Open Bar: We're going to build a bar, and make the drinks pay for it!

[PoFP]

Fernando Poo I suspect, in a speculative entertainment only capacity, that you have a nutrition deficit of potassium, but going to a doc is a must because it could be a congenital muscular or neurological problem. That you've experienced those symptoms for a long time implies that you either eat very poorly on the regular or you're not able to utilize potassium properly for some reason. If you're not inclined to go or the cost is prohibitive you could consume a banana with each meal for a week and 2 before bedtime and see if your symptoms persist. If they do persist AT ALL after a week or don't improve in the slightest after a couple days go asap.

I've been blood tested for many things due to my previous sleep issues. I don't have any deficiencies that they know of.

Also, due to my massive intake of Gatorade/Powerade and meat, and Milk, I wouldn't suspect I'd be low on Potassium, like you mentioned, or on magnesium, like LuciferX mentioned. The combination of severe memory issues and muscular issues and sleep issues smells a little like fibromayalgia to me. And the fact that all of it is continuously getting worse, makes it seem degenerative like fibromayalgia. But hey, now I'm starting to sound like I spent hours on WebMD. So I'm just gonna go get a professional opinion lol

Thank you all very much for your input.

[Freeky]

Good luck. Hope you're not dying.

[Cain]

So, I got this shitty email from my boss today:

From: My manager
Sent: 14 May 2016 16:48
To: my co-worker; Me
Cc: Department manager
Subject: Unauthorised visitors

Hi Cain's co-worker/Cain,
 
On viewing the CCTV footage today at 01:41am [student name] (6a) walked pass reception with a unauthorised visitor.
 
On viewing the footage from this time through till gone 03:00am neither of you lifted you head at any time to engage with any student.
 
Please can you both write a statement as to why during the course of your shift you have both neglected to engage with students either entering or departing the building.
 
We have a duty of care towards all students who reside here –
 
I have spoken with the student who initially denied this, after approaching her again she admitted she snuck her friend in, in the early hours of this morning, the student will be permitted anymore visitors this month and all future request from her will be vetted by myself.
 
Cain – please discuss with Cain's co-worker when next on shift my requirements surrounding this issue also, you more than anyone should know my expectations surrounding this.
 
I will be arranging meeting with you both shortly.
 
Regards

As you can imagine, that didn't put me in a good mood.  Here are my drafted responses (if you have any critiques, please feel free to add them)

Dear Manager,

Firstly, thank you for your email pointing this out.  It is indeed unfortunate that an unauthorized guest slipped by on one of my shifts.

However, I would like to pose a few questions and raise some concerns in regard to this.

Firstly, you mention wanting a statement from my co-worker and myself, and having a meeting.  Is this part of a formal disciplinary procedure against either of us?

My co-worker has sent you her account of the night's events.  For the record, I was on my break from 0100 to 0300, and thus was not present in order to see what happened or form a response.  I had both a charged walkie-talkie and my mobile to hand, and upon return I asked my co-worker if there had been any issues, to which she responded there had not, only a few residents returning.  Please consider this my formal statement as to the events of that night.

More broadly, I would like to note I have mentioned, more than once, in person and via email my concerns about our current system for accounting for guests.  For the sake of reference, please see my "Concerns" email on January 7th.  All the concerns about guests I have put there continue to be valid, and have not been addressed.

I specifically mentioned, for example, the impossibility of being able to recognise all students, or be sure that students in large numbers are all residents without further processes being put in place.  I frequently see students I do not recognise but are residents here - I have seen 6 just this evening, by way of example.  Am I to detain students until I can ascertain their identity by their key or their passport photo?  If not, how do you propose we are to identify non-residents?  And how are we to balance this against the students right to privacy and freedom from undue scrutiny?

Furthermore, I did stress the importance of recognising students in regards to making sure only authorised persons are permitted to the building, when training my co-worker.  It was one of the first things I told her, and I have impressed on her a number of times since then how importantly it is taken by the College, including by discussing what happened regarding [fired guy].  My co-worker raised concerns about how to recognise resident students with myself on the first night, to which I did not have a good reply...because I am still waiting on one from my January email.

If you wish to see evidence of this, you can look to an incident earlier on the same night as this one, where my co-worker alerted me to a guest going past reception with a friend without signing in.  I raced to apprehend the guest, bring them back to reception, sign them in and explain the rules to them (the resident was 13C, whose English is, as you know, exceptionally poor, so I decided explaining to the guest would be easier).  I even mentioned to my co-worker that I was considering putting signs up in reception to remind students that their guests must sign in (which unfortunately I did not get around to that night).  This is one of a number of incidents I could discuss...all of which I note, have not been mentioned, in preference for discussing a single failure.  I do not consider this to be a balanced approach, to put it mildly.

in addition to the above, I have been mentioning security issues regarding the building and access for the better part of a year now.  If you wish precise dates and examples, I am willing to provide, though I will remind you I did offer the college the opportunity to use my services as a security analyst and professional before now, an offer which has yet to be accepted.

I sincerely hope this is a one off case, and of course my co-worker and myself will be more vigilant to the possibility of unauthorized guests in the future, but these issues will persist without a system in place to better prevent them.  Given the less than ideal circumstances we are subjected to, I do think we have done rather well thus far and so this kind of email is not necessary.

