The first week back is over.

So far today I have had the same person tell me twice how stupid management is. Once they actually nudged me to get me to remove my headphones so that they could impart this priceless piece of negativity. Ok, people. I got it. Been working here for years. Management is dumb. Thanks for the tip. I might have actually missed that.

There was an unpleasant encounter before lunch. I was working with one other person on a specific job. It involves entering fingerprints manually via a scanner into AFIS. AFIS produces a candidate list to be verified or eliminated. There are a limited number of these stations so work is prioritized. This works well if everyone follows the protocol. My co-worker refused to split the top priority work with me. Not only was she nasty about it but it put me in an awkward position and really pissed off the person who needed the results to get the work out. I did the best that I could but refused to be rushed. Between the two of us all the work could have easily been completed. Instead she chose to work on the lowest priority work we have. None of this will reflect back on me but it is frustrating.

The next time I took my headphones off was near the end of the day. I was treated to the most bizarre story. My co-worker's husband's friend was really drunk and had access to power tools. Always a great beginning. He cuts a good slash into his leg and somehow winds up at the veterinarian's office. This occurred in rural Texas so it's really not that big of a stretch. The veterinarian wisely refused to treat this man, so instead of going to a human doctor (again) he stitches the gash together with a staple gun. A staple gun! Fifteen 'stitches' in all. So this friend of her husband's was over for dinner one night telling his story. He asked my co-worker if she wanted to see the scar, she said sure, her husband said no. She says to her husband I've been on ranches all my life I'm sure this isn't something I haven't seen before. I guess weird injuries are common down on the farm. She says to him show me. Does he roll up his pant leg to show her? No, that would have been to easy. He stands up and drops his trousers. At dinner. In front of his friend's wife. I laughed so hard tears were rolling down my cheeks.

So it is the end of the first week. My eyes are on fire. They hurt so much. I kept having to wipe my eyes because I'm making so much discharge. I can't believe that I didn't acknowledge how tired my eyes were at the end of the day. No wonder my head has been pounding.

The Bipolar/Depression group was a real let down. The group started out fairly small but as more and more people trickled in the group split into two smaller groups. I picked the unhappy group. I didn't mean to. As person after person fell to pieces in the group I was in I could hear the other group's animated chatter spattered with laughter. I was so jealous.

Today was the day that the new phones came. Tom got us the COOLEST new phones! I'm having fun learning what all it can do!