Karla Noyes' Captain's Log Series

Do you have a favorite Captain’s Log? Let me know. I will be submitting one, or more, to HuffPost.com. They are looking for “original, authentic, compelling, first-person stories” and will pay. (I know some of you are writers so please consider submitting.) My favorites are the two catering pieces, the Mickey Mouse and the Arranged Marriage, and the Bicycle Boyfriend. What is yours? I’m going to be brief today because I want to spend my three-day weekend learning SharePoint, the new flavor-of-the-month software at work because I’m committed to making myself indispensable. What with the governor promising to cut state employee’s salaries by 10%, it would be just as easy for my supervisor to ‘let me go.’ I’d like to avoid that. Still no virus at the Vet’s Home (because it would go through that place like a scythe though a hot summer grain field.) It is unclear if I am going to get paid for the days I was required to be away from work due to my cold and their anti-virus rules. They a...

May 7, I'd been getting a slight sore throat for a couple of days; this is the height of hay fever season. Then I woke up twice in a fever and thought, uh oh. I know it's just a cold on top of hay fever, it wants to be a sinus infection. Because the mood in the office is paranoid about someone bringing the virus into our space I knew I couldn't show up with a runny nose, they would have tarred-and-feathered me, to heck with social distance. I would be a pariah, and me, the one haranguing them all the time about their lack of "respiratory etiquette." So, I got dressed, packed my lunch, drove into work and told the woman at the gate my symptoms. She sent me home after I spoke with her supervisor, "You should have called in sick." Yeah, if I do that I use my own sick leave, which I've used up already, if you send me home I get paid sick leave and have to stay home for 7 days. Because of the virus, the administration has developed a new protocol for how ...

April 25 Nothing profound this week. I can say it's nice to work in an office with people during this coronavirus thing (it's not a pandemic here, yet.)  We joke about taking our shots of Lysol, teasing an employee about her 'dry' cough and asking her if she can smell the coffee, chocolate and roses (there is no coffee, etc. to smell.) We share our favorite memes: In 20 years the country's going to be run by people who were home-schooled by day drinkers. Meanwhile, I'm learning the Outside Medical Billing (OMB) process which is a welcome relief from mind-numbing data entry. I sort of pushed my way into the process. Data entry had dried up and I ran out of things to do, but also, the guy who does the OMB has asthma and diabetes. Should he get the virus... we really should have someone as backup. We've had plenty of time to practice hand washing and mask wearing since the beginning of the Shut Down. In fact, masks have really taken off! The sister-in-law o...