Spent a chunk of my day dealing with a Tiger Mom. Defending her pwecious widdle bay-bee from that mean teacher who gave him a “horrendous grade” last semester (a “C-”!). We called in some other teachers who had *Pwecious *in class, and they all told horrendous tales of Crappy Attendance, Missing Assignments, and chronic Not Giving A Shit.
On the bright side, I got to use a classic line on her. When she announced that her son “clearly understood the material” I said "First of all, NO…"
“Ma’am, while you may be a ‘Tiger Mom’, your child is more like Garfield.”
If you’d met him, you’d realize that was perfect.
Why wasn’t I liveblogging to this thread from the meeting? You could’ve handed me that line at just the right time.
I did keep the snark to a minimum. But I almost turned to the mom (as she was extolling his intelligence and determination) and said “Do you even KNOW your son?”
Minor and stupid, but typical of this joint: My last day full-time is tomorrow. I start student teaching on Monday. I’ll be around part-time (weekends) for at least a little while to finish up year-end and quarter-end projects, but I don’t know how long they’ll be calling me in after that. I do not have high expectations, even though there are things I do (did?) that have not been fully transitioned to other personnel yet because my Manager believes in better living through denial.
And: because of BLTD, my Manager HAS NOT TOLD ANYONE that I will not be here come Monday, and I have been advised (read: ordered) not to say anything either. People in my immediate department know (because they’ve been circling my desk like vultures looking for office supplies), but I work with several other departments, and they have not been informed that I am leaving or who will be taking over my responsibilities.
Yesterday, I had someone from one of these other departments come over to my desk with a question, and they saw my naked cube walls and my stuff packed up. They put two and two together, and they FREAKED. I have spent the morning sifting through literally DOZENS of emails and voice mails from people I have worked with for 10+ years who are all in varying states of emotional distress. I forwarded a few to my Manager and she STILL insists that I “cannot” say anything until she makes the “official announcement.”
I feel really shitty. Most of these people have been very nice to me, and I hate that they all think that I’m hiding something that’s kind of a big deal. Manager has been treating me like leprous camel dung, which – whatever, what else is new? – but I really want to share the news with others (I worked REALLY HARD for this) and I don’t like being in this situation.
{Also: apparently they’re not even planning a goodbye event of any sort. Not even a Tastykake, let alone a happy hour. We’ve done significantly more for people who weren’t here nearly as long (from what I heard, the goodbye party for a guy who was here fewer than six months ran up a $5k tab). I’ve been here longer than anyone on this whole floor except Manager, and I haven’t had anyone offer me so much as a chicken wing. What gives?}
Save it. The opportunity will come up again. 
No, I work in a much smaller place than you’ve ever described.
edit: Rockle, that sucks.
I think that’s exactly what I’ll have to do, and I’ll feel like a total dick. (But lady, you are that dumb!)
rockle, all I can figure is that the manager is throwing you a surprise party. 
Wow, that’s seriously effed up, Rockle. Glad you’re getting out of there - sounds like Dysfunction City.
Now that it really makes no difference to your future prospects (I assume) can you go over your Manager’s level to the next person higher up? Would it be a good idea to contact some of the people “in varying states of emotional distress” from your personal email after you’re gone, to say some sort of goodbye? Do you have the *cojones *to bring in your own Tastykake and throw yourself a party?
99% of the problems we’re having aren’t “mine”, they’re all from the same people whose decisions caused those which are “mine”.
Yesterday we had something which was giving an error message, an interface complaining about an erroneous unit. I posited that since this always happened for a specific location, there might be stuff there which used the wrong unit (that other system has about as many checks as an Excel spreadsheet). Nooooo, I was told, impooooossible! Have your programmer check it, it’s in a part of the interface that he did!
The programmer checked it, came up with “it’s coming from the other system”.
The Greek chorus checks the other system, and lo and behold! Something which was inconceivable turned out to happen several hundred times 
I’m enjoying this… polishes her crystal ball
It’s possible, but frankly, I doubt it. I’m not sure that anybody in this department can keep their mouths shut for more than three seconds about anything. They’re throwing a “surprise” baby shower for one of my co-workers and the beans were spilled before everyone even got the email invite.
