My mind is drawing a complete blank. I have subjects and topics to rant and rave about, but even with the blogger page open, not a single writing spark is generated.

The energy in this house is stagnant and bland. I never thought it to be the case, but this place really is blah. The inhabitants of this home are fixated to routine and the word, "spontaneity" is practically nonexistent. And dammit, it's overwhelming.

My hair is a mess, I haven't groomed in days, and morphing into a housewife who shops at Wal-Mart 24/7. I need to get back to NYC! Because I'm already bummy at home, I don't need to take hobo-ism to a whole other level.

OY!

Someone just kill me, please.

I Love Blue!

Alritey y'all, goin' down to my bro's for the entire week, so I won't have any email access until September. I will be blogging and if you need to get in touch with me, email me at bunnywatt@yahoo.com

Ciao!

All along, I thought it was a language barrier. But...

It wasn't. Grace never really 'missed' the point, she was deliberately deflecting it all this time...a major attribute upheld by Jehovah's Witnesses.

Yeah, she's one of them. Oy.

Okay, let me shoot this straight with y'all. I'm not exactly keen about these folks, but I've always tried to give folks a little leeway before rubber stamping as some nutjob. Recently there's been an unpredictable influx lunging at me every single friggen day this year.

Two and a half weeks ago, Grace decided to quit because she felt guilty about her crap work performance and was of getting reamed out daily. Instead of discussing her resignation with me, she decided to throw herself into the lion's den and speak to Rich.

Oh god. When it comes to communications, Grace Jr., without a doubt, fails miserably. Although no one's expecting her to recite a Shakespearean sonnet in its entirety, watching her utter a few words is as painful as woman going through labor. Even if you had a teleprompter or cue cards in front of her, she still can't get to the point.

I asked her point blank if she really wanted to go, especially after I put in so much effort with training. I told her that she needed to follow the appropriate workplace protocols before turning her resignation and she was starting to show some improvement. Because the basis of her resignation was guilt, I DEMANDED her to stay. I didn't beg or plead.

If you're gonna leave, then do it for the 'right' reasons. Feeling guilt is actually part of the painful learning process.

So the weeks ensued and we've all noticed the changes in the office environment...believe it or not, the patients don't harrass the girls as much. For example, there was a schmuck who wanted to be seen first because he had double-parked his car downstairs. Since the office was packed with folks waiting over an hour, I leveraged their antsiness to my benefit. In a loud voice, I asked the guy how I could execute a favor of this magnitude without getting my ass kicked? When I pointed at a big guy reading his newspaper, he lowered the paper and shot the schmuck a nasty glare. It was beautiful.

From the surface, everything seemed okay. Of course, Grace still has a long way to go before she could truly meet expectations on certain tasks. Plus, when it comes to prioritization, there's a preference to tackle on the most menial task first. Aiyah.

Since I was meeting up with Janie on Friday afternoon, she decided to meet me at Richard's office. Greeted by a grouchy Yuki, there was some nasty tiff with Grace earlier in the morning which left her in a semi-permanent bitch mode. For some supernatural reason, Grace snapped back at Yuki for providing some constructive advice. Later on that evening, Grace rambled off to Rich how it was her last day and did she need to give in 2 weeks notice.

What?

Whatever.

Because she's been driving Rich absolutely batshit, he was more than pleased to see her leave. As I mentioned previously, she may not be the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree, she would carry out whatever task I handed her. He decided to keep her until the end of the month and bye-bye.

I've had it with this stupid madness and it ends here. However, I'm not exactly sure if she really wanted to quit...I think she was circling back to the day when I DEMANDED that she remain and that was that. Since I didn't bring up the topic of letting her go and she made no mention of actually LEAVING, I'd figured we leave the entire incident in the past. Who the F--- knows.

Before the end of Friday, a patient had given Rich a porcelain Buddha as a gift to show his appreciation. Being that it was a bit dusty, he asked Grace to clean it up for him and have it placed somewhere on the shelves for display. In a severe panic attack, Grace flipped out and claimed that she couldn't touch the object because it went against her religious beliefs. Rich immediately apologized and then asked Yuki to take on the task. Seeing how the item affected Grace, Yuki happily obliged because she was still sore from the morning's outburst.

