Things have been really busy at my job for the past few months...at least for my team. There are other teams in my group, however, who have had so little to do lately that they've been encouraged to use their vacation days so that the company doesn't have to pay them to sit around all day doing nothing.
So of course, in the midst of my team's overload of work, management thought it would be a great solution to send "help" our way; those people who have been spending their 8-hour days doing nothing more than surfing the internet, making personal phone calls, checking their email, Facebook, Twitter, etc accounts have now been sent to our team. I had a conversation with my supervisor a few weeks ago about it:
P: So we are going to get you some help. Either S or Z is going to come see you.
Me: But they haven't worked for our client before. They aren't trained on our procedures, or set up with our drafting standards.
P: Well, just go through everything with them then before they start.
Me: But in the time it takes me to load our fonts, borders, symbols and plot styles onto their computers; teach them our computer program; teach them our standards; go through the drawings; answer their questions every 5 minutes; check their work; mark up inevitable corrections; answer more questions as they incorporate those changes; and check their work again....I'd get this shit done MUCH faster if I just did it myself.
P: Well...management wants to keep everyone busy though, so this is what's happening.
Quality.
So here it is a few weeks later and the questions have dwindled a bit. Work is getting done a little faster. And management is happy.
But now another guy has come to temporarily join my team. And he and I don't get along.
It was a few years ago. I had drafted some stuff for him and he had made a comment on my drawings; he didn't like the placement of my notes. I had them in the bottom left corner. He felt they would look better along the middle right edge:
A: I'd like you to move the notes on all the drawings over here to the side.
P.S. There were like 40 drawings and they were going out the door that night.
Me: Is that really necessary?
A: Well, I just think it would look better that way.
Me: Well, is it written in the procedure somewhere?
A: Well, I just think it would look better that way.
Me: So this is just your personal opinion then...NOT a procedure?
A: Well, no...but I just think it would look better....
Me: ....I ain't got time for your personal preference. If it's not in the procedure, then we're done here.
Casting an angry glare at me, he silently took the drawings and went back to his desk. In the 3 years since then, he has literally never spoken a single word to me. He won't even smile at me in passing. It's like I really personally offended his ego.
And now he's working on my team. And I've been assigned to work with him.
When he gave me some marked up drawings today, I held back my attitude when he explained to me that he'd prefer to see the notes along the middle right edge of the page (seriously...that comment actually did happen). There was a moment of eye contact where his eyes were sadly begging me to not start a fight with him over it. And ultimately, there were other changes on those drawings too, so as long as I had to touch them anyway...what was a few more simple point n' click moves?
But he approached me mid-work with another addition:
A: We need to add this contract number to all the drawings.
Me: Umm...that's not one of our contract numbers. Our numbers have 5 digits and that's only 4. And besides, if it's not in the computer system here (pointing to the screen)...which it's not...then we wouldn't put a contract number on the drawings.
A: But I found it in the Project Work Plan.
Me: Well, that must have been a contract number for something else. But since it's not in our computer system, we wouldn't put it on the drawings.
A: Well, just do it anyway. And if it's wrong, the client can comment on it.
Really? Let's think logically about this for 2 seconds. Who is more likely to know the answer? Someone who's been working for this client for 3 years.....or someone who's been working for this client for 3 days? Not much of a puzzler there, is it? Well, apparently for this guy it is. Or maybe regardless of how long I've been working for this client, I'm still just a "stupid" girl anyway, right?.....
So he went to ask the guy who sits in the cubicle right next to me (very much within hearing range) and asks this guy about contract numbers. After being told the same exact thing that I'd just said twice, he happily accepted that answer the first time, came back to me, and said he'd changed his mind and he didn't think we needed to show that contract number after all.Yeah. I know. That's what I said.
And later in the afternoon, he gave me a few more marked up drawings that he'd written "Use this previous issue as your drawing background." Hmm...this previous issue is a few years old and 3 revision levels ago. So I explained that to him and asked for clarification what he thought I needed that old issue for. His response was to crumple the page up, while yelling with attitude, "Fine. You don't need it then!"
Dude, calm down! I wasn't trying to call him wrong or stupid or anything. I just thought maybe there was a miscommunication. Maybe I was the one being the dumbshit who couldn't figure out what he meant (not likely, but just to be nice...)
So thanks for the help, Management. It's been really great.
But it looks like I'll be needing a brand new box of red pencils by my side, so I can mark up all the inevitable errors that are going to be coming my way.
