My boss.
I know that I probably should NOT be blogging about work because of what happened to Meggles a few weeks ago, but this morning was one of the most ridiculous mornings-turned-into-lunch-hours I've ever had here with Dan. You see, Dan is the president of my company. And as the president, you kind of have to respect what he says, does, wants, etc, because at the end of the day, he's the one who signs your paycheck, amiright? But, as I've mentioned before, Dan is somewhat neurotic and a perfectionist - but only in the way that HE sees is perfect, not on a standard level-headed playing field of perfect. So, last week I had a HUGE project that I was working on for one of his clients. The project was a clusterfuck from the beginning - because Dan doesn't understand or take the time to understand how projects on the sister-side of the business work. So he throws everything together last minute, won't let me be the point person on the project because it's HIS client - but he comes up short on every single aspect and expects the rest of our staff to jump through hoops to cover up his blunders and not make him look bad. So the back end of this project has legitimately taken me about 30 hours to put together, between data analysis and reporting. And he doesn't give me any sort of expectation about the reports, he just expects me to "generate some charts from the data". Oh. Ok. Sure. Could you be a little more vague here???? You know, the data is only 52 pages of information from participants. Should be a snap! Right. Why don't you just strike me down RIGHT now because I would rather give myself paper cuts between my fingers than spend the ungodly amount of time I know I'm going to have to spend on this.
But...as I said before, it's my paycheck on the line here so, I really have no choice. So I start plugging away, first formatting all the data so that it's in a legible form for the clients to understand at a quick glance. THEN I start creating the charts. After spending 2 work days on those, I send HALF of the presentation to Dan (because that's all I've finished at this point) last night. This morning, I have an email that says "Can you drop in this information?" and it's a listing of ALL the product code changes. Which means I have to go back and re-work ALL the data for the 40+ slides I've already completed. I have to change it in excel and THEN re-format every single slide. Fuck. My. Life. Might have been nice to have that information a few days ago, ya know, when I first started the report...On top of which, he's expecting this by lunch-time today and I still have half the report to complete! But whatevs, thank God Excel has a "replace" function. I think I can figure out these changes quickly enough that I can still knock this out by 1:00 or so...and I would have. If Dan didn't keep barging into my office to pester me about the details of a DIFFERENT, ONLINE study we're also trying to get out today. Really Dan? What is the top priority here? Would you like to tell me? Because you're expecting this presentation by lunchtime and it's 11:15 and you've stopped me from my work 4 times this morning already. And it's not just stopping me to ask a quick question, it's "Blaire, can you come down to my office for a few minutes to talk about this ONE question?" Ok Dan, sure. And he'll be looking at the study on his computer, pull out a post-it and just sit there and think about how he wants to change the phrasing of a question while I stand and twiddle my thumbs. Really Dan? Do you need me to be standing in your office, watching over your shoulder, in order to think better? Because personally, that makes me LESS able to think clearly. So I do this 4 times with him - anxiously checking the clock because the minutes are just ticking away. And if I try to make a suggestion, I get a "hey-ha-ha-hang on a minute, let me think about this". Ok, but see while you're "thinking about this" and I stand idly over your shoulder for 10 minutes, I'm wasting the valuable time that I need to be "dropping in" extra information for the presentation you're expecting in an hour and a half!
Anyway, I DID complete the presentation by about 1:15, AND we got the other study launched but Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I get SO peeved when I have to have mornings like this. They're the most frustrating thing ever. I seriously feel like my boss is a 2010 version of Lumberg. There have been many a time when I've experienced something similar to this:
Dan always comes to my office at about 5:05 and talks to me about what else he needs me to do/change on a report/etc, and he always wants it done right away. Seriously dude, you couldn't have come into my office 2 hours ago and told me this?
I'm sorry I'm being such a sour sally today but I just REALLY need some sleep. I can't see straight anymore and all I want is to go to bed. I had some really fun stuff to blog about when I woke up this morning but it has since been washed away from my brain and replaced with graphs and charts that I despise.
I must say though that I AM looking forward to this evening, quite a bit - Sophia and I are having a girls night with greek food and a few Oscar movies. And I'll probably fall asleep in the middle of my spanikopita and hummus, but c'est la vie!
Next week HAS to be better than this one was. Even if next Friday is the day that Jesus died for our sins (god I miss NYC Mark)...
And on that note, I'm signing off for the week. If you need me, I'll be up to my eyeballs in kabobs, spanikopita, hummus and wine. Thanks.
B
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