jessica. thanks, Jess) hands.

Anyway, the good news is that there was somebody who kept me out of the throws of maddness today, and that was the new (cue angel choir) summer intern. Yes, Summer Intern, kept me from leaping ontop of my desk in utter defiance of the counter, and strangling, despite all taboos about harmful physical contact between coworkers. She is fast learning the tasks of my job, and she even caught up my filing in 2 days. I reapeat, two days!!! That's enough to make me sing "Oh Happy Day." And just ask Mama W, I don't sing "Oh Happy Day" for just any occasion.

So this story has a good ending. I was out of the plant by 5:20ish. Good timing, considering the three miscreants who decided to show their faces, along with locker cleanout paperwork at my counter a mere half hour before office-locking time. (Oh, and don't take that miscreant language too harshly. I actually like two of the people who quit today pretty well--even despite the fact that I went out with one of thier husband's nephews and he turned out to be quite the... well, no FCC-approved words come to mind, but yeah, not good. And in defense of the other quitter, I didn't even know him.)

So, although I still wish it were Sunday, cuz that's my fun-day, I think I can safely say that I have survived yet another "Manic Friday." Now, don't blame me when that almost chart-topping (#2 in the US and UK in 1986), popular hit song from a group that coined their name after the popular chunky bracelets that found their way out of and recently back into style* is stuck in your heard for the next 2.34 days. I claim no responsibility.

*you too can learn useless information about annoyingly catchy tunes. information learned at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Monday