After all, it is Friday...
Sep. 20th, 2002 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geminigirlI'm amused at my co-workers...
Last night there was a potluck for one of our programs here at the office. I had forgotten to bring a change of clothes to go teach (I avoid going to teach in work clothes, preferring to go in jeans) and so I bailed on the potluck. As I was signing out on last night, I ran into the department's assistant director, and while we were chatting, I mentioned that I had a craving for chili, but didn't have time to make a pot, and there was no place near my home that sells chili. (With the exception of Wendy's whose chili is like water. Ick.) This morning, I'm making some photocopies and doing random tasks in the kitchen/copy room and someone comes in and says, "Oh, there's a bowl of chili leftover from last night in the fridge for you." It's nice; someone thought to save me some of the leftovers. Now that's just thoughtful.
And what would a week be without some horror story about my boss?
Weeks ago, she scheduled a meeting for 9:30, in Old Town Alexandria with an agency. Getting to Old Town before 10 AM or so is a nuisance-the traffic is incredible. I realize this, decide it makes more sense not to go into the office before, and to leave from home. I plan extra time-normally this would be a ten or fifteen minute trip for me (plus time to park, which is often difficult in that neighborhood.) I find the building, park around the corner, and arrive at the office by abotu 9:25. My cellphone was off, from going through the metal detector in the building.
I know that my boss tends to leave later than she should to get to places, and to drive like a maniac to get there. I decide to check my voicemail, just in case. She's left a voicemail telling me that she's on the right street, but many blocks away. I'd given her the simplest directions possible, and warned her to leave plenty of time because no matter which way she went, the traffic was going to be awful. I let the receptionist know that she's running late, but that she should be there in a few minutes.
Some time passes, she calls me back...she's about two blocks away. I direct her to the parking garage around the corner, to avoid having to find an empty meter and enough quarters.
The man we're supposed to meet with comes out, introduces himself and I suggest that we sit down and get started, while we wait for my boss. Normally, I'd never leave my cell phone on during a meeting, but because you-know-who was still missing, I did. I get another call from her, about fifteen minutes later-at this point she's a good 30 or 40 minutes late, telling me she found the building, she parked, she went inside, and couldn't find the office we were supposed to be in, and so she left and she's going back to the office.
WHAT?
Hello-you have all the materials and information we wanted to give these people.
Okay. You got in, you went through the metal detector-did you not think to ask for the correct office? Did you not get the right suite when you set the appointment up? How did I manage to find the place, having never been there before, and having even less information than you did?
I looked like a moron, because you couldn't get your act together. I seethed, I fumed...I was pissed off.
And A. is out at a conference so he doesn't even KNOW what she did, and how bad it made us look. I looked totally unprepared, and unprofessional. And I was less prepared than I could have been-every time I asked what I needed to do for the meeting, I was told don't worry about it, just get the packets together and be there to answer questions about your program. And I did that. Fortunatly, I know my boss's program well enough to pimp it a bit too.
Yesterday, as I went to follow up on the meeting, and mail some things to the person we met with, she tells me not to bother writing note to him to include in the packet.
Then, I sat with her in a meeting with our old substance abuse counselor,the replacement substance abuse counselor, the assistant director, and my boss. The meeting was to help him transition into the program, to aquaint him with the responsibilities and so on. She sat and talked at him...the entire time. I have direct programming responsibilities with him...he's never seen the rest of the program, and I had no chance to talk about it. In fact, when I tried to say something about it, she cut me off, and talked over me. The A.D nudged me and whispered "Did you want to say something?" "Yes," I said, "But we're way past that now." Clearly, the A.D. was annoyed and frustrated; she had this glazed look in her eyes. And clearly...my boss knows very little about transitions, about running meetings, and other important manegerial tasks.
Cap this off of course with her asking me to mail things out for her because she can't figure out how to use the postage machine.
Last night there was a potluck for one of our programs here at the office. I had forgotten to bring a change of clothes to go teach (I avoid going to teach in work clothes, preferring to go in jeans) and so I bailed on the potluck. As I was signing out on last night, I ran into the department's assistant director, and while we were chatting, I mentioned that I had a craving for chili, but didn't have time to make a pot, and there was no place near my home that sells chili. (With the exception of Wendy's whose chili is like water. Ick.) This morning, I'm making some photocopies and doing random tasks in the kitchen/copy room and someone comes in and says, "Oh, there's a bowl of chili leftover from last night in the fridge for you." It's nice; someone thought to save me some of the leftovers. Now that's just thoughtful.
And what would a week be without some horror story about my boss?
Weeks ago, she scheduled a meeting for 9:30, in Old Town Alexandria with an agency. Getting to Old Town before 10 AM or so is a nuisance-the traffic is incredible. I realize this, decide it makes more sense not to go into the office before, and to leave from home. I plan extra time-normally this would be a ten or fifteen minute trip for me (plus time to park, which is often difficult in that neighborhood.) I find the building, park around the corner, and arrive at the office by abotu 9:25. My cellphone was off, from going through the metal detector in the building.
I know that my boss tends to leave later than she should to get to places, and to drive like a maniac to get there. I decide to check my voicemail, just in case. She's left a voicemail telling me that she's on the right street, but many blocks away. I'd given her the simplest directions possible, and warned her to leave plenty of time because no matter which way she went, the traffic was going to be awful. I let the receptionist know that she's running late, but that she should be there in a few minutes.
Some time passes, she calls me back...she's about two blocks away. I direct her to the parking garage around the corner, to avoid having to find an empty meter and enough quarters.
The man we're supposed to meet with comes out, introduces himself and I suggest that we sit down and get started, while we wait for my boss. Normally, I'd never leave my cell phone on during a meeting, but because you-know-who was still missing, I did. I get another call from her, about fifteen minutes later-at this point she's a good 30 or 40 minutes late, telling me she found the building, she parked, she went inside, and couldn't find the office we were supposed to be in, and so she left and she's going back to the office.
WHAT?
Hello-you have all the materials and information we wanted to give these people.
Okay. You got in, you went through the metal detector-did you not think to ask for the correct office? Did you not get the right suite when you set the appointment up? How did I manage to find the place, having never been there before, and having even less information than you did?
I looked like a moron, because you couldn't get your act together. I seethed, I fumed...I was pissed off.
And A. is out at a conference so he doesn't even KNOW what she did, and how bad it made us look. I looked totally unprepared, and unprofessional. And I was less prepared than I could have been-every time I asked what I needed to do for the meeting, I was told don't worry about it, just get the packets together and be there to answer questions about your program. And I did that. Fortunatly, I know my boss's program well enough to pimp it a bit too.
Yesterday, as I went to follow up on the meeting, and mail some things to the person we met with, she tells me not to bother writing note to him to include in the packet.
Then, I sat with her in a meeting with our old substance abuse counselor,the replacement substance abuse counselor, the assistant director, and my boss. The meeting was to help him transition into the program, to aquaint him with the responsibilities and so on. She sat and talked at him...the entire time. I have direct programming responsibilities with him...he's never seen the rest of the program, and I had no chance to talk about it. In fact, when I tried to say something about it, she cut me off, and talked over me. The A.D nudged me and whispered "Did you want to say something?" "Yes," I said, "But we're way past that now." Clearly, the A.D. was annoyed and frustrated; she had this glazed look in her eyes. And clearly...my boss knows very little about transitions, about running meetings, and other important manegerial tasks.
Cap this off of course with her asking me to mail things out for her because she can't figure out how to use the postage machine.
