Greetings Me Droogs N Droogettes!
Took the day off yesterday as even I need a break sometimes. Then I caught a lucky break today in that I almost went into unauthorized accidental Overtime at People’s Glorious Tractor Factory. Head Commissar is waaaay tightfisted in the O.T. so I got to punch out at noon.
Which allowed me and Wiofey to go to the V.A. and change out her to my dependa from the X, which I’ve neglected to do over the years… specifically since 10/8/2017.
Yeah My offishul deee-vorce date.
Now, mind you I did not know that A) the X was listed as a dependa, and that I was actually collecting bank on my retirement for her. THAT info-bit came about 2018, when the DotGov/VA sent me a letter saying that they’d significantly overpaid me and that they’d be clawing it back and that
B) Since I was a service related serious injured medically retired vet, they wouldn’t be taking it in BIG chunks, but smaller bite-size parts… so essentially I’ve been paying back monthly to the tune of about $150-200 a month ‘off the top’ as well as not getting the ‘dependa allotment/payout’ that I’m entitled to with Gretchen serving as ‘new wife’.
No ideas what the maff is going to work out, as No Idea really -when- they started the claw-back and how much was/is/not still owed, but Gretch and I got married on March 8th of 2020, so either way, long term it’ll be a win.
Now, the hilarious part of the VA-Day was going to the new-new Tampa Main Hospital. They’ve been expanding and building up James A. Haley forever and a day and it seems that the new Main Building -finally opened about two weeks ago.
Place has been under construction (and still sort of is, in cleanup mode) since I moved here about 20+ years ago. Went from a BIG 1950’s single building…
to a massive complex that’s exhausting to walk around in… like acres of territory now:
That’s the new part in front of the old building.
Now
The hilarious part:
Brand Spanky New V.A. Hospital…
One Hunnerd and Fotty Tree Milllllyun Simoleans to build…
Not one fucking clock in the place was right OR matched!
Gretchen started looking at me like I had more screws loose than usual. After the fourth clock, military standard, wall, institutional, type one each, Mark One, Mod Zero….
…with a totally different and incorrect time on it I started laughing LITERALLY out fucking loud…
Like OMFG. Every. Fucking. One. of. Them. was set to a different time. Now, Mind you I was watching my time so to speak, as it was getting late in the afternoon. 15:00 (3pm) specifically. That’s ‘quittin’ time’ for them VA Folks… The lil volunteer stretched golf cart that helps haul us broke down old soljurs around stops running at 16:00 (4pm). Gretchen’s back is pretzelized from allll them years of hairdressing, as bad as mine, but me? I’m a rockhead Infantryman, I push thru the sciatica, whereas my woman? Notsomucho.
So, every time we passed by a clock, I’d sort of notice-but-not notice the time… more of a “Huh… that’s wrong” (checks cellphone and confirms)… and kept going. I wish I had taken pics now to prove it… I mean one was set to noon, another 5pm/am? Another was sort of right, in that the big hand was on 12, and the small hand was off of 3pm… more of a 2:30ish setting, with the big hand directly on noon… what is that?
They were ALL working mind you…. minute hand(s) ticking away… all of them. I know, as on the way out I checked. It was after I realized I was going to write about it (when I got to the car alas) and should have gotten pics.
Dammit.
Just goes to show how fucked our DotGov is when they can’t even, in a brand fucking new facility get the fucking clocks to match up facility wide. I mean it’d literally take one guy maybe an hour to do ALL of them fuckers.
Probably against FedGov Union Rules would be my guess.
“Federal Clock Watchers United” or some such shit.
Any Bets?
Shit like that has me convinced, now MORE than ever just how far we’re gone. I mean honestly, how hard could it be to fix?
Oh yeah, I forgot.
It’s the FedDotGov
Studies Needed
Environmental Impact Studies: (“Is the Clock biodegradable?”)
Diversity Studies: (“Is timekeeping a Whytte Supremacy Thang?”)
Gender Studies: (“Did you just mis-gender that Clock?”)
Equity Studies: (“Do we need separate Clocks for each race?”)
Handicapped Studies: (“Does the Clock have braille numbers?”)
WISH I was Joking, but YOU know the reality.
I mean yep…. we ARE well and truly boned gang.
Sit Back and Enjoy The Ride
So More Later
Big Country
“long term it’ll be a win.”
Sir, it became a win when she said “yes.”
One of my favourite customers came out of Syncrude up at the Tar Sands. One day the fluorescents in his office started flickering and driving him crazy. As it is for you, so it was for him: changing tubes and ballasts was to be done by electricians, and only after the proper paperwork was done.
6 weeks later the thing went out altogether. They lost the paperwork and he had to re-submit it. 2 weeks after that he lost patience and changed the tubes and ballasts… and got written up for it. He put in his notice the same day.
The world of the future they want for us will be run by petty tyrants, hall monitors, tattle-tales, ninnies, nannies and faggots. Hopefully I will live long enough to see this fuckery give way to the glorious pirates, buccaneers and privateers that will put an end to them…
Reminds me of the Big Bang Theory episode with the special edition of Raiders of the Lost Ark. “Cuz I’m the petty functionary with the clipboard, bitch!”
My little brother’s best friend got an internship at the (then) Hughes (now Raytheon) missile plant in Tucson. Once, he picked up a pipe wrench off the floor and set it up on a workbench. Someone saw him do it and he got written up for it, because it wasn’t his job to do that.
