It didn’t even last as long as I had thought it would. It’s funny really. The Points System only really lasted for a month and a half. I figured this pseudo rewards system would go on for at least a year. I knew it was coming when they took down the one from December and didn’t put up a new one. It really is to bad, as I took the time to work this whole points system into my site layout. You can find the previous two months here and here. The current one can still be found here.

It seems I will be receiving a 10 buck gift card from Best Buy for the points I got for fixing the spyware problem. Which is a nice gesture, but as I explained to the front desk manager it is not necessary. As always if the hotel wants to reward their employees all they need to do is give us raises. But what can you do?

If they really want to reward me they can start the new schedule as I’ve discussed with the front desk manager. Working Sunday through Thursday would make me a very happy employee. That’s 40 hours a week, every week. That would be a step in the right direction. In fact that is the only way to make me happy. Because I know I won’t be getting a raise.

So I haven’t been updating enough. It’s kind of a honor to be told that. It validates what it is I do here. Whatever “it” is I do. It should be apparent that I’m a lazy bastard. Anyone that has ever e-mailed me can attest to that statement.

So I’m back to work. After the latest batch of viruses and spyware a new memo was posted telling the front desk staff they are not allowed to “download anything from the internet anymore!”, which isn’t really the problem. The memo also explains the virus/spyware problem was caused from opening attachments. This isn’t really the case.

These problems can be tracked back to simple user error with a dash of stupidity. Now maybe everyone is not as net savy as I assume I am. But 99.9% of these problems are caused simply by viewing websites one should not look at in the workplace. For example Node 1 (the pc I use) had another infestation of spyware on it when I came in tonight. Now seeing as I was off the last four days the problem is not caused by anything I do. Which brings up the question of who the culprit (or culprits are) and what to do with them. The memo states that:

Anyone not abiding new policy will be written up and/or terminated.

And for once I’m in total agreement with the management’s position on this subject. Anyone stupid enough to reek this kind of havoc should be fired. I’m sorry if this sounds harsh. But this is workplace computers your fucking up. If you want to jerk off to porn, have the common courtesy to do it at home.

I’m thinking about keeping a log of the websites people at the hotel visit. Like the memo stated “Simply erasing the history does not delete where you’ve been” and it would be easy enough to setup a nice little program that grabs urls. It could be a new feature here at my site. I could call it stupid workplace internet browsing habits and post the top ten urls once a week. It’s just beyond my comprehension how this shit is still a problem.

Now I don’t want to come off like a bad guy or anything. But if you look at the forum calender you will see the way the hotel work schedule is supposed to be. It still amazes me how this simple thing can be such a problem. It’s kind of like the polish guide to fucking. Four days on, four days off, and then repeat.

Which brings me to explaining the title of this post. The Favor System. Which is something I believe in. It’s kind of like respect, that favors have to be earned. I expect if I do a favor for someone that the favor be returned. It’s common sense mafia shit. Now if you don’t do me the favor in return, unlike the mafia I won’t kill you. Just don’t expect to ever have me do you a favor in return.

Another thing I don’t like is having someone go over my head. That is a big no no. That is a major thing to remember. You go over my head and there are no more favors. You go over my head and you no longer have my support. You go over my head and your on your own.

Part of the problem I’m talking about can be explained with the following excerpt from Trillian‘s chat log:

Session Start (Hotel Guy:Turk): Sun Nov 30 06:29:38 2003
Hotel Guy: hey did u have christmas off last year or did i
*** Auto-response from Turk: Im in the middle of DAoC, or Star Wars Galaxies. Of course, I could be in the middle of your mom too. Check to see if my car is in your driveway.
**Swiped from Gawain
Turk: I don’t remember
Hotel Guy: ok
Turk: why?
Hotel Guy: i asked for the 24-26 off
Turk: oh
Turk: why don’t you just leave it the way it is
Turk: you would have off 25-28 as it is with the 4 on 4 off
Turk: accept you would have to work the 24
Turk: which is a big whoop
Turk: your working 31st
Hotel Guy: that’s not a problem
Session Close (Turk): Sun Nov 30 07:02:28 2003

This is all of the problem actually. Now the way I read this is that the two of us agreed on the way the schedule would be. So you can understand why I’m slightly pissed off. The funny thing about this chat log is that I got it off of the work computer. Unknown to the Hotel Guy Trillian has been keeping a chat log of all of his conversations. Which is cool because here I was thinking I would have to wait till I got home to put this up.

