The One With the Worst Day Ever

Boy, was today a terrible day. I had a fight with my boss. She can be incredibly hard to deal with at times, and yesterday, I felt she made an unreasonable request. She asked me to go take pictures of these signs by the our water recycling facility that were put up for the anniversary event Friday. She had already told us we were going to have to put in 12 hours, beginning at 6 a.m. Friday, and work late Thursday. I had dog class, and she didn't ask me but told me I was going to do this on my own time, not work time. I told her that I didn't have time and I would do it in the morning and be a little late to work. I live closest to the plant, but it's 10 minutes the opposite way of work, and I thought it was unreasonable for her to ask me to do a personal favor for her on my time. We're going to be at the plant Friday, and she was just excited to see what it looked like. Had it been a crucial piece of getting the anniversary event done, I would have done it.

Needless to say, this made her furious. We had an hour and a half argument today instead of working, which she likes to call "having a talk." She told me that she felt I slapped her in the face and she was extremely disappointed because it was me, of all people, the person she trusts the most. She then proceeded to throw back in my face every time she'd let me off for a doctor's appointment and long lunches, which I use to go to private lessons with my other boss sometimes. Let me just say that I have made up all that time. I also work late every day, arrive early every morning and often skip lunch -- though less lately, which makes her mad. I more than make up those hours. But not to her. She thinks I owe her. "If I tell you to do something, you need to do it."

This then turned into a talk about how she does so much to develop me and I don't realize how much she tries to help me. I defended myself very well, telling her how much I give her and how I felt she was being unreasonable. It lasted forever. I even told her stuff I had been bottling for awhile, like how I had overheard her making fun of me in a way I found inappropriate and how I knew she called me "unreliable" to my other co-worker. I really put a lot of things out there, and I don't think it helped because she never sees her own wrongs.

My co-worker is leaving, so my boss also used this opportunity to tell me how much more she would need me until we found someone to take her place. This means extra hours for me that I won't get paid for. It means more time away from Muggsy and more time that I can't dog train. It means more time that I'm not working on the things I love and am spending time at this job that makes me upset.

After all this, she starts to go on about why she doesn't like my co-worker and is glad she's leaving. So she gave her a pretty shitty assignment for her last two days, which made my co-worker furious, and I was caught in the middle of a pretty vicious cat fight today, both of them confiding in me because they're too passive aggressive to fight each other.

Then, I get home to work with Muggsy, leading me to today's training diary.

Muggsy's Training Diary, Days 17-18
May 31-June 1, 2005

Yesterday, I didn't work Muggsy because I had dog class. Today was not a pleasant return. First of all, he attacked Chubbs today. They were playing and then Muggsy attacked. It was pretty vicious. This is the first time in two-three weeks that this has happened.

Later, in training, he was just refusing to put on the muzzle. It took me almost a half-hour, a record by 20 minutes probably. It was ridiculous. I tried different treats and making it seem like a game and getting serious. Nothing was working. It finally happened, but I was about to lose my cool. I tried ignoring him for awhile so that he was trying to seek my attention instead of the other way around and that finally worked. Sigh. I took it off fairly quickly, which I guess is backing up a little, but I felt it was necessary.

Door! went much better. He's gotten that down, and he gets nervous at first, but he calms down. I bought more of the beef jerky he likes yesterday, and he was happy to take that through cracks in the door. I think he sees this trick as the lesser of two evils. Wait until we have to combine it. Great.

It's like this. By mid-July, he needs to be ready to wear a muzzle behind the door while someone handles him. By the beginning of July, I need to have him at the vet practicing this. That means that the last week of June, I need to do it in front of Elaine. So that means that in three weeks, I need to be able to get the muzzle on him while he goes for a ride in the car, comes back and stands behind the door. By the third week, I should be taking him in the car. By the second week, I should have him comfortable going outside and around the house with the muzzle and coming back to go behind the door. That really only leaves me two weeks to get good at this. It's getting hard. I guess I just have to do the best I can with the hand I'm dealt, just like Muggsy.

He's lucky I love him. I don't think the average pet owner would put in this kind of work into a dog. He's extremely frustrating, especially when I'm depressed. But I adore him, and he makes me happy, and I'm sure we'll be fine.

New Subject -- Baltimore
Here's when you know you've arrived. I drive the exact same car as my boss, the General Manager and one other senior manager. I'm really moving up in the world. I love how fast my V6 speeds up, and I can change my radio station and adjust my volume from my steering wheel. Pretty cool. Just wanted to end on a cheery note.