Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Well Memorial Day has come and gone yet once again and for the record I still hate it…work wise at least. I think it’s an important holiday and important to remember but it does nothing for me work wise. Our office goes above and beyond extremes to get ready for Memorial Day. My boss and co-worker walk every single cemetery in the county to make sure every veteran buried in the county has a bronze flag holder representing what war time era they were in or that they are in fact a veteran. This part I think is a good idea. It makes it known that we believe those veterans should be remembered. But the part that just burns my toast is the Memorial Day services where my boss reads the names of all the veterans that have passed away in the county since the previous Memorial Day. Now the reading of the names is nice too and I think should be done. But the absolute ridiculous bitching that people do when someone they know doesn’t have their name read is absurd and pisses me off….because when boss man gets back guess who he and my co worker blame….me!! Most of the time the names that don’t get read are veterans who lived states away and no one ever informed our office that they were buried here etc. Get a grip on reality people!! I am not, much to my disappointment, the all knowing woman!! The only ways our office gets info on veterans that have passed away is by me cross checking obits with our database every friggin day, mortuaries notifying us or family telling us. If the veteran is not in our database and isn’t listed as a veteran in the obit the name will not be read, if a mortuary doesn’t call us it will not be read, if family does not tell us it will not be read. It also doesn’t help that my co worker takes at least two weeks of vacation time the week before and the week of Memorial Day. So we are left with just our boss and myself to man the office and get everything ready. This year as it happens the 3 names (yes count them 3 out of a couple hundred) that weren’t read were because of a computer glitch that I did not catch.

Now the people who politely remind us we forgot someone don’t bother me. But unfortunately those people are few and in between. And the close next of kin (widows, parents, siblings, children) that get a little growly about it don’t really bother me. But when you have someone who was a brief acquaintance get in our faces about it, it ticks me off. And this is usually the case every year. Our veterans deserved to be honored but it’s also possible, extremely possible in my instance, for me to make a mistake (or my other colleges) and not get someone on the list.

We have a database that is a DOS program…which should just be extinct by now and I work with two people that aren’t overly organized on how things should be done. In my 7 years I have tried very hard to streamline the process and getting it down to 3 missed names due to a computer error is pretty damned good. Especially considering the year I was gone for maternity leave there were at least 10 or more names that were forgotten.

I am so glad that I have another year before Memorial Day comes around again.

But with my little bitch fest done I do want to say to all of our fallen…you are remember!

3 Comments:

At 1:05 PM , Blogger Helen said...

I'm glad that someone cares to make sure tat everyone is remembered, it might feel like a thankless task, but I'm sure there are families out there who really appreciate it.

 
At 3:07 PM , Blogger Coffeypot said...

I know that in your job working with and for the vets you know and appreciate the importance of remembering those who have gone ahead of us. But those outside your office should know simply by being in the service, or having to deal with anything government oriented, SNAFU’s and FUBAR’s happen.

I think you deserve at least a ‘Thank You’ for a job well done in keeping it down to just three. And I think, for the proficiency and accuracy of the organization, you not get pregnant again (or at least not take any maternity leave.) You know, the birth in the rice patties and back to work again type thing. We would appreciate it.

 
At 3:52 AM , Blogger Olga said...

Looks like you have a real tough job there...Except for those 3 how many names were there in the list? Are these just for your city/state? I can imagine how unpleasant people can get, funny they didn't check whether the name is on the list in advance - if it was so important for them to find the name there... Anyway, it's 1 year more before the next Memorial Day :)

 

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