You're Fired!

No, that did not happen to me.

 

I was the one who almost said that to my subordinate.  I stress the word ALMOST here.  We were in an evaluation session with my Supervisor, and I had to do the 'probing'.  For every single question that I asked her, she answered "Because my supervisor did not coach and educate me properly on what I should do".  That answer, with this look she had on her face that made me felt like slapping her!  Or spit, or both.

 

I have been very courteous with her, considering she's twice my age.  Yes, I respected her still despite the fact that she had been telling awful tales about my boss since the first day I joined the company.  I had always listened to her stories because I thought she simply needed someone to pour her heart out.  And as much as I hate to admit it, I had for some time believed in her stories.  At first.  Until her tales got taller and more ridiculous...

 

Then I decided to view things differently.  Give my boss a 'chance' to show who she is.  Through my own eyes, ears and heart.  And I found that she's not as bad as the stories I heard from the others.  (Yes, the entire office has a united opinion about her.)  In fact, she could be the only person who is professional in the entire organisation.  Well, maybe because of that they call her inhuman HR Head.  But despite this stained first impression I had about her, professionally, I found out that she is best mentor anyone could have.  Well, at least the best example I could find in the company.

 

Oh well, back to my earlier story:

I have been giving this particular staff instructions on what she needs to do.  Explained to her what I expect her to do.  Hell, I even drew formats and tables for reports that I wanted her to prepare.  And after every single time she'd say "OK, OK".  And most of the time, that's that.  No updates, nothing. 

 

I once asked her to help put the staff names in groups of 15 - get the list from HR; name, job level, department; mix people from different departments and levels in each group; put maximum 15 person per group; I want it in a week.  Six weeks later, she was shocked when I asked her about the list.  Surely, she pretended that she had no idea what I was talking about.  And this morning, when I brought that up, she said I did not coach her how to do it! 

 

So imagine how pissed I was.  She was really lucky my boss was there.  My boss agreed to give her another chance, and asked me to include her or her Secretary everytime I'm going to give instructions to my staff.  And get someone to put my instructions on paper.  So I have proof that the instructions given are clear.  That they will not be able to twist the stories around and say it's my fault.

 

My God, I have never met anyone more difficult in my 28 years of life.  Not even when I had to coordinate operations support for 8,000 people in my previous company.  And to actually have over 100 of them in one place... Honestly, I have no words to describe how terrible this is.  And how much I respect my boss for being able to go through with this longer than I do.  Seriously, if it were not because of this exchange programme that I'm in, I would have resigned months ago.  But I'm glad to know there's someone I can really turn to for advice and support.  Although her approach is crude in many ways.

 

This reminds me of what people told me earlier:

- You're only 28 and you're already experiencing this.  You don't know how lucky you are; you're going to be a wonderful leader at much younger age than most great leaders ever lived!

- If you go through the shittiest experience now, once this is over, there's not going to be any problems that you can't stand.  Treat this as a training ground, physically, mentally and emotionally.

 

These two 'words of wisdom' were shared during the past couple of months, when I thought things were already bad.  But that was before this morning's incident.

 

So now I guess I have three people to thank - my boss and the two wise men who uttered those words.

 

And one person to prove my worth - myself.

Thank you, from Gaston...

My mp3 player was playing this song from Disney's Beauty & the Beast called 'Gaston' and I was immediately reminded of this person I met very recently.  That guy, I tell you, was in every way like the cartoon character.  Right to the spitting bit!

Can't imagine how this guy is?  Here's the lyrics to that song I heard:

Gaston from Disney's Beauty & the Beast
Gaston:	Who does she think she is? That girl has tangled with the wrong man!
LeFou:	Darn right.
Gaston:	No one says "no" to Gaston! Dismissed! Rejected! Publicly humiliated! Why, it's more than I can bear.
LeFou:	More beer?
Gaston:	What for? Nothing helps. I'm disgraced.
LeFou:	Who, you? Never! Gaston, you've got to pull yourself together. Gosh it disturbs me to see you, Gaston Looking so down in the dumps Ev'ry guy here'd love to be you, Gaston Even when taking your lumps There's no man in town as admired as you You're ev'ryone's favorite guy Ev'ryone's awed and inspired by you And it's not very hard to see why No one's slick as Gaston No one's quick as Gaston No one's neck's as incredibly thick as Gaston's For there's no man in town half as manly Perfect, a pure paragon! You can ask any Tom, Dick or Stanley And they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on
Lefou and Chorus:	No one's been like Gaston A king pin like Gaston
LeFou:	No one's got a swell cleft in his chin like Gaston
Gaston:	As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating!
Lefou and Chorus:	My what a guy, that Gaston! Give five "hurrahs!" Give twelve "hip-hips!"
LeFou:	Gaston is the best And the rest is all drips
Chorus:	No one fights like Gaston Douses lights like Gaston
LeFou:	In a wrestling match nobody bites like Gaston!
Bimbettes:	For there's no one as burly and brawny
Gaston:	As you see I've got biceps to spare
LeFou:	Not a bit of him's scraggly or scrawny
Gaston:	That's right! And ev'ry last inch of me's covered with hair
Chorus:	No one hits like Gaston Matches wits like Gaston
LeFou:	In a spitting match nobody spits like Gaston
Gaston:	I'm espcially good at expectorating! Ptoooie!
Chorus:	Ten points for Gaston!
Gaston:	When I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs Ev'ry morning to help me get large And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs So I'm roughly the size of a barge!
Chorus:	Oh, ahhh, wow! My what a guy, that Gaston! No one shoots like Gaston Makes those beauts like Gaston
LeFou:	Then goes tromping around wearing boots like Gaston
Gaston:	I use antlers in all of my decorating!
Chorus:	My what a guy, Gaston!
Image courtesy http://en.easyart.com/