So, would it offend her if I brought in the statues of Anubis, Osiris, Zeus, Aphrodite, Minerva, or Brahma? This is what I mean when I say, there's a difference between tradition vs. religion in our retarded Chinese community. Although, yes, it's a Chinese Buddha, it's a fricking statue for cryin' out loud. Technically you can't worship the statue because it's not religious relic or a by-product blessed by the temple priests. It's designed SPECIFICALLY for home decor.

Rich also mentioned how my spiritual feng shui cleansing in the office might've freaked her out since I was using some incense to dispel some negative and heavy energy. However, I was doing it after-hours and wanted no one present in the office but my family.

I find it tiresome dealing with an individual who constantly allows her personal religious beliefs to dictate how one should work and defy common sense based on it. It really makes me wonder how they function and survive. Out of sheer curiosity, I browsed through web to further understand their behavior and what I found answered all of my igging questions. Especially the methods to dispel any effort to 'brainwash' them. Ugh, the stuff is mind-numbing and gut-wrenching to read.

I am a firm believer of giving people the benefit of the doubt. However, it seems that folks whose name is 'Grace' are either fallen from it or absolutely lacking of it, do not possess any sense of reality and impose their wacko perspectives upon everyone who walk their path. Why is that?

Sincerely,
Hopeless in Chinatown

Nothing beats a nice cuppa at home. Yum!

I should've saw it coming.

After losing touch with Warren for about 4 years, I bumped into him on Catherine Street on a brisk May night. I hadn't seen him in the flesh since Billy's wedding, about 7-8 years ago. I didn't even recognize him...he flagged me down and gave me a little smile. Gone was his infamous boyish demeanor, replaced with a worn, bogged-down-by- society look. Our brief meeting felt poignant.

Warren was my buddy back in high school and we had a lot of fun together. Unfortunately, he refused to grow up and would continue to reminisce and live in the past. You'd always hear him talk about the good ol' days in high school, during the glory of the Volleyball championships, and guzzling over the love of his life.

The thing is, all of this took place a decade and a half ago. Throughout his 20's, he'd ramble about high school. Now that's he's in his 30's, he's yukking over the days that took place in college. So he's progressed just a tad bit.

Methinks that his refusal to move on with time and life, he couldn't hold down a decent job, a mature relationship, or even set goals for the future. After 9/11, he's been unemployed and has been dependent on government assistance. Yes, he's survivor of the heinous WTC attacks and narrowly escaped...but how long can you parade the town about it?

So he rings me up so "we" can talk. Two minutes into the conversation, I cursed myself for not having call waiting. He went on like an Energizer bunny, about his ideas, faults, friends, and whatever immature crap he could conjure at the moment. I walked over to my computer, turned on Yahoo! games, started playing Spellbound, and 'uh-huhed' him for over an hour.

He repeated the same thing the following week. And the week after that.

I had to tell him NOT to call after 11PM...us families go to bed early (yeah right!), plus, I have no interest in being his psychological dumping ground. His last drivel was based on the act of burning bridges, just to reclaim outstanding debts from his 'friends'. Oh, we're talking $20 here, another $120 over there, and so forth. In fact, one of his 'friends' had to call the cops on him for 'disrupting the peace'.

Oh goodness.

Next, we have my lovely friend, Ellen. A brilliant scholar with a bachelor's in Theater Arts, Masters in Religious Studies, and a would-be doctorate in Rabbinical Studies. Mind you, this was her 3rd attempt in obtaining a Masters degree as her previous institution would not approve her theory related to the inconsistencies found in the Old and New Testaments. After 2 failed attempts, she converted to Judaism from something. I lost track of her spiritual journeys.

I met her when I was a wee student back in CNR and it became apparent to me that geniuses have no sense when it comes to necessity or practicality. She was so talented - it was easy to find work with her impressive resume. Instead of doing what she did best, teaching, or hold down a decent job for that matter, she'd move in with jerks just so she'd have a roof over her head. Any jerk.

It's a wonder how she married her husband. 'Nuff said.

Rather than having lengthy intelligent discussions about Greek history, philosophy, or even linguistics, she'd incessantly drivel over the turmoils of her dysfunctional family, bureaucratic school administrations, her battle with Crohn's Disease, lawsuits, her status as being a disabled American, her husband, welfare, and unemployment. She fought every battle that came her way and could never understand why I pick and chose the ones I wanted to fight.

