I’m in the middle of a fairly major pickle, and it’s become clear that I’m going to have to deal with said pickle – as in, my boss needs to know. I worked through every scenario I could come up with where I wouldn’t have to tell her – nope, I had to tell her. I was totally dreading this. She’s a neat lady in a lot of ways, and I admire her tremendously – but she’s an autocrat, and though she’s a charming autocrat, one should not rely on her mercy.
Did a trial run yesterday where I told my immediate boss, who was fairly cool – nah, very cool – about it. While we were chatting and I was thanking him for being understanding, I told him in so many words I was using him for a rehearsal, because I thought the big boss might not react well. I said this four or five times. He was unable to say anything more reassuring than “who knows, she could suprise you” (with a pound and a half of doubt in his voice).
Well, son of a bitch, she surprised me. She wandered into my office to tell me something; got into a long description of some very serious stuff going on with our client (i.e., that we’re not directly involved in, but it’s Bad News Piled On Bad News), etc., and I said “So, I guess this isn’t a good time to drop something else on you?” She said, “You’re not quitting, are you?” “No, but you may fire me for being an idiot…”
She heard the story and laughed.
God bless her.
Totally not what I was expecting after a week of serious screwiness and all kinds of bizarre stuff going on, even aside from my own BS.
Phew!