Well here we are again, dear reader. You and I, about to embark once more into the absolute retardation that is government contract work.

"But wait!" you say. "Aren't you now employed with the fine folks at IAP World Services?"

And the answer is "yes."

But IAP (a branch of Halliburton) is a governmental contractor, and even though they have succeeded in winning the bid vs the IRS for the work of the IRS, and are now performing said work, it is still a governmental contract and has to follow guidelines set up by the IRS.

Lets recap a moment, shall we? Just in case some of you have missed the start of this thing, and don't feel like reading back entries. (Even though they are largely funny. I promise!)

This job was originally set to start seven months and roughly four weeks ago.

Then it was set to start six weeks ago.

It actually started three weeks ago.

Bear in mind that it is difficult to plan one's career path when the date you are supposed to start at the new job gets moved around on a weekly basis.

Seven months (and four weeks) ago, I was told that I was going to be in the building mail department. (The mail room. You know, push the mail cart around, deliver in-office mail)

Four weeks ago, I was told that I had been moved into the "Pit" (it's actually some kind of batching department, except it isn't THE batching department. I have no idea what they do there to this day, since...)

three days later, I was then told that I would be in THE "Batching" department. (a lot of document sorting)

Then when I showed up for the first day of work, I was told that I would be in IDRS, doing "association" (take that document, staple it to this document, file it. It is now "associated.")

I did that for a week, and then was told that I was now in the IDRS mail department. Which is ironic, since its a very similar gig to the original building mail department, except we only handle the mail for IDRS. Its a full circle, Simba. It's the eternal circle of stupid.

Which is where I have been for the last
two weeks.

Last saturday, I was supposed to get my first paycheck.

I did not.

In fact, I have YET to get it. I was told that it was mailed on Wednesday.

So. Starting to get a little low on gas.

And power.

And my internet bill is due.

And rent is coming up in about a week. I assume that a giant multinational company like IAP with sites in Iraq and the moon, would be able to handle the vast intricacies of Quicken and the United States Postal Service.

I mean, Iraq is obviously a giant success. Why can't they do that at home?

I suppose this is what I get for not setting up direct deposit for my paycheck. Call me old fashioned, but I LIKE having a check in my hands to validate the absolute insanity I put up with day in and day out. Something physical and tangible, that I can point at and say "There, see? It was all worth it!"

I guess I'm just old.

Apparently IAP is successful in this venture, at least at the site I work at. I can't speak for the rest of them, since we don't really get any inter-corporate information. I assume that since they were so thrilled with our results that the other sites aren't doing so well, but who knows.

Other than this whole paycheck thing, its been alright. I'm a little disappointed that I'm not on terminal, since that is such a giant step up, as far as jobs go. Busted back down to mail is not really a demotion or anything (we all get paid the same, after all) but its more manual labor than the terminal was (though far FAR less aggravating) and I sort of enjoyed ferreting information out of ripped up pieces of paper written in crayon. Probably because I am a giant nerd.

So there you go. If you don't hear from me in the next couple weeks, it's because I haven't been paid yet, and i'm living in a cardboard box somewhere selling my body for mmorpg game cards.