Work Related

I kept looking at my calendar to see if it was "everyone get stupid and call RisibleGirl to solve your problems" day. But I didn't see it on my calendar but was pretty sure it was on everyone else's calendar.

It was one stupid thing after another today. At first? Laughable. Mid morning? Annoying. Afternoon? Beyond irritating.

The final straw was the following conversation between me and one of the most annoying people I've ever had the chance to meet. Seriously this woman is almost a cartoon. She talks in a falsetto voice and is on personal calls ALL.DAY.LONG. Generally the calls are to some government entity or another.

Her: Hello? Yes, I want to file a complaint because my garbage man didn't put the lid squarely on my garbage can.

Her: Hello? Yes, there is a crack in the sidewalk out in front of my house and nobody has fixed it yet.

Her: Hello? I have a virus on my computer. Can you tell me what it is? No, my computer is at home and I'm at work. I just want to know what the virus is."

Her: Hello? I got a scratch on my arm from the file cabinet. I want to file Workmans Comp.

There are several more, but I think you get the drift.

Today, I was busy and feeling more than a little pressured due to my heavy workload. I heard a squeak in front of my cubicle and look up to find 'annoying co-worker' leaning over my cube wall. Here is the conversation almost verbatim. I swear I am NOT making any of this up.

Her: Do you know how to keep pop cans from exploding?
Me: Huh?
Her: There is a pop can in the sink and it looks like it's going to explode. Do you know how to fix it?
Me: Uh, no.
Her: Really?
Me: (remember, I was already annoyed from several incidents of stupidity today) Now why do you think I'd know how to fix a can that is going to explode?
Her: Oh. OK. Well, will you go in the kitchen and fix it?
Me: (giving her the most 'I can't believe I'm even having this conversation with you' look) Really, why are you asking me to do this?
Her: So, you won't go fix it then?
Me: No.
Then she stares at me like she's hoping I'll change my mind. Eventually she shrugs her shoulders and walks over to the co-worker across the aisle from me and starts the conversation the exact same way.

The other co-worker made me laugh because she asked, "why is this YOUR problem? Is this your can?" Then after the annoying co-worker said, "no, it's not my can but I'm worried that someone will touch it", the funny co-worker said, "well then, they're stupid."

Eventually, the annoying co-worker got someone to throw the can away for her. Get that? They THREW THE CAN AWAY FOR HER.

Normally I think of her as my comedy break for the day. Today? Not so much.

I have had several very busy weeks at work, this week being one of the busiest. When I create my weekly status reports I'm sometimes amazed at how much I've been able to accomplish over the course of a week. Of course, working 12-13+ hour days doesn't hurt.

My status report for this week?
7 new department web sites
1 department site overhaul
1 online training class created
5 months of news articles reformatted
1 12 page Word newsletter converted to html and posted online
1 policy manual updated
4 Ad Hoc projects that would be difficult to describe without giving away where I work.

Was I cloned? Because if I was, then somebody'd better arrest me because, unless my name is Dolly, cloning is illegal .


I'm pooped. And still buried. And don't want to work this weekend.

Bahhhh Bahhhh.

I get called 'mom' a lot. Of course my boys call me 'mom', but so do a lot of other boys that I do not remember giving birth to. I know there are some pretty fabulous birthing drugs available, but I think at some point I'd remember at least changing a diaper or two.

The boys are all around the same age- early to mid 20's. Some of them are friends of my boys, but lots of them are just guys from work.

Maybe I'm not old enough to let this offend me, or perhaps I'm just not someone who has issues with wanting to hang on to my youth. I like it. I like it when one of my "boys" emails me after I've worked on their site and says, "Thanks Mom". Sometimes they just pop over to my building to come visit 'Mom'. I like having a lot of boys. Funny thing is, I've never had a girl call me 'mom'. I guess I've always been a "boy mom". Not sure if I'd of been a good "girl mom", but hoping to be a great "girl grandma".