Regards,

Dear Manager and Department Head,

On a more personal level, I do not appreciate my dedication to the wellbeing and safeguarding of the students in this building being questioned or slyly implicated as not up to par.

As mentioned in my previous email, I have raised time and time again issues relating to security and access, only to be ignored.  I have raised concerns that the set-up of this building is not conducive to being able to offer the full support to students that would be ideal, even on a practical level.

Not only that, I have spent my own free time, money and holiday time on training specific to security, radicalisation and other issues of key importance in a pastoral setting - at no cost whatsoever to the college.  I have gone out of my way on several occasions to offer my advice and expertise on these subjects, only to have them not be followed up upon or entirely dismissed out of hand.  It is not my attitude or dedication to the safeguarding of students that requires further examination.

If you feel my commitment to these issues is not up to standard, then I question why I was chosen for the role of Senior House Parent.  I am not happy to be working in an environment where my principal managers appear to not trust my competency, training, ability or dedication.

As you may have noticed, I am not very happy about the tone of this email, nor the comments directed specifically at myself.  I consider them to be a slur on my professional reputation, out of proportion to the incident at hand and purposefully ignoring my record of success, and I am considering how I want to officially respond at this time.

I am not unresponsive to deserved criticism or suggestions for improvement, but I do not feel this is either.

Regards,

[Cainad (dec.)]

Woooo! Run that poison pen dry!

[Junkenstein]

I'll have a play tomorrow if you want. The word "clearly" needs to be in there more and I'd consider just bolting most of the second into the first.

If you feel my commitment to these issues is not up to standard, then I question why I was chosen for the role of Senior House Parent.  I am not happy to be working in an environment where my principal managers appear to not trust my competency, training, ability or dedication.Given that I am suitably qualified and experienced for this role and the fact of the matter is that there is no apparent failing on my and my colleagues part, I do not accept or appreciate such insinuations or back handed allegations. I would expect a suitably qualified and experienced Manager to be able to approach employees about such matters before resorting to e-mail. I am very concious that email can be a time consuming chore which would explain why I have still not had your formal response to my email of the 7th of Jan. I have attached this again for your reference and formally request your response in full within the next working day as these are matters of the utmost importance and materially affect the safety of staff and students under your duty of care

You're being way, way, way too nice.

[Junkenstein]

Own time/money etc. also needs a note about no reimbursement and an approximate total cost to date (will/can not be refuted and useful to record legally)

Also, why the fuck were they watching CCTV? If nothing happened then there is literally no reason to ever look at it unless they're just trying to check on you.

It stinks to fuck. The only sensible thing to do is block the exits, pour the petrol and start flicking matches until enough money appears to make you want to fuck off.

[Cain]

Regarding CCTV, despite what the email says, the unauthorized guest departed at 1500 the next day, so presumably that is what started the look at the recordings.

I'm not sure if I want to go to DEFCON1 just yet...I was hoping a few months to save up, slim down then look at the job and housing market before making a move.  But I'm not adverse to the idea, or to at least implying I will.

[Junkenstein]

I'll remind you of the value that Game theory places on threats.

I'm sure if you took the "Burn everything" route you've got plenty to fuck them with. I'd suggest it may actually be worth grabbing a brief or two for a chat as if you're able to burn it there's a damn good chance they'll just pay you to sign a NDA and fuck off.

And hey, if not, bonfire.

[Cain]

Very true.  And while escalation before hasn't helped with optimal goals, it has had the effect of causing them to back down.

[The Wizard Joseph]

My only thoughts were to perhaps remove the parenthetical about linguistic ability of that one student as irrelevant unless they should need to inquire for some strange reason, and also that a request to also review the footage of this "incident" is in order.

[Junkenstein]

My only thoughts were to perhaps remove the parenthetical about linguistic ability of that one student as irrelevant unless they should need to inquire for some strange reason, and also that a request to also review the footage of this "incident" is in order.

I'd say keep that in and emphasise it. It demonstrates inattention to student ability to understand a system, lack of remedial action to rectify despite notification, possibly a persistent problem, failure to cater for non-english languge needs, raising a minor issue while wilfully ignoring more serious safety concerns and a whole lot more bullshit I could dream up after sleep too.

If you could type up something nicely complementary to yourself in their native language and get them to sign it (Bribe the little shit if needs be) then that alone would be enough to terrify and crucify them.

[Cain]

Well, I know he knows that student has virtually no English...but as you say, it's a reminder of several other problems.

I also think I'm going to mention being undermined in front of my own member of staff.  The first email was addressed to both my co-worker and myself, and so is pretty clearly an attempt to "put me in my place" under the guise of telling me how to do my job and disciplining her.

Can't say I'm a fan of that.

[Junkenstein]

Fuck these people. It's office dominance bullshit instead of actually doing their fucking job and fixing the problems. Or their job is to ignore said problems which gets me back to "Fuck these people".

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I drove myself to the mountain today, on account of waking up late.

Made it on time, whatever.

On the way home, I noticed that the route I took was 90 miles and had exactly 3 stop lights (2 of them crossing the interstate), and 2 stop signs.  That's it.

[Junkenstein]

That's either a beautiful drive or horrible deathtrap. Possibly both.