  Apparently, I'm a b*tch today. Granted, I am a lot of the time, but... especially today. Earlier I was on the phone with one of my co-workers who really makes things more complicated than they need to be, and I tried to put it as bluntly as possible how I felt about that. Without, of course, making her cry. And I just got off the phone with a co-worker at church and I may have... been a little too b*tchy for that particular venue. But, darn it, we're not going to be spending money that way!
Let me explain. First of all, this co-worker and I have a history of disagreements (well, I frequently disagree with her and am generally annoyed by her, as well as the fact that she's ditsy, she also acts condescending towards me. I realize that she has children older than me, but that doesn't mean I'm a child and need to be treated like one. She is not my supervisor, either, but tends to act like it from time to time. Did I mention she used to have my job?). And the area of finances she was bringing up has a history of being misused.
We run 3 fundraisers a year, and we state that they support YOUTH MISSIONS and/or the YOUTH MISSION TRIP. In the past, the money from these has accidentally gone into the youth general operating fund, and we've had to correct that error, to remaint true to our advertising. Also, I understand that there is a history of this happening before I've been at this church, and so it's a minorly touchy subject. Well, we've got a mission trip this summer; we're taking 9 youth and 3 adults to Georgia with YouthWorks! Inc. It's in the vicinity of $250/person PLUS transportation to and from (and we're in Minnesota here, so, that's significant).
At least one of the students is getting a full scholarship, and we're paying for the adults as well (because if they're taking time off of work/life, they shouldn't have to pay for it). Then add in if we're doing anything fun post-trip on the return, or getting t-shirts or anything, and you've got some expenses. Our mission fund isn't that big, so the kids are going to have to be paying for part of their expenses themselves. We've done a thing this year where if they work at the fundraisers, they get to earn a share of the profits. Now, some people think that this OTHER youth trip that's being taken (with the whole denomination, not just our church) should get some of those funds. Oh no, not true my friends.
This trip is not mission or service related at all. Now, I fully support our youth going on this trip, and it's expensive and they should be able to do some fundraising and/or get some sort of scholarships from somewhere. But not the youth mission fund! We've got other accounts. We can do other fundraisers. Some people just don't get this.
And now this co-worker of mine is one of those people, and she has also taken it upon herself to demand a full budget reporting (especially in regards to this mission trip) for tonight's committee meeting (of which she is NOT the chair, and, oh yeah, she's not my boss). To that I say, BITE ME! She called today to ask if I was going to have all the information available, and I said no, I wouldn't, and she said that it was important and we had discussions to have, and I said that all the information that we would need to be able to have that conversation we would have. I think this may have confused her, but it was true. I don't have a budget with specifics. But that won't be necessary in order to determine what money will be spent on other youth activities.
On top of that, everything else is annoying me today, too. Other annoying coworkers, annoying computer programs, people making demands on me that are unreasonable or not taking into account my being in the middle of several other projects, etc. WORK SUCKS. On the plus side, my bank account is no longer in the red. It now has 22 cents in it. Yay!
Payday is Friday..... :-) Soundtrack to Life: "Cold Mountain" soundtrack (it kinda sucks though, but it's burned from a co-worker. I may have to destroy it. Eck. ) urlLink Read more! 
