Buzzy Boss & Memory Shortfall

I don't think it's the boss having a heart attack you should be waiting for, more like HR writing you a dismissal letter. You sound like a nightmare to supervise! You admitted out of your own mouth that you don't see the need to pay attention on the job, you don't pay attention to what your boss says after 20 seconds, following which you "laugh it off". Great! If I were your boss, I would see all this as signs that maybe you are in the wrong job, and since my standing in the company would depend on my team performing well, I would be looking to get the right person for the job in that position. In particular, since I am newly in the role, I would be looking to improve things compared to the last guy, (why did he leave exactly?) and make changes. You are practically writing yourself into that slot.

I would reason that when you are at work, you are paid to perform your role to the best of your abilities, to pay careful attention to what you are doing and to what the people around you are doing, and to listen attentively to what your colleagues and in particular your boss are saying to you. If you either cannot do these things, or don't see the need to do them, that is going to flag you up as a problem to be dealt with. If it's got to be him or you, he'll make sure it's you!

Sounds to me like you would fit perfedctly into the Aussie landscape chumly.
except for your aversion to metrics

Give it some thought.

I have the same problem, but, due to the nature of my work, it rarely interferes with my status on the job. Because my boss is understanding and kind, I rarely get called on these shortcomings of mine.

if a person had some kind of health problem that would lead to attention deficits, I don't know, like having had a stroke, or being autistic or whatever, then surely the HR people will know and be able to advise appropriately. If it's just down to a personality or attitude problem, then maybe a bit of "shaping up" is called for?

I don't see it as an attitude problem. In my case, since I can't very well speak for Chumly, I work harder than most and cooperate fully when on the clock. I have outlasted a lot of younger men, and have been on the payroll here for 15 1/2 years. But, you can tell me something, and try though I may, I will not recall the total gist of it. Since I changed to a more healthy diet, some 15 years ago, my mind has been much clearer and able to focus, but it will never be a
"steel trap." I may have had some autism; not sure, since no doctor ever tested me for it.

Having known EdgarB for years and Chumly for quite a while, both only on a2k, I see both of them as plenty bright. People do differ in how their brains work while still being able to accomplish a work load.

I worked for something like forty eight years. One (and only one) immediate boss was rather like the person Chumly is describing. We worked in a science lab, to set the background. He talked all day long: brilliant man, but a motormouth. You couldn't think your own thoughts in any kind of peace, also all day long. I worked to pay attention, since I felt he needed the odd "um hmmm" and I don't like to "um hmmm" to something I don't follow. It was extremely trying, and led to my liking my workplace less than I had