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So I'm up in the Oaks this week. But this time, the president of the company is working with me. He's here to talk to the clients, work on the site, check out the data, see what I've been doing for the past 2 months, order me around, make me nervous, watch over my shoulder, fun things like that. It's been a while since we've been at a client site together.
So we were working through some issues that I had fixed that he needed to transfer over to his files, and he told me that there was a new build of our product that would fix some of the problems I was running into. He told me to call Dan and ask him to upload the newest stuff to our FTP site. So I call Dan and asked him if we had a new build of the product, and he said he had the same files I did. El Presidente took the phone from me and asked Dan if we had new website files. Dan said that there were some new ones. So the prez told me to ask Dan again, but correctly.
So I asked him again....correctly. My voice was dripping with sarcasm when I asked Dan again because I felt like a schoolkid told repeat her timetables. Luckily the prez thought it was funny or I'd be typing this from the unemployment line.
So I'm stressed. When the president is around, I feel this need to be the best and make everything perfect, but I also get nervous and make the silliest mistakes. We rarely if ever get praise, but when it does happen, it's like waking up on Christmas and seeing the presents that Santa left you. We're all hungry for some sort of attention and good words from him. When we get that rare pat on the head for doing a good job, for a millisecond you think, 'Wow! He's proud of me!' In a way, it's pretty sad.
What could even be sadder was the other day I was talking to him on the phone about my project, and I had mentioned to him that I was going to be taking time off this week. He was giving me a hard time about taking time off since I'm so busy this month, and I was getting annoyed. He then told me about these issues he was having when he was at a client's site, and I snapped at him and said, 'What do you mean it didn't work? Did the thing blow up? You can't just say it didn't work, you have to tell me HOW it didn't work or I can't help you. Just saying it didn't work means nothing!' Of course, after saying that, I thought 'Oh shit!' but he then went on to describe the problem, and he was caught off guard. Then he paused, and my heart was in my throat...and he said, "you know what?" "What?" I asked. "You sounded just like me just now! See! You're starting to question! You're not afraid to get some answers!"
Whew!
Whoa whoa...wait, he said I sounded just like him?!?!
What am I turning into?!?!
*runs and cries*
Posted by Yano at January 20, 2004 10:38 PMas you know, my boss is in Lombard, IL... and i rarely see her, but i do talk to her often. she can check the queue and see how many calls i've taken, etc. i do have her utmost vote of confidence that i can do things on my own and not need her for help. i can go a week without calling her on something that i completely blanked out on.
it's nerve-wracking when she comes to visit. she's snuck up behind me a couple times and i had to quickly shut down the website i was currently surfing... i'm a little bit more on my toes when she's here and that's because i don't want to have one of "those talks."
i'm 2nd level for an application i support, so when an issue is escalated to me, i expect 1st level to do everything they can. i also expect them to ask me for suggestions. and if a call shows up in my queue without them calling me or asking me for assistance, i will not let them off that easily. i did that one day, and jokingly, i told him, "you're not getting off that easily! let's talk to the client together." i've been getting more assertive when asking for stuff. our 1st level is notorious lack of documentation.
i don't know where this comment is going but i just want to say that i get nervous when my boss is around, too, and sometimes i make stupid mistakes. (everything else in this comment is just filler...) ;)
Posted by: kathy on January 21, 2004 07:12 AMBetween you, your president and the cult personality he has going on, and Dan, your company sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Posted by: Noelle on January 21, 2004 10:31 AMOh yeah, my boss doesn't generally make me nervous, but I'm terrified of his boss (this is the woman who expects to take a whole 2 weeks off to have her baby next month... and she's already scheduled the c-section, the same woman who made my coworker come back for a couple days in the middle of his 2-week paternity leave) and her boss.
Posted by: Noelle on January 21, 2004 10:33 AMNever forget when I was a baby lawyer (and the second woman they'd ever hired), the Senior Partner told me I was too F#$%ing polite to be a lawyer. And this was Seattle?! I did last there 5 more years but I still tried to be myself.
