I'm Apparently That Good
I really need to update this thing more. People are going to start sending their condolences to me soon on the untimely death of my LJ...
So times they are a-changin' in my world. Mike's moved in and we have a puppy - an adorable three month old Boston Terrier named Bruno. ( Pictures here).
And as of a couple of weeks ago, I interviewed and received an offer for a new position in my company. I'll be getting a little more money, a lot less stress, no more "will I be laid off?" worries, and the ability to work from home some days. It's rather awesome.
So that's the good stuff. Here's the bad:
Little known fact: my last boss (at LaSalle) literally cried when I left the bank for Merrill. I was such a good assistant she just couldn't conceive of having to lose me. Fast forward to me telling my current boss of my plans to transfer to another department, away from her and away from my organizing-her-life-ness. At first all seemed to be going well. She congratulated me, reminded me that she always supports her directs in their pursuits of better career options along their career path (blah blah blah). She seemed to be taking it almost too well.
My coworker Tracy and I knew the day would come - hopefully later than sooner - where she'd snap when it finally hit her that I wouldn't be there after the month she negotiated. (Instead of two weeks to transition, she somehow finagled a month out of my new boss and the internal recruiter.) At the near halfway point between then and soon-to-come, my boss finally snapped on Friday...thankfully, I was out of the office that day (as well as Monday) on pre-planned vacation.
Apparently, she went on an irrational tirade for an entire staff meeting about me not finishing work before vacation, saying I'd already checked out and may as well just go to the new office now and save the business unit the money. According to Tracy, it was rather nasty. She said everyone was looking anywhere *but* at my boss as she went off on some report I didn't do, some database pull I didn't do, etc.
As it turned out though, I *did* do them and she just forgot. She was so frazzled she forgot where she put them. And one of the reports? It was in the same place we save it on our shared public drive every-single-week. She neglected to mention this after the fact though - after putting the rest of my department through a hellish Friday where no one wanted to even walk by her office, let alone talk to her.
I found all of this out this afternoon (since Tracy didn't want to spoil my entire first day back).
Amazingly, Liz (my boss) was as sweet as pie to me all day today. Had I not been informed about the snap, I would've never been the wiser. And then I said something to her - right at the end of the day as I was packing up to go home:
"We need to sit down this week and make a list of the things my replacement won't be doing that I need to review with you...like your expenses and the SQL database pulls." I said.
"Works for me!" she said with a smile.
"I just wanted to be sure we got the time in before I'm out again this weekend."
"You're taking more time off?" she asked, this time without a smile.
"It's the trip home I take every year...remember? I see my sister every 4th of July for a BBQ and her birthday the following day. You approved this last year." I tried to smile.
"Well if you keep taking time off we'll just have to move your transfer date out. I need you here chugging away at everything before you leave," she said, nearly sneering.
"I'm virtually finished with everything already. The senior management reports are all current, the database pulls are all current, all the vendor invoices are submitted...in fact, I ran out of stuff to do today so I used the last hour of the day to work on the procedures and guidelines book I'm putting together for you for the replacement." I smiled widely the entire time - not condescendingly - but not warmly either. She knew I was putting a lot of effort into this guide most people wouldn't bother with.
"Just make sure you're not wasting any more time here on the phone or texting," she said, not looking up from her computer screen anymore.
I could've told her I only really do those things during lunch or the break times I take (since I really don't get to sit and take time out for lunch unless I leave the building). I could've told her I clock out for lunch every day but typically only have actual time off during that unpaid time about once a week, and that it all evens out. I could've even told her that by law I'm supposed to have a full lunch and breaks since I'm non-exempt.
But I didn't. Our department doesn't work that way. We work until the work is finished. We go for coffee when we want to. We stop in and talk to other people in their offices for an hour sometimes. We don't have rigid schedules like other offices. She and I both know this, yet she still threw those jabs at me because she's finally realizing I won't be there after July 16th. This woman - a woman who's battled and subdued cancer - isn't dealing well with me leaving. And I have to smile and take everything she has to throw at me, because when it all comes down to it, she's just angry that I'm leaving her.