Her repetitive ranting would seriously put me over the edge and much like Warren's call, I never got a word in. Uh-huh. Unlike Warren, she was extremely repetitive, so we'd have the same comversation over and over, with no new progress being made to the issue at hand. It got up to the point where I would deliberately set Richard's pager off to end our conversation (by claiming that Richard needed to answer his pages). After 15 years, I've lost count with what Ellen was complaining about in her life. In fact, I no longer care and hope that she'd disappear in her own pile of dog doo because that's how self-absorbed she is.

Last year, Ellen had crossed the line with her abominably stupid confession. At some ungodly hour in the morning, she rang me up to apologize profusedly for "not believing what you said over the phone about how bad things were going at home and how I thought you were being overdramatic and exaggerating about the events after 9/11 and blah, blah, blah..."

Overdramatic? The ONE time when I finally have my say, a moment where I could use some moral support from a friend - she assumes that I'm talking out of my butthole. The phone call did not sit well with me and boy, I was MAD. It must've killed her to keep mouth shut for more than 15 minutes while I was summing up my misery. At that breaking point, I wanted to shove a dirty sock up her nose - as Hall & Oates once sang, "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid".

Last but not least, we have...Grace Sr.

Yes, psychomom's back with a wackadoo vengeance. Although I've managed to avoid her at school, I continue to run into her at places where I frequent. It's irritating as hell and I've noticed how she's been replicating many of my effects and habits. And no, I'm not saying this because I'm paranoid, but because I can read this woman like a book. She's been donning a messenger bag over her head (like me), added highlights in her hair (like me), buddies up with Joyce's mom (like me), her daughter insists that Joyce is HER best friend (OMFG), have gotten manicures and pedicures (like me) and have been hounding me down for my scrapbooking supplies because that's her new hobby too. Hell, does this woman have ANY originality whatsoever?

It's baffling to know how she can pull off these purchases while parading around the town about her welfare status. Brilliant.

Bottom Line: Lindi = Freak Magnet

Because I diligently responded to a majority of my old emails two days ago, I'm getting plenty of dirt about my former and still putrid Tax Department. Mind you, I've forgotten everything I learned and I was only there for a little over a year. I never lost my Treasury, Bank Recon, Project Mgmt, or Systems knack. At least I'm still marketable...I think.

Anyhoo, I left them back in March 2004 and so much has happened since then. Lemme recap the timeline:

• 09/2003 - Lindy's boss is on disability because of back surgery.
  
• 12/2003 - Lindy decides to leave bcz the place was beginning to reek and plan on a departure date of 1/15/04 - to receive the lovely 11% pension payout, of course
  
• 01/2004 - Susu leaves for a Communications position & Lindi has to stay for a colleague's sake.
• 03/2004 - Lindy finally leaves because Joe finally scores a better position internally. Renee catches wind of our departing bandwagon and leaves for the Quality Assurance group. (So that's 4 people down in ONE business unit within 2 months. Ouch.)
• 04/2004 - Janie's stuck with a billion of migraines since AJ's malfunctioning wardrobe and dysfunctional behavior irks the hell outta everyone around her.
• 09/2004 - Janie takes family leave of absence because she's having a wee one. (Now the group is down from 9 to 4. OY)
• 2004 - Our 4 diligent and bright temps move out of the department to pursue full-time positions internally - they do better work than the F/T shitheads. (They're down 9 peeps now)
  
• 02/2005 - Lindy's buddy, Terry, gets canned. The assholian managers informed no one and claimed that he never bother showing up to work again.
  
• Spring 2005 - a stupid brat gets promoted because she knows the President and later leaves for a higher position. (Now 11 bodies struck out, although this one was only good for breathing recycled air)
• Lindy's boss turned in her resignation, never to return to the dump again

NOW...based on the last email and phone call I just received this week -

• Christine is on some family leave and is undetermined whether she will return to work
• Evil fat cow Lisa has foot surgery and will be out for the next few weeks (hope she trips and falls on her face)
  
• Another manager, who is the only Tax guru left, went on sick leave
  
• John B. moves on to a teaching career and finally ditches the entire brokerage industry
• Janie is officially terminated by the firm because they refused to extend her FMLA leave (allotted only for 90 days, by law)
• Tamas is out on paternity leave because he has new baby at home
• Master Lim, my buddy Nixon, was recently promoted to manager because there isn't anyone left. Because of his wife's career in research, it is very possible that he'll have to uproot shortly.
  

