File that under "N" for Not My Problem

Background:
Last week we announced we were getting rid of one of our company refrigerators since we've purchased a new one. I sent out an e-mail on Tuesday telling people they needed to get anything they  wanted to keep out of the old fridge by 4 PM on Friday and that everything that remained after that would be thrown in the trash.

Here's a conversation I had today.
DC= disgruntled coworker
M= me

DC "What happened to everything that was in the other refrigerator?"
M "It's in the trash"
DC "I just bought some ice cream sandwiches, and I forgot on Friday. Did they throw that away?"
M "Yes" 
DC "What about my tupperware?"
M "It's in the trash" (noticing a trend here?)

She was mad, but the only person she had to be mad at was herself. As my coworker say "Sounds like a personal problem to me." It's sure not my problem.

This guy is not the one- UPDATE

We offered the job to this guy. I'm appalled.

This guy is not the one

The following candidate gave us something to talk about today. The story was told to me by my boss, who heard it from someone on the interview team

It started with the candidate griping about how hard it was to find his way around (we're under construction, and our facility is a maze. Even we spend a lot of time figuring out how to get from point A to point B). He was carrying his tie and coffee upon arrival (more than one person saw him come in carrying the tie. I'm sad I didn't get to witness this myself).

He entered the interview room and took off his coat. He then proceeded to put it not on his chair, but on the chair next to him. He placed his cell phone on the table (hello, that thing should be in your CAR). It rang during the interview. He apologized, but took the time to look & see who was calling. Apparently he didn't turn it off, because later in the interview it started vibrating. Again, he took the time to look and see who was calling (my coworker said "he didn't want to miss a call from his next job".)

Obviously, this guy isn't getting the job. But here's the thing: I don't think he wanted it. As I told a couple of people today, an interview is an interview for both parties. The company is seeing if it likes the candidate, and the candidate is seeing if he/she likes the company. I think his initial impression put him off, and he was done. I get it because I went through something similar myself recently, but I handled it with a bit more grace than this guy did. But, hey, he gave us something to laugh about, so it works for me.

Now that's irony

On Thursday our building was scheduled to have no water for at least 4 hours while a tie in related to our construction was done. I of course took off as I don't do port-a-potties. Here's how it went for those who remained, as explained in an e-mail by the person from our company in charge of this project:

The water shut off will not happen today.
(Water company) can't seem to find the right shut off valve.

Irony: You are the water company, and you can't figure out how to turn off the water

Rainbow

A week ago Friday, it started raining after I got home. I looked outside, and the sun was also shining. This meant prime conditions for rainbows. Sure enough, I went out on my porch, and I saw a gorgeous double rainbow. I went back in the house and grabbed my camera. Though the double had faded from view, I still got this great shot of the main rainbow. It had some of the most vivid colors I'd ever seen.

A little time spent, a lot of money saved

I've been with my car insurance company for a very long time, probably nearly a decade. They have always treated me well, and the rates have always been competitive. Imagine my shock when I got my most recent bill and saw it had went up 13.7%! There's nothing on my end that's made it higher, so it was time to do some shopping.

My first quote 26% LESS than my current insurer. Oh yes, this was time well spent. I spent about an hour making calls, and the best quote was 36.8% under my carrier's premium. I called my current insurer to see if they could do any better. They said no, they'd had an across the board rate increase. I thus switched.

My hour's work was very financially rewarding. It saved me in the 3 figure range for the next six months. Competition can indeed be good for the consumer.

Fun fact: I own shares in my new insurer's parent company. That earn me a discount. How awesome is that?

Proofing matters

Last week there was a want ad for a local company in the newspaper. I was reading it as the company is just down the street from mine, and the position is one we hire for from time to time. It was standard verbiage until the part where they preferred the candidate to have experience with an "anal boom lift". Yes, you read that correctly. I believe they meant an "aerial boom lift". I e-mailed the person who placed the ad to let her know, but I bet she'd already heard.

I truly believe that proofreading is a lost art. I am amazed how often I find typos. I found one last week in a best selling novel, and I saw one today on a website for a huge insurance provider. Spell check is a good first step, but it won't catch instances where a real word is used incorrectly for another one, as happened in the ad above. I've said before that one of my side businesses is going to be proofreading (another one is how to interview). It's a direly needed.