4 posts tagged “work”
Communication. I don't know about everyone else but I am fucking tired of people who can not accurately
communicate EXACTLY what they want. I have delt with this in both my professional and personal life and I am getting sick of dealing. If you want something, tell me. I can't read your fucking mind! I am not the white version of Ms. Cleo, so I can't predict your future or whatever unrealistic demands you could possibly want me to aspire to.
Probably the most noteable lack-of-communication issue is the "War on Terror" currently being waged in Iraq. I believe Chris Rock summed up the politicians updates the best by saying: "Umm, I dunno, were talking to people and we're looking for things" or something to that effect. Give me a break, you either HAVE SOMETHING OR YOU DON'T!! Pick one - stick with it. Don't hide behind semantics and leave the real meaning up to everyones interpretations. But no, that would be too difficult. Wouldn't want to tell people the truth. That may lead to very bad things, better to have uninformed people who don't have an opinion then have informed people who can stand up and say they don't like what is happening. Better to have people questioning what is going on then have them question their choice in government.
Now, I work in the service industry (gentlemen, don't get any ideas) and my job is to
please our clients. Sure, not a problem. I pride myself in offering exceptional customer service to ensure the satisfaction of everyone I deal with. If I require something from a client, I ASK THEM FOR IT. No beating around the bush, just a straight-up question. I don't want to give the client a wrong impression, but I find it a lot easier to ask for clarification then to have to scramble to fix what could have been solved by asking a simple question. You would think it would work both ways, but it doesn't and I can't quite figure out why. If something changes, you would think the client would have the common sense to call me or email me to UPDATE me on the changes. You can't provide a service without all the information. PRIME EXAMPLE - I have clients that are in storage with us. They had a bunch of shit-furniture that they needed stored for a LONG TERM. Well, long term didn't exactly define their needs. We received it, tagged it, listed it, and photographed it for the clients. In order to save time, I didn't include the pictures in their inventory. Why? Too time consuming and it takes up far too much room within the file to email it. Fine, the client agreed that it wouldn't be needed. Well, the LONG TERM part of the storage was apparently wrong. They would be in and out of our warehouse every couple of weeks to pull out inventory in order to furnish various locations within Alberta. No problem. They provided me a list of items; "I would like some file cabinets, some whiteboards, etc.". Now, I don't know about you, but SOME is pretty broad. So, I did the proper thing, and requested clarification. Well, the client "didn't know" but they did know that they were sending some people out the next week to pick all of this stuff up. Well, NORMALLY when a person is providing a SERVICE you check with them for available times/dates to arrange a pickup. Well, not THIS
client. They are above the rules. Or not. We politely informed them of our policy regarding warehouse access - I laid it out in a very cut-and-dry format that a fucking monkey could understand. Not them. This morning the client arrives to pick up the items on the accurate list they provided me, and when they arrived I had 2 contractors in my office telling me that the items on my list were NOT what they wanted, they wanted a bunch of other things as well. So A) I am not at all prepared for there to be any additions (even though I spoke to the client on the phone not even 2 hours earlier), and B) I am not impressed that I am finding out information from 2 pissed off contractors and not from the client directly. To top it off, I spent a week doing their inventory, which I dutifully sent to the client for them to use when they want items pulled from our warehouse, and they DON'T USE IT - stating that our TERMINOLOGY is different then what they use. Sorry, I wasn't aware that there was another name for file cabinets, whiteboards and table surfaces. Seriously.
It's almost worse when you deal with it in your personal life. Friends have 'expectations' of what a friend should be. If you are unable to meet these expectations, you are thrown out like yesterdays trash. So tell me, if you have expectations you expect me to meet, am I aware of them? More importantly, do I agree with them? Nine times out of ten, we are forced to accept average. Average effort, average support, average time spent together. Average. Is that so bad? Why can't we just accept people for who they are?
To be honest, I don't know why I even bother half the time because I always find out later that my efforts aren't good enough. What does this all come back to? Communication. I try to communicate with my friends and family all the time. I tell them when I am busy and can't do anything, I tell them that I am exhausted and just don't want to do anything, I try as hard as I can. Is that good enough? No. Why? Because it's only average. I don't know about anyone else, but I sure like average. Give me what you have, when you have it and to hell with the rest.
So what do we do? Like, I am at my wits end with people and their inability to tell others what they want. If you can't communicate, don't waste my fucking time.
