Thursday, October 24, 2002

i made my own halloween costume. it's a tulle skirt with flowers and ferns and spanish moss---i'm gonna be a woodland fairy! i have big purple ears and a wand, too. i ran around the house in my costume all night last night.

tomorrow is my last day at my job!! i'll try to look sad, but i'm sure i'll barely be able to contain my glee. i'll be lucky if i don't break into paroxysms of joy in the middle of my goodbye lunch. in the past two weeks, i've finished all their database queries and reports up to june, so if they don't find someone else who can use a computer by then, it's their own fault. ha.

do i talk too much?

Baby61212: but really, i don't like online chess
eMdeeMae77: heh
eMdeeMae77: aite
eMdeeMae77: some reason i like the top view
Baby61212: i'm going to mexico soon, and i;m going to buy a miniature chess set while i'm there and accost everyone with it
eMdeeMae77: accost eh?
Baby61212: i like the "unnerve your opponent with steely glare" view
eMdeeMae77: hrmmm
eMdeeMae77: for some reason
eMdeeMae77: i can't imagine u able to do that
Baby61212: how about "talk your opponent into delerium" view?
eMdeeMae77: u do that even when not playing chess

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

i got my LSACD in the mail today. i was hoping that, considering how much i paid the LSDAS, it would be wrapped in $5 dollar bills, or that when i opened it i'd find a golden ticket, but alas, all i get is a cardboard sleeve (and a flimsy one, at that).

Monday, October 21, 2002

monday again. on the other hand, this is the LAST monday i will ever be spending at my inane job. kinda makes me glad it's monday :)

instead of going to washington DC and new york, i have decided instead to go on a cruise. sunshine and fish tacos just seem like a better way to spend my vacation than cold weather and a bullet in the head.

speaking of vacation, my work is refusing to pay me my vacation time!
Try to solve this legal quandry: (more for my reference than anything else, but please give me any and all suggestions you can!!!)

My company policy states (sic):
"After 1 year of continuous full time employment with the company, you are eligible for 2 weeks paid vacation annually. The vacation allowance is during the calendar year and vacation days do not accumulate. Vacations cannot be "cashed" for addiditonal payroll."

My first day of employment was September 13, 2001. I have worked 40 hours each week since then.

A few of my friends have pointed out that it's illegal in California for companies to force their employees to "use or lose" their vacation, and that unused vacation must be paid out as extra payroll. Read all about that here, and here, and here.

Last year, I used up 5 of my vacation days, which were advanced to me before my one-year anniversary in good faith that I would, in fact, stay for a year.
After September 13 (my one-year anniversary), I requested a vacation day off to go to Arizona, and it was approved.

When I gave my two weeks' notice, I asked my employer if I could take my four remaining days of vacation. They refused, and will not pay me for my vacation because "they do not want to make a habit of paying people for vacation when they are leaving."

Doesn't make much sense, does it? Well, I asked for a written denial of my vacation pay, and they refused, saying that they will sign nothing.

Now, they say that ANOTHER reason I don't get vacation pay is because I was not actually classified as a full-time employee until December 7th (ostensibly, after my 3 month probation period...but that doesn't make sense either, because then it would be December 13th). However, they gave me my one-year anniversary review in September, and approved the one vacation day I took in September... so it sounds to me like they're trying to find an excuse to push back my date of eligibility.

Some questions:
What is the definition "1 year of continuous full time employment"? It is not outlined in the company policy. If I have been working 40 hours a week for one year, would that not qualify me as a full-time employee for a year, or would I have to be checked off somewhere on some form or other as a "real" full-timer?
If they gave me my one-year review in September, does that not imply that I was with the company for one full year?

Pretty confusing, eh? I don't think it's very fair, but since I'm still on good terms with my boss, I'll sit on it for about 6 months.

Friday, October 18, 2002

i went wrinkle cream shopping with my ex yesterday. he is obsessed with the (false) notion that he is starting to look old and wrinkly and droopy. when i got home, i carefully examined my face in the mirror, and i am now convinced that i, too, am exhibiting the first signs of age. i have these tiny little lines around my mouth, and if i crinkle up my eyes i can see the beginnings of crow's feet. ugh.

Sunday, October 13, 2002

anyone privy to information on anti-war (on iraq) protests, please let me know--i wanna protest!!!

meanwhile, check out Not In Our Name

Saturday, October 12, 2002

Oh. my. god.

i just registered for the LSDAS (Law School Data Assembly Service). I knew beforehand that it's a ripoff, but it didn't really hit me until i actually plunked down the cash.

now let me get this straight:

$99 for putting my name on a file folder.
$10 each time I want them to open the folder and mail out a transcript ($12 each time if i don't prepay--i paid for 8 in advance, that's $80 for them to mail shit!).
$63 for the CD containing all the law school applications. the CD is coded to my name so it cannot be copied, and if i choose not to get the CD, i have to write to each school separately for their applications and fill out the ones that don't have electronic apps. in other words, it's infinitely easier to jut pay $63.

my question is--how the FUCK do these people sleep at night knowing they're squeezing the last pennies out of poor students? on their space-foam Duxiana beds with goose-down comforters lined in $100 bills, i reckon.

damn, i'm in the wrong business.

Friday, October 11, 2002

"It is with regret, yet strong conviction, that I resign as Marketing Director effective October 25th, 2002." WOOOHOOOEEEEEE!!!

got my contract and i'm outies from my tedious, borefest of a job in two short weeks!

then, I'm going to Washington DC and New York, and if i don't get shot in the head i start at the law firm on Nov. 4th.

Wednesday, October 02, 2002

i am starting another blog. I'll still keep this one, but since i'm too broke to get blogspot plus, i can't filter out the posts that i wouldn't want a prospective employer to read. i am taking suggestions for this new, g-rated blog that will contain mostly cut-&-paste entries from this blog, plus writing samples and my resume. so far i've come up with: silentsanctum.blogspot.com and the oh-so-exciting [my name].blogspot.com. email me some better ideas--the winner gets a pair of extra-large thongs and my old broken cell phone! AND, if you email in the next 10 minutes, you get my OTHER old, broken cell phone ABSOLUTELY FREE!