And once again we learn a fundamental Lesson of Life.
Coworkers are not your Friends.
But in the OP, we have;
Whizkid shows procedure to “Asshole”.
“Asshole” puts together bad presentation and shows to Singular1. Singular1 decides to steal the thunder and makes a Big Dramatic Show out of producing a presentation.
“Asshole” decides to head off Singular1 at the pass and make a clean version of what he’s already done.
One wonders what Whizkid thinks about seeing two other people fighting over credit for his work.
Asshole probably thinks that it was Singular1 who was being the asshole by co-opting Asshole’s methodology. Offering to convert Asshole’s notes into a clearer format for the group is kosher. Just taking it upon yourself to do it is poor form in the corporate world.
Regardless, no matter who put it in a PP presentation, Whiz Kid’s name should be on the title page as he was the real brains behind it.
Thanks for the explanation of Powerpoint. A presentation tool, huh? I always thought them soporifics! Especially effective when read verbatim by the presenter, and accompanied with printed out copies of the same material!
Those are the best kind because you can sleep during the presentation and read about it afterwards and not miss anything. I find the monotone of the speaker as he reads verbatim almost like a little lullaby and soon I am asleep…so tired…oh…so ti.r…e…d.
Much better then those with the flashing graphics that keep you awake.
chimes tinkle and fade away slow background fade in from black to baby blue curly vines appear in the corners and wiggle their way around the border 72 point 3d font swoops in from the top
“Me too!”
firework animations burst 72 point font spins, shrinks, and vanishes with a pop image bank art slides in from the side showing two multicultural business people shaking hands in agreement fade to black
Heh heh. Just for that, I’ve already scheduled your Outlook calendar with a follow-up meeting to discuss this during your lunchtime. Detailed agenda to follow…
I think I have a slightly different view of this picture than about 90% of the participants in this thread.
As others have mentioned, Whizkid is the one who originally figured this whole thing out and yet the OP and the Asshole are fighting over the credit. But there’s more to it than that. Singular1 was not assigned this task. He took it upon himself for two reasons:
He wanted something to do that was more creative than his everyday tasks. Which is fine.
He wanted to suck up to his boss, his boss’s boss, and impress all his co-workers. Which is also fine but let’s all not delude ourselves into thinking Singular1’s motives were altruistic and noble.
So what does asshole do? He beats the Singular1 at his own game. He didn’t stab you in the back. He didn’t throw you under the bus. He saw you trying to grab a piece of the glory and said “that sounds pretty sweet. I think I’ll get me some of that too.”
Look, I’m not going to debate whether his piece or your piece looks better, is more complete, comes with better graphics, or is more helpful. I’m not going to speculate on how your coworkers or boss or boss’s boss will see Asshole’s attempt and realize he’s just sucking up to TPTB.
Frankly that’s what both of you are doing and I wish you luck in outsmarting him on future occassions.
If your office has a refrigerator for employee use, print out a copy of Assholes PP, put a single silver sticky star on it and attach it to the refrigerator door with a Spongebob magnet. Give it the recognition it deserves!
I did fail to mention that Whizkid, being an engineer and not a tech, is beloved by all and gets enormous credit for his work. Whizkid, however, doesn’t want to be bothered with showing everybody how to do this bit over and over. Whizkid actually taught the brief course in PP that I took to learn how to do this and, to the best of my knowledge, is way too busy being Whizzy at a level so far above ours that I suspect he’s glad we spread what we learn from him on one-on-ones around so he doesn’t have to bother with it. We’re just the grunts that illustrate the engineer’s task.
Good for you, Jodi! That must’ve been sweet to hand in that notice!
Oh, and these PPs are rarely shown in a meeting. They’re just used as step-by-step instructions for the most part. That was the awful part of the one the boss had me show at a couple meetings - I hate speaking in front of a group, and I just babbled about the situation and the solution instead of reading frame-by-frame.
Nonono - it should be a couple of human beans shaking hands. Perfection!
Mongo Ponton, that’s exactly what I was thinking. I think the OP must be a young person, with not too much experience in the working world, and possibly not much experience at entry level jobs, getting shit on by co-workers and bosses, to let something like this send him into a medication-requiring rage.
If his presentation has all the necessary info and has 4 slides to your 13, then his is better and you should STFU.
If his presentation lacks necessary information that yours has, you should send it out with an email that tells people to replace his with yours because his is incomplete and incorrect.
She is an old fart that is dealing with a whole group of other old farts trying to assimilate an entirely new technology. Said old farts are being forced to embrace new technology, something they have not had to do in about a decade. She is trying to make it clear to said old farts which screen to bring up and which folder to click along every step of the way to use the new technology that they would never attempt to even glance at if their employer did not insist on them dragging their technologically cro-magnon asses into something that’s only six years out of date, not twelve years like they are used to. She is trying to help people suspicious of and anxious about the new technology ease into it. She likes the challenge of using new technology and is trying to help those who are theatened by it learn the new technology. She is used to changing jobs and adapting, something the people that have been with the company for-fuckin-ever are unaccustomed to. She did not put animated slides and fireworks and all that bullshit into it. There is no way she can convince you of this, but there is no fat to be cut from this PP.
