Dog Work

This weekend was the first time mine and my boyfriend’s dogs met each other. It was just horrible to start, and then it got better. I tend to think of dogs like I do young children. They don’t know anything unless you teach them. They push any and all boundaries just to see if they can get away with it. They operate on impulses. They don’t know what new things are ok and what new things aren’t ok unless they ask you. I have similar thoughts for dog training as I do for child sitting. Things like,
*This is a listening area. Only good listeners can be in this area. Non-listeners can go sit in their cage.
*I don’t think you should be licking her.
*We don’t go potty on the carpet.
*That is her toy. You can’t steal her toy.
*Keep your hands to yourself.
*Eat your food and no one elses.
*You have to sit before you get a treat.
*No biting.

Oh. Puppies. I had forgotten. I now remember. Constant “time-out”s Strangers allowing the dog to misbehave. Yelling at the dog and scaring the guests. MEMORIES I’m so glad I don’t have to do that again.

At work, I assist in the holiday card distribution. I had to present options, order, fold, stuff, and address the cards. I’m new here. They’ve been doing this process for decades. In the past, the girl who controlled the process, decided on how things would go. This year, everyone had an opinion, and I accepted and dealt with each one. So the process changed, but the basics stayed the same. You receive a list of customers or clients. You make some sort of notation as to who should no longer be on the list. You make some sort of notation to denote whose card you want to sign. Then there is the highly complex issue of whether the person should get a card, a loaf of charity bread, or a gift basket.
These are high pressure issues, I know.
It’s all board members and top managers who get this list. They’re engineers. (At least, I think so. It’s my understanding that if you’re going to manage engineers, and make deals with engineers, you might be an engineer.) I’m pretty good about detailing directions. I dumb them down as low as possible and be as specific as I can so when you read them, they make sense and can be easily followed.
The deadline for this was Monday. It’s now Tuesday. One person did it pretty close to what I asked for. I’m giving her an A-. One person only crossed off some names that shouldn’t be on there. One person said they did it, but must not have saved it to the same folder. One person handed me the old copies with 5 people crossed off (the list is approx. 600), and said he would “give me a list” of who he wanted to send a card to later this afternoon or tomorrow. That’s not even half the people.
Seriously?
I need to go work at the Ayn Rand Institute.