hawing

OK, now that I'm at home I feel more at ease posting about HR. I'm not an HR employee, but because I oversee more student employees than anyone else in my building, I am particularly dependent on our HR staff, and at certain times of year feel somewhat like a de facto HR person. Unfortunately, unfilled vacancies have decimated our HR office over the last few years, to the point where only three "permanent" FTEs remain, along with one LTE (temporary help). Our agency has maybe 125 permanent staff, and hundreds of LTE and student staff, so it's not an ideal ratio. I know they're overwhelmed with obligations. I know that most if not all the rules they have to follow come from "above" (state or federal rules), so they aren't asking for a certain level of precision just for their entertainment. I have to enforce unpopular rules in my job too, and that part is no fun. Unfortunately, our HR office has a history (which, to be fair, predates the incumbent staff) of tweaking procedures without notifying all affected staff, then acting like we are in the wrong when we follow what we thought were current procedures. After several years of this I began (courteously) asking in late summer, well before our September hiring period, whether there are any procedural changes for the new school year - and it's often like pulling teeth to get an answer. I know I contribute a lot to their workload every September, and as such I want to get my hiring done each fall with as little hassle to HR as possible, yet I sense resistance when I ask what I can do to make things more manageable for them. (I know they are aware of my attempts. One employee distributed to other supervisors of students an employment form checklist that I created!) I think some of the issues in our HR office are personality-based. I have a good rapport with two of the four employees, but unfortunately the one whose help I need most often is not one of those two. The impression I get is that others have difficulty communicating with that person too. Complicating matters is that the supervisor for this office is often away, which I think is starting to wear on the front-line employees. I could go on at length about some of the UW's HR staff (for hiring students), with whom I must also work, but this is already looking more like it belongs in the "What's bugging you" thread. I'll summarize: I really do empathize with our HR staff and would never want to trade places with them, for a host of reasons. However, I don't think their workload, or the nature of their work, is an excuse for poor communication, particularly with colleagues who are trying to work with them. (I have to admit, I don't know that our HR office has a poor history of communicating with applicants. Of course, being a small state agency, we haven't exactly had many vacancies lately.) Finally, speaking as a hirer of student employees, I can't imagine not following up with everyone who responds to the job ads I place. I put a lot of effort into making sure everyone hears something from us, even if it's not good news - and in September, that involves literally dozens of emails. I really try not to burn bridges with any applicant, since I never know when a student is going to up and quit mid-semester. Maybe you can tell I didn't have the most productive day working with HR today. Sorry, everyone, but thanks for allowing one more vent in this thread.

Yes, please let us know how it's going, both brain-wise and interview-wise.

Try vinegar on the algae stains.

I like the original BCL advice of leaving it up to the employer just a little more (less wordy than what you've posted above, and from what you've said, it sounds like the less wordy for you this week, the better). Also, not to sound like your mom or to alarm you unduly, but if others are noticing that you are moving and talking more slowly than usual, and you have any shred of medical coverage, I'd suggest you see a doctor, or at least call one of those nurse-staffed hotlines to describe how you've felt since the accident and whether that's cause for concern. If your reaction time is off, you'd want to be cautious behind the wheel (or handlebars) of any vehicle.

I'm not an HR person but I would like to comment on this thread...from home, tonight.

"this week Koskie said he's been symptom free for more than a month." That gives me pause, too. If I'd been woozy for the better part of three years, I'm thinking I would maybe want to be symptom free for maybe a couple of months, at least, before resuming baseball. However, I'm not Corey and I'm not privy to the medical advice he's received. Good luck to him.

I'm siding with BrewCrewLifer (and, indirectly, with others in this thread). Giving them a heads-up plus leaving the decision up to them makes me think you are both courteous and serious about the interview/job. I would suggest you make this contact today if possible. Since your accident took place "over the weekend," Monday is really the soonest you can reasonably notify them of your unusual circumstance. The more time you give them to react, the better you look. Good luck.

