Day 172 - a day of HR training

 Today is the 4th day of the 25th week, the 21st day of the 5th month, the 172nd day of 2023, and:

• Anne & Samantha Day
• Atheist Solidarity Day
• Cuckoo Warning Day
• Global Orgasm Day
• Go Skateboarding Day
• International Day of Yoga
• International Surfing Day
• National Arizona Day
• National Day of the Gong
• National Daylight Appreciation Day
• National Energy Shopping Day
• National Peaches 'N Cream Day
• National Seashell Day
• National Selfie Day
• National Smoothie Day
• Tall Girl Appreciation Day
• World Giraffe Day
• World Handshake Day
• World Humanist Day
• World Music Day [AKA Make Music Day]
• World Peace and Prayer Day

Quote of the day:

"There are two ways of spreading light to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

~ Edith Wharton, American writer and designer

Today is the Summer Solstice [ altho the actual day length may not be 12 hours in your area] as of 10:57 AM EDT.  It is our first rainy day in a while, but we are desperately in need of the water, so no complaints.  It is also unusually cool for the first day of summer, in the low 60° range, and actually too uncomfortable to even keep the balcony door ajar.

Every single year, we go through Diversity & Harassment, BSA & Risk Management, and IT & Cybersecurity training.  Training is mandatory and really has more to do with HR being able to pass their compliance audit and keep their liability insurance than actually informing the employees.  The good news is that we don't have to show up in person anymore, but can stay home and use ZOOM.  HR requires   This is a time when having two monitors is a huge advantage

A personal HR diversity story:  Back when I was working at the community bank under a Cease & Desist order, the person who was doing the bank's documents was transferred from the senior lender to me as a direct report.  I didn't know this person very well - indeed for months I didn't realize what sex the person was as everyone addressed them by their last name.  When the switch was made, they took me to lunch and had a frank conversation about themselves with me - she was a lesbian who expressed herself as male and had a wife.  At the end of the lunch, I was informed they would accept me as a manager - they had been thinking about quitting.  I was shocked when that was said and rather insulted, but then I was told that the concern was that sexuality was not a protected category, that I literally could fire her for not being/acting 'female', and they were afraid I would do that.  They laughed at my absolutely incredulous reaction to that and we got along just fine afterwards.  Maryland made that a protected category in 2001.  I've thought about them now and then thru the years and wonder if they would transition as that procedure has become more available?  Even if we had stayed in touch, it's not exactly a question you would ask of an acquaintance, neh?

I have shared pictures before of the trash room on our floor of the apartment building where I live when it has become piled high with trash that was not thrown down the chute.  The trash room and chute is right next to the elevator.  This morning I observed how that starts as I was headed to the elevator to check my mail.  A very tall young man, dressed only in shorts and very buff, carrying a large bag of garbage/trash, opened the trash room door, and just tossed the bag in, then walked away.  The bag propped the door open slightly.  I watched him go around the corner, wishing I had enough nerve to say something, then pushed the door open all the way.  The bag stunk, but it wasn't so full that it couldn't be tied at the top.  I did that, then got it down the chute.   Now what I don't understand is why couldn't the man do that in the first place?  

I looked at the news today, which continues to be .... well stressful although I could come up with more descriptive adjectives!  The political news here in the US [why don't we call it the USA anymore?] is all about the indictment of DJT and the howls from the GOP about multiple issues and the corruption of SCOTUS.  The news about the world is about war and famine and global warming.  The news about space is sparse compared to the volume of the rest of the stories

I only have so much bandwidth.  I think I am going to go back to worrying about why the Butcher kills me in a matter of seconds and how much longer it will be to get my horse in game