Friday, April 06, 2007

Notes to my boss

1. Friday morning wasn't the ideal time to suggest a complete structural format of the proposal. Telling me that you "don't see any way you can complete this today" both underestimated my imagination and overestimated the depth of the commentary.

2. I don't come in on weekends as a rule, not unless there's a good reason. I don't live very close by, and going through those motions doesn't prove anything I really want to prove. I do not understand the urgency of submitting this Sunday evening when the deadline is Monday afternoon. At any rate, I'm still waiting for your final review, so maybe I can, you know, plan stuff with my family this weekend.

3. Actually boss, we got hired to do a "science project." It'd help a lot with my ego if you'd find some other term to use as a pejorative. I realize we've got to please the people in the upper channels, that they want immediate resultsTM, but still, a science project is what we did in the first phase, and reasonable minds might think that completely ignoring the science project parts, could be grounds for dismissal out of hand.

4. "No one cares about all that stuff." Can you humor me by letting me assume that at least one technical person is going to evaluate this thing?


See you tonight, boss!

Love,

Keifus

[Yeah, I'm being hard on the guy. If the data were at all impressive, we would have ridden that horse in.]

9 comments:

LentenStuffe said...

I wouldn't call it being hard on the guy, just reasonable and fair, with a healthy view to your own more important priorities. However, one of the worst crimes against small-minded sheep is to prove you can carry-on without and in spite of them. Idiots (who generally don't realize the extent of their idiocy) don't suffer rejection lightly; they refuse to believe that anybody can actually get along without them. So goes corporate loyalty: it's a malaise that's made loons complicitous in their own enslavement. Glad to see you holding out against the tide of the times.

Keifus said...

I toned it down a lot before publishing, I was much harder on him in the first draft. I wouldn't be at all surprised if I'm spied on occasionally. If I ever do get fired for insufficient "team playing" (or for blogging--I think my hour's up), I'll unload a little more.

rundeep said...

Never apologize for givin' it to the man. He usually deserves it.

rundeep said...

off topic. Dear Mr. Lentenstuffe, might I have access to your blog? I promise to behave myself, not link, and not carry your comments into the world. I just really love reading it.

Thanks.

LentenStuffe said...

rundeep,

Absolutely! I'll email you.

(Sorry, Keith. If you expunge I understand.)

LentenStuffe said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Keifus said...

catch that? I don't have many minutes just now, but will nick that last one for imagined privacy concerns. (should still have a copy in the email if you need his address...)

Keifus said...

When I sometimes talk about eccentric former work colleagues, it's usually the same guy. One of hte bigger mistakes I've made in my career was not following that guy out of this place--I could have. When he left, he warned me that computer spying is done routinely--my habits are bad enough, but insulting the boss to the degree I'm really feeling just now would send me packing if they read it. What a wuss I am.

But it's not like I've been a super employee either. Things improved a little six or eight months ago, but it's still the same organization, and I've had a hard time pushing past this malaise of non-motivation. I badly need a new job.

rundeep said...

Lentenstuffe: Sorry, I accidentally deleted your post! I'm a bad moderator. My email is rundeep.mrm@gmail.com

Thanks!