Maybe this pisses me off more than it should. But all I want is Christmas Eve off. I’m not asking for a lot here. And this whole thing is all about the work schedule changing. When it’s first put out I have my four days off like it is in the forum calender. But it mysteriously changes when I come in to work. Well it’s not all that much of a mystery really.

Me and the Hotel Guy had just talked about this over the phone a few days ago. He had asked me if I would switch days with him. He wanted to trade some day of his for the 24th. My answer was no. I told him not to be greedy. And this is what this is. I totally understand the need to be with your family on Christmas morning. I understand quite a bit. I got my niece and nephew and these kids make Christmas fun again for me.

Now not to bring the whole mafia-like vibe back into this topic, but don’t ever go around me again. I don’t threaten, I’m just stating a fact. I’m the kind of person you want with you not against you. Lot’s of things have changed now with this bullshit. Your on your own now. Don’t ask me for favors or help in any matter. It’s to bad this had to happen. Such a petty thing to loose someone that was in your corner over. I’m not saying I’m anything special, it’s just that it doesn’t hurt to have a person on your side. And with the way things are at the hotel a person needs all the help they can get.

So the Spyware problem I wrote about yesterday got me ten whole points. No one can tell what I can get with my points, which just supports my claim that this “points system” is just in place for punishment.

Now the spyware problem isn’t over. In fact it was a lot worse than I had suspected. The spyware coexisted with viruses. Besides the hundreds of little bits of spyware the computer in question (Node 3) had 12 viruses on it. I managed to clean out the virus’s after a few hours of fucking with it. There was one that was very persistent and wouldn’t die easily. It would spawn other viruses in fact. The virus in question was named TalkStocks.F (also known as Downloader.MSCache) and is a Trojan Horse.

The spyware problem isn’t solved on Node 3. In fact it is going to be a problem for a long time. The last remnants of spyware on that pc won’t go away. This shit is some stuff from N-Case and Bargain Buddy. You can run good old Ad-aware and it cleans the shit out, until you reboot and then it’s all back. Thankfully the pc I use (Node 1) is crystal clear. And that’s the way it’s going to stay. If I have to lock it down I will.

It’s funny about the viruses though. These pc’s we have came with McAffe VirusScan. Of course McAffe didn’t detect shit as far as virus’s. It’s funny of course because I downloaded AVG Free Edition and got the virus problem taken care of. Which is a great compliment to this free piece of software, which to me functions better than either McAffe or Norton.

And personally if it were up to me I would fire whomever it was that caused all of these problems. I don’t care if this is a case of ignorance. This shit is unacceptable. Hundreds of spyware, dozens of viruses all of which a business would not want. God forbid any of our clientele found out how insecure we are at this hotel because of computer incompetent employees.

Thanks to Gawain for summing up my last post in an easy to read manner:

It sounds like you had a healthy dose of “make me a pussy” the other day. A nice hot cup-o-puss. Yeah. I mean, I understand you have to be polite when you insult somebody, but wow. You sucked up and then mentioned they might be late sometimes and could they please stop or you might have to send them a stern letter. But I guess since your hotel people read it, you cant exactly fill an entry with “FUCK YOU FDM” over and over again.

This is a good time to mention I’m apparently a pussy and gay:

you are indigo #4B0082

Your dominant hues are blue and magenta. You’re the one who goes to all the parties but doesn’t quite fit in at every one… you know what you want, but are afraid of what the world might think of it. You’re a little different and that’s okay with them, and if you’re smart it’s okay with you too. Your saturation level is very high – you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn’t be afraid to lead people, because if you’re doing it, it’ll be done right. Your outlook on life can be bright or dark, depending on the situation. You are flexible and see things objectively.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Oh well, you win some and you lose some.

