Today, Gary and I traveled to Kaneohe to visit the Extension Office. Prior to me arriving in Hawaii, Gary mentioned that in the 14 years prior to him being hired that this Extension Office's hours had dwindled to only 4 hours a week on Tuesdays. Random. Gary has just hired an additional part-time person, Wanda, to help "clean up" the mess some "retiring" staff have left behind. We met her at the Extension Office and found... nothing. No one. Locked doors that didn't match Gary's master keys. If I was Gary I would've been more than just slightly annoyed. Of the two women who work in this office, one is never around and Gary says in the 18 months he's been here he's never met the other woman. Completely unacceptable! I know Gary's postion wasn't filled for the longest time, and when they did have someone in the postion it was only temporary so things slid under the radar, but the fact that some of these people still blatantly abuse the system under a now watchful eye is beyond me! In fact, the head of the Ag Department at U of H that oversees the Extension Office mentioned that the two women who currently work at this Extension Office are not "comfortable" with the new woman Gary hired. Gary senses it's because they'll now be accountable for what they're doing. Maybe.
We managed to get into a portion of the building - that had been left unlocked - and realized that it was a giant unrecognized opportunity. A giant meeting space with full functioning kitchen (minus the roach infested sink) and ample storage! Only it was severely ignored... dirty, dusty, and storage from who knows how long ago. We found an amazing quarter-fold velt presentation board that costs over hundreds of dollars - IN AMAZING CONDITION - just shoved in a corner. How long has that been there?!
Basically, all this space going to waste when real-estate in Hawaii is hard to come by (oh, and did I mention this building is available to us FREE OF CHARGE), and all these amazing materials are just sitting there when we could really be utilizing them. It's frustrating. What's even more frustrating (of which Gary mentioned first) is that there are numerous paid 4-H employees who do nothing and their actions go unaccounted for, whereas Wanda can only be hired on part-time because of funding, and I don't get paid at all because of the lack of funding. I'm not complaining about not getting paid because I am getting free housing, food, and transportation, but that's still rough for Gary who could use the help and support without needing to hire extra staff.
All I've been able to think about while dealing with this is our Org Behavior classes this past year at school. These people could seriously use a good dose of those classes and groups! It just seems like these people don't know how to work together! I mean, another example of how divided these people are, is how the 4-H programs here are completely divided into Ag programs, School programs, and Military programs. So separated that they have their own budgets, own training/conferences, and before Gary arrived here they barely - if ever - interacted.
It looks like we have our work cut out for us. I'm excited! Bring it on! :)
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In other news...
Tonight for dinner we went to this soul food restaurant called "Soul". :) Oh. My. Freaking. God. The food was so amazing! (I promise amazing isn't my new favorite word, but I just don't have words to describe a lot of the things here, you'll just have to come see and experience them yourselves) I'm embarrassed to say it was the most delicious southern comfort food I've ever had, even better than my grandmother's... and she's from Alabama! I mean, delicious southern comfort soul food in Hawaii... I don't think I'll ever have soul food again that compares. And no, I'm not being over-dramatic or exaggerating. What was also amazing about this restaurant is that the owner/head chef used to work at one of Waikiki's top and hardest to get into restaurants. He quit to open up this place, and actually comes out to meet and talk with his patrons. He's super nice and super down-to-earth. I couldn't believe it! He was also incredibly humble. There are just no words beyond - I'm sorry to say it again - amazing!
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