::To my REAL boys- when you read this, I do not want to be a grandma anytime in the near future. Thank you. Love, Mom::

What's really fun is walking into a building and having guys representing various ethnic groups call me 'mom'. I like to think it makes people wonder. Especially if someone has seen several different guys greet me this way.

I think I'm 'Mom' to so many guys because I don't let them get away with stuff. When I chastize them, I tell them I'm only shaking my finger at them because I care about them and want them to be successful. I also listen to their dating woes and laugh at their 'boy' humor. One of my clients gets me with the same joke every time. When he calls me on the phone at work he recites his entire title. "This is [guys name], assistant vice president and manager of [guys department], reporting up through [guys division], at [name of our company]. He's done this, oh, a hundred times and I still laugh like an idiot. I really shouldn't egg my kids on like that.

Since Mother's Day is coming up, I'm thinking of cashing in on all this mother love. Maybe next time I get an email that reads, "thanks for taking care of me again Mom" from one of my clients, I'll write back, "You're welcome. Oh, and flowers are ALWAYS appropriate for Mother's Day. Love, Mom".

Surely you must be tired of reading about the snake. I know I'm tired of living it. This situation has invoked such a strong reaction in me that I am absolutely sure there is a lesson buried in here somewhere. I want to let all of this go, but I can't until I understand what it is that I need to learn here. Maybe it'll come to me as I write all that has happened in the last 24 hours. Or, if you can stand to hang on until the end of the post and it seems clear to you, please share your insight with me. Really, I can be rather dense at times and I'd sure like to get this lesson over with.

I met with my manager yesterday morning to try to get this whole thing resolved. I didn't bash the snake in this meeting, because it's not my style. I simply stated facts. The end result was one in which I was not comfortable, but I was not prepared for this outcome therefore I didn't have a response.

It's been a very long time since I've worked for someone who has the technical knowledge that I have. Generally, my managers have been people who have the other half of my skill set. My managers like me because I can speak both languages. They also like me because they don't have to get involved in my daily activities. I just do my own thing and get a lot of work done. I've liked this too, and it hasn't really caused me many problems until now. If I had a manager with web design background, I'm certain that the outcome of this meeting would have been different. My manager doesn't have this background and doesn't understand that web design and layout is a skill set. It's not a matter of slapping information on a page.

Additionally, even web designers don't always make good decisions. Sometimes they're just order takers. They do what the client tells them to do, rather than listen to why the client wants something. I'm a good listener and that has been good for my clients. They may say they want something, but in fact, they really wanted something completely different. They just weren't aware of what could be done. I take a lot of pride in the fact that I'm able to really hear what my clients want, and then deliver it.

Since the snake is responsible for communication plans, my manager feels that it's OK for the snake to do layout, or at least be the last word. My manager feels that the snake has a vision with his plan, and it's my job to make that vision a reality. I'd agree with my manager if the snake had a web background, but he doesn't. I have heard many comments from the team that used to work with him about how difficult he was to work with because he "just didn't get it", yet insisted that it be done his way.

After pondering the meeting outcome for a while, I sent my manager an email telling him that I wasn't comfortable with the outcome of our meeting and I'd like to discuss it further. I indicated that the idea of the snake having the final say in web pages didn't make a whole lot of sense to me given our skill sets. The good news is that my manager is very open to talking about it some more.

During the last 24 hours, I've thought a lot about my strong reaction to the situation and several interesting things happened. It's almost as if I'm being pelted with a hailstorm of information, but I'm unable to understand what it all means.

I thought seriously about job hunting, but dammit, I love my job. I also weighed the pro's and con's of quitting this job in my head. The con list was much longer than the pro list.

Con: Would have a difficult time finding a job to allow me to telecommute more than half the week; it'd be hard to find a salary to match what I'm making now; I love my job; I really REALLY like my clients; I have a lot of freedom to learn new things. Really, the list is huge.

Pro: I'd be rid of dealing with the snake.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that quitting my job would be plain stupid.

