bad morales

(sorry for the lack of pics.  posts about work and the internship are hard to take pictures of)

I had a dream the other night that I had been reassigned work locations.  I was moved out to the new Beaverton store and one of my older managers from the Powell store (the one who got me into working with the clients initially) was my manager again.  She also had my desk on the sales floor, in the middle of everything.  Needless to say, this didn't make me happy.  However, I was even less happy when I came into work one day and found out that they accidentally put my desk in the truck of furniture headed to the salvage yard.  Fortunately, it was just a dream.  Unfortunately, I think it's telling of where things are at work right now.

I still love my job but it feels like it's teetering over the edge of a pit of despair.  I attribute this feeling to a certain number of factors.  First off, my co-worker and friend who was drinking on the job is no longer there.  Yes, she had self-destructive patterns that were beginning to destroy others around her too but she was also a social entity at work who kept a lot of people happy.  Second, my eastcoaster co-worker is still annoying and doesn't seem to be grasping the actual functions of the job (not to mention how the basics of Microsoft Office) and the social norms of the office.  Third, I think that having the internship has breathed some life into me and opened my eyes to the possibilities.  If nothing else, I'm at least ready to advance in my current job because I want to make some fundamental changes and I can only do so if I have more power.

Today, I did get a bit of respite from the despair.  The guy who runs our ATE department is out on medical leave so I got to spend a lot of time helping out in the ATE today which is my favorite part of the job.  In particular, I got to help my client who has declared war with a Star Wars puzzle while we all watched the Sandlot.  Another client had a five minute chuckle session as we watched the scene where the kids puked in the amusement park.  I was very grateful for it all.  Also, it gave me the chance to work more with the person who took my friend's job and I like her which is cool because in all likelihood, I will be her boss one day.

I'm hoping that these blues are temporary because they are definitely contagious.  Two separate coworkers pointed out to me that they also noticed a lowering of morale in the office.  I'm hoping this next month gives me more time to work on improving things since I'm done with school and I only have to do the internship for half the month.