Quote of the Day:
“I’m the only person in the world who tried to cook Tuna Helper then burned my foot and still forgot to put the tuna in.” — Shan, who burned herself (again!) making lunch.
Site of the Day:
Regular readers will get this. Viva Pussy Demure!
Yesterday, I felt empowered as a journalist and as a professional. Today, I return to my place as the object of micromanagement.
My boss (whom I will just call Exclamation Point from now on; see here for the story) corners me in my office this morning to discuss various items. And then chastises me because I do not keep her in the loop about where I am, every moment of every day.
Case in point: I am supposed to have a meeting at 11 a.m. (in a few minutes) with our Internet person, to teach me how to update my corporate website. (I haven’t even seen this person in the office yet, mind you — I’ll bet he’s forgotten). It seems that, four weeks ago, when I set the training time, I had mentioned to Exclamation Point that we were to meet on Jan. 28. Let it be said that I just got the date wrong, and the training was always set for the 29th.
In any event, Exclamation starts breathing deeply and says, “You were out at that luncheon yesterday.” Um, Duh. “And (the other one) wasn’t here yesterday either. I assume you have scheduled a different date to meet?”
I was stunned but recovered quickly. “No, today is the day we are meeting. It was always today; I must have mentioned the incorrect date.”
A normal supervisor would leave it at that. But not Exclamation Point.
“It is your responsibility to tell me these things,” she said. I said, I thought I just did. She goes into this long schpiel that she was expecting that the training would be done yesterday, and she was concerned because neither myself nor the trainer were in the office, and I need to realize how important this is. Blah blah blah. I said it’s always been a priority and that the date was always set and will still be honored, if Dude comes into the office today (it’s 10:59 a.m. — I ain’t holding my breath, at this point).
I think she’s nuts because she told her supervisor (who is also Dude’s supervisor) about this “date.” And her supervisor isn’t even here — I mean, jesus christ, I do not need her to act like a secretary. I am perfectly capable of attending the various meetings I am forced to attend. Of course, I tend to skip our weekly supervision meetings at least two weeks out of the month, so I can see where she’s concerned about my meeting-attending skills, but come on. She knows I want to learn this website bullshit because Dude has only updated my page once in 14 months, and that’s only because his boss went apeshit on him because his most recent column wasn’t featured.
In any event, I was verbally spanked for not realizing that I told her the wrong date for a meeting she wasn’t even involved with, and I was told that, the moment I knew that I had told her the wrong date, I should have reported it to her immediately.
MicroMcManagement special — what number is that on the menu board? And can I get a side of rage to go with that, with an Apple Martini for dessert?