True, Shibb, and honestly that’s a small part of what I’m exploring. I’ve got some Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Akira and other things that Chris has given to me, as well as a whole Netflix queue to get involved with some of the “real” stuff.
My fifteen year-old daughter is a big anime fan. She loved Totoro and watched it over and over and over (of course she was younger then). She asked for and received Spirited Away and has watched it several times. I know she watches anime on one of the cable channels, but I’m not sure what she’s watching there. I must admit, I am ignorant in anime matters.
Well, it’s almost the end of the day. It’s been, frankly, a rather crappy and frustrating day. Somehow my last two to three weeks of data for a particular report has become corrupted and totally screwed up. I discovered it this morning as I was doing my monthly roll-up. AAARRGH! After some discussion with another analyst I have, I hope, instituted a fix. If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to talk to someone else.
My tummy is rumbly, which means that by the time I get home I will not have any interest in eating or fixing dinner. The “window” of opportunity for my stomach will have passed. But…can’t starve the fambly, so I’ll have to make din-din anyway.
Have a good one
There’s a new one by the guys who did Cowboy Bebop called Samurai Champlo (or something). It’s good- I’ve seen the first four episodes.
Housework did not happen. Work at work did not happen. I did read Us magazine, which made me faintly nauseated. How can anyone be that interested in celebrities? Who frickin’ cares whether or not they buy chips, or hang out cuddling with their SOs, or whatever?
I’m gonna go re-read my nice sappy Sharon Shinn novel. I didn’t eat groundhog, but I did eat shredded ham.
Ashes[sup]2[/sup] sorry to disappoint you, but I look nothing like that guy on the cover of “Bear Lust.” I’m just yer average chubby bear guy. But that’s ok cause ACBG likes average chubby bear guy.
Speaking of ACBG, he nearly choked on meatloaf last night. See, while we were eating, I told him that I put sausage in the meatloaf because it’s groundhog day. I probably shouldn’t have said that while he had a mouthful of meatloaf. 
The lastest (I think) Miyazaki film Disney put out (at least the last one I saw) had this poor little child have her parents turn into pigs and then a whole bunch of odd things happened. (Like the sprirts were going to EAT HER PIG-PARENTS! Plus that one thing that ate everyone then hurled them back up.) I think the whole thing could definitely be catagorized as “dark and disturbing”. Wasn’t that Spirited Away? I think so. Princess Mononoke was no walk in the park neither.
I like Miyazaki films.
You know a movie that’s not so much good to watch with your kids. Best in Show. It’s a good enough movie, but not real kid-friendly. Right Shibb?
Dodgeball has a lesson for everyone in it. Plus an inflatable codpiece.
Lissla I checked this morning on the way to work. The Connie Wills collection I have read is Impossible Things. I’m going to force it on one of the GF’s daughters - she’s been laoning me Neil Gamon stuff the last couple of weeks - 1602, Good Omens, and the Douglas Adams bio.
Haven’t really gotten into the anime scene, although I have seen all the Bebop stuff that made it to the US. I liked that.
I barely know what anime is, let alone have any inkling what y’all are talking about. Should I look for Anime for Dummies?
swampy, why did ACBG nearly choke on the meatloaf? Was the groundhog you put in there whole? Ain’tcha sposed to use the loose kind what is like groundbeef?
I did not make meatloaf last night for dinner. By the time I got home, I didn’t feel like making anything requiring more energy than throwing taters in the oven and patties in the broiler. Not our taters, the Idaho kind…but y’all knew that.
I gotta buy a new dad-blame-it printer for the home computer. The used one The Princess[sup]TM[/sup] just got, decided to die yesterday and she needs one for college. I saw an HP color printer advertised at Chez Target.com for $40. That sounded good to me but they wanted to sell me a USB cable at the same time. See this here linky Don’t printers already come with a cable hook-up? Why would I need a USB cable?
That’s all I got for now.
Tupug The Hardware Challenged
Still swampy, that’s what you look like for me. Only now you’ve also got a boyfriend in the background turning pink because he’s choking on dinner. You’re both wearing robes and sitting at a rather over the top dinnette set. I don’t know why. I blame my parents. This sort of damage couldn’t have happened because I ‘rolled off’ the changing table just once.
I have a question for you MMPer’s. I’m asking you because I don’t really care what the goons in The Pit or elsewhere think. It may end up kinda long.