Here are the other events, innocuous by themselves, but added together makes me feel that there is something behind it all:

1. The manager of the team that I send work to sent me this message and copied my division executive: "I just want to thank you for always being flexible when dealing with all of the changes to [company intranet] and for quickly adapting to them and putting them into practice. It makes my life a lot easier and your Web sites more user friendly. Thanks for being so easy to work with!" She has no knowledge of went down that day. This came completely out of the blue.


2. I got this email from one of her employees, whose last day is today: "It has been a joy and a privilege to work with you. I wish you the best of everything for both work and personal life. You are someone I highly respect and have learned a great deal from you about keeping it real while maintaining a sense of humor."


3. And three more email messages from clients thanking me for always being on top of things, listening to their needs, and delivering their product on time.

All of this happened in 2 business hours. HOURS. On a day that I felt defeated.

I am resigned to doing whatever my manager wants me to do. I really am. He's a great guy and I want to keep the good relationship that we have. I also want show him that I do appreciate the perks that I have, and if that means that I have to do the snake's grunt work- then so be it. I don't see where being cooperative will take me down a bad path. Perhaps this will give the snake enough rope to hang himself.

I will have the last conversation with my manager about the situation and then I'll accept the outcome and I'll change my attitude about this whole thing. Life is too short for turf wars, ya know?

With that, I leave you with this lesson for the day. Keep watching until the lesson of the day message comes up....



Signed,
The cat

Yesterday? Good day? Not so much. Wanna hear about it? Sure you do!

I was supposed to meet my manager on the train going in to work yesterday morning to talk about 'the snake'. We both had a meeting-heavy day, and I wanted to meet with him before a three hour class that I was taking with 'the snake'. Since our train commute is over an hour, and we take the same train, we thought that would be a great opportunity to talk. Good idea, huh?

There is a one lane stretch of highway between our house and the train. It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 25 minutes to get down that stretch of highway depending on traffic. One would think that at 5:30 in the morning, one could count on the 15 minute commute, right? Ummmm... that's not how it went down. Grandma and Grandpa Jones and all of their old relatives were on the road at that time of day, and as a result, I pulled into the train station just as the train was pulling out.

Rather than wait for the next train, I decided to drive in. At that time in the morning, I can usually get to work as fast as the train. I knew that would give me a half an hour to talk to my manager before my manager's first meeting at 8 a.m. Well, what do you know. Ms. RisibleGirl, being famous for always getting lost, got on the freeway going South (toward home), rather than North (toward work). I was not amused. I did get to work in time for a 15 minute meeting with my manager.

So how was the meeting with your manager, you may be asking?


Since this post is going to be rather long, I'll post about it separately. I'm still not quite in the right frame of mind to post logically about it. I need to process my thoughts a little more.

Off to class I went. Tra-la-la... I found a seat next to someone, rather than leave the option open for the snake to sit by me. The tables were arranged in tables of two and I found a seat next to a fairly innocuous looking guy.

At 9:45 a.m. we had an earthquake drill. That's right. An earthquake drill. We all had to crawl under our tables. IN OUR WORK CLOTHES. There I was for what seemed like an eternity under a desk with a guy I didn't know. He wasn't even cute (but at least he didn't have bad breath!)

After class, I went back to my desk and began tackling the pile of work on my desk. It seemed that yesterday was the day that 90% of the projects on the back burner suddenly came alive. One.After.The.Other. I started feeling overwhelmed, which just doesn't happen to me too often. It was probably due to still needing to process what I was going to do about the snake situation.

Finally, it was time to go home. I couldn't wait to get home and beg BJ if we could medicate me with some pizza.

I can't tell you how many times I've driven home from work, yet I missed my normal freeway connection. There is another way home, so I kept driving a few more miles to the next freeway connection. Unbelievably, I took the wrong off ramp. Unfortunately, this one didn't have an on ramp to get back on the freeway, so I ended up getting lost trying to find my way home. I did find my way home, almost an hour later. You see, I didn't bring my navigation device with me. Who needs that when you've been back and forth to work a gazillion times? Apparently that'd be me. Yesterday, anyway.

Gee, do you thing something was on my mind?