So they're down 5 more bodies, with 3 undecideds. With 15 people leaving the area in a period less than 2 years, reflects horribly on senior management (40% manpower DOWN). Thanks to the reorg that took place back in 08/2003, Chris the pig - also the VP - is running the entire division down to hell.

However, I would've stayed if Bob M. was still running Tax, but our beloved Rain Man moved on to New Business Development, taking all of the all-star Tax members with him. Leaving the department weak with a bunch of idiots, present company included. I know nothing of Tax or Tax Lot Accounting, so I couldn't say I really contributed a whopping lot. I've forgotten practically everything I've learned, except making up answers using common sense.

And Janie claims it's ALL my FAULT. It all started when I secretly declared my resignation to a select few.

But this is karmic payback. Chris manipulated situations to his advantage as well as creating hostility amongst the individual groups. Thus, we were pitting against one another and some of us were too tired to play games. On the outside, I would take a chomp at Nixon and later apologize behind closed doors. Evil, evil, evil way to run your own department.

So, this is what Chris gets for messing with us, especially when he partnered up with malcious individuals to create this animosity. He'll make a great career of shovelling biggest pile of dog doo for whatever that's left of his "dignified" career.

As I once said, Bob's the man. No one appreciated the genius when he was their VP and now everyone's crying their little tushies off. Payback to all of you stinkin' whinos.

I spent 9.5 hours today typing up translated documents. It's a really, really, really dull task. And I realized that most of my days are spent in the same fashion at Fido when I was a Business Systems Analyst. How utterly mind-numbing. Yuck.

The only upshot to this is how much we charged for these documents to be translated. By Chinatown's standards, it's still considered chump change. I'm gonna have to charge these folks $60 per page or something. This is mighty painful when the person who's doing the actual translation procrastinates to the point where your brain hemorrhages from trying to decipher the god-awful penmanship...if you could even call it that.

The night was young and the air was brisk, but the streets lighted by the dimmed rays of the kerosene lamps inside of these houses. There were a few people on the streets, making their way to the comfort and the safety of their homes after a long day of grueling labor. It was dinnertime and women were bustling around their warm kitchens to feed the eldest and the youngest members of their kinfolk.

Suddenly, people on the streets started to run, running away from the ominous shadow descended behind them. They ran for their lives, for mercy, and for their precious freedom. Soon, the streets cleared away, with doors slamming, lights dimming into darkness, people scrambling to be hidden away from sight into the nooks of their homes.

The ominous figures soon took form, the outlines developed into familiar faces of terror. There, in their drunken glory, were the men of war. Donning their military uniforms, they ruled the streets and the city itself, instilling fear and panic into the souls of the civilians. Their brutality was infamous; the merciless domination of killings, torture and cruelty was widespread throughout the country. No one was safe.

The soldiers continued along the empty street, hollering, singing and bellowing out vulgarities in their native tongue.

Inside, families huddled together in desperation and to overcome the trepidation in this eerie silence. They prayed to the gods for salvation, in hopes that these evil men to pass by their homes quickly, without any bloodshed.

During the mad scramble, a young couple realizes that one of their children is missing. Fearing the worst, panic gripped the young mother when she peered through her kitchen window. Her youngest child was sound asleep on top of a bamboo stool outside of their door.

The soldiers were quickly nearing their home and rescuing her youngest one would condemn the entire family. Her two eldest sons stared earnestly into the dark outline of their sister’s body and prayed feverishly to spare her from a horrible fate. The family watched helplessly as the voices grew louder and louder.

The little one, only 3 years of age, wore tiny pigtails on each side of her head. She had fallen ill with the mumps and fatigue had taken its toll on her. Seeing how her mother was hardly around to tend to her, the little one found a cozy little spot by the door to rest while her mother prepared dinner.

As the men approached their street, one of them spotted the young child blissfully asleep outdoors. The drunken militant proceeded unsteadily towards the child along with the rest of his drunken crowd. He stood directly in front of her and narrowed his eyes to look at her curiously.

