Frog and Goat

At work, the department’s org chart lists three positions just like mine. I’m the only one in the position now. This means I’m really busy and, in all honesty, its OK with me. I’m learning a lot and kicking work out the door.

But, and there’s always a but, isn’t there? There is someone on the team that just can’t get the hang of what in the heck she’s supposed to do and how I can help/do the tough technical stuff. Seriously, if someone is really good at something and it takes them zero time to do it, then why not work with them? Why not make it easier on yourself? We’re at a point where this person is seriously impacting the rest of the team. Our boss is being driven crazy. I’m not getting enough notice to take care of things and so I have to run around even faster than usual to pry a spot into my jammed-up schedule to take care of this person’s stuff. A new hire is shadowing the having-a-hard-time person and that is not a good way to start off.

It’s to a point where I wonder if the hard-time person is a)on some sort of medication, b)sustained a head injury in the past couple of years, or c)is about to be fired. A, B, and C are not meant to be funny. There is something seriously weird and wrong going on. The sad part? We want people to succeed. We lift people up because we expect the same extended hand when we need it. At some point, though, and I think we’re really close to it now, we have to let go and hope the person has enough wherewithal to get out before a pink slip lands on a desk.

I’ve been in this position once before and it was a really long time ago when I worked for a bank. I was a temp. There were two admins in the department and I did whatever they needed to support the rest of the team. An admin went out on maternity leave and I covered for her. The other admin’s flaws came into sharp focus. When everyone can see the lackluster work, it’s not a good thing. That admin was fired. I was hired. The lackluster work is coming into focus. I have a good idea how this story is going to end.

The better-half and I just walked down to our neighborhood market to pick up a few things. It was snowing and some of the sidewalks are still covered in snow from earlier this week. By the time we got home, I declared that I was done with being outside. The wind chill makes it feel like 13. I think that’s cold enough to be done with going outside.

This morning has been pretty productive. I went to the dentist to have my last treatment on my dead front teeth completed. Last year both upper front teeth had root canals. One was internally bleached and the second one is now the same color as the first. It’s quite a difference. I figure after years of oddity that I can finally look a bit more normal. Whatever that means. I was not self-conscious about the teeth, but I’m also glad I went ahead with the procedures.

When I got back from the dentist, we went to the big grocery store and then we hit the little store for a couple of things. I’m also on the third or fourth load of laundry. Now it’s time to think about something for lunch. And, I’m going to make an attempt at convincing the batter-half that watching a movie this afternoon is a great idea.

On Saturday, a mere two days ago, I left the house at 7am and got home at 7pm. Where was I? In Virginia Beach at a SharePoint Saturday conference. Please do not be too jealous. Really, just settle down.

This morning, my new supervisor and our boss stopped by my cube and asked about the conference. The first question out of my new supervisor’s mouth was, “How long did you work on Saturday?” and then I told her. The two of them looked at each other and smiled. Or maybe those were grimaces. I had already put 8 hours down for this coming Friday to make up for the conference, but now I suddenly had 4 more hours to dispense with this week. They both said figure it out and block off your calendar. This is why I like working for the both of them. They get the whole work/life thing and live it. It’s refreshing.

It will be nice on the one hand to have truncated days this week, but on the other hand it means that I’m basically in meetings all week. When my supervisor and I were looking for time for me to work on a project, I opened my calendar and she said something to the effect of well, crap. Yeah. I won’t be producing anything this week. Unless it can get done in the 30 minutes I have wafting around over the next three days.

Now, on with the very interesting part of SharePoint Saturday. Someone I don’t know well, by sight only, asked me if I could give her a ride home from the conference. She was going down the day before with another co-worker, but had no way to get home. I told her that was no problem…she lives .5 miles away, if even that. I was a little concerned because stranger in my car for two hours and I’m not good at small talk. As it turns out, we went to the same high school. She graduated a year after I did. I threatened to find my yearbook and bring it in…if I actually knew where it was, I’d do it.

We cracked each other up with stories. She has a much better memory of high school than I do, probably because her experience didn’t suck. I did tell her about a memory I have of our campus-style school and that was of the cat fights in courtyards between classes. It had to have happened more than once because why else would that be such a strong memory? She went silent for a moment and then told me that as I was telling her that memory one face came to mind. When she said the girl’s name, we both just burst out laughing because I am sure that girl could throw a punch.