work follies
three cute stories from today. you might not laugh, but i did.
So I was in the lab right after lunch, and Dan and Lisa were in there with me. (Dan and Lisa are dating.) Lisa was complaining about something, and I said sympathetically, "Boy, Lisa, you're getting the short end of the stick lately, aren't you?"
Dan says, "Oh, so you've heard about that?"
...
I had a meeting this afternoon. The meeting was organized by a woman named Linda, and involved people from three of our sites: Branchburg (us), Belleville (the other NJ site), and Pleasanton (NoCal). Mark is the Development project leader (for the project relevant to this meeting) in Pleasanton, and is therefore responsible for testing design and documentation.
Linda asks Mark, "Are the documents ready for chemical testing (of a certain reagent)?"
Mark responds, "No, that's not my job."
A minute later, Linda asks again, "Mark, are your documents for chemical testing ready?"
Mark says, "No, I'm not responsible for that."
A minute later, Mark says..
"Wait, do you mean appearance and color and pH?"
"Yes. That'd be ... chemical testing." Linda, I discovered later, used to be the manager of the In-Process Chemical Testing group.
Pam and another girl and I were on the other side of the room, and the three of us were laughing so hard at this woman's reaction that we were in tears. The fact that I had to pee so bad I was about to explode made it even funnier somehow.
...
Same meeting. For reference, in order for a product to be released, design and content requirements have to go on color-coded sheets depending on what kind of licensing they get. It's kind of like RNs wearing white and LPNs wearing blue or something. Pick an analogy so I can move on.
Some guy in Belleville was asking about finalizing some of their documents. Linda asked what he needed.
"I need colored sheets."
The room is silent.
"You know, colored sheets. Green, buff, pink..."
Linda says, "Oh. You need THOSE sheets."
"Yes, THOSE sheets."
"OK, let's not call them colored sheets anymore. That's not ... that's not a good term. Let's use RAINBOW sheets." And the conversation continues, using "RAINBOW sheets" (said like that) in place of "green sheets" or "buff sheets" or anything else. It didn't help that by this point, everyone on the call had a case of the giggles, but still, it was a little odd.
Linda, of course, is black. Or Ethnic American, as Pam put it.
Now I know why I *love* going to those meetings.
So I was in the lab right after lunch, and Dan and Lisa were in there with me. (Dan and Lisa are dating.) Lisa was complaining about something, and I said sympathetically, "Boy, Lisa, you're getting the short end of the stick lately, aren't you?"
Dan says, "Oh, so you've heard about that?"
...
I had a meeting this afternoon. The meeting was organized by a woman named Linda, and involved people from three of our sites: Branchburg (us), Belleville (the other NJ site), and Pleasanton (NoCal). Mark is the Development project leader (for the project relevant to this meeting) in Pleasanton, and is therefore responsible for testing design and documentation.
Linda asks Mark, "Are the documents ready for chemical testing (of a certain reagent)?"
Mark responds, "No, that's not my job."
A minute later, Linda asks again, "Mark, are your documents for chemical testing ready?"
Mark says, "No, I'm not responsible for that."
A minute later, Mark says..
"Wait, do you mean appearance and color and pH?"
"Yes. That'd be ... chemical testing." Linda, I discovered later, used to be the manager of the In-Process Chemical Testing group.
Pam and another girl and I were on the other side of the room, and the three of us were laughing so hard at this woman's reaction that we were in tears. The fact that I had to pee so bad I was about to explode made it even funnier somehow.
...
Same meeting. For reference, in order for a product to be released, design and content requirements have to go on color-coded sheets depending on what kind of licensing they get. It's kind of like RNs wearing white and LPNs wearing blue or something. Pick an analogy so I can move on.
Some guy in Belleville was asking about finalizing some of their documents. Linda asked what he needed.
"I need colored sheets."
The room is silent.
"You know, colored sheets. Green, buff, pink..."
Linda says, "Oh. You need THOSE sheets."
"Yes, THOSE sheets."
"OK, let's not call them colored sheets anymore. That's not ... that's not a good term. Let's use RAINBOW sheets." And the conversation continues, using "RAINBOW sheets" (said like that) in place of "green sheets" or "buff sheets" or anything else. It didn't help that by this point, everyone on the call had a case of the giggles, but still, it was a little odd.
Linda, of course, is black. Or Ethnic American, as Pam put it.
Now I know why I *love* going to those meetings.