And Noelle, that boss woman you speak of, will need to start saving right now for the psych bills for that baby--too bad.
Posted by: janet on January 21, 2004 10:59 AMSounds like the fun is on the west coast this week! *surfs net* :)
I loved you telling him you can't just say its broke though, man have I been tempted to do that. "A" sales person sent him a good email yesterday - wonder how that turned out!
Nough' work talk!
Miss ya!
Posted by: Amy on January 21, 2004 01:08 PMMaybe your president needs to take a social skills class or something. Doesn't he know a little honey might keep the bees happy?
Posted by: Trisha on January 21, 2004 03:20 PMNoelle said: (this is the woman who expects to take a whole 2 weeks off to have her baby next month... and she's already scheduled the c-section, the same woman who made my coworker come back for a couple days in the middle of his 2-week paternity leave)
OK this is the HR witch coming out of me! MADE HIM COME BACK IN THEM MIDDLE OF HIS 2-WEEK PATERNITY LEAVE!!!!!! ***screams** Hasn't this woman ever heard of FMLA? (The Family Medical Leave Act) Oh my she sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen! EEK!
I had a boss one time that was obsessive compulsive. This guy was nuts! I only lasted with him for 30 days and I should have received a Gold Star! No matter how hard I tried, he always found something wrong. Something strange and off the wall that most people would say "Who Cares". He made me TYPE (on a typewriter) bank deposit tickets! He said I had horrible handwriting! I admit I don't have the best, but you can read it. He went as far a to call me STUPID to my face!! This kind of crap went on for about the first two weeks that I had started. So I sat him down to have a talk with him explaining the best way to talk to me is with RESPECT! Do you know what this Ass Wipe actually said to me? "Let me ask you this, have you been to the bathroom crying yet? You realize you are my FIFTH assistant this year and every one of them at one point or another has been to the bathroom crying!" I looked at him straight in the eye and said, "I would never give you the satisfaction of making me cry! I have however considered going to lunch and never returning!" 2 weeks later we had another "feelings talk" lets just say, I walked out with my head held high all the way to the unemployment line! ;)
Posted by: Pridey on January 21, 2004 03:58 PMWow! Listening to your stories makes me happy I don't work.
Posted by: Sue on January 21, 2004 04:31 PMMy first job out of college I had this boss who was a total witch. She made me so nervous, I screwed up everything she asked me to do. One day I totally screwed something up and she started screaming at me and told me I was useless, or something lovely like that. Needless to say, I went home in tears. The next day I come into work thinking I was going to get fired, and I see her come out of her bosses office with tears in her eyes, and she went into her office slammed the door. Five minutes later she comes out with all her things and leaves. Her assistant calls me in and tells me she just got fired for overbuying, and my ass has just been saved because she was about to fire me. Then she tells me everything I have to do to save my job. I went home and thought about everything she said, and came in and told her she could keep her job and left.
That was the worst job I have ever had, and I spent one summer during college checking the tops on bottles of shampoo to make sure they were tight. But seeing that woman get fired was one of the best days of my life!
Posted by: Denise on January 21, 2004 07:54 PMWow. This is like the work therapy thread!
Posted by: yano on January 22, 2004 01:14 AMit sure is..you all make me so appreciative of my dept. my boys are wonderful (i work with 5 men and one woman..who is a peach herself). of course i've only been here for 3 weeks but i have managed to F up a couple of things.
but yeah, Noelle the boss lady you are talking about, has serious problems. i will not put my family ahead of my job. why? your company can fire you but do you want to be fired from your family (ie divorced, kids don't want to be close to you, etc)? No way. She's got issues.
You know what we should have with FMLA? PAID maternity and paternity leave...it should be mandatory. It isn't here. These benefits are not so hot here. But I am dreaming I know..we're not socialists, we're capitalists in America and we don't care about others too much. *sigh*
Posted by: Lara on January 23, 2004 10:47 AM