In one swift movement, the soldier drew his sword out of his shaft and pointed it on the back of the little girl’s neck. The blade reflected in the moonlight as he brandished his weapon high above his head to deliver a single stroke of death. As the sword plunged downwards, the ungodly act was abruptly halted when one of the other soldiers deftly blocked him.

Shouting belligerently in Japanese, he withdrew his sword and was led away by his military brothers. They continued on their way to extend their drunken merriment at the next brothel.

The little girl was spared.

And that little girl was my mother.

======================================================

The story was told by my two eldest uncles when I visited China and Taiwan back in the summer of 1993.

The Japanese had occupied much of the area, city of Fuzhou, and threatened the lives of many people at the time (this took place during the Nationalist rule - a lot historians argue how the corrupted gov't at the time allowed this to happen).

My mother’s side of the story? Translation -

Of course, those assholes forgot about me. They only gave a shit about their own asses and obviously saved their own. Looking at the window from the inside house…Yeah right!! After all, conceit runs in the family and really, how could you forget a little girl sleeping outside? Assholes. Even your grandparents suck.

Yep, that’s what mom said to me when I returned from my trip. I expected a completely different response, but then again, this is my mother we’re talking about!

Remember back in the 80's when Wham!'s George Michael popularized his "LEAVE ME ALONE" t-shirt in the video, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"?

Well, today, I really wanted one of those.

There's some strange phenomenon going on this household where every individual, here and far, feel the need to bug the shit outta me. I'm in bed and a wacko "friend" hounds me down on the phone just to chat - again - and she can't shut up. Then mum comes in, barges into my apartment, demands why my home was struck by a tornado, clamors around the kitchen and complains how I haven't eatened in 10 months. Then she proceeds to boil a kettle full of water and leaves my apartment shortly thereafter, leaving me the unpleasant task of hauling my ass out of the bedroom to shut it off.

Whatever. It isn't as though I was going to make myself a cup of herbal tea. By my standards, that stuff is disgusting and not tea at all. Why I need boiled water is beyond me.

Then Mikayla decides to stomp around the apartment like a dinosaur and chats with me while I'm trying to sleep. Dad comes home whining about his busy and bustling day at the office and I'm STILL trying to get some sleep.

What the sh%^@ is up with everyone? It's almost as though everyone thinks I'm not quite sick enough to sleeping my ass off or something. The damn phone keeps ringing off the hook and my mother is still yelling at me for not eating. She has a habit of calling me when I'm asleep rather than being awake.

I dunno about you, the last time I checked, I never had an eating disorder. If anything, I just look scrawny because of the weight I lost back in April from the stomach virus and the food poisoning. I hate to be hungry. I can't starve for the life of me.

So I drag my ass over to mum's to pick up Mikayla - there mom goes again with her tirade about my imaginative eating disorder. Maybe I can put on the pounds if I didn't have everyone bugging the heck outta me? My head's stuffed up, I sound like Harvey Fierstein, and haven't left my apartment since Friday. I must be looking good for everyone to think that I'm not really that sick.

Oh brother.

30 seconds of brushing, I realized that I was using my kid's Spongebob Squarepants Bubblegum flavored toothpaste.

On Biaxin for the next few days and complete telly indulgence for the next few days.

Need sleep and time away from the puter. Not only am I obsessed with online shopping this week, my hurt heads.

	well i saw you weeping one hand on the bible as i sent your soul to kingdom come ready to be born again where one man sees a wasteland another man sees a rainbow it came to this, the atheists got bullets for their brains like a goodbye kiss but then i i'm putting up a peace sign putting up a peace sign pulling down a peace sign well i believe in angels they move like a secret army and they help me blow the atheists sky high yeah i can't sit still for too long i'm losing all my patience i got myself a rocket ship to make me hip to take me to the moon when i lose my grip i said i i'm putting up a peace sign putting up a peace sign pulling down a peace sign one day one day in your life you will see the light you will see his face again one day one day at a time soothes the weary mind you will feel no pain bullets for your brain i live a very modest life i'm happy with it hey now, read my lips bullets for the brains of the atheists hey now, read my lips bullets for the brains of the atheists but then i i'm putting up a peace sign putting up a peace sign pulling down a peace sign hey now, read my lips hey now, read my lips hey now, read my lips hey now, read my lips

You really have NO idea...