Is your back bothering you again, Jamie? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

I agree; and GYPE, you do "well thought out" posts pretty well yourself. Between those of you whose posts I enjoy (whether regularly, or a single well-placed grand-slam post-for-the-ages), those of you with whom I've made trading post transactions (some of which were remarkably kind, considering that we mostly know each other only through a message board), and those of you whom I've met in person...any list I made would be too long to practically post here, and would still be incomplete. Still, I'll give out some special nods: The ladies of bf.net (among them tristarscoop, ewizabeff, principessa21, brewermary15 and of course Nicole the Baker), because it's nice not to be the only XX in the group. I'm extra impressed by AmyintheSouth - that you just up and started following the Brewers, and care about our little flyover-country franchise despite living in Boston, where there appears to be enough sports hubris to distract anyone from the rest of the world. (OK, that last part is based on one small-sample visit.) kalle8 (the one man italian brew crew). Imagine my astonishment, and delight, that you follow the Brewers from a different hemisphere, despite presumably never having even visited here. I wish I could have high fived you after that September 28 game last fall, just for your effort in following it. sbrylski hasn't been mentioned here yet (that I've noticed), so here's to you, Sam. TheBwaz and LaprilOne, our multigenerational posting dynasty. I met TheBwaz once (we kept the seats warm! I almost cried when I saw your post about that after the Brewers won last 9/28) and would be pleased to meet LaprilOne some day. bensheeps and his (so far non-posting, but Brewers-warped) family. They live near my brother's family in a small town and help keep my nephew interested in the Brewers. jflick1215, expressly for the post which my current signature quotes. In that overnight from September 27 to September 28, it provided many of us with a needed bit of motivation and fan emotion. Others I've met in person (in random order): davego, wisconsinfan47, TooLiveBrew and the Madison softball guys, bobble brian, jason21nl, zachlaka and Parkside21 (who had the guts to ask me in the MP concourse one day if I was hawing. I need to get up that kind of nerve more often so I could meet even more of you). I also appreciate many old guard-ish posters, some of whom have already been mentioned: EdgarDiazRocks, RyDogg66, rluzinski, Pedro, Rickey24, and more. Last but not least, I give a shout out to the other moderators and staff. We put in a crazy amount of effort to keep things operational and civil around here, and not exactly with a 100% approval rating from all members. 1992casey's efforts in particular are tireless in ways that most of you do not see (but I do).

One small gripe I have at this time of year: Is it worth $12, or whatever the Brewers are charging this year, to get a media guide now - when I know that we have two free copies coming (one for each of our 20 packs), if I can just hold out until our first game in April? I'm thrifty enough so I'll wait, but that doesn't mean I'm not eager to see the '09 guide. (and before anyone asks, our second copy is already reserved for someone)

This thread just makes me want to say "Wow." I don't have classroom experiences to share, but I work with UW students in my library and I think that setting provides some indirectly equivalent experiences. For years I've been struck at the lengths some will go to argue over library fines. I was home for the holidays and couldn't return the books (fail - notices are emailed and they include the hotlink to the online renewal page); I didn't get the email (also fail - the information is available online 24/7); I did get the email but didn't think you were serious about a fine; I wasn't done using the book yet and think you are inherently unfair to charge me, etc. Honestly, it gets so I almost appreciate the ones who 'fess up and say, "Yeah, I shouldn't have blown it off. I messed up." But they're fewer and farther between. I have to admit that I can't think of a time I've had to contend with parental argument over a student's fine (knock on wood). But when I was checking some UW-Madison housing pages recently, I came across these: Tips for parents who contact UW Housing about their student's issues And there's a whole Parent Program at UW-Madison now. I don't want to sound like a fuddy-duddy "things weren't like that in MY day" type, but as a UW-Madison student in the 1980s I had a couple of issues with University Housing (one financial, one interpersonal), and I handled both of them myself. For the interpersonal issue, I sought advice from my mother and other adults, but it never occurred to me to have anyone else contact the University on my behalf. And I don't consider myself to be exceptionally independent or self-reliant (definitely not at age 20). I suppose this is at least partly the result of helicopter parenting. I can't fathom how to reverse the trend, though, and feel for those of you who bear the brunt more directly than I do. I shudder to imagine what schools and universities will be like once their faculty and staff are made up more of people from the current student generation. P.S. In the 'helicopter parenting' link I provided above, I love this part, not because of the phenomenon but the phrase is neat: Maybe it's the Wisconsinite in me.

