February 18, 2023

I had a 7-month layoff after my 3½ year stint at UCLA. I finally got a new contract with L.A. County (in Downey, California) that started February 7^th. My staffing company goofed and used a background check company that the County no longer uses so that delayed things a week. I’m working on their property tax assessment system – not the actual assessment process but maintaining the database of all 1.8 million properties in L.A. County (year built, lot size, number of bathrooms, all improvements, etc.). Here’s a “diary” of my first two weeks:

==DAY ONE==

Today was my first day working for L.A. County.  I’m totally conflicted.

When I was first told about this job, they said it was 100% remote.  Great, I thought.

During the interview, the manager asked, “could you come in two days a week?”  I replied haltingly, “I suppose I COULD but I can’t imagine any benefit it would provide.” She said they’re all back in the office two days a week.  Well, okay, I can tolerate two days a week.  They hired me less than an hour after the interview.

Today on my first day they said they need me in the office THREE days a week.  Apparently L.A. County only lets people work from home a maximum of two days a week.  The reason my boss implied I would have to be in the office 2 days a week is because all of her employees only work four days a week (10 hour days).  So those people ARE coming in to the office two days a week!

I feel so mislead (granted, inadvertently) and betrayed I’m tempted to quit!   HOWEVER, I REALLY REALLY like the people on the team.  They’re SO NICE and friendly and reasonable and sharp and accommodating.

The commute is as brutal as I expected.  It’s 35 miles and takes at least an hour each way.  The office itself is pretty dismal, too.  Huge (albeit sparsely populated) and shabby with NO amenities whatsoever – no coffee, not even water (other than an old drinking fountain).  There are only 4 restaurants within walking distance – a Carl’s Jr., another burger place, a Subway and some generic Chinese place.

If I didn’t like the coworkers SO MUCH, I definitely would have thrown in the towel.

The ironic thing is that my manage works 100% from home!  I guess she got some kind of medical exemption. 

But now do I say anything to anyone?  My staffing firm?  My manager?  There’d be nothing to gain and would only make some people feel bad. Now, even if I did get them to let me work from home more days I’d feel survivor’s guilt!

If this were early in my career I would just suck it up and chalk it up to the “price of admission”.  But after 40 years in this business, it seems like I shouldn’t have to put up with this shit!

Feeling very conflicted.

==DAY TWO==

Today started with my having to drive to Vernon (which is pretty much on the way to my office) to a separate office to get my I.D. badge.  I went in the building and the guard told me I had to go to this other building across the parking lot. At that building they said, “no, this is for employees; for contractors it’s the building you went to the first time.”  I walked back there and the guard said, “I asked you if you were a contractor” (I must not have heard him right).  The first thing you have to do is pay an outrageous fee of $1.00 J.  But the cashier didn’t have my name in her system, so she told me to go down one floor to the actual room where they create the badges, and since she didn’t have me in the system either, she had to walk down the hall to her office and find the info somehow.  She found it, came back and told me to go back upstairs and pay my dollar and bring the receipt back down.  She said there was some kind of problem with the system last night so the newest data didn’t get loaded.  But then she was able to find everything she needed, took my photo and created the badge.

I got to the office about an hour late.  The badge you get from the first place doesn’t have any security chip or strip or anything to allow access to the building but they issue one that does and you have to carry both (first company I’ve ever worked for that has that weird/cumbersome system).  There’s a rumor that they will be combined soon.

Miraculously, that clusterf*** didn’t further erode my enthusiasm.  In fact, I actually felt better about the job today.  My coworkers continue to be fantastic.  I mentioned that it would be nice to have coffee available.  Peter said that Panera Bread has an all-you-can-drink beverage (including coffee) club for 10 or 11 bucks a month – and the first month or two is free.  He said, “it’s afternoon break time so let’s go over there.”  He drove me there (only a quarter of a mile or so) and helped me sign up for the club.  He helped me serve my first cup (a large, at that) of hazelnut coffee and we went back to work. As an aside, he has a cracked windshield, repaired (sorta) with super glue. I asked him why he doesn’t get it replaced and he said it would cost $2,000. It’s only a Honda Civic, but the windshield has a lane-departure sensor so that would have to be recalibrated, etc.

I’m actually already used to the commute.  It’s not as bad as it was when I worked in that part of the city before.  The traffic is just as heavy but it seems like it flows better – not very fast (except for a couple brief stretches), but a smooth 45 mph is way more tolerable than STOP-START-STOP-START-STOP-WAIT-START, etc.  I takes about an hour each way but I just listen to news radio.

So I’m feeling pretty good about hangin’ in there and I’m looking forward to working from home for the first time tomorrow.

==DAY THREE and FOUR==

Like many organizations, L.A. County requires you to take required training. Most companies require Sexual Harassment training, but the County also requires SO MUCH more: Diversity (including the new gender expression phenomenon), Implicit Bias, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Cyber Security, Disaster Preparedness, etc. BTW, did you know that L.A. County REQUIRES that their employees work wherever/whenever they’re needed in the event of a natural disaster, whether it’s filling sandbags or whatever; granted, it would be extremely unlikely but the policy is there! Also, did you know that you’re not supposed to use the term “child prostitute” because that implies they chose to do it, but they’re always forced into it by an adult – usually a pimp but it can even be a parent, and the average age they start is 14! You can say they’re “forced into prostitution” but not “child prostitute”.

I managed to finish all of them (probably at least 20 hours), although I must confess I did a lot of them on my own time, because I just wanted to get it over with and people would have a hard time believing how long it was taking!

I also finished my first assignment and the people are still great!

==DAY FIVE==

My project lead was busy today so she told me to work with another woman on the team for help on a new project. Holy shit, if I’d met her the first day, I would have quit on the spot. She’s an intolerant, condescending, sarcastic B****H! Hopefully I won’t have to work with her very much!

==DAY SIX==

They moved me into my own cubicle (I guess the first one was only temporary while the “permanent” one was being processed). It’s also just a few feet from Peter. He’s been so great scrounging around to get all the equipment I need (often by plundering abandoned cubicles, etc.).

So that’s the start. Stay tuned for an update in six months or so . . .