Will respond to EVERY single email since April. Will be veddy busy this week...and I'm working too - BLEARGHHHH!!

Days of Our Medical Receptionist in Chinatown will be continued...

Hate this template, but I need a change for the week. Maybe I'll go back to my previous template soon. Not too many choices to select from, but I'm feeling a bit retro today.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8514826/site/news

I received this email from Heather a few weeks and have been meaning to post this on my blog. I can't even begin to tell you how this revolutionizes business writing on emails. Not only do you hear senior management pull terms out of their buttholes, folks like me, feverishly jot down these important-sounding words so I can use them in the next round.

Here are the commonly used words you'll always find in my lovely corporate, verbose and CYA emails:

• implement
• execute
• creative accounting
  
• notate
• input
• functionality
• feasibility
• support
• expectation
• solution/resolution
• workflow processes
• operational hiccups
• leverage current procedures
• enhancements
• jeopardize
• establish mainframe infrastruction

I still have the list of "Jim O'Neill's List of Buzz Words" which was originally tacked onto my cubicle wall. Jim was my former boss who was so damn eloquent and would occasionally overcompensate during meetings. You had to see the faces of our business partners whenever he spat out these terms - you could actually see the cogs turn and their faces contort while trying to decipher the first two paragraphs of his opening statement.

This is Jim's version of my role in the organization:


When it was my turn to give my unprepared presentation regarding my job function, it went:


I was straight-forward and direct, as a result, I solicited MORE questions about how my role affected the company since it seemed ulcer-ridden and interesting - mainly because I was able to call the shots. Due to Jim's vernacular snow job, no one understood specifically what he meant, so they couldn't ask him anything. But then again, Jimbo's no fool, I'm sure there's an excellent explanation why he coated his chicken more than once.

Now that I've been gone from Fido for over a year and a half...a lot of it is lost. I look back at some of the emails I've composed, as boring as they are, they're quite impressive! No wonder I stayed till 9PM every night!

Happy Friday!

http://www.fastfengshui.com/faqs.htm

I got a phone call today from my high school buddy, Warren, and it made me wonder....

Why do so many people strongly believe that friendships must be equally reciprocated? Is this an attribute that only holds true amongst Chinese people or are there cases where this belief exists OUTSIDE of my ethnic group?

I know for a fact that my parents have this mindset where if someone gives you something, you MUST return them the favor or gift at an equal or greater value. So, growing up, this influence remained a large part of me on how I view my friendships. One thing, for sure, I have always remained loyal to my friends, even if they double-duped me. My naivete has always led me to trouble because I always give people the benefit of the doubt. Even if the situation reeks, I cling on to the ball even when I know I shouldn't. Yeah, duh me.

But I got over this mentality when I reached college. I uprooted my chubby ass from Chinatown to New Rochelle, and voila, a whole new world for me to explore. I learned (the hard way) the differences between friends, acquaintances and annoyances. There were hierarchical levels of these personal relationships and congeniality would also be received differently within those tiers.

Now as a so-called grownup, I still run into a good number of folks who continue to put credence into this so-called 'mutual' equivalent exchange. The problem is, when the return isn't 100% or greater, the believer or 'friend' freaks out. They put their 110% and you couldn't return 90% because you weren't thoughtful enough. Hence, the blowout and probable dissolution of the entire relationship.

If I had to appraise every effort of my time and gifts to Ching, Jessica, Lisa, and everyone else, would I fall short of being gypped? Or did I fall short on my repayment to my friends when they drove me home every night for 6 months? Do I still owe interest from being able to see my idols backstage (do I? ;oD)? Like how can you measure friendship in that regard?

Isn't the valuable time spent together significant and the gifts are merely extras and not a given? Good friends remain in small populations than acquaintances, but great friends are found in rare and exclusive groups. Despite my many misses in life, I have been fortunately blessed with great hits in friendships. So I can be a bit verbose, blunt, and long-winded - y'all love me anyway.

So when I got off the phone with Warren tonight, I said, "You win some, but you lose a lot."

He couldn't fathom why.

HAH! GOTCHA!!!

