Recent work shenanigans, March edition (plus a pinch of April)
My boss was in rare form last month. Just two weeks after my little incident, we nearly had a second person quit because my boss couldn't be bothered to communicate with them. (I'm sensing a pattern.)
This time around, it had to do with BBC2. He's one of the project people who works in the other building. Overall, he does great work, but a particular project for a particular client caused a lot of consternation last year. BBC2 felt one way about it, the client felt another, and ideally BBC2 would've just acquiesced and done it the way the client preferred. Instead, he basically went, this is stupid, and I think the client went elsewhere. The issue there is that this is a sub-client of a massive client, where the vast majority of BBC2's projects come from, so if the main client took their business elsewhere, that would cause big problems, even if the other sub-clients like BBC2's work.
My boss did not like the idea of losing any of the clients and decided to hire a second person to work on that set of projects. (BBC2 is the only person at my job who can do what he does. BBC and Penny work on a completely different set of projects. All are specialized.) The problem? My boss didn't bother to tell BBC2 about this. The new guy started on a Saturday when BBC2 wasn't there, but the only place he has to work is in BBC2's room. Therefore, when he started a particular project, and had to leave it there over the weekend, it's extremely obvious something had gone on.
I'd known the new person was starting but had no idea why he was there. I heard my boss going around and introducing him to DW and the manager, but they never came to my workstation so while I know the guy existed, I did not get to meet him. Strange. He'd also come in through the back door, so it's not like he came in the front and I greeted him. This must've been the Tuesday a week after my incident, and it was that following Saturday that he started working on a project for the unhappy client.
Monday. BBC2 comes in and notices, hey, why is there this project here? It wasn't something he started. This was a few weeks ago now and I'm trying to think if he was there when I got in or not. All I know is, that Monday or Tuesday, there was a space for his car, like he'd gotten in and BBC had parked behind him like normal, but then he'd left. I mean, if my boss hired someone to do my job without telling me, I'd be pretty pissed, too. I do know that he came in on Tuesday, but mainly to gather up his stuff, like he was fully planning on quitting and leaving and taking all his things, because when you work on the types of projects those guys do, you have all your own tools and you do NOT like it when other people use them without permission. Oh, and I realized something was up when I'd gone into the break room on Monday after work, to have dinner before band; the box of single-serve Goldfish crackers I'd gotten BBC2 for his birthday all the way back in August was sitting on the table in there. Part of me was surprised to see it had never been opened and he must've been keeping them in his room all this time. Like, if you weren't planning on eating them, just leave them in the kitchen. They were meant to be shared, to be honest. Anyway, I know he showed up on Tuesday, and I got the scoop from DW about what had happened on Monday since I wasn't fully aware at that time, and I was seriously concerned that we were going to lose BBC2. He did come in and talk to the boss for a while, and whatever got said, it must have sufficed because BBC2 is still employed and showing up for work.
However, I didn't know that on Tuesday afternoon, when someone came in needing a particular project done, and my boss said, oh, the new guy is here; show it to him. And that's how I met my newest coworker, by showing up at BBC2's room to show the new guy the project, and I knew he couldn't help me much with it because he'd been there only two days at that point and didn't know where anything was, and I was like, dear lord, how am I going to help the person who needs this done? So when BBC2 showed up the next morning, part of me wanted to hug him and commiserate with him that yeah, our boss can be a real donkey at times, but I'm so glad BBC2 is still here. ...I didn't do that, we don't have that kind of relationship, but I do respect him and his opinion, even if he can be a donkey himself. So, there is a second person around to help out with those sets of projects, and the new guy is there on Tuesday afternoons and Saturdays, and we'll see how this goes. The types of projects he's working on aren't the sort of thing I would see, so I'll have to await feedback from DW, who'd be the go-between for us and the sub-client.
***
We got a visit from BBC's former helper around the time the above went down. He left us to work as an EMT, and he popped by one morning before I got to work. I arrived to find his car in my parking spot. He was just leaving, but we chatted for a few moments, especially when I saw the shirt he was wearing--it had the name of a local fire department on it. Hey, how long have you been there? I asked. He said he was hired a month ago. Oh, okay; back in December, I'd had to call 911 and that was the responding department. Well, turns out he was an intern there before he was officially hired, and he responded to that accident! This was how I got a little more info about what happened--it was a young guy who said his brakes failed, and he panicked and over-corrected and the next thing he knew, he was upside down in a ditch. The helper complained that his job is boring--mostly just sitting around and waiting--and even if there's a call, it's not very exciting. ...That's a good thing! He didn't see it the same way. He said he's working on getting flight certified, I think he said. That's cool. It was good to get to see him; it's been a few months.
***
It's the end of our fiscal year, and we had our year-end festivities on Friday. The manager switched up what we normally do and had us do one activity first, which we managed to finish in a couple of hours, and then we moved on to the other activity. I don't know if he purposely did that, so it was easy for us to tell what we still had remaining, but we managed to pack everything into one day--no Saturday workday for me! Oh, gosh, I spent a portion of Friday sitting on the floor, which ended up not being good for my back. It's carpeted, but directly onto concrete with no padding. I need to bring a bean bag chair or something next year. I've done this long enough that I'm able to make it fun, and I worked closely with our high school helper this time around, and she and I had a good time. This girl is super involved with school activities and I'm honestly impressed she's able to find the time to have a job, though she hasn't been around much lately due to other commitments. She was on spring break last week, as was my boss' son. He's a senior now and this likely is the last time he'll be helping us out. I went, so, you'll be coming home from college to join us next year, right? He was like, uh, no. I said, there's a reason your sister went to school in the Pacific Northwest! But I'm sure part of him will miss it. He's been a part of this for years.
