At least once a week, the division executive asks me questions like, "Would you please draft a communication about 'x' ('x' being something I know nothing about)?" Today the question was "Can you give me a status on the division summit?" Now I don't know about you, but a division summit sounds like an awfully big deal. Apparently I'm in charge of it.

Fortunately, he asks me these questions over email, otherwise he'd see something like this:

I'm involved in about 15 projects right now, in one way or another, so I'm awfully scattered BUT... at least I recognize the name of projects when I hear them. I know I didn't hit my head THAT hard. heh. Usually the projects he brings up are news to me because nobody has told me that I’m working on them yet much less anything about the project itself.

When I get these questions, I quickly email my manager and ask her what the heck he's talking about. Unfortunately, she's very busy and doesn't always get right back to me so I bite my nails until I have solid (or so I make it seem.... ha!) information to give back to him. Not as timely as I'd like, I might add. He probably thinks I'm sitting at home eating bon-bons watching my soaps instead of answering his questions.

I wish I could tell him that my manager and I haven't discussed the project du jour yet, so I don't look like an idiot- but I think that would be perceived as throwing her under the bus. I'm not a 'throw people under the bus' type of person, so the buck (or bus, as it were) stops here.

Trust me, I have the tire marks to prove it from my last job.

This sure takes getting used to. I'm used to knowing every little detail about everything I'm working on and can answer questions without any hesitation.

My mom told me not too long ago that I have the gift of blarney. I guess that's coming in very handy right now. Eeek.