House cleaning & Red Cross Rant

I've been working on cleaning up the house while my husband continues his nerdy endeavors today. It's not so bad really, I've been doing most of the work sitting down on the floor, and I've taken several lay down breaks (and one nap break) when my back starts to hurt. I've gone through three boxes of stuff: two that came from my old office and one that came from my mom's house. I've just been sorting at this point, I'll put the stuff away after it's in neat little piles. Most of it is paper. The office ones were particularly fun because I didn't pack them. David, the co-worker from there that I trust the most, was given that job when they decided to move someone into my desk in the three days between me handing in my resignation and me returning to work the following week. So it was like a grab-bag of goodies! There were files, office supplies, desk accessories, business cards... Of course, that grab bag also led to me having a pile (about 3 inches deep) of stuff to take back to them when I'm in town next. That'll be Tuesday- I have a list of things I need to do, such as meet with a fellow IT about some classes with want to teach, sign a course record sheet for the class I taught the last day I worked at the old place, turn in some old uniforms that are now washed and dried, show my mom the pictures we have in digital format so she can pick out which she wants for her photo album we got her for Christmas, go to Charles's parents house for something (he'll have to tell me what I need to do there later), and ummm.... I'm sure there's more. The one thing that I'm hoping to find here is my Red Cross wallet, the one that has all of my original cards. I've been so frustrated with the Red Cross lately... my Red Cross is neck-deep in drama and legal action, and the one where I moved to is just a tad weird. The person who I report to (luckily not in an employee-employer way, but in a "here's my stuff and my money, send my cards in the mail" way) has told me some stuff that I know to be oldschool and no longer valid (such as she doesn't have to accept me as an Instructor Trainer if she doesn't want to). I have the Red Cross Manual of Administrative Policies and Procedures to back me up too, but I figured I'd wait and only use it if needed (like if she doesn't accept my status). So far they've been cooperative, except for they lost my paperwork. When I went to talk to them, I took them photocopies of my instructor certs. The person in charge of such things said that she'd put me in the system "for now" but to come back when I got my originals back from boxes (where I presume they are anyway) and/or when I change my name officially with HR at my new job, then I'll change it with Red Cross too since they're tied together. (I already did the DMV, then I show my new driver's license to Social Security, then I show my new Social Security Card to HR at work, then I go to the Red Cross... this is complicated!) So then several weeks later I go turn in course record sheets for my first class in this county, and my boss gets a phone call that there's a problem with them because I don't exist! So I called, and the person who does the data entry told me basically the same thing. I wanted to get the story straight from her and then talk to the person I had talked to, but they had already spoken to each other. The exact phrase used was something along the lines of "Boss's name gave your stuff to name of boss for other courses and now we don't have it. I need you to bring them in again." Grrr. Now, if the two division heads both claim to have had possession of my paperwork, isn't that enough to at least process my students' cards so that they can go on with their lives and apply for jobs (it was a lifeguarding course) while we sort this out amongst ourselves. I'll even promise not to teach until it's resolved! But no, they're stuck waiting along with me. They could even call the equivalent person at my home chapter, who is a good resource for not only my status but also my teaching history and quality. Oh, wait, they probably don't want to do that because they already did! "Yeah, it's me again, can you verify Patti's status again?" Pffft. So I try to fax over copies again the following day (being that I got off work at 5:30pm the day I found this out, I wasn't about to go fax it out overnight). The fax machine kept redialing, the I kept redialing it after the appropriate number of redial attempts failed... Busy. Grrr. Now it's Friday when I'm trying to fax it over, and it won't get resolved until middle of next week I bet. Then they want my originals so they can stamp them. In a way, having my authorization transferred over might ease some of these problems, because they'd be the keepers of my hard-copy files, but I don't know... they're a little crazy out here, and we've already determined that they're not good at holding onto hard copies of stuff. I'll just find the originals, transfer in all official like, let them stamp my stuff, and get on with my teaching. Sounds like it should work, right? I'll keep you posted. I really, really, truly believe in the principles and the ideals of the American Red Cross. I am proud to be an Instructor Trainer with them. (I know the person at my new Red Cross would never have allowed me to do it since I've only been teaching "a few years.") I like them, I really do... but I'm just frustrated for the moment, for my students' sake- that's what it's all about in the end, isn't it? I do this for them, and for the people they'll go on to save. Okay, I feel a bit better now that I've ranted about it. That should last through the weekend until I have to deal with it again.