The Wednesday Whine

Do you ever just need to vent?  Really, who doesn't?  Sometimes craptastic things happen, and I need to complain about them.  Having a nervous breakdown is not an option at this point, so I'd rather let it all out than suddenly become catatonic.  Anyhow, I am going to just put this out there...I am not an overly-optimistic person.  My husband says I am a pessimist, and I don't think this is exactly true, either.  I like to say that I am a realist.  I feel as if I need to be prepared for the worst, just in case.  It's not that I'm not a positive person.  Does that make sense?  I can certainly be your biggest cheerleader.  I am definitely not a Pollyanna, though, and sometimes I get annoyed by the people who live in LaLa Land.  I know this is my problem and an internal flaw, but I'm just being truthful here.

Thus, I am initiating a weekly post called The Wednesday Whine.  This is the one day each week when I'll vent about what's bugging me or complain about some silly thing that is out of my control.  If I'm lucky, maybe I'll only post once per month (see, I can be optimistic).  

OK, here goes the rant....Why can't people do their jobs?  Seriously.  Why must they have to be poked and prodded to do what they are being paid to do?  I am completely underwhelmed by the performance of the military moving office (JPPSO in militarese).  First off, I've mentioned before that we lived in a furnished house in Rhode Island for the year we were there.  This is common in the Newport area because many of the homes are vacation homes.  It's sometimes hard to find a house there that isn't furnished.  Anyhow, this meant we had to put the majority of our household goods in storage when we left Florida.  We had no clue we'd be going overseas after the RI stint, and it caused us a major headache in the moving process.  Basically, we had to look at our storage inventory sheets and line-item select each box or piece of furniture we wanted delivered to Guam.  We had 11 inventory sheets, and you military folks know how detailed those sheets are.  Ha!  It was difficult, but we did what we were required to do.  We sent in the paperwork at the beginning of June.  We called and followed up, and we were told it would be shipped at the end of June.  Fast forward to the beginning of August.  Do you think it was shipped?  If you said yes, then you are sadly mistaken.  Our "stuff" was shipped on the initial delivery date...ya know, the date our "stuff" would have arrived had it been shipped in June like it was supposed to have been.

It took my husband many hours of heated discussions in the middle of the night (the time difference causes probs, not to mention the fact that the JPPSO office closes at an unGodly early hour) and a talk with the commander to get anything accomplished.  Somebody dropped the ball, and nobody followed up with our case or took responsibility for it.  Our stuff is now scheduled to arrive at the end of September.  And Lord knows what will actually be dropped on our doorstep.  

What annoys me is that we did what we were required to do, on time and efficiently.  I can live without my stuff a bit longer, that's not really the issue.  We, as military members, have to follow such a strict check-list when moving, especially to an overseas location.  We are expected to adhere to each and every requirement in a timely manner.  Is it too much to ask to expect the same service in return?  Should we have to repeatedly call and poke, poke, poke?  Really, just do your job, be responsible, and quit passing mistakes on to the next person.  And, please, don't lie to me and tell me what I want to hear, just so you won't have to exert yourself and actually deal with my case.  It only makes the situation worse at the end of the day.

And that, my friends, is the whine for this Wednesday, typed with a smile on my face and joy in my heart.