This is a topic you all are bored of hearing and I'm tired of posting: Office Problems. Yes, I know you are sick of it, but now imagine me, having to go through it. Now, I imagine you sitting in your comfortable chair, crossing your leg, taking your optical yellow notepad, an expensive looking pen, lowering your lens on you nose and asking me:
"Tell me, what bothers you now?"
Well, let me put it simple: security.
I work at an area that's not only mould infested and unventilated, but also rather insecure. There's only two people working in this area... well, there's only two people in this area: LD and me, and only one access door. The area is all surrounded by windows, which allows anyone to see who's in and who's out. The idea, NORMALLY would be that one of us is always around, not only to keep an eye of the area, but also to answer calls and direct people if they are looking for the missing one. Yes, we are not call-center kids, BUT it's only natural that, if your coworker isn't at his or her place due to lunch, meeting or whatever and the phone rings, you take the call and get the message. It worked at Mobile, it worked at Service Development, but then again, people here seem to not care particularly about it. Go figure.
Anyway. Also, normally people don't go to lunch at the same time, but they put up a schedule to go lunch so that the area isn't left unattended. There's not such consideration here. People just leave, go, for undeterminated periods of time to lunch and the offices remain completely alone. So, this is the way things are done here. Well, as it happens, if you are going to leave the office all alone, what do you do? You lock it, right? And the interesting thing is that all offices and office areas in this building CAN be locked. I mean, we are all made sign for the assets we use, so if they get damaged or robbed, guess from who's paycheck that comes off? BINGO! Earned a golden star!
As long as I was all alone in my kingdom, it was okay. I left always locked even if that meant that teh cleaning ladies couldn't do their job (which is crappy anyways). But since LD came in here, the door has been left open rather often. I told my boss and nothing happened. I sent a mail to both the boss and LD two weeks ago, FINALLY, in hopes that something was done. Nothing. I mean, for crying out loud, the security people are so new they don't even know our names and many of them tend to leave the gates open and unattended. They forget to write up when we came in, when we left, who came, who's gone, and no one, absolutely NO ONE ever checks if someone is taking a computer or anything home. There are no cameras either, so anyone could simply pack up a few laptops, some small printers, phones, photo cameras, documents, scanners... you name, and walk out, and no one would be the wiser.
Since, really, I'm not up to be blamed for what he's doing, I complained again to my boss by the phone, with no avail, and so last week I had to send him a SECOND mail on the subject, asking him to do something about it. It is logical: HE IS THE BOSS, so he should command some order in the area. Of course, he believes that if this "security thing" bothers me so much, I should talk to LD. Question: with which autority? Why in the frigging Hell does he think I'm going TO-HIM? Certainly not because he's the King Solomon.
Guess what happened?
You are right. Nothing.
Yesterday during the day the door was left open for so much time it would have given chance for the clutzier of robbers to clean the place TWICE. Since I had a lot of stuff to do, I ended up going to lunch at 15:15 hours. When I returned at 16:00 hours LD was long gone, his cubicle in the dark and the door wide open. I was horrified! Immediately I picked up the phone and dialed my boss' number. Not only he didn't know that the man was gone for the day, but when I wasked him if he had already spoken to LD about locking the door, he said:
"No."
I tried to explain to him the situation, and I told him I didn't want to resource to lock the door even if LD was in. To this he answered: "Do it!". "You mean, to lock him in?" I asked. "Yes," he said "lock him in. Maybe that way he learns". I found it very unwise, first of all, because it is very dangerous to lock in people. You never know if it's going to be an earthquake, or by some reason people have to be evacuated from the building. So I thought long and hard about the issue. It was evident there was no avail in keep mailing my boss on the matter, so I turned to my best adviser in the matter: Melania, from Human Resources. We thought about it for a while and decided that the one thing left for me was to escalate the situation. I didn't send the mail right away, but thought about the matter all night.
Today in the morning I composed the e-mail for my boss' boss, explaining him that due to the failures of the security system we had conveyed at the area, I requested to be relieved from the responsability of the assets lost or damaged when I was not around. As proof, I added the previous two mails, which clearly stated that the problem was a matter of security at the area. Can't be too careful when it comes to assets that are not yours, but of which you are responsible.
In order to avoid being too harsh, I requested my friend Cyn to check the mail before I sent it, to correct any rough edged sentences. She did, and so I sent a very polite and very to the point mail.
It was after that that my boss called me all pissed off, telling me he did not LIKE the mail because I don't have to "mix The Boss (his boss) into a personal fight I have with LD". I was paralized. Come again?
"It's not personal. It's a matter of the security of the assets... and we agreed on it in August."
"It's your personal problem! It's a problem of you not communicating and not being willing to communicate with him!"
