Yet another Saturday

The days just go by in a flash for me nowadays.
Yes, I had been having a tough couple of weeks, but still, things had been busy for me at work.
For a start, my new supporting staff reported to work on Monday in the week just past.
Things were ok, and although he seems to be lacking advanced Microsoft Office skills, he was resourceful enough to check out the "help" feature built into Microsoft Word.
Although I must say that a few times, he should not have asked me for help, but to go to the other promised help that wasn't that forthcoming - as usual.
I had a peaceful couple of days - on a couple of days, one or both of those "crazy" people weren't around at the office.
One was attending a course for 2 days, while the other (the petty one) has somehow injured his back and was on medical leave for a couple of days.
Needless to say, those were productive days for me.
Ha.

I received a surprise parcel in the middle of the week.
It was an early birthday pressie from my dear friends back in the UK!
They (husband and wife) always plan ahead for things, and this is something I have become rather bad at (specifically for sending out birthday parcels overseas) in the last year or so, since I got back to the home country.
Getting to a post-office is not as easy anymore.
The nearest ones would require me to take a bus to get to it!

Anyway, Friday was a busy day for me.
I had meetings back-to-back in the afternoon, and when I got back to the office, I had a voicemail that sounded frantic.
When I found out what the matter was, I wasn't pleased at all.
The "promised help" told my new staff that he wasn't allowed to print stuff off the printer at our office.
She said that he should send documents to print at another printing machine that requires him to get to the 6th floor (we are situated at Level 1) to retrieve it.
She gave him the reason that it's because at the rate we have been utilising the printer, the ink for the printer has appeared to deplete faster than expected, and that our department will be charged for additional ink cartridges if this carries on.
And because he did as he was told in my absence while I was having a long meeting, another fellow colleague freaked out when she saw (and picked up) the training materials from the printer at Level 6 (her office is on that floor too).
She is in charge of the development of these training materials still under development, so in a state of panic, she went around the whole floor asking if anyone actually had been given a soft-copy of the materials and had printed them out!

Our department takes care of the development of training materials, so OF COURSE we would be using up the ink faster than in other departments due to the work we have to do to make them appropriate for printing and production!

And that was the same reason I gave to my new staff.

So I don't know WHY that "promised help" was being so awkward.

Actually, I know there was a separate agenda for this "instruction" to my new staff.
The other team have been printing a lot of materials from this office printer, so that's ok.
But as long as it's my team doing the same, it's not ok.
In fact, I must say that I have not normally printed much stuff from this printer.
My petty colleague, however, had been doing lots of that.
And on many occasions, I saw that the documents had been non work-related stuff when I accidentally picked up his print-outs by mistake.

Nevermind...I shall tolerate all this.

I shall raise this matter to my new boss who is joining us in a week or so.
I will ask her to increase the budget for the purchase of the ink cartridges, and explain why.
That should shut that "promised help" up quite nicely.
Especially when she is in no position to raise this matter to my new boss, other than me and her own (petty) boss.
After all, she is only a supporting staff, but since Day 1 when I joined, she behaved as if she was in charge.
She has treated me like dirt, and has no respect for me whatsoever, but that doesn't really bother me now.
No matter what she does, she will always be a support staff.
So I am not going to stoop to her level and play childish office politics with her.
Would be a definite waste of my time!

I would say the same for her own boss.
That petty colleague of mine could do what he wants.
Even if he wants to feel he is superior, I will let him.
No matter how superior he wants to feel and to belittle me (in order to overcome his feeling of inadequacy of not having the same level of academic qualifications as me), my academic certificate will still bear my name and not his.
So there.

I skipped a group dinner on Thursday as I wasn't feeling well.
But I will try to make it the next time it is organised!

Tomorrow will be a fun day.
I am meeting a friend for lunch, which will be followed by shopping, and then dinner and then movie.
Will be a busy day ahead!
I LIKE!
Ha.

THEN, I am off to Shanghai for a few days.
My birthday coming, that's why! :o)