Wrapping up

I went into the office late today, dressed in a t-shirt and sneakers. All the normal office rules have broken down. Our team, the Jeff Davis County staffers that is, is being disbanded and new staff from across the state are coming to redo our work. Most of the old staff has left and the new people don’t arrive for a week.

It was king of depressing. It was me and three other people, milling about, trying to get our things in order. Everyone else has already left. Today was supposed to be everyone’s last day, but to save a little money they were called on Thursday or Friday and told to go home that day. It made for weird goodbyes written on sticky notes or dry erase boards. It also made for an eerily empty office, like a southern textile mill where they just turn off the power one day, the clocks still on the wall reading 5:01, or whatever time the end of business was. Desks full of papers, the refrigerator full of food.

So I went and packed up my stuff and said good bye to the few people left. The theory is that Mark, our national guard liaison, will take over. Mark, a physical therapist by profession, has no idea what he is supposed to do. The Mississippi Recovery Authority gave him a half day workshop on grantwriting and told him he should work on implementation. He spent a chunk of the day trying to find donated office space, because he will be kicked out of our office/trailer. He did not even know where to get a copy of our plans that he is supposed to be implementing. Of course, all our plans will change when the new staff arrives.

I moved all my office stuff to the new building in Biloxi. In theory, the new staff, my self included, are going to be improving our plans and project proposals (or writing new ones), this time based out of the Biloxi office. I have to say I brought with me a heavy sense of foreboding. The new team lead is a Northerner, blunt and direct. He led the “strike team” that came down and made us rewrite all our plans without talking with the citizens group. Consequently, the citizens group and the county officials hate him already.

I am doubting my decision to remain another four weeks. I timed my shenanigan tolerance to be exhausted at the same time I was supposed to be sent home (tomorrow). Now that I am staying another four weeks, I don’t know how I will deal if the inefficiency and stupidity continues.