Anti-establishment

I've been at my new job nearly 2 months now, and I have yet to share anything about it. It's with good reason, believe me. I suspect that few people are interested in the nitty gritty details in the life of a "quality assurance auditor". Although I'm sure it would make my parents proud to hear of my battle to get the software developers to move the zip code element to the right of the City and State, it doesn't exactly compare to the work I did in the Peace Corps.

Don't get me wrong. Working again in a professional setting has its benefits. There's health insurance, vacation, a salary. And let's not forget the free food. My company may be contributing nothing to my 401K, but the kitchen is fully stocked. And I'm still young enough to value Lucky Charms over a pension.

But there is this general sense that I'm right back where I started professionally. At least in my first job, I had a shared office. Now I'm just a drop of water in a sea of cubicles. I swore I would never be a government contractor again, but here I am.

Every day I am witness to the same inefficiency and waste that drove me away the first time. Luckily I have more of a sense of humor about things now. Like today, for instance. I was leafing through a document and came across this very thorough list of types of hate crimes to choose from in the military database. Keep in mind as you read this that one or more people were paid an inordinate amount of money to create this list:

Anti-white, Anti-black, Anti-Arab, Anti-Hispanic, Anti-American Indian, Anti-Alaskan Native, Anti-Asian, Anti-Pacific Islander, Anti-other Ethnicity/Origin, Anti-Multi-Racial Group, Anti-Jewish, Anti-Catholic, Anti-Islamic (Moslem), Anti-Protestant, Anti-Multi-Religious Group, Anti-Other Religion, Anti-Atheism, Anti-Agnostic, Anti-Homosexual, Anti-Male Homosexual, Anti-Female Homosexual, Anti-Heterosexual, Anti-Bisexual, Anti-Mental Disability

I for one am appalled by this. There are an estimated 900 million Hindus in the world, and they don't merit their own category? Not to mention the rash of violent crimes perpetrated by the anti-Homosapien contingent. We should riot! Represent everybody or represent nobody.

But seriously, despite the occasional insanity, the job does have its rewards. I'm working from home two days a week now, and later this month I'll get to spend 10 days in Portland visiting Dave and working from there. Not a bad gig. I still haven't won that zip code battle though.