Just a quick little post here about my first day back at work. Now, this isn't overly work related, but fairly interesting. This morning I picked out an outfit I have worn MANY times to work. It consists of jeans, a bright pink tank top (spagetti strap with lace), and a black sweater. The tank top is quite cute, but the problem with it is that it has one of those build-in bras. Now, I have big boobs (I won't facinate or disturb you with the size, but they are naturally big) and the distance between my boobs and shoulders is fairly short. So when I wear this tank, it tends to slide down exposing a little more skin then I would normally like to show off, but whatever, I have the tits so why not flaunt them right? Well, today I went into my boss' bosses office (for the purpose of this post we will call him Bob). Sitting in Bob's office, my shirt must have been fairly low. Upon returning to my office my boss Betsy (name has been changed) calls me into her office as Bob has just called her to 'talk to me about my outfit today'. Apparently it is exposing too much for the office. I can understand that, but what gets me is that Bob has been looking at my tits and ass for the past year and a half. I don't overly care because he is married and its ok for men to appreciate a good looking woman. Later on, Bob calls me and I ask him 'Whats up?' and he proceeds to respond 'Well, nothing now that you left my office'.
So tell me, why did he call my boss and complain about my outfit if he liked it? Second question, if he is going to be staring at my tits and ass all the time, then why would it be a problem if I show a little skin? Give me a break, if I want to show a little skin enjoy it.
I got a major problem today: Men. Not all men, so save the hate mail. The men I am talking about are testosterone driven, self centred, arrogant, womanizing men who think that everything that happens is someone elses fault. This pretty much describes every man I work with (with some exceptions), and I am forced to deal with their attitude every day. Today just happens to be a really bad day. This morning I was asked to take a drive downtown with one of our crew to drop him off at a site. Upon my return to the yard, there was a van parked in the spot that I needed to park in. There are only a select number of places to park in the yard, some are designated for the Operations Department, and the rest are for Household and Commercial trucks and crew vans. Our crew are not allowed to park their personal vehicles in the yard - those are the rules. Well, the van that was parked in my spot happened to be one of the household drivers personal vehicles, so I politely asked him to move it. Well that is when shit hit the fan. After muttering a number of insults and blaming me for problems that are A) not any of my concern and B) not my job to take care of, he eventually moves his van. Pissed off, I go to see his boss Gary (whom I happen to be friends with) to get this problem solved. I do not deserve to be spoken to the way he talked to me, and I will not put up with the shit of some cranky household piece of shit driver. His boss talked to him (while I was there) and he muttered another bunch of inappropriate comments. His boss did nothing. That just sent me through the roof. Just because I work for the commercial department, doesn't mean I get to take the brunt of the issues other departments have with us. NOT MY FUCKING PROBLEM! So after stewing in the warehouse for a while, I return to my desk to find the following message in my inbox:
On behalf of Stacey , I will apologize --- I am sorry that you have to listen to their crap, now please pity me that I have that attitude from 20 drivers. 8 packers and all the swampers.
Once again I am sorry
Although I appreciate the fact that Gary would take the time to appologise on behalf of his driver, this in no way solves my problem. Drivers should not be shooting their mouths off to people they don't know about shit that is more their problem then ours. But apparently, they can get away with it. Apparently, I am stuck dealing with their bullshit. Wow, I love my job!
So I guess this turned into a rant about my job more then men, but it works the same outside of work as well. Every day I experience men like this on the roads (well, I can't really tell what their personality is as they are not in my car) but they are swerving all over the road trying to get ahead of everyone else because they are "in such a hurry" and because their "needs are greater then mine". They cut you off, they give you the finger, they honk their horn, and basically drive like the arrogant, etc. men described above.
I don't know where these men get off acting like they are better then everyone, but I am getting a little sick of seeing it. Just an FYI guys; YOU ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT! YOU ARE NOT BETTER THEN ANYONE (NOW MATTER WHO YOU ARE)!
So there you have it.
Show us what's stashed in your desk drawer.
Submitted by Vee.
So this is my main desk drawer where I keep all of my stuff. In the top right corner I have an assortment of Crystal Light flavors. Next to that I have 3 books (John Grisham - Last Juror, Harry Potter - Goblet of Fire, and Lauren Weisberger - The Devil Wears Prada), a box of Kelloggs Extra Cereal, and a box of 48 plastic spoons. There is also 3 bags of Nut Man items (Butter Toffee Peanuts, Halloween Ju-Jubes, and Halloween Red Hot Devel Bonbons), a mini bin from Victory Packaging (that formally held sugar packs, but has since been emptied), tampons (a girls necessity), my lunch, my purse, lotion, and a microwavable Chef Boyardee.
I understand to the casual observer that this may seem somewhat excessive. In case you are wondering; no, I could not live off the items in my drawer! My desk is a lot worse then the drawer. For fun, I will also include a picture of that so you all can see where I work.
So this is my desk. Note the insane amounts of clutter that is going on. Book of Sudoku puzzles, tape, white out, a stapler, a Crispy Crunch mini-bar, a nail file, coffee mug, a bottle of Propel water, Tim Hortons travel mug, super-size water bottle, my computer (with a bunny, ladybug, man, and Happy Meal toy sitting on top), my pink frog (from Ms. Ange), my tiger, my monkey, an alarm clock, and my various phones. On the walls are my calendar (complete with a list of the release dates for movies, etc.), pictures of my friends, a cute smoking fuzzy guy picture, and some work related items.