Perhaps I’ve started off on this whole thing the wrong way? I shouldn’t be so hard on the new front desk manager. This person hasn’t been doing this as long as I have and may not know how things are at the hotel. One has to take in account the fact this new one is just starting out in this business. And make no mistake, anyone who comes into a management gig and has less than five years under their belt is going to have a hard time at this hotel.

They have no idea of the places history and what the current situation is really like at the hotel. You got to understand I’ve been doing this hotel stuff (one way or another) for over ten years now and my previous comment about earing respect still holds. And I understand that respect runs both ways. I’m just in the position that my respect given is of a greater value than that of a three year “veteran” of the hotel business.

Look at it this way. I am the only one (apparently) able to train people on how to do the audit. Now the questions to ask yourself is do I get payed to train people? Am I a manager were it would be my responsibility to train people for the audit? So you will have to forgive me if I come off a little gruff. You add this training thing to the list which includes no vacations and a lack of a raise in a long time. The list by the way that keeps me from doing anything other than the audit.

The issue of being late (really late) to work, on the other hand is still something that pisses me off. That’s not something you will be able to change how I feel about. Your a manager it’s your duty to lead by example. And as a matter of fact I asked the consultant the following question: “you come in at a scheduled time and you leave at a scheduled time right? And you expect to leave at your scheduled time?” His reply was yes to both questions. So I guess I’m right on that one.

This is going to be one of those “riddle me this Batman” kind of posts, just for the fact I’m fucking stumped. You see this morning I’m waiting to go home. Now I don’t know about anyone else, but when I’m scheduled to leave at 7:00 am I expect to leave at 7:00 am. I’m kind of funny that way. I’m getting ahead of myself.

So this morning I’m waiting to leave work. Now I give a person 5 minutes after my designated time before I call them. So of course the five minutes were up and I called the nice lady who was supposed to work. She explained that she had called the front desk manager at 5:30 am. She further explained that at 5:30 am the front desk manager told her they would come in.

Now this is were my attitude comes in. Because the way I do things (that is the way anyone with more than 4 years experience does things) is different than what went on this morning. Here are the events that went the way they were supposed to. 1. An employee isn’t coming in so she calls her “manager”. 2. The said “manager” tells the sick employee that they would work for them.

Now after that the way things normally would work get thrown right out the window. First if I were a “manager” I would have called the night audit guy to let them know I’m coming in for the employee who couldn’t come in. It’s the polite thing to do, and the night audit guy appreciates stuff like that. And besides being the polite thing to do the “manager” would have earned some respect from the audit guy. And let me tell you respect is earned, not given. Second if I were a “manager” I would make sure I came in on time. I mean I would have had enough of a warning in advance because the employee called me at 5:30 am. Because what kind of example is it I set as “manager” if I can’t come in on time? And none of this occurred. I was not called and told someone else was coming in. And yes I was a little pissed.

But I want it to be crystal clear I had no intention to write about this. I had no intention to say anything at all about this topic either here on my site or in the real world. But when I’m told that other employees were asked by this “manager” if my attitude was always like this I just had to say something. You see I had thought I had made my position clear on this kind of subject matter, but I guess I need to say it again.

Under the current regime I expect quite a bit. I expect a person to come in when they are scheduled. I expect this doubly so if it is a manager coming in. Because as I said above what does it say to me a peon, if a “manager” comes in late? Of course I realize this also applies to me. And I do my best to make sure I come in on time. In the last five years alone I have only missed one day (as far as I can remember). I also expect to leave at the time I’m scheduled to. So if I’m scheduled to leave at 7:00 am, then by god I expect to be walking out the doors at about 7:01 am. No exceptions on this one.

Now I expect all of this for a number of reasons. Reasons I have stated before. But I will cover them again. I’m paid a meager eight dollars and seventy five cents an hour. You the employer gets what they pay for. I have not got a raise or a review in over two years. I also don’t get vacation pay. It’s because of this I do not do more than what I’m payed to do. This means I just do the audit, that is it. And you will have to forgive me if I want to get the fuck out of the place when my time comes. There is no beyond the call of duty with me. You want that to change you now what you have to do. And you don’t have a lot of time on your hands.