I asked him what he did there, and he told me he didn’t really know what he was doing. “They just have me walk around with a clipboard and look important.”
The clocks at our hospital were all centrally controlled by admin. On DST change, they’d all simultaneously zoom around an hour, and Voila, your shift just became 13 hours instead of 12.
I used to work at the VA. and what I used to see everyday made me sick. until I gave up on it.
you have to, otherwise you would go insane. so, you end up just doing your job as best as you can. question, how many people did you see standing around in the hallways ?
it seems like THEIR job is to stand around and bullshit all day long. think union guys/gals
anyway, there are 2 basic types that work (?) there. one type is vets themselves. a lot of them go
as far as they can to help the vets. or their dad/husband was/is a vet. they also work as hard as they can.
then there is the type found most often. the clock watchers. they spend their time doing as little as possible. there are a lot of them too. and most of them are in the union too.
and then there are the family units. yes, there are a lot of them too. one member of the family get hired and then brings in all the rest of them. or at least the ones that want to work or show up. the biggest problem with most of them is they no longer care, if they ever did.
I turned down a management position 2 times. didn’t want the hassle of trying to get the slackers to work. the money was not worth the hassle to me. because if I did try to get some of the slackers to do their job, I either be in front of the race relations board or dealing with the fucking union. just not worth it. I knew more than a few really good doctors who left because if the bullshit there. you get really tired of dealing with all of the bullshit there.
Dave in PA, just think how confused the clock watchers must be at BCE’s VA Hospital.
BCE, my daughter just started work at a VA hospital a few days ago. I’ll have to ask her if their clocks are any better.
just about all of them have their own clocks to watch. the one thing that also pissed me off was if you did your job and was quick about it, the others would hate you for it (?) something about making them look bad. not that it was hard to do. never saw so many people drag out a job that took maybe 5 minutes into a half a hour. unreal. funny thing, stopped in the place I used to work and a few of the patients told me how long it took to get anything done. damn waiting room was standing room only.
tell her to keep her head down and just do her job without causing any waves. if she is good at what she does, she will see that her “co-workers” will dump part of their workload on her.
went on second shift , me and my coworker did 12-14 patients a night. day shift did maybe 5-7 at best. after a month of that, the knives came out for my ass. tell her to be careful there.
This right here are what union shops are like in a nutshell.
Frankly it pisses me off because today we really need something like a union to try and protect the workers from the corrupt and greedy management at most companies.
However, union shops are like Dave said and it protects the lazy and incompetent who can’t be fired or disciplined and rewards them for “seniority” rather than doing a good job.
I worked in a union shop ONCE and never again.
It’s definitely larger with the expansion. The one in New Orleans, I have to be dragged to kicking and screaming occasionally , covers an entire city block. Last time I was there they had the fag rag flying from the flagpole ….smdh
Hey Big Country,
Two thoughts that hopefully will give you a chuckle:
1. Saw this at Peter’s site at Bayou Renaissance Man. First thought was that Big Country has GOT to see this.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5q4o2wjJDOZIbY5MExD_H7Iwq5erXvpdsm6mdGDj0rimcx8856AKIk67tyltJ9FIoAeo1w5s4bjYvagI5qiQLcaM8XKKR0HKLeLyUVeltHbWtEUxBEEwbnCuh5Mrkz4XiTUbcszenuxsGMpVUd3ay3LmoV0Kyrq59ei8gxtjkn9Z5ZDHUuMMIn5JTUU/s800/Meme%20-%20not%20service%20related.png
If the link no worky, see his post Memes that made me laugh 175
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/09/memes-that-made-me-laugh-175.html
2. Lars Larson has a challenge coin. Don’t remember them back in the late 80s, but then I was a flag-waving REMF at Fort Hood. Anywho, the front has MOLON LABE in da Greek. The back has Illegitimi Non Carborundum, roughly “Don’t let the basturds grind you down.”
https://www.larslarson.com/lars-larson-challenge-coin/
The VA wanted to help VFW guys to feel at home with the clocks set to different time zones…
Or…those evil admins wanted folks to be late for their appointments…
How about this for an explanation. VA clock man is told: “ It is now 10 am. Make sure that all of the clocks are set to 10 am.” Yes, sir. So the first clock is set to 10. The next clock he comes to at 10:15, he sets to 10. Four hours later, when he gets to the last clock and sets it to 10, he looks back and thinks,”this doesn’t make much sense, but I followed orders to the letter “.
I am kind of surprised they even have clocks on the wall, lots of medical places stopped putting them up so people didn’t notice how long they had been waiting. Plus we all carry clocks in our pockets anyway.
Maybe the times are different like it is for formation ?
Capt: “I want the company here at 6am”.
LT: “I want the platoon here at 5:45am”.
SNCO: “I want you all here at 5:30am”.
SGT: “I want your asses here at 5:15am”.
Been thinking about registering for the VA health system. Only problem is, the local VA hospital for me also has the highest death rate in the system. Not so sure it’s a good idea, except I can use the ID card to get a free pass to use public lands. For me, that might be worth it – not having to pay that $3 every time I want to take a walk in the woods, or $20 to drive through a national park to get to the 4×4 trail on the other side of it.