I have half a mind to get blitzed out of my mind on umbrella drinks at lunch tomorrow and never come back to the office – but I’m still trying to negotiate a “return strategy” for when student teaching is over. I’m not happy here, but I do have a mortgage and shit. Even if I do get a teaching position right away (which is 50-50 at best), I won’t start until mid-August at the earliest, and I’ll be done with student teaching at the end of April. I’ll need a job for the summer (string cheese ain’t free, and my kid eats A LOT of it), and I like to think that my experience and institutional knowledge are worth at least a short-term return engagement, even if it’s just as a part-timer/temp. Can’t burn any bridges just yet. (Well, I could, but I want to hedge my bets.)
I already added a bunch of people to my personal email contacts so I can email them on Monday, but I’d really like to say goodbye while I’m still in the building so that people can “pay their respects,” so to speak. Perhaps I am projecting my various neuroses and insecurities on others, but I’d hate for anyone to think that I didn’t feel they were “worth” being told personally about my departure and future plans. My immediate department is largely a bunch of asswads, but my friends and peers from other areas are mostly good people and honestly, I’d like the hugs and reassurances. (Yeah, I’m emotionally needy.)
Super busy today trying to locate one of my bosses.
Got a call a while back – turns out the reason he didn’t show up to work is that he DIED last night.
Nice guy. Damned shame. Heart attack.
I vote for manager being a passive-aggressive twat. My previous manager (in the department I spent a decade in) claimed there was a departmental policy against going-away parties, and my officemate managed to get a cake approved, finally.
No excuse. Leave your personal issues at the door! Be dead on your own time, pal!
Did he fill out a leave card?
Oh, we’d have no problem getting a cake. We have parties for every-damn-thing: bon voyages, birthdays, babies, weddings, afternoon thundershowers, days ending in “Y.” You name it, we’ve celebrated it.
Except, apparently, ME moving up in the world. The longer this days goes on, the more likely it looks that I might have “car trouble” tomorrow and just … ditch on my last day. (Except, you know, still hoping for part time.)
I asked Big Boss how many times the crazy lady called after I left about her second interview. He told me he called her after he got done with his all-day meeting, thanked her for her interest in the position but she was not a contender. Her reply?
“Well FINALLY someone called me back to tell me!”
He showed great restraint in not answering “And thank **you **for showing us how crazy you are this early in the process.”
Our super-irritating night auditor flounced out yesterday, so we’re looking to hire someone not annoying. Now if only we can get rid of Lazy Daisy, morale might start to improve around here.
No, there were not Taskykakes. I want Tastykakes.
I have never heard of this “Tastykake”. Sounds nice.
I think we have a guy on the way out due to his habit of sleeping most of the day, then hiding his incomplete work in abandoned file cabinets.
I’ve got three people (not in my department) who are about to piss themselves over an assembly that’s scheduled to ship out in March. One part arrived about a month ago; one part has yet to arrive; the rest were pulled from inventory. This thing does not have top priority with me at all right now, since the assembly can’t be built up…yet I have these other people bouncing up and down, demanding that I “do something”. Yes, let me drop everything I’m doing on these orders that are supposed to ship next week to help you on that. :rolleyes: I suspect they’re just trying to find something to do – things are still fairly slow around here. Hell, I went out in the warehouse yesterday afternoon to find everything locked up, the computers shut down, and a group of guys throwing a Nerf football.
Your manager really does sound like a jerk. I hope your last day tomorrow goes by nicely, with a nice cake and everyone telling you how much they’ll miss you and wishing you well.
That is great restraint, indeed - it might have been out of my mouth before I realized it.
So go ahead and say goodbye! It’s not like you owe your boss so much that you have to follow every little preference.
I vote for you being the one sane person, the only one who’s not passive-aggressive, the one honest guy… for one day. Tell people how much you appreciated working with them, and go out on a high note.
What? Didn’t he know that requires a minimum of two weeks advance warning?
(Now more seriously, oh fuck and I’m sorry)