Thursday, May 12, 2005

Excitement at the Zoo!

I'm so excited about the new exhibit opening at the Saint Louis Zoo! For years, the gorillas have had both an outdoor and an indoor yard, while the chimpanzees and orangutans have had only indoor yards. Well, hold onto your horses people -- Friday, May 13th, was the grand opening of the Fragile Forest exhibit, in which all three of these great apes will have outdoor access! The STLToday article gives a great account of the chimpanzees' first adventures into their new habitat. If you ever get the chance, I encourage everyone to visit the World Famous Saint Louis Zoo and check out all we have to offer!

Animals Always!

Monday, May 02, 2005

Monday, oh Monday

I am not a big fan of Mondays. I wouldn't say that I hate them -- hate is a very strong word that should be reserved for bad movies and certain members of the GOP. I simply dislike Mondays.

One of the main reasons for this is the structure of my job. Monday is the day when folks return to work to find that things do not stop breaking simply because they are off enjoying a weekend. It's a game of "catch-up" for the maintenance department, and is something I've gotten used to in the past six months since I started . . . but that doesn't mean I like it.

Another issue with Mondays is the obvious shock back to the real world. It's like the cartoon law that allows you to walk off a cliff and remain suspended in midair as long as you don't look down -- when my alarm clock goes off at 4am, I always look down, and quickly find myself plummeting back to earth.


Why Blog?

Welcome to my world -- at least, my 6am - 2:30 pm world. The maintenance department call center at a gigantic hospital (6.5 million square feet, thank you very much) or, to be more PC, the "Support Service Center for Facilities Engineering." I'm on my first (and hopefully only) bottle of Mountain Dew, because it's a slow morning. I guess you could say I'm a stress junkie -- I like having a lot of things that require my attention at once. . . is it so bad to ask for a minor emergency now and then? But NOOOOOO, not this morning, just your everyday "I need a lightbulb, that toilet's clogged, I'm stuck in the elevator" calls. Okay, no one's been stuck in an elevator yet today. But there's nothing to do -- the team in the call center, or "SSC" is wonderfully efficient: paperwork gets done, work orders get closed out, go team, go! It's a great system; however, it occasionally leaves me with nothing to do but the daily crossword. I have other friends with their own blogs, including my good buddy Robert (robohood.blogspot.com), and his long-time girlfriend Jess (jessicapatties.blogspot.com/), so I figured what the heck, I'd exercise my brain a bit, get a few of the random thoughts out of my head, and maybe entertain a few people with my sometimes sitcom-esque life. Enjoy!

Customer Service

There is a reason that certain people work certain shifts. Case in point:

I got to work & was sorry that I'd left my waders at home. The hallway to my office -- MY hallway -- could have accommodated a small school of fish. The ceiling tiles above had suddenly become rainclouds, and I had to slog through an inch of water to get to my office. I quickly paged the 3rd shift mechanics and waited for a response . . . and waited . . . started my computer up . . . plugged my headset in . . . checked my email . . . and then the phone rang! I rushed to explain the sudden appearance of a lake in my hallway, only to be told "yeah, we know, we're working on it. Bye."

Hmmm....

Okay, so I call housekeeping to request a wetvac for cleanup, only to be told that all the "extractors" (read: wetvac) are a floor above me, cleaning up after a flood in the Cardiac Diagnostic Lab (CDL).

Hmmm....

The next call I got was from housekeeping, wanting to know what's going on with the flood from the fountain. I say, "good question, let me find out & call you back."

Hmmm....

Long story short: Housekeeping asked us to drain the large fountain on the main level, so they could clean it. Standard procedure, we turn a wrench, water goes out, they clean, we turn the wrench the other way, water goes in, no problem, no flood. Unfortunately something didn't go as planned -- depending on which department you ask, either (a) housekeeping added too much water, or (b) maintenance missed a cracked seal in the fountain. Either way, water has rushed through the main level floor, into the CDL, through the CDL floor, all the way down into my hallway.

Hmmm....

I manage to explain this whole thing in a paragraph, and yet it was at least an hour before I had the complete story, which I told to at least a dozen people who called for information. By adding the prefix "pro" to the word "active" we obtain a term that DOES NOT describe the actions taken regarding this minor flood. Rather than taking a few minutes to make a few phone calls, the mechanics left me the responsibility of finding out what happened and disseminating the information. Nice.

I remain convinced that there is a specific reason people work the 3rd shift, and it isn't to take advantage of their pro-active customer service skills. Grrr.