"X, I thought the mail was perfectly clear... it's a security matter, and I'm simply- (saying that I am not taking responsability if soemthing, under this circumstances gets robbed or damaged --- this went unsaid)."
"No! The problem is that you have communication problems with him!"
Silence. I hoped a little bit of silence would help him recover his senses.
"X, you do realize you are the boss of the area, right?"
"Yes, but that doesn't make me YOUR message boy!"
Nope, there was no reasoning with him. I mean, for any rational, reasonable person it was a matter of RESPONSABILITY and AUTHORITY. It's your area, so you fix it. Stop shrugging off the responsability and shoulder the shit you've let happen. So I remained silent, staring at my beautiful poster of Le Chat Noir by Steinlein, while he went on and on about... well, something on the line. I tried to take my mind off such unpleasant elements and think of nice things or I would have broken in tears. He wasn't even adressing the subject, but a matter that didn't come to the topic, something he invented (the problem with LD has never been a lack of communication. Severing communication is ACTUALLY the only defense I have found against HIS imposing and constant abuse, which was never addressed by Dear Boss either).
Once he hang up, truth to be told, I was shaking. So I called Melania for her wise advise on the matter and she comforted me. She told me that the problem was that I actually escalated the matter, to which I have right, according to the Work Code, and I have put in evidence his lack of leadership and commitment to the position, which in his current situation is most inconvenient, due to the fact that he's being questioned, for beign unlawfully appointed to the position, alledging lack of expertise to lead the team, lack of knowledge in the subject, lack of proper academical background and lack of skills to take on chiefship.
Well, I did what I should have. I took the Internal Control course and I did the things by the book, I'm sorry if it's inconvenient for him, but if he can't do the job, really, he should be honest enough and step down, let someone who do knows to do the job.
Melania reassured me, but yet I'm still a bit nervous. I would have loved to have my diazepan with me. I would have loved to be able to go to the doc and ask the nurse to shoot me with some Purple Haze or anything that can make me fly and smile artificially and say: "Baby don't worry, about a thing!". You see what do I need my happy pills to be always with me? Now I have to calm down by myself, and in order to do that I have to do as much as I can... locked in a mouldy office. Can't take a walk, can't go to the doc, can't take a moment to really relax. So what can I do? I write, I think of other things, look at pics of Hoops and Yoyo and smile, smile, smile at little things. I think of the moment, when I'll be free from here, finally at home, with my University degree finally in my hands.
I think of a happy future so close at my reach, and I think of all the things that make me happy now. ^_^
"Tell me, what bothers you now?"
Well, let me put it simple: security.
I work at an area that's not only mould infested and unventilated, but also rather insecure. There's only two people working in this area... well, there's only two people in this area: LD and me, and only one access door. The area is all surrounded by windows, which allows anyone to see who's in and who's out. The idea, NORMALLY would be that one of us is always around, not only to keep an eye of the area, but also to answer calls and direct people if they are looking for the missing one. Yes, we are not call-center kids, BUT it's only natural that, if your coworker isn't at his or her place due to lunch, meeting or whatever and the phone rings, you take the call and get the message. It worked at Mobile, it worked at Service Development, but then again, people here seem to not care particularly about it. Go figure.
Anyway. Also, normally people don't go to lunch at the same time, but they put up a schedule to go lunch so that the area isn't left unattended. There's not such consideration here. People just leave, go, for undeterminated periods of time to lunch and the offices remain completely alone. So, this is the way things are done here. Well, as it happens, if you are going to leave the office all alone, what do you do? You lock it, right? And the interesting thing is that all offices and office areas in this building CAN be locked. I mean, we are all made sign for the assets we use, so if they get damaged or robbed, guess from who's paycheck that comes off? BINGO! Earned a golden star!
As long as I was all alone in my kingdom, it was okay. I left always locked even if that meant that teh cleaning ladies couldn't do their job (which is crappy anyways). But since LD came in here, the door has been left open rather often. I told my boss and nothing happened. I sent a mail to both the boss and LD two weeks ago, FINALLY, in hopes that something was done. Nothing. I mean, for crying out loud, the security people are so new they don't even know our names and many of them tend to leave the gates open and unattended. They forget to write up when we came in, when we left, who came, who's gone, and no one, absolutely NO ONE ever checks if someone is taking a computer or anything home. There are no cameras either, so anyone could simply pack up a few laptops, some small printers, phones, photo cameras, documents, scanners... you name, and walk out, and no one would be the wiser.
Since, really, I'm not up to be blamed for what he's doing, I complained again to my boss by the phone, with no avail, and so last week I had to send him a SECOND mail on the subject, asking him to do something about it. It is logical: HE IS THE BOSS, so he should command some order in the area. Of course, he believes that if this "security thing" bothers me so much, I should talk to LD. Question: with which autority? Why in the frigging Hell does he think I'm going TO-HIM? Certainly not because he's the King Solomon.
