Here I sit drinking Glogg. Why, well because my meeting today went way longer than I anticipated. It was supposed to last for one hour, but ended up taking up almost two full hours. To be honest it wasnÂ’t as bad as I expected. Mainly because I only walked in there with one sheet of paper and didnÂ’t go into a lot of details. We have all heard the old adage that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Well if youÂ’re a male management in my female dominated office and you are the squeaky wheel, you donÂ’t get the greaseÂ… but you do get hosed. Actually they would probably hammer me until I didnÂ’t move so I couldnÂ’t make any noise. That seems to be the standard operating procedure for this office.

So why did my meeting run two hours if I didn’t talk about anything? Well because we had to “dish about my people”. IE we had to gossip. Any of you that have met me know that I do not gossip. I don’t like it; I’ve severed friendships because of their gossipy behavior. Most of the meeting was me talking about how good of a team I had, all of their strengths, where I want to develop some of them and where our weakness as a team is.

From the serious fishing expedition that was going on, I knew she wanted the dirt. Since I donÂ’t gossip, I donÂ’t have any and on the couple of people I did have something I wouldnÂ’t share it with her. The couple of situations I have my people told me stuff in confidence and IÂ’m not about to sacrifice their trust just so I can win points with the new management. I know my peers did, because they gossip all of the time. In fact the one that was in the meeting right before me I could make out parts of her conversation while I waited outside, she was gossiping like an old woman at a quilting bee.

I figured after maintaining my integrity and dignity for two hours, I deserved a hot beverage of happiness. By the white cockade on my pretty blue bonnet, IÂ’m going to have it!

Posted by: Contagion at 06:50 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 *joins you in glogging*

Posted by: Shadoglare at December 14, 2007 10:24 PM (WlOIU)

2 You don't own a pretty blue bonnet, unless you bought a new one. Quit lying!!!!!

Posted by: Petey at December 14, 2007 10:45 PM (JhiOW)

3 Shadoglare: You don't have any glogg, quit lying! Petey: You know you want to join the pretty blue bonnet brigade with Noah! Stop fooling yourself!

Posted by: ktreva at December 14, 2007 11:29 PM (QQZMi)

4 Actually I do have glogg, thankyouverymuch Mine's store-bought though.

Posted by: Shadoglare at December 15, 2007 09:50 AM (WlOIU)

5 Oh to be a fly on the wall. But after years you know who you can and cant talk to. Sad actually.

Posted by: Bruce at December 15, 2007 04:58 PM (ecH0X)

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Tomorrow at 11:00 I have a meeting with my new manager. She wants to know what all of what my unit and my responsibilities are. I'm supposed to go in there with all kind of documentation and reports regarding my people and including what duties I have that are outside the standard for someone in my position. I do almost three times the amount of work that the other's do. I'm also the one that ends up having to carry the burden for the rest of the unit when something goes wrong. I could use this time to bring that to light...

... or I'll do what I'm planning on doing and not saying a damn thing. See if I actually go into detail I know the answer I'm going to get. In a previous position I had, I reported to this individual. Thus I am familiar with her management style. I know if I say anything, not only will I still not get any support, but I'll be expected to fix the problems that they created by putting me in this situation. Her answer to EVERYTHING is, "How would you change it." So the conversation would go like this:

I get done explaining in great detail my extra duties, finishing with, "I really need some relief and assistance."

Her: If you where in my position, how would you change it?

Me: Well, I'd distribute some of these extra duties to others and on the shared duties I'd make sure they were doing them as they are supposed to and not leaving it up to one person.

Her: So why don't you do that?

Me: Honestly? Because I'm not my peers manager. Thus I can't force them to do some of this stuff. Especially since upper management assigned everything to me.

Her: I'm sure if you talked with them they would be more then willing to help.

Me: I've spoken with them, and asked. They say they will help, but don't do it.

Her: Do you say something to them?

Me: Yes, I've asked why they didn't follow through and they state they forgot or didn't have time. And since it needs to be done today I end up having to do it all. Most of these projects and duties are time sensitive. I can't just leave them to not get done. Especially since it's ultimately my responsibility they get done.

