23,514 Minutes....

I'm singing the "525,600 Minutes" song in my head. See, I've started a countdown. I know how many days, hours... minutes.... I have left here.

It puts it all in perspective.

In case you didn't pick up already, I have the most abominable job. I work for a division that is largely blue collar, and its belief is that all staff, non-exempt or otherwise, should be treated like an hourly worker. My former boss, the evil harridan from hell, used to ensure that we all faced the same exact rules, whether we are a senior-level staff person or the mail room clerk. I was expected to arrive early and stay late as needed, but if ever I had to arrive late or leave early, I had to supply a plan for how I would "make up" the time, or else submit a written request for time off.

The funniest was when my boss didn't want to approve time off for a doctor's appointment, stating that we were too busy to justify anyone out of the office.

In addition, the people who work in my company, in general, and even in my department, are what we'd call "less than professional" in both their demeanors and backgrounds. I would say that even the salary-level employees of this company trend toward the non-college-educated. Not that such is a problem, but the demeanor, and dress, and (snobbily she says) intellect level is. There are many here who just don't get it. At all. And some of them have jobs where they *should* get it.

At the end of the day, my situation has been, at best, that of a square peg trying to wiggle into the round hole. I've adapted. I'm smart enough to figure out that I needed to make this work until I had my feet on the ground in this city, and I established a network to help me find a job.

But, that never happened. I never gelled here, and it just didn't work. So now I begin my countdown until I leave.

23,514 minutes doesn't actually leave a lot of time. I have a lot to finish. I better get cracking!