Tuesday, September 1, 2015

B.E.D.I.S Year 3: The Prisoner of Azkaban

I think I blinked and August ran away before I could even see it.  Funnily enough, I did a lot this August, but it hardly feels as though I had time to cross off the last days of July, and now it's already September 1st.  Yes, friends, I am going through with this foolhardy project of mine for the third year running.  

And so, we unfurl this year's logo:


Despite this year's logo, no, BEDIS is not going to be Harry Potter themed - sorry folks.  Coincidentally, though, today would be the first day that James Sirius Potter attended Hogwarts - oh the feelings.

Way back in April, I had it in my head that my theme for this year's month-long blogging marathon was going to be a confessional of sorts, but the longer I thought about it, the few good "confessions" I could think of.  For those of you who wanted me to air more of my dirty laundry, fear not - some of those entries will still be present.  But, for the most part, we'll see the typical craft posts, musings, and drunken movie reviews.  

To kick things off, though, I'm actually not going to talk about myself for once.  I'm going to do a bit of plugging.  Why?  Because I forgot to outline an entry for today, and because I actually legitimately like the person I'm advertising for.

When I started my job at DuPont, I had almost no idea what I was getting into.  I figured it was going to be hard and scary and altogether unfriendly.  It ended up only being one of those things (hard, but that's to be expected), and I sometimes think the reason why it was much more pleasant than expected was my first boss, VO.

I actually had never met VO before starting my job - I'd only spoken to her over the phone, and she had a bit of an accent, so I couldn't get a clear picture of what she was like.  Let me briefly paint a picture for you - VO is the most muscular lady I have ever set eyes on, with hair shorter than mine ever was.  She also used to wear an operations uniform to work all the time.  So, color me a bit terrified when she shook my hand with the strongest lady-grip (possibly strongest grip, period), of any hand shake ever.  She had something of a reputation for strictness and perfection with the operators.  During my first professional development meeting with her, she point-blank asked me if I was scared of her.  I bold-facedly lied and said, "No."  (If you're reading this, sorry.)

"Hang on - didn't you just say that she made the experience pleasant?"

Yeah, she did.  

For all the austerity and demands for good work, she was also very trusting when it came to our work.  I've had helicopter supervisors, and they make me want to strangle myself, but VO tended to be hands off and more of a guide.  She stood up for us when other managers made unreasonable demands. She understood that we had lives outside of the 24/7 plant, and supported us taking time off when we needed it. And, I think what impressed me most of all was, once she walked out of the office at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure zero f***s were given.  It was just a job - a job she was really good at mind you, but it wasn't her life, as evidenced by the fact that she eventually left to go on sabbatical because... she could.  

Suffice it to say, I missed her after she left.

Anyway, as of late, she's been on a road trip with her family, as archived in her own blog, which I will link to here.  Read it or don't; I found it pretty entertaining.

As I read through her posts, I'm reminded that I royally suck at taking vacations.  Last year, I spent all my days either at home or local enough to consider it home, with only a few days in Boston.  DG has been telling me for ages that we both need to be better at taking time off for ourselves, so when C and the brother-in-law invited us to stay with them in Maine, we jumped at the chance.

Over the next couple of days, I'll be writing about my trip, and over the course of the month, I'll see if I can't keep up with more regular posting than I did last year.

Until the next.

1 comment:

  1. Love the new logo, and way to go for having the guts to tell her you weren't afraid of her! She sounds like a great person, I can't wait to read her blog too!

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