And I thank you and your co-workers, because I had to stop and pick up a few things on my way home from work.
Interestingly, in my office we are entering the season where we practically need a note to come to work. “Did you just sneeze? Leave. Now. Take your lap-top and work from home.” “You look pale. Leave. Now.” “Do you have kids? In school or day-care? We’ll see you after Easter.”
We are instructed throughout the winter to bring our laptops home whenever bad weather or bad health is immanent, and work from home over VPN. I hate knowing my every key stroke is monitored, but I hate risking my life to drive to work even more.
Ditto. Last year when I had the flu + an asthma flare-up, my then-boss (the CMO, so a doctor) basically told me to log off on Wednesday, when I got the news (and a handful of medications, including Tamiflu), and to check in with him after the weekend. He pointed out that I wouldn’t be any use to anyone when I was that sick, so not to even try working from home.
It was the smartest thing he could’ve done. I was back working from home on Monday, and was in the office on Wednesday, a little tired but much better.
Juuuust finally put that down in my office. Hallelujah
I work in an open concept office with my direct reports, and they include a singer and a hummer. Often going in concert to the same song. I don’t think the hummer even knew she was doing it. Since the talk, she’s started humming probably 200 or so times and caught herself shortly after. I would estimate she spent 60% - 75% of her day humming, so 200 incidences of false-starts since October is probably an understatement.
Took a little while to get my request to sink in because I don’t think they took me seriously the first time I asked (after putting up with it for about a year). Second request came with a little talk about open concept offices and respect for your coworkers. I felt a little bad because apparently I’m the only one bothered by it, and I didn’t want to play the part of the easily-irritated tyrant.
You believe that? The whole team is dancing on ceiling because you finally said something about it, they just didn’t want to complain about a co-worker who is perfectly nice and competent, knowing how much worse things could be.
A restructuring was done at the job because some of the women were overwhelmed and now with the new roles I can still hear some of the women complaining:smack:
I wonder if the restructuring included you not being in charge of any women and kept as far from women as possible. I hope so. You sound kinda, well, overwhelmed by women anyway.
You’d think so!
During the year I tolerated the humming and singing, I asked the others individually and in private (during their performance reviews) if it bothered them. They all said no! I was really hoping that I could approach the hummer/singer twins with a popular mandate from the department, but no dice. This is why I let it go on for a year before getting fed up and addressing it.
Debated about going into office, decided what the hell, make sure management knows I’m still alive.
My desk was taken, so I moved to an empty cube back in the corner, thinking it would be quiet.
Then the coffee klatch appeared. Good gawd, they are LOUD. One was going on about just how miserable her cold has been, she can’t seem to get over it, everyone in her house is snotty and congested…
WHY are you here?
Suffice it to say, me and my immune-compromised self packed up and came back home.
My boss IM’d me, saying “I thought I saw you?” Yeah, briefly. And that’s as good as it will be until people start staying home.
I once thought about securing it to the underside of the wheel with some 3M Command strips…the angles actually work (when you’re driving straight down the road, of course).
In office news, our resident man-splaining customer service rep has apparently decided that if he can’t understand it, then it must be wrong. He even showed up at my desk today with printouts from random websites to “prove” some point. He has also dubbed himself “Sales Engineer”.
Absolutely. If I was some absentee boss who worked on a different floor and parachuted in 3 times a year to put out fires or give their reviews, I’d be a lot more leery of their responses during an appraisal. Because I’m right beside them all of their time here we’re much more of a team with a manager, rather than a vertical org. chart string of job titles. They’re all considerably older than me, and they’re pretty comfortable with telling me where to go if they need to vent that.
I had to choose a team member to assume a new division’s worth of duties and join me on a long trip in sunny Georgia for training. I chose the lady who’s teenage daughters babysit my 20 month old. The rest of the department knows about this extra-curricular relationship, and I’m worried that the cry of “favouritism!” is going to peal from the group.
She’s the best choice for a coterie of reasons, and I can explain that if necessary, but I’m worried people will turn their ears off to my explanation. Time to channel my inner salesman.
Going to make the decision public in an informal announcement tomorrow afternoon (I’m subscribing to the “bad news best delivered on a Friday” school of thought).
I once thought about securing it to the underside of the wheel with some 3M Command strips…the angles actually work (when you’re driving straight down the road, of course).