With all of this constant griping and drivel about the shoddy work performances from both Grace Sr. & Jr., I really didn't think the day would come for me seriously shred them apart. Although I never quite verbally clawed at psychomom for her ineptness, I did manage to get in a bite or two. Quite frankly, the fact how I completely ignore her at school pretty much sums up our relationship. I know she feels much like a worn pantyhouse, but I can't deal with her anxieties or her psychotic way of reciprocating for things by being helpful. Trust me, I can do much better all on my own.

As for the younger Grace, this weekend's snafu left me with no other choice but to chew her ass out. Despite the fact she had misplaced patient's reports in the wrong charts on numerous occasions (imagine getting treatment for Hepatitis B instead of H. Pylori [bacterial infection causing stomach ulcers]), broke the drawer of the vertical file cabinet, jammed the cabinet door, misfiled patient's charts, dropped blood samples on the floor, shredded the wires of the EKG machine, or drove Richard completely batshit, all of these mistakes were caught early and solutions were quickly implemented.

However, none of these human errors could amount to this one - the fool nearly gave away personal information over the phone because she genuinely thought that she was being helpful. She nearly violated HIPAA regulation which could've shut us down. Because she wasn't exactly deft at her job, she couldn't provide the information the caller was asking. Phew! If anything, she's DAFT.

When I heard about the incident, I went ballistic. I launched an all-out tirade at home regarding the consequences regarding patient privacy and how the Patriot Act changed the way businesses run their customer service operations (I had to take special management courses at work just to make sure I knew how to cross my t's and dot my i's). Although no real harm was done, the mere fact that she was stupid enough to assist the caller for over 15 minutes to find this information instead of managing the patients in the waiting area.

I couldn't sleep this weekend. I was FUMING.

So, come Monday morning, I waited in the office for the girls to get their asses in. Like an attorney cross-examining a witness, I minced her to bits. I did not lose control or yell, but I raised my voice to the point where she nearly in tears.

I laid out the truth and the basic facts about her work performance. I highlighted how her sincere and good intentions was detrimental to our work flow since she could not separate her personal religious beliefs at the workplace. Unfortunately, a lot of these evil patients manipulate her vulnerable personality and she's been played out by them on numerous occasions.

Last Friday, I was extremely angered by a patient who had disrespectfully addressed Grace by pointing his finger at her and signalling how he wanted her to take his blood pressure and finger stick NOW.

Oh no, no, no. Not while I'm here.

I shot her a nasty glare and she cowered. I instructed how essential it was for her to address the needs of those individuals who arrived ahead of him. There's no way in hell he's skipping the line 'cuz he can manipulate little Grace like his lowly servant girl. I detected fear in her eyes, not based on my disapproval, but from this man. Turns out the asshole pays bi-weekly visits to my office to get his bp and blood sugar measured - for his convenience. WTF? Since when did I run a free clinic?

Grace never said anything. She did what she was told and who knows, this asshole might've groped at her in the exam room while we weren't there. Rich doesn't get to his office until noon and I usually make personal appearances at the end of the day. This asswipe looks and smells like a sexual predator...the mere fact how he delights himself in toying an innocent girl because of her fragile state. The idea of carrying out this intent sickens me.

When I sassed him right back, I could see how pissed off he was with me. I told Grace NOT to do the finger stick since there were none left. Houston...we have a problem - Grace couldn't bring herself to tell him our white lie of because we still had two left. It violated her religious belief because 'thou shall not lie'.

Oh gawd. So, I told her that I could do her dirty work by informing of the schmuck some bad news, but since he was a 'regular', she'd have to deal with him somehow. I corrected her by saying that we needed to save the finger sticks for other patients and we had none left for HIM. As soon as she delivered the awful news, the asshole split out of my office.

Although Rich had instructed her to measure patient blood sugar to free up his time, it was only to be done when he was seeing the patient...not when they come in leisurely just to get a freebie. Grace has a basic interpretation of all of our processes and I am stuck with the daunting task of having to break everything down to the basics since she can't exercise any common sense. Morever, she's been doing so many 'favors' for these patients that I am forced to play the role of Fidel Castro at the office. She'd even let patients go first if they tell her that their car parked downstairs and the meter's gonna run out soon. Shit.

Everyone spits in my face because I enforce to our strict guidelines of limiting access to the doctor and I could care less if your house is burning down the ground. Having to undo her 'kindness' is killing me. If I had to consider every woe, then I'll end up digging up my own grave.