I am a Mechanical Designer, which is really a glorified Draftsperson. I have been a Drafter for going on 19 years now, both with pen and ink and on various computer aided drafting programs. I am good at my job, speedy when I want to be, and can put out a professional drawing that makes other engineers say “Ooo! I want her in my company!” which is how I got this job in the first place (I was a temp at first). I work in a very small firm, it is just two engineers and myself. One of the engineers, I’ll call him R, has never in his life done drafting with a computer aided drafting program. He will attempt to edit text, but if he needs to move a line, he’s completely at a loss. I will note here that R is the president of the company just because H (the other engineer) didn’t want to be. Anyway, R and I often butt heads over how drawings are done. He seems to think that CADD is magic, all I have to do is wave my wand over the computer screen and BAM it’s all done, so if things take longer than he seems to think they should, he gets pissy as if I’m deliberately sandbagging (which I admit I do sometimes when there isn’t a lot of billable projects on my agenda, but never when it’s urgent.)
Okay, back to the topic of my mini-rant. Yesterday R said that he needed some demolition/new work drawings made, which usually means on plan per sheet. This made a total of 4 drawings. No big deal, I get them all set up and start some work on them. It takes a while because there are things I have to do to the plans the architect sent us so they are legible on our end, pretty typical stuff. A couple hours later her returns the drawings with his notes on them. I find that he and I have doubled up on some work (eh, stuff happens, only a little annoying) but the real big deal was that he wanted two plans on one of the sheets and seems to be annoyed that I didn’t READ HIS MIND to know that was what he wanted when he asked me to set up the drawings. Now because of a long, technical process I will not explain here because I have already wasted enough of your time, I cannot just pop one floorplan onto the other drawing sheet without having to do a bunch of adjustments to the way the electronic file works. So I pick up his comments then return the sheets to him without mergeing the two files. So he asks me why, in that condesending asshole voice he can sometimes have, the one that sounds like he thinks I’m delibaratly undermining the success of the company somehow (he does that often. It drives me bat-sh*t crazy and pisses me off for days). Since that tone of voice makes me very pissy and defensive (because I’ve been listening to it for 5 years), I get a bit snappy and tell him it was because it’s a pain in the butt to do, and walk off. I had a very good reason for not doing it, it takes a lot of time and he needed the drawings back so he could put more comments on them before he left for a business trip, so I figured I would just do it today. It’ll get done, just not when he thinks it should be done. I know I should have told him that up front, but his tone of voice just makes me so mad that really, the best thing I can do is immediately walk away before I punch him in the nose.
So this morning the drawings are on my desk, all nicely marked up with a note that tells me, in big (4" high) red marker letters “Combine to single sheet with HVAC demo”. Now this is even different that what he wanted me to do with it yesterday, which makes me glad I didn’t do it yesterday because I would have had to redo it. But the part that is really, really annoying is the BIG RED LETTERS as if I am an idiot for not reading his mind the second time. I wrote underneath it in little blue letters “I can read small letters, too.”
This boss is also well known for jumping all over me for misspelling a word on an otherwise perfectly done drawing after it has gone to the client, as if a single misspelled word is going to somehow cause us to lose that client and therefore the entire company will collapse. He always asks me ‘why did you…’ it or ‘how did this happen…’ as if any answer I give is going to be anything but an excuse “Umm, because a big monster told me too?” “Umm, because I’m a idiot?” “Because no one is perfect *%^$head?”
I almost quit once because of it. We had a huge project, one that a small 3 person firm usually doesn’t handle. I worked my butt off, made 70 drawings, did some design work, wrastled computers and plotters, for weeks. It went through innumerable reviews by both engineers and myself catching typos. It took hours of woman-labor to get prints out and back from the printers. I was so happy when it was done and out the door. R came back from the client meeting the next day. Did I hear, “The clients were pleased with the design, good job.” or “The drawings were well received and clients are happy with the work.” or even “Good job getting this out on time by yourself.” NO. I heard, “Did you notice that you spelled queffelitem wrong?” in an etremely annoyed tone. He has a 70+ drawing set in his hand, full of rather complicated piping and HVAC drawings, including the difficulty of actually working on the drawings, which I would rate at about a 9, and all he noticed was an effing mispelled word. The only thing that kept me here was the other partner, H, telling me later that he understood my frustration and he would talk to R. But if he forgets to put a fire damper in a duct, it’s “oh well, we’ll have to do a change order… take care of that, would you? La, de, da.” I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard “you were right,” or “great job, you sure worked hard.” from him. PPPPPBBBBTTTT! to him! The only thing that kept me here was the other partner, H, telling me later that he understood my frustration and he would talk to R.
