Things that bug me

I have access to the roll-up status report for our department of 80 some people (I think.... I don't know, it's a lot of people). I have access to this report so I can find 'bragworthy' things to report up to Top Dog's manager for a weekly update that goes out to everyone in her hierarchy.

This roll-up report doesn't list names next to the accomplishments, nor does it list departments. It's supposed to be a "we all did these things as a team", however, the information is rolling up from somewhere and someone is certainly getting the credit from their manager for the items listed on the report.

So, I'm browsing through the list of things accomplished this week and I come across this gem:

"Assisted in rebuilding the Security Services pages and transitioning the engagement service listings from the old site to the new ones. Overall spent more time than originally anticipated do to the issues from the transition".

"Hmmmm", I think to myself, "I didn't write this, yet I was the one that did this rebuild..... without ANY assistance."

Not only is someone taking credit for something they didn't do- they're saying it took longer than they anticipated- thus making it sound like they worked themselves to the bone and had to work overtime to do it.

Hmmmmm..... NOT COOL! I'm getting so tired of people taking credit for my.good.work. What is wrong with people? I'd never stoop to such a level. In fact, I'm sharing the credit for things I'm doing with my favorite project manager, just as he's sharing credit with me. When we report stuff to Top Dog, we say "We", not "I".

I gave my manager the heads up on this, but will just leave it at that. I have my ways of finding out who actually wrote that in their status report, but as long as my manager knows the scoop- I'm going to let it go.

The person who reported that they did this work? Karma will get them. It always does. If it doesn't? Well, I don't really care. People like that must always be looking over their shoulders and that's punishment enough.

I couldn't believe my eyes last night when I saw the sky dumping a big ol' bunch of snow. If I were to guess, I'd say that we had about 3 inches of it sticking to the ground. My poor little baby plants! I hope they survive.

I've mentioned a time or two that we have a driveway that is very long and very steep. If, let's say, you couldn't stop your car for some reason, you'd end up going straight across the street and drop about 200 feet into the neighbors yard.

Since I have very little desire to test out that theory, I tend to work from home on the mornings when I can tell that the driveway is nothing but ice. I'm fortunate in that everything I need is always with me so I can work from anywhere and not have to plan. I keep very little paper, everything is in my laptop which I bring home from work every day.

So, here I sit- working from home all dressed up. There's something weird about that if you ask me. I'll probably go change into my 'work from home' clothes (a choice of 6 pair of black glamorous sweat pants and zip up hoodies of various colors), but thought I'd wait until after the staff meeting. You know, so I'm professional and all...

I hope this snow melts and we do NOT have ice in the driveway tomorrow. Even though Friday is normally a work from home day, I feel like I should go into the office as a sign of good faith (or whatever).

I can't wait until it's light so I can see what sort of damage the snow has caused my precious little seedlings.

It's the end of March, for Pete's sake. I thought we were done with all this winter stuff. Gheesh.

Top dog forwarded this email to me last night:

Subject: Your fancy SharePoint site
From: Top Dog's peer
Message:
Yo [top dog],
Can I get access to your awesome SharePoint site so we can rip off your good work?
Thanks!

Top Dog's reply: Sure.

I wish I knew a way to write out that sound effect you hear when a record scratches as it's going backward. Y'all are probably thinking, "What the heck is she talking about?" You'll have to trust me on this. It's the perfect sound effect for this occasion.

Let's analyze the email message, shall we?

"Your awesome SharePoint site":
Why yes it is. I, RisibleGirl, came up with the concept and design and calculations running that mean machine.

"your good work":
Who is "Your"? I understand the meaning behind the sentence. The guy meant "Your" in the sense of "your team" (aka RisibleGirl).

"Rip off":
No way bub. That's where I draw the line. I'm all about sharing, but I really hate the term "Rip off your good work". I honestly do not think anyone could replicate what I've done. I'm not sure I could replicate it some days.... Even the most seasoned SharePoint help desk people are amazed at the tool I've built. This is where I get my "well done's"; when people look at something that appears to be easy- but when they dig around, they find that it's horribly complicated. That's when people understand all the work I do.

/kvetching

By the way, I saw this Dilbert cartoon this morning and it reminded me of our relationship (me, Risiblegirl- you, my friends that read this blog)


Isn't it so true?

So there's this guy at my company that I have to work with now and then, whenever training is involved. He's retired Army and well, he's short and well, he ummm... well, let's just say that I've sensed a Napoleon complex about the guy for quite some time now.

The course he designed rolled out the same time as mine. I received an email from the Executive VP (that's pretty high on the totem pole, in case you didn't know) of HR complementing me on my course. She had the misfortune of CCing Napoleon as well as his manager (who is not in my hierarchy).

I swear, it took him no less than 2 minutes to reply all BLASTING my course and saying that he didn't do what she specifically complimented me on because he thinks it's bad form.

WOW.

I decided that the best thing to do in this case was to just thank her (reply all- tee hee) for the compliment and let her know that if she would like to know how to do this for next year's training, I'd be happy to help, pretending that I hadn't read Napoleon's email yet.

She wrote back (and replied all) complimenting me on something else, and I'd guess it was to show Napoleon that he wasn't getting anywhere with his hissy fit.

I guess his Mama didn't teach him that cutting other people down is NOT a good career move. I've seen him do this before to someone else and was kind of amazed.

I think the icing on the cake was that he emailed me on Friday and asked me if I'd help him on another course he's working on. I'm not even in his department and this course has nothing to do with my department.

Can you guess what my response was?

If you guessed that I opted out, claiming I was very busy (which isn't a lie) you'd be correct.

Sorry Napoleon, you're on your own.

I told him that I was quitting my job.

I'm so fickle... wasn't I just writing how blessed I felt?

Well that was RUINED (ruined, I tell you!) in one sentence from the top dog after I tried to tell him in a sly way that what he was asking of me was WAY beyond my capabilities. His reply to me was, "unfortunately we all own the math - you can't opt out. smiley face"

Thank goodness for the smiley face.

I wrote to the project manager who was hired just for this particular project (the one that I really like), "I wish on everything that is holy (Donny Osmond) that I'd never came up with that idea in the first place. HEAD.ACHE."

Yes- I did use Donny Osmond's name in vain.

He wrote, "Donny Osmond? Didn't he die eating nanner sandwiches with Elvis? "

No respect for Donny Osmond? He's dead to me now!

Oh- and in case my employer finds this, I also wrote: [Top dog]frustrates me, but fortunately for him- I really like the guy, and I like his passion. I don't get him most of the time, but that's OK. I think his heart is in the right place and that goes miles with me.

...and I mean every word of it. I do have a feeling that this is going to be one of those "growth opportunities". Meh.