How can I soar like an eagle when I'm surrounded by turkeys?

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #1 08-09-2005, 06:18 PM

7/10/05

Co-worker: "MJ, we want you to do the data analysis for the quarterly report. Call the guy who does it for us now. Oh yeah, it's due to the state 7/20, but don't worry, we always turn it in late."

MJ calls "guy who does it for us now." He can't meet with MJ until 7/14.

7/14/05

MJ meets with guy. He shows her what queries he runs in the Access database to get the data and aggregates/analyzes the data in SPSS.

7/18/05

MJ discovers that she does not have SPSS and that the copy of the database she has does not have the queries. She starts work from scratch, dumping the data in Excel to do the aggregate analysis. She also has many meetings, including three out of the city, and three other projects with tight deadlines, so this report is low priority.

7/25/05

CW: "So where's my report already???"

7/27/05

MJ finishes the report and leaves on CW's desk.

7/28/05

MJ: "CW, did you read the report?"

CW: "I love it! The format is wonderful!"

MJ: "Ah... OK. But did you look at the data?"

CW: "I'm sure it's fine!"

MJ: "I'm on vacation next week. Please read the report and check it."

CW: "I'm sure it's fine!"

(later)

CW: "The report is terrific, thank you!"

MJ happily goes on vacation 7/29-8/7/05.

8/9/05

CW (in an email CC'ed to five people in the organization, including boss): "MJ, that report, you left two items out! You need to fix this! This report is overdue!!!!"

I might add that one of the two items I "left out" was something I'd checked on with CW's assistant who TOLD me to take it out, and the second was one the data wouldn't have picked up because the start date was outside the report's time period parameters.

**pippadaisy**[$] · #2 08-09-2005, 06:39 PM

And that's why I used to email everything. Then the verbal conversation would have been replaced by an email that you would have had in the folder called "CYA" and you could have sent it back with "But you said it was fine before I left for vacation."

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #3 08-09-2005, 07:14 PM

Puh-leeze, there were the email conversations and then there was me standing in her office door refusing to leave until she finally got off the phone, followed by me begging her to stop saying how wonderful the format was and to READ THE DATA because "I'm going on vacation next week and tomorrow is Friday and if you come to me at 4pm on Friday with a problem I am going to have to hurt you, and I really don't want to do that."

I do email most stuff but it's hard to justify in an office with a total of 10 people, if you include the two guys in Albany and the three part-timers. Luckily she'd told the second in command how great the report was and I told the second in command CW hadn't actually read the data in it BEFORE I went on vacation, so there's at least one who knows the timeline.

**theworm**[$] · #4 08-09-2005, 08:15 PM

is she from Florida?

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #5 08-09-2005, 11:22 PM

Ohio. Sorry.

**pippadaisy**[$] · #6 08-09-2005, 11:24 PM

I bet she has ancestors from Florida.

poseidon · #7 08-10-2005, 07:41 AM

See, that's why you quit your job and go back to school.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #8 08-10-2005, 08:06 AM

Already did school. Don't know that I want the Dr or the Piled High and Deep.

poseidon · #9 08-10-2005, 08:27 AM

Sorry... I'm still on the eight more days of work thing.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #10 08-10-2005, 11:10 AM

8/10/05

Heartfelt - and PUBLIC - apology from CW for not looking over the data when I asked her to. MJ feels much better, even though it means squeezing something else into an overbooked week.

magenta321 · #11 08-12-2005, 09:47 PM

I do the email thing for cya-ness too. This is why I'm still writing emails that say:

"I'm writing to remind you again of what we first discussed on 6/19. I've been trying to wait patiently but I feel I've waited long enough..."

Sigh.

nicholmere · #12 08-12-2005, 11:16 PM

Don't let the turkeys get you down.

Has CW reviewed reports in this way before? Does she usually just eyeball 'em?

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #13 08-12-2005, 11:28 PM

First report I've done for her. But I just had a sense that it would happen because she's a knee-jerk-response kind of person, and her "evaluation" of the report was too quick and too effusive - told me she really hadn't checked it closely, since the odds of my doing this long-standing report perfectly the first time was close to nil. She really, genuinely liked the report and thought it was fine - she just hadn't looked at it closely, like I asked. And she ended up telling several people "MJ's gonna kill me, she told me to check it out and I didn't..." and apologized to me in front of a group for not checking it. But now I know

nicholmere · #14 08-12-2005, 11:35 PM

Quote:

mjfrombuffalo said

"MJ's gonna kill me, she told me to check it out and I didn't..."

Let's hope her knee doesn't jerk so quickly next time.