And don’t get me started on my pay scale and lack of bonus after one of the best years our company has had.
So to my question, how should I deal with this behaviour? Is it passive/aggressive, cluelessness about his tone of voice or just simple ass$%^&ishness? The Elf thinks I should quit and find another job closer to home (I work 20 miles from home across the state line, about a 40 minute drive. In my town, that is considered a bit of a distance). He is a professional people manager and he believes R’s problem is that he doesn’t appreciate my efforts. I am this close to just exploding on him next time. I know that sometimes aggressive people don’t realize they are that annoying. I like what I do, I like my other boss, heck even R is a nice enough guy except for that perfection thing he’s got going on.
This way way longer than I intended, but I feel better now that I have gotten some of it out. Thanks for reading if you managed to get all the way to the bottom.
The Faerie
Rue, that was indeed Spirited Away.
We ended up watching the pilot of Dead Like Me and an episode of Angelic Layer last night, rather than Totoro.
Angelic Layer was a little young for my tastes, but I’ll probably watch the other 3 episodes on the disc to give it a second chance.
Yowza, Faerie that sounds like an aggravating situation. Working for a small company can have its drawbacks if there are personality clashes. Open communication couldn’t hurt, but I would have no idea where you ought to start.
Faerie, Wow, I don’t have any real advice either, just a lot of empathy. I’ve worked for people like this and like you, I was often close to major insubordination and temper explosions. Well, frankly, I was insubordinate a couple of times, but usually, the perfectionist would back off for awhile. He ended up medically retiring, but then I got to deal with an ineffectual, lying idiot. I don’t know which is worse.
I think, in the end, you need to do what’s right for you. It may mean staying, it may mean moving on. My choice was to move on and, luckily enough, it turned out well for me. I am in a different line of work, plus I work for the gummint. An opportunity arose, (rare at my grade level on this installation) and I managed to take advantage of it.
Best of luck to you.
Thanks for listening, Scout and Taters (“they call me Tater Salad!” giggle). That’s exactly my fear. R may be annoying, but he’s not nealy annoying as the born-again religious cult nut I had as a boss once. I was an out, Pagan, lesbian at the time. I had fantasies of hurrying his trip to heaven. It didn’t help that he wasn’t particulary smart, either. Anyway. What if I change jobs and hate the new place even more? At least here I have the freedom of the internet and can slack on the SDMB as often as I want.
I would really like to get a different job, and I mean different. I am burning out on drafting, but it pays well and a lesser paying career would be a tough adjustment. I’m very interested in working in a quilt/craft store, but not like Michael’s or Joanne. More like the small specialty shops, but jobs in those places are rare and pay waaaay less than I make now.
So keep up with the advice, folks. Even the commisurations are helpful.
Hey, is there anyone left in the MMP that’s in the DC area? I just got approval to come out there for a conference at the end of this month.
FCMom is nearby; closer than I am.
Faerie, my sister had a similar problem when she worked for a small law firm. One lawyer knew she was a gem, but the other still had a “I’m highly educated and you’re a secretary” attitude (though my sister would have blown him away on any intelligence test, and knew about as much about law as he did). She eventually left (and he later begged for her to come back), but not until she knew it was the best decision for her.
Her feeling was that she wasn’t going to be forced out of a job she liked by the boss that had poor communication skills. She told both partners that she expected to be treated with more respect and if she was not, she’d start looking for another position. She was very clear about what she wanted changed, but she didn’t act like a diva, either. (Even though this was years ago, I remember it in detail because she talked about it and planned what to do for weeks!).
Remember that as an employee, you have a right to expectations, too. Being informed of any changes in the usual practice (i.e. one drawing per page) is not an unreasonable expectation, nor is being spoken to as if you were an adult and not a recalcitrant child. Frankly, wanting credit and recognition for hard work isn’t unreasonable, either, but it’s hard to demand that someone praises you!
In return, you need to make R understand that CADD is not magic. Even if he can’t/won’t understand the technical whys and whatnots, he should be able to understand a basic explanation of how much time a typical task will take, and what makes a typical task unusual enough to require more time.
