Crossroads..........

Ugggh. I don't know what to do about work. I hate it now. Everyone has been run off but me. I trust NO ONE. My current boss is leaving. She is turning everything to the new boss on 10/1. He seems nice enough, however, he is very inexperienced and is a freaking bump on a log. He doesn't say ANYTHING about his employees nor back them up. So I work in Govt contracting. As part of sending a solicitation or an award out, we have to send it through Counsel. This would be great if we could actually TRUST our lawyers and they actually had GOOD advice to give. I sometimes think that the lawyers that are hired by the Government are hired because they were not good enough to open their own practice. There is a reason they take a $66k job instead of going after a $100k + law practice. Kind of like those crap doctors that the insurance companies hire as a 3rd party that is supposed to be impartial, but they are not. KWIM.

Anyway, our agency is so screwed up. Never TRUST them. Number 1 rule. They tried to throw the Asst Chief under the bus about a year ago. We had written a contract to remove debris. Contractor signed off on subcontractors receipts as they were accurate and delivered blah blah blah. Contractor's daughter was the project manager and she signed off on the receipts. One problem. They never actually verified how much was being hauled away. Yeah you read that right. Never actually verified and then signed off that they did take that much away. Then the contractor did not pay the subcontractor. Subcontractor sued the contractor. Now normally we don't get involved in these kind of disputes. Except that the Asst Chief received a subpoena to testify as a hostile witness for the contractor. WHAT??? How could that be? We wondered that too. Of course seeing he was doing his job as signing the contract, he expected to have Counsel represent him. Guess what? They told him that he would not have counsel with him and that he would have to take ANNUAL LEAVE to attend a courtcase done in the middle of doing his duties. WHAT??? He was quite upset for awhile, but counsel was being a jackass and giving BAD advice again. I'm not sure how he got out of it. I think the Chief went to Counsel of a different District. They fixed the issue. How screwed up is that. He did duties that were in line with his job and Counsel was not going to help him. My current boss has had personnel issues she has been dealing with. She had to go outside of the district for help from other counsel because this one doesn't know what they are doing. So do I have confidence in our lawyers? Nope.

So anyway, we have a new boss. We had it where we could at least deal with them. They gave us what they thought was the law and well we ignored when he was wrong. My boss would tell him he was wrong and that he was there to advise her. So now we have the new boss and they have a new ear. The problem is he is a bump on the log!!!! Counsel was dead wrong in what they were doing on a lot of our contracts. If you try and say that now, they ignore you. In fact, I have noticed them being SLICK. Meaning we send a form that says please review for legal sufficiency. It has an approve/disapprove form. Totally ignored. Things are coming back with no signature. NONE. Things are coming back unreviewed. Things are coming back with sticky notes on it instead of being written directly on the contract. Guess what that means? When the crap hits the fan as it will, counsel will make out as they can say they never signed off on any of the contracts. Well, I can't sign them as I don't have authority. Guess who that leaves to hold the bag. Yep, my new boss because he signed the contract. Do you think that the same people that left my current boss and the old assistant chief out to hang will pick up the pieces? Nope, they'll put them on a skewer and roast them. My long term goal is to get another job in ANY agency besides mine. Especially if I don't get the promotion.

I'm also going to be careful and cover my tracks. Projects that have been returned to me unreviewed are being noted as such on the letter. Sent to counsel on dates x, x, and x. Returned with no comments. I am also going to be speaking with new boss on Monday morning. I am not going through the stress and hassle of doing what's right. It's not good for my bp. It's not good for the baby. It's just makes me exhausted. So I am going to talk with him on Monday. I am going to tell him that I have absolutely no problem putting in counsel's comments whether they or right or wrong. However, it was an unfair position to put me in to sit there and say well you just put in what you think is correct without backing it up. So I have decided that if he wants me to do what I think is correct, he is putting it in writing to me. That way I have something concrete to show that's what I was told to do. If not, every single thing that Counsel writes on our stuff is going into it right or wrong. Ultimately, the one that signs it is responsible.

When I decided that on the way home, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. hmmm, who knew. Besides if it gets to bad, I'll just go on leave. I don't want to waste my leave and should know more on the 18th. I am just not going through it. 6 chiefs in 8 years is too much.

Now if I can just get through this next month. I am DREADING going home because of my mother. My sister said she will talk to my mother and say it was a surprise. My suggestion is that my sister tell my mother not to dwell, whine, guilt, complain that we live so far away and be happy that she is getting this opportunity. Take it for what it is and enjoy it. If my mother starts it up, I intend to tell her that. My sister is telling her first as to not make a scene in front of our children.