Apparently, I'm just that good.
So times they are a-changin' in my world. Mike's moved in and we have a puppy - an adorable three month old Boston Terrier named Bruno. ( Pictures here).
And as of a couple of weeks ago, I interviewed and received an offer for a new position in my company. I'll be getting a little more money, a lot less stress, no more "will I be laid off?" worries, and the ability to work from home some days. It's rather awesome.
So that's the good stuff. Here's the bad:
Little known fact: my last boss (at LaSalle) literally cried when I left the bank for Merrill. I was such a good assistant she just couldn't conceive of having to lose me. Fast forward to me telling my current boss of my plans to transfer to another department, away from her and away from my organizing-her-life-ness. At first all seemed to be going well. She congratulated me, reminded me that she always supports her directs in their pursuits of better career options along their career path (blah blah blah). She seemed to be taking it almost too well.
My coworker Tracy and I knew the day would come - hopefully later than sooner - where she'd snap when it finally hit her that I wouldn't be there after the month she negotiated. (Instead of two weeks to transition, she somehow finagled a month out of my new boss and the internal recruiter.) At the near halfway point between then and soon-to-come, my boss finally snapped on Friday...thankfully, I was out of the office that day (as well as Monday) on pre-planned vacation.
Apparently, she went on an irrational tirade for an entire staff meeting about me not finishing work before vacation, saying I'd already checked out and may as well just go to the new office now and save the business unit the money. According to Tracy, it was rather nasty. She said everyone was looking anywhere *but* at my boss as she went off on some report I didn't do, some database pull I didn't do, etc.
As it turned out though, I *did* do them and she just forgot. She was so frazzled she forgot where she put them. And one of the reports? It was in the same place we save it on our shared public drive every-single-week. She neglected to mention this after the fact though - after putting the rest of my department through a hellish Friday where no one wanted to even walk by her office, let alone talk to her.
I found all of this out this afternoon (since Tracy didn't want to spoil my entire first day back).
Amazingly, Liz (my boss) was as sweet as pie to me all day today. Had I not been informed about the snap, I would've never been the wiser. And then I said something to her - right at the end of the day as I was packing up to go home:
"We need to sit down this week and make a list of the things my replacement won't be doing that I need to review with you...like your expenses and the SQL database pulls." I said.
"Works for me!" she said with a smile.
"I just wanted to be sure we got the time in before I'm out again this weekend."
"You're taking more time off?" she asked, this time without a smile.
"It's the trip home I take every year...remember? I see my sister every 4th of July for a BBQ and her birthday the following day. You approved this last year." I tried to smile.
"Well if you keep taking time off we'll just have to move your transfer date out. I need you here chugging away at everything before you leave," she said, nearly sneering.
"I'm virtually finished with everything already. The senior management reports are all current, the database pulls are all current, all the vendor invoices are submitted...in fact, I ran out of stuff to do today so I used the last hour of the day to work on the procedures and guidelines book I'm putting together for you for the replacement." I smiled widely the entire time - not condescendingly - but not warmly either. She knew I was putting a lot of effort into this guide most people wouldn't bother with.
"Just make sure you're not wasting any more time here on the phone or texting," she said, not looking up from her computer screen anymore.
I could've told her I only really do those things during lunch or the break times I take (since I really don't get to sit and take time out for lunch unless I leave the building). I could've told her I clock out for lunch every day but typically only have actual time off during that unpaid time about once a week, and that it all evens out. I could've even told her that by law I'm supposed to have a full lunch and breaks since I'm non-exempt.
But I didn't. Our department doesn't work that way. We work until the work is finished. We go for coffee when we want to. We stop in and talk to other people in their offices for an hour sometimes. We don't have rigid schedules like other offices. She and I both know this, yet she still threw those jabs at me because she's finally realizing I won't be there after July 16th. This woman - a woman who's battled and subdued cancer - isn't dealing well with me leaving. And I have to smile and take everything she has to throw at me, because when it all comes down to it, she's just angry that I'm leaving her.
Apparently, I'm just that good.