Work and double speak
Oct. 25th, 2005 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mousme"I don't mean to interrupt, but could you drop everything you're doing and do this thing for me? I understand if you have lots of other things, but I really need you to have this ready five minutes ago. Thanks."
That sort of thing really, truly, pisses me off.
1- Of course you mean to interrupt. If you didn't mean to interrupt, you wouldn't have interrupted.
2- You don't actually care that I'm doing lots of other things. Your little thing is, according to you, the center of the universe, and anything anyone else is doing is by definition less important.
3- Don't bother tacking on a "thank you" that you don't mean. Your whole attitude suggests that I should consider it a privilege to put aside all my other work in order to do your bidding. Hiding behind a mask of phony politeness does not endear you to me.
So, here I am, doing work for four -count them, four- other managers, all of whom are in a rush to get things done. Legitimate rushes, because other departments are waiting for documents from them. And now you come sailing by and want me to photocopy your expense report before I do all these rush assignments, just so you can get it in this afternoon rather than tomorrow morning.
Okay. Here's where we reassess our priorities. I will be happy to do your damned photocopying after I have processed the boardsheets, sent my urgent faxes, and gotten our sensitive documents signed. I will go when I have a pile of photocopies to make, which will save me time, rather than go back and forth from the photocopy room twenty times a day.
Coming to my desk every. five. fucking. minutes. to ask if I've made your photocopies will not help. I realize it's time sensitive. So is everything else around here. Just like with all other photocopies, when these are done, I will let you know and even *gasp* give them to you. How's that for a concept?
Now, please go the fuck away and let me do my work!
Gah!
That sort of thing really, truly, pisses me off.
1- Of course you mean to interrupt. If you didn't mean to interrupt, you wouldn't have interrupted.
2- You don't actually care that I'm doing lots of other things. Your little thing is, according to you, the center of the universe, and anything anyone else is doing is by definition less important.
3- Don't bother tacking on a "thank you" that you don't mean. Your whole attitude suggests that I should consider it a privilege to put aside all my other work in order to do your bidding. Hiding behind a mask of phony politeness does not endear you to me.
So, here I am, doing work for four -count them, four- other managers, all of whom are in a rush to get things done. Legitimate rushes, because other departments are waiting for documents from them. And now you come sailing by and want me to photocopy your expense report before I do all these rush assignments, just so you can get it in this afternoon rather than tomorrow morning.
Okay. Here's where we reassess our priorities. I will be happy to do your damned photocopying after I have processed the boardsheets, sent my urgent faxes, and gotten our sensitive documents signed. I will go when I have a pile of photocopies to make, which will save me time, rather than go back and forth from the photocopy room twenty times a day.
Coming to my desk every. five. fucking. minutes. to ask if I've made your photocopies will not help. I realize it's time sensitive. So is everything else around here. Just like with all other photocopies, when these are done, I will let you know and even *gasp* give them to you. How's that for a concept?
Now, please go the fuck away and let me do my work!
Gah!
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-26 03:41 am (UTC)I will definitely use that if the problem gets really bad.
For now the managers, for all their absence of care (you're absolutely right about that) usually don't have time to stand and argue with me about how fast their thing is getting done. Today it just so happened that this one woman was being a pain, because she wants the money back from her expense report.
L is much better at putting the managers in their places than I am, although for some reason I'm better with keeping two specific managers (the really high-maintenance ones) in line. Something about our personalities works out well that way.