As for his habit of finding a misspelling in otherwise outstanding work, think of it as a compliment–R obviously needs to find fault, it may be tied into what he thinks a boss is or what he thinks is the difference between a draftsman and an engineer–and if the only thing wrong he can find is a misspelled word, well, that’s almost praise.
So ask yourself, “Are there steps I can take to improve the situation?” If you really want H to talk to R, you have to make sure H understands how serious the situation is (although I wouldn’t threaten to quit unless you’re sure you will quit). Better yet, ask to meet with both of them and discuss the issues. And after you have talked, be firm about whatever solutions/adjustments you all have agreed to (call him on being patronizing, remind him that CADD still takes some time, thank him for pointing out a misspelling as if he’s just sung your praises). Expect to be treated with respect, and don’t accept lesser treatment.
If you can’t do this, don’t think it would work or would makes matters worse, then you need to decide if it is bad enough to motivate you to get a new job–taking in all the pros/cons of that adventure (it may take a while to find a job, you could end up with an even worse boss, and even after you’re hired there will be an uncertain period until you prove your skills). What is going to be better for you?
We spend too much time and have too much invested in our work to be unhappy with it. So, what’s going to make you happiest? That’s the goal after all.
Good luck! E-mail me if you want more of my “power to the employee” rhetoric.
TheFaerie, I suggest putting out some feelers for other jobs. Even though you mostly like your job, and, let’s face it, if you can stand it most of the time you’re better off than a lot of folks, it never hurts to find out what else is out there that might interest you. Hang in there and good luck.
Wow, serious advice in the MMP. I have now seen it all.
Puggy poor ACBG was trying to chew up and swallow a big mouthful of meatloaf when I chose to do the ground hog joke. I’m mean like that some times.
Ashes[sup]2[/sup] it so happens we both do sit around in our robes a lot. One of my favorite things to wear at home is my big ol’ terrycloth robe. ACBG likes wearing his too. Matter of fact we each have robes at each others houses just for robe wearin’ occasions. My breakfast nook table, where we eat most of the time at my house is wood with a brass and glass top. Does that sound over the top enough? The chairs are just normal ladderback chairs, however.
This may not be much help, Faerie, but it might help you understand what’s going through R’s head. I now present:
Exgineer’s Sweeping Broad-brush Unfair Generalization About Engineers
A) We get like and get along with our equipment much better than we like and get along with people, and therefore B) we generally make really crappy supervisors, and C) the business stuff makes our heads hurt.
Sometimes this can actually be positive. I used to work in a section composed enirely of engineers, including the nominal supervisor. He hated all the bureaucratic crap, so when it came to performance evaluations and whatnot he and the employee in question would sit down and BS up something that would pass muster with the HR people. Work assignments were even easier:
Boss> “Who wants to tackle this one?”
Me> “I’ll give it a try, but if it has to be done by next Thursday, I’ll need Mike to help me with this part.”
Boss> “Mike?”
Mike> “Sure, no problem.”
It worked for us, but it was way too loosey-goosey for the MBA types.
Your problem is that you work for a tiny outfit, and the Head Goons in Charge are engineers. H didn’t want anything to do with the business end, so he fobbed it off on his partner, who probably doesn’t want to deal with it either. R is frustrated as hell by the whole thing, is probably under a lot of stress over it, and is reduced to nitpicking the little things he has some control over as a way of blowing off steam. It’s nowhere near a good thing to be doing. It’s unprofessional, it isn’t helping him or you, and is causing workplace friction that none of the three of you need.
The thing is, he’s probably wound so tight he doesn’t realize he’s being such a bastard.
About the only thing you can do is ask for clear, written instructions and try to keep your head down. Passive-aggressive stuff like writing “I can read small letters too” is just going to wind him tighter and fan the flames.
Get written instructions and follow them to the letter, even if he gets snotty and tries to micromanage everything. That’s the only way you’re going to gain any control over your situation.
faerie, I think the others have given some very good advice. The only thing I have to add is life’s too short to waste on a job that gives you too much stress. I worked for 13 years for a similar boss. It very nearly ruined my health. Someone above was looking out for me and I got transferred to another department where I am far happier and healthier.
Wow - we can cause chaos in time in space by meeting - I live very near DC - about 20-30 minutes away, in VA.
Susan
I’m about an hour away from DC - I saw in your LJ that you’re headed this way, but I didn’t look at a calendar. Have you got any definite plans yet?