Bring Back the Stein won me over last spring, with this lead post. He was prescient enough to speak of Brewers hardship the night before Yovani's ACL injury. As for others (there are many, because I see what most if not all of you contribute), I'll have to give it some thought.

Lafayette County represent! You might win the "farthest traveled" prize...if we had one to offer.

I'm going to question that statement. I think UW-Madison would like all of its first-year students to live in their dorms, but since some upperclassmen opt to stay in housing, there aren't enough dorm rooms for every "freshman." Over the years that I have employed UW-Madison students, not all of my first-year student employees have lived in dorms (though most have). Co-ed restrictions are gone now. In the 80s I picked "limited visitation" dorms (where guests had to be out by 2 or 3 AM), mostly as protection in case I was assigned an inconsiderate roommate - which had already happened to me at another school.

Ah, geez. Not the Weatherman! I was asking rhetorically, a few posts up, about whether we were letting winter beat us. I'm sorry to hear of your more literal experience. When one of our cats woke me up at 5:30 AM, I took a peek out and snow was falling at a pretty good clip on Madison's west side. It's less now, but I'm going to guess we have 5" on the ground.

There's a winter storm headed for southern Wisconsin overnight. Where are our winter weather thread posts? Are we letting winter beat us? I surely hope not.

This is kind of weird: Our house has a laundry chute. Once in a while a piece of clothing snags on a ductwork seam and doesn't reach the basement. Tonight, as I moved a load of laundry to the dryer, I realized that one pair of pants I'd put down the chute didn't make it to the bottom of the chute. So I went up to the bathroom and reached down the chute to the seam where clothes are most likely to snag...and instead of pulling out the pair of pants I expected to see, I pulled out a T-shirt I didn't recognize. It had to have belonged to one of the women from whom we bought the house. We'll have lived here four years by summer 2009, so the shirt has been in laundry chute limbo for at least 3 1/2 years. The weird part (I think) is that it's exactly the kind of shirt I would wear, still in decent shape, it's my size, and it's even in a color that looks good on me. I wonder if this has any meaning beyond "woohoo, bonus shirt for hawing." (I also found the pants I originally was looking for.)

With the creative minds on this board, surely someone can put into words the joke that seems to be crying out to be made here. Not about billyhallfan's offer, but the idea of Bill Hall being separated from his glove and glove hand. "I was trying so hard to get to that grounder, my glove flew off and took my hand with it." or "This would explain a few fielding errors." Don't let my tangent deter you from contacting BHF. Carry on.

Fear not, I didn't realize it was already in the thread until this morning. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eyes.gif And now it's buried in this brewers.com story, so I guess we don't have to debate the officialness of Tom H.

Indeed, I suppose Tom H isn't official.

There's a Woodman's in 'Stallis?

For what it's worth, my mother is delighted that Eric is losing the goggles for 2009. It used to bug her to no end when he'd keep adjusting them and wiping them. She did say that all he needs now is a less baggy uniform and all his distractions would be resolved. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

If the online TV listings I just consulted are accurate, there's another Brewers Classics coming up at 7:00 CST. I wonder if it will be the 14-2 win vs. Houston in 2007, the rough-up-Sharpie, then Rillo-strikes-out-Counsell win vs. Arizona in 2007, or some other pre-2008 game. I'm not saying I don't appreciate those memories (the extra-inning win vs. the Cubs in April 2007 was fun the other night). It's just that I know last season was pretty much a throwaway, but you'd think there'd be at least one game worth replaying from 2008.

I understand. I also value the crowd reaction visible in the photo crackley posted. I'm about the polar opposite of an in-your-face kind of person, but even I appreciate the image of The Riot looking morose in the background of the first photo. Good thing, I guess, if that's what we're going to see every time we pick up the media guide this year.

crackley, is your photo on your computer? or hosted somewhere on the internets?