Monday on Tuesday

It's day's like this when I know I need to retire. It only takes one extra day off (even if I was in class) to convince me I've outlasted my usefulness in this office. Oh, sure, I still do my job but my heart isn't in it. It's not fun any more.

Who said work should be fun? Certainly not our supervisors. But think about it. If moral is low, productivity goes to hell. The boss doesn't care as long as he get's his six figure salary, a huge incentive paycheck and he can blame the peons below him when something goes wrong.

Oh darn, I forgot. We now get to call everyone, including the CEO, Mike. (That's an inside joke. All the top execs in our corporate office are named Mike.) Friday has been designated as jean day...and let me see, there are other changes in the air if I can only remember them. That's right, we are now officially allowed to personalize our cells. I say officially because we've been doing it for years. In addition, lights and air will be left on until 8:00PM in case you have no life and want to stay here and work that late.

Let's discuss work cubicles for a moment. I am fortunate enough to have one to myself even if I feel like I'm going to be puked out into the hall at any moment. I can't even adjust my underwear with a small modicum of privacy. Some people have what is refferd to as "pods". That's four pour souls jammed together with half-height walls between them. Prisoners have more privacy.


Moving on now to the saga of my defunct dishwasher. The new unit was delivered late Saturday morning. I'd taken the old one out the night before, so I was all ready to install my shiny new Porche of a dishwasher. The first thing I discovered was that the water intake was under the machine instead of on the side. Not wanting to make more than one trip to Home Depot, I checked for other situations that might bite me in the butt. Second problem; the copper pipe from under the sink was too short.

That appeared to be all I would need to purchase to complete the project. The guy at Home Depot was very helpfull. He even had a kit that contained that little "L" shaped adapter do hickey for attaching the water line and a new style woven hose to deliver water all in one package.

Back home, I decided it'd be easier to attach the hose before sliding the unit into place since it had to be layed on its back to get to the coupling. Then I leveled it, slipped the other end of the hose through the opening under the sink and cautiously moved it into place. Oh success was so sweet! At least that's what I thought.

It seems that the *&^#%$ plumbers who installed the original unit used a 3/8" flange nipple instead of a 3/8" compression fitting. Guess what! You can't use a female compression fitting with a male nipple. So now, my beautiful new dishwasher is just setting there looking beautiful. I even got the electrical wiring accomplished without a hitch (or a zap) but what good is that if you can't hook up to the water.

I also have bruises on the back of both arms from trying to wedge myself under the sink. I look like someone beat me up. Are all plumbers Munchkins?

Damn, damn and double damn. It's a conspiracy!