Her: I think this is something you need to work out with your peers.

Me: Okay, I'll do that. (Desperately trying to hide the sarcasm.)

Her: Good, I'd like to see the final proposal on my desk by the end of next week, including any other documentation you might have. And can you please add a 100 page analysis on the efficiency of your proposal.

Me: ... Sure ... (Figuring I won't do it and she'll forget anyway)

The gist of this is that I know I will be wasting an hour of my life tomorrow being told that I need to do more.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:34 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Saturday night I did something IÂ’ve never done before, I went to my companyÂ’s Holiday Party. When I say never, I mean never. Not for this or any company or organization that IÂ’ve worked for have I gone to their Holiday party, and I can pretty much tell you IÂ’m never going to go again. It was a mistake that I shall not make twice.

I should have known the night was going to go bad when we arrived. I had thought it started at 5:00 PM, but it didn’t start until 6:00PM. Fortunately at the hotel they were having the party, there is a decent bar. Ktreva and I spent the first hour and half sitting in the bar priming our livers. It didn’t take long before other people from work started showing up. That’s when I noticed I made my first faux pas. They were all dressed nicely, I was wearing work boots, jeans, a black “Guns don’t kill people, Zombies Kill people” t-shirt, an old flannel and a Packer hat. Not that I cared, I wear a shirt and tie every day; they can see how I normally dress for once.

After 6:00PM we headed into the room were the part was, luckily it was right across the hall from the bar. We quickly found a group of people we know, including Bruce, and sat down. Being the festive kind of guy that I am, I brought along a little cheer. After sitting I pulled out a thermos filled with Glogg. I poured myself a cup and shared some with the rest of the table. Needless to say fifteen minutes later no one was feeling anything. I also was sharing it with people as they passed by. ItÂ’s funny to watch their reaction to drinking it. Actually I received my first two negative reviews of my glogg. That kind of hurts, because I now only have a 99% approval rating.

They served dinner buffet style. After dinner was supposed to be some presentations and awards. Well to be honest IÂ’d had enough of the atmosphere as I could have taken. There were people I didnÂ’t want to talk to coming up and talking to me. So I slipped out the door and headed back to the bar. Only to find my people from work there doing the same thing. Mainly because drinks were cheaper in the bar than in the party room. I sat down with a couple of people that I knew and got along with and started drinking there.

Ktreva had disappeared long before I left. She was quite the social butterfly, probably because she was heavily socially lubricated. In fact I think in the 45 minutes I sat at the table she was there for only 15 minutes. Which was fine by me, as long as she was having fun than I didnÂ’t care. Well that and she didnÂ’t try to make me socialize with people I have no intention of dealing with outside of work. I figured sheÂ’d find me if she needed me.

After a while I decided it was time to leave. Not only was I starting to spout of angry comments at other management and my manager, but also I was starting to get the urge to throw things at them. Now you could say this was because I was socially lubricatedÂ… and I was, slightly, but it was mainly because I was in a very uncomfortable situation. Alcohol doesnÂ’t make you do things you donÂ’t want to do. It lowers your inhibitions to do things that you know are wrong. Thus there are people IÂ’ve wanted to hit in the head at work for a while; I just had a nice heavy beer glass to do it with this time.

Besides me hitting the uncomfortable/angry zone, Ktreva was getting overly flirty with other guys. I needed to save us before one of us did something really stupid.

We ended up leaving and heading down to FritzÂ’s. Why waste a perfectly good babysitter? Plus FritzÂ’s is a happy place where I can be comfortable and happy. We ended up leaving just before close. FritzÂ’s is better than any therapy session.

Today at work I caught an earful about Ktreva and my antics. First off, there were a lot of people that didn’t know I was even there. Since we sat by the door and left right after dinner was done, most of the people didn’t see me. Secondly, there was talk about the glogg. I think next year they are going to have a “don’t bring your own alcohol” rule” Lastly was some of the overheard comments I made to other management, including insinuating one of them was an idiot.

So in recap, going to the company holiday part is a bad idea.

I wont even tell you the reaction I had when other management suggested I help plan it next year.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:54 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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