Guess what happened?
You are right. Nothing.
Yesterday during the day the door was left open for so much time it would have given chance for the clutzier of robbers to clean the place TWICE. Since I had a lot of stuff to do, I ended up going to lunch at 15:15 hours. When I returned at 16:00 hours LD was long gone, his cubicle in the dark and the door wide open. I was horrified! Immediately I picked up the phone and dialed my boss' number. Not only he didn't know that the man was gone for the day, but when I wasked him if he had already spoken to LD about locking the door, he said:
"No."
I tried to explain to him the situation, and I told him I didn't want to resource to lock the door even if LD was in. To this he answered: "Do it!". "You mean, to lock him in?" I asked. "Yes," he said "lock him in. Maybe that way he learns". I found it very unwise, first of all, because it is very dangerous to lock in people. You never know if it's going to be an earthquake, or by some reason people have to be evacuated from the building. So I thought long and hard about the issue. It was evident there was no avail in keep mailing my boss on the matter, so I turned to my best adviser in the matter: Melania, from Human Resources. We thought about it for a while and decided that the one thing left for me was to escalate the situation. I didn't send the mail right away, but thought about the matter all night.
Today in the morning I composed the e-mail for my boss' boss, explaining him that due to the failures of the security system we had conveyed at the area, I requested to be relieved from the responsability of the assets lost or damaged when I was not around. As proof, I added the previous two mails, which clearly stated that the problem was a matter of security at the area. Can't be too careful when it comes to assets that are not yours, but of which you are responsible.
In order to avoid being too harsh, I requested my friend Cyn to check the mail before I sent it, to correct any rough edged sentences. She did, and so I sent a very polite and very to the point mail.
It was after that that my boss called me all pissed off, telling me he did not LIKE the mail because I don't have to "mix The Boss (his boss) into a personal fight I have with LD". I was paralized. Come again?
"It's not personal. It's a matter of the security of the assets... and we agreed on it in August."
"It's your personal problem! It's a problem of you not communicating and not being willing to communicate with him!"
"X, I thought the mail was perfectly clear... it's a security matter, and I'm simply- (saying that I am not taking responsability if soemthing, under this circumstances gets robbed or damaged --- this went unsaid)."
"No! The problem is that you have communication problems with him!"
Silence. I hoped a little bit of silence would help him recover his senses.
"X, you do realize you are the boss of the area, right?"
"Yes, but that doesn't make me YOUR message boy!"
Nope, there was no reasoning with him. I mean, for any rational, reasonable person it was a matter of RESPONSABILITY and AUTHORITY. It's your area, so you fix it. Stop shrugging off the responsability and shoulder the shit you've let happen. So I remained silent, staring at my beautiful poster of Le Chat Noir by Steinlein, while he went on and on about... well, something on the line. I tried to take my mind off such unpleasant elements and think of nice things or I would have broken in tears. He wasn't even adressing the subject, but a matter that didn't come to the topic, something he invented (the problem with LD has never been a lack of communication. Severing communication is ACTUALLY the only defense I have found against HIS imposing and constant abuse, which was never addressed by Dear Boss either).
Once he hang up, truth to be told, I was shaking. So I called Melania for her wise advise on the matter and she comforted me. She told me that the problem was that I actually escalated the matter, to which I have right, according to the Work Code, and I have put in evidence his lack of leadership and commitment to the position, which in his current situation is most inconvenient, due to the fact that he's being questioned, for beign unlawfully appointed to the position, alledging lack of expertise to lead the team, lack of knowledge in the subject, lack of proper academical background and lack of skills to take on chiefship.
Well, I did what I should have. I took the Internal Control course and I did the things by the book, I'm sorry if it's inconvenient for him, but if he can't do the job, really, he should be honest enough and step down, let someone who do knows to do the job.
Melania reassured me, but yet I'm still a bit nervous. I would have loved to have my diazepan with me. I would have loved to be able to go to the doc and ask the nurse to shoot me with some Purple Haze or anything that can make me fly and smile artificially and say: "Baby don't worry, about a thing!". You see what do I need my happy pills to be always with me? Now I have to calm down by myself, and in order to do that I have to do as much as I can... locked in a mouldy office. Can't take a walk, can't go to the doc, can't take a moment to really relax. So what can I do? I write, I think of other things, look at pics of Hoops and Yoyo and smile, smile, smile at little things. I think of the moment, when I'll be free from here, finally at home, with my University degree finally in my hands.
I think of a happy future so close at my reach, and I think of all the things that make me happy now. ^_^
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