This time around, it had to do with BBC2. He's one of the project people who works in the other building. Overall, he does great work, but a particular project for a particular client caused a lot of consternation last year. BBC2 felt one way about it, the client felt another, and ideally BBC2 would've just acquiesced and done it the way the client preferred. Instead, he basically went, this is stupid, and I think the client went elsewhere. The issue there is that this is a sub-client of a massive client, where the vast majority of BBC2's projects come from, so if the main client took their business elsewhere, that would cause big problems, even if the other sub-clients like BBC2's work.
My boss did not like the idea of losing any of the clients and decided to hire a second person to work on that set of projects. (BBC2 is the only person at my job who can do what he does. BBC and Penny work on a completely different set of projects. All are specialized.) The problem? My boss didn't bother to tell BBC2 about this. The new guy started on a Saturday when BBC2 wasn't there, but the only place he has to work is in BBC2's room. Therefore, when he started a particular project, and had to leave it there over the weekend, it's extremely obvious something had gone on.
I'd known the new person was starting but had no idea why he was there. I heard my boss going around and introducing him to DW and the manager, but they never came to my workstation so while I know the guy existed, I did not get to meet him. Strange. He'd also come in through the back door, so it's not like he came in the front and I greeted him. This must've been the Tuesday a week after my incident, and it was that following Saturday that he started working on a project for the unhappy client.
Monday. BBC2 comes in and notices, hey, why is there this project here? It wasn't something he started. This was a few weeks ago now and I'm trying to think if he was there when I got in or not. All I know is, that Monday or Tuesday, there was a space for his car, like he'd gotten in and BBC had parked behind him like normal, but then he'd left. I mean, if my boss hired someone to do my job without telling me, I'd be pretty pissed, too. I do know that he came in on Tuesday, but mainly to gather up his stuff, like he was fully planning on quitting and leaving and taking all his things, because when you work on the types of projects those guys do, you have all your own tools and you do NOT like it when other people use them without permission. Oh, and I realized something was up when I'd gone into the break room on Monday after work, to have dinner before band; the box of single-serve Goldfish crackers I'd gotten BBC2 for his birthday all the way back in August was sitting on the table in there. Part of me was surprised to see it had never been opened and he must've been keeping them in his room all this time. Like, if you weren't planning on eating them, just leave them in the kitchen. They were meant to be shared, to be honest. Anyway, I know he showed up on Tuesday, and I got the scoop from DW about what had happened on Monday since I wasn't fully aware at that time, and I was seriously concerned that we were going to lose BBC2. He did come in and talk to the boss for a while, and whatever got said, it must have sufficed because BBC2 is still employed and showing up for work.
However, I didn't know that on Tuesday afternoon, when someone came in needing a particular project done, and my boss said, oh, the new guy is here; show it to him. And that's how I met my newest coworker, by showing up at BBC2's room to show the new guy the project, and I knew he couldn't help me much with it because he'd been there only two days at that point and didn't know where anything was, and I was like, dear lord, how am I going to help the person who needs this done? So when BBC2 showed up the next morning, part of me wanted to hug him and commiserate with him that yeah, our boss can be a real donkey at times, but I'm so glad BBC2 is still here. ...I didn't do that, we don't have that kind of relationship, but I do respect him and his opinion, even if he can be a donkey himself. So, there is a second person around to help out with those sets of projects, and the new guy is there on Tuesday afternoons and Saturdays, and we'll see how this goes. The types of projects he's working on aren't the sort of thing I would see, so I'll have to await feedback from DW, who'd be the go-between for us and the sub-client.
***
We got a visit from BBC's former helper around the time the above went down. He left us to work as an EMT, and he popped by one morning before I got to work. I arrived to find his car in my parking spot. He was just leaving, but we chatted for a few moments, especially when I saw the shirt he was wearing--it had the name of a local fire department on it. Hey, how long have you been there? I asked. He said he was hired a month ago. Oh, okay; back in December, I'd had to call 911 and that was the responding department. Well, turns out he was an intern there before he was officially hired, and he responded to that accident! This was how I got a little more info about what happened--it was a young guy who said his brakes failed, and he panicked and over-corrected and the next thing he knew, he was upside down in a ditch. The helper complained that his job is boring--mostly just sitting around and waiting--and even if there's a call, it's not very exciting. ...That's a good thing! He didn't see it the same way. He said he's working on getting flight certified, I think he said. That's cool. It was good to get to see him; it's been a few months.
***
It's the end of our fiscal year, and we had our year-end festivities on Friday. The manager switched up what we normally do and had us do one activity first, which we managed to finish in a couple of hours, and then we moved on to the other activity. I don't know if he purposely did that, so it was easy for us to tell what we still had remaining, but we managed to pack everything into one day--no Saturday workday for me! Oh, gosh, I spent a portion of Friday sitting on the floor, which ended up not being good for my back. It's carpeted, but directly onto concrete with no padding. I need to bring a bean bag chair or something next year. I've done this long enough that I'm able to make it fun, and I worked closely with our high school helper this time around, and she and I had a good time. This girl is super involved with school activities and I'm honestly impressed she's able to find the time to have a job, though she hasn't been around much lately due to other commitments. She was on spring break last week, as was my boss' son. He's a senior now and this likely is the last time he'll be helping us out. I went, so, you'll be coming home from college to join us next year, right? He was like, uh, no. I said, there's a reason your sister went to school in the Pacific Northwest! But I'm sure part of him will miss it. He's been a part of this for years.