Err... I'm not sure about hair on every inch though, but as far as I could see there were hair, alright.

I had to endure 2 hours of his "in my case..."s, and this line from Max Ehrmann's Desiderata kept ringing in my head:

"Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit."

... and I couldn't agree more.  It was exhausting to smile when all you want to do is shout in his face and ask him to shut up!

But every time I'm at the brink of my patience's threshold, I couldn't help wonder if my friends ever had the same thought about me -- that I'm a female version of this boastful cartoon.  That kept me from starting an unnecessary fight, and be thankful for the people who have been selfless enough to listen to my endless chatter.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart!

Wha...?

Funny how the universe works.

I had a discussion about understanding other people's point of view earlier this morning. Basically to not judge what people do and say; if it bothers you so much, ask for clarification and open your mind to accept whatever explanation they offer.

I don't know what to call it, but I got a 'chance' to experience it first hand - received this text just a few hours ago:

STOP COMPLAINIG 2 D MANAGERS ME BEING LATE TO D CLZ JUST SAY U WANT TO TAKE OVER OK?.EASY AND SIMPLE AM SURE U BE HAPPY,TQVM FOR UR KIND HEARTH.

That came from one of the instructors at this gym I'm a member of. What happened was, I sent an email to complaint about the 'not so nice' things happening during the weekend. Pointed out that this instructor was late, but nobody bothered to announce that she was.

Surely enough, I rushed to the gym to show this to the manager. Guess what happened? I bumped into that instructor. I said I was sorry she perceived the email that way, I had no intention of taking over her class. Or any class. Trust me, I know my ability well enough than to 'take over' somebody's class. Crazy, huh?

By the way, this is what she said to me:
"If you want to complaint about me being late, you complaint to me. If they fire me, it will be because of you!"

How come it's my fault if she gets fired? She is aware that she always gets to the club late. I pointed that out to her some time ago, and she blamed the management. Because they never send anyone to help park her car. That her time was wasted because the shopping mall doesn't provide enough parking. That the whole world is wrong. But never because she decided to get out of her house just a few moment before the class starts.

Two members heard what she said, and were obviously shocked. Who wouldn't? An employee scolding and threatening a member in the business premise! That's gotta be a front page news!

I was really angry when she said that, I really wanted them to sack her on the spot. But luckily I couldn't get to the manager at that moment. Which is good for her, the instructor I mean. And the coordinator. Otherwise they'd have to find replacement.

Oh, whatever. I take it that she feels threatened because she just got sided off by another company. And she desperately needs this job.

For this, I pity her. Although that is no excuse to say nasty things to people, especially not your clients!

You And You And You And You

Background:

I live at A but sometimes I hang out at B.

Scenario:

You are supposed to go to Q, from X. Then, you go to Z, and back to Q.

From X you turned right and passed A. Then you took a not-so-short-break, and wrecked havoc near C. Then you decided to linger around C and 'secretly' listen to my conversation. By 'secretly' I meant walking more slowly than a sloth, watching my friend and I so very intently and laughing at our jokes as if you were welcomed in the group.

After that, you finally got to Q, changed and went to Y (I think, or simply passed Y.) Next, you walked passed B, ever so slowly. Passing A, you then got to Z.

Lastly, you got back from Z by passing B yet again, ever so slowly.

(By this time, I got really pissed seeing your face and decided to get out of the compound altogether, as far away from you as possible.)

Conclusion:

You are a pathetic; desperately seeking attention.

Is it wrong when I say you're harassing me? Isn't it true when my friends call you a freak?

Instruction:

(Importance Level - Extremely High!)

Stay away from me!

(Don't you get it, when I say it's over, it means it's OVER! Oh, wait, I forgot you're too dumb to 'switch on your brain'...)