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June 2, 2005
Last Straw
Damn near got fired today. The phrase “last straw” was used. They’ve got some legitimate complaints, I won’t deny that, but the woman I had the conversation with said “your work product is good” and that is true. So, what’s the problem? It irritates them to no end that I’m tired at work. “Droopy eyed” has been cited. And there’s an agitator in their midst. The Creative Director is a talented guy. He can be cool, for sure. But he’s one of these types that’s very opinionated and cranky, and it turns out—come to think of it, I’ve posted about him here before—he keeps an eye on me and reports back, presumably in bitter and whiney tones. A bit of a thorn in my side, and furthermore, makes the whole atmosphere there cloudy with tension. I try to speak to him in friendly and chipper tones but he’s cold as hell, and I think it’s easy for him to be, the way people can be so judgemental about people they don’t know or aren’t involved with or deal with or see more than one side off. Today we had to work together on a little Flash piece and everything went well, and then he was warmer. I was yawning in that process (several nights of 9, 10, 11 hours of sleep will not overcome a sleep deficit equal to the national spending deficit) but he had it put in his face what I was actually doing work wise, rather than some droopy-eyed veneer.
The other thing that bugs is that I was there before a lot of people today and was the last one to leave. That’s never mentioned. I’m kickin’ booty with a few of these clients and taking on increasing responsibility and getting things done to the clients’ satisfaction. That’s not considered.
I did forget about a client meeting on Tuesday—yes, a real no, no—but understandable considering it was on my radar for a total of the 5 seconds it took to accept the emailed meeting request (there was no other talk of it) last week well before a three-day weekend, and there was no real effect as I was there and available to attend it, but they said I was under-dressed for it, which is unfair because I was dressed as well as I have been for other client meetings. Turns out they’ve had a problem with that but haven’t said anything until it was too late and I was in trouble for it. Boiled down, the problem was that I was wearing sneakers (brown suede sneakers). But I have no other shoes, being fresh back from 10 months of human rights work in the jungles of G. These shoes are new. Had I remembered the meeting, like I said, I would have been at work at the same time with the same clothes.
So I, over IM, as these things weirdly and awkwardly occur, tried to say that they should have said something if they hadn’t been satisfied with the way I was dressing, that I figured that being between his (bossboy’s) tie and C’s (Creative Director’s) jeans, was fine (yes, this guy goes to meetings in jeans and his gloves with the fingers cut out and a sweatband around his forearm and that whole bit). He (bossboy) told me that C was playing the creative card. Hmm. Okay. But I’m supposed to know that. But I’m not allowed to address it, because he (bossboy) got a little snippy there over IM and told me he didn’t want to discuss it. It’s no big deal he said. You forgot. Period. I don’t want to discuss it. I wanted to say that his not wanting to discuss things was a major part of the problem there. I’ve posted about it before, how their lack of expectations setting has put me at an unfair disadvantage. I’ll do what I’m supposed to do if I know I’m supposed to do it. AND, it did turn out to be a big deal as it was brought up in the other IM conversation today. I was told she and he (bossboy) were mad about it. Beautiful.
Again, I’m not denying my role in it—I’ve been totally, painfully honest here—but other people do seem to be denying their roles in it.
Posted by peligrito at June 2, 2005 8:49 PM
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A Bartlett Giamatti: "It is not enough to offer a smorgasbord of courses. We must insure that students are not just eating at one end of the table."
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