Gone Native

I mentioned in earlier post that there are two new staffers here in my division's little corner.  The refreshing, but embarrassing, thing about having new people around is that they aren't yet acclimated to some of the idiosyncrasies, lazy shortcuts, and just plain stupid practices that every work place has.  When the new guy/gal asks you "why do you do things that way?" and you don't have a good answer, or you find yourself struggling to explain why you "gave up" on a certain initiative, you remember that you came in the same way, with a more clearheaded and idealistic view of how things should be done.  But even after a short time at an organization, it seems that you have to compromise if you want to actually get things done.  I've become assimilated!  Hopefully I still push a little for progress and remain a thorn in the side of those who do things "the way it's always been done."  But the fact remains that I've given in to the norm in a lot of areas, some petty but others probably more important that I now realize.  So after a less than two years, have I gone native?  Is resistance futile?  Am I regressing?  Hell, look at Obama!  Even he, the great savior of post-Bush politics, is rapidly compromising and being assimilated into the Washington status quo.  It's useless!  Compromise is certain.

Thankfully we have an infusion of fresh perspective here on this floor at work... let's see how long it takes before they go native, too.

Development

When asked what I do at my place of employment, I often just say "development."  My mission is take a small time, rag tag, shoe string department and make it a valued contributor, rather than an embarassment, to a small time, rag tag, shoe string organization.  Every day is frustrating, and people's attitudes and motivations (see prior posts) in this part of the country are generally piss-poor.

But every so often, I get a fuzzy little feeling in my optimistic heart, as we take a baby step forward and make some tangible, hopefully permanent, progress.  Today was one of those days.  A related department that I work for part time recently filled a vacancy that had been empty for 18 months.  The guy is really cool, a hard worker, and serious about what he does.  We were all worried about fitting a new person into our workplace dynamic after so long, but he's a great fit and exactly what we needed (in terms of disposition and skill set).  Additionally, today, we had the arrival of a visiting researcher.  So our little corner of our building is buzzing with the coffee-soaked smell of hard work.

I'm also starting to see signs of improved ethic with the students who work and learn in our departments.  The computer lab seems more busy, and we can't keep some items in stock due to demand.  Don't get me wrong - I still had to send written warnings to a dozen volunteers for not showing up last week, so-and-so's grandmother died for the 5th time this year, and so-called "leaders" and "good students" are still floundering over senioritis, file formats, and group projects.  But the tone is improving, and I think it has a network effect.  Activity begets activity, and someday this place will hum like the fine-tuned machine it can be.

Plus, it feels good that I'm finally catching up on some projects that have been plaguing me for months.  I've still got a 3 page to do list, but I was able to delete some items off of it that have been on there way too long.

I'm enjoying the upward swing.  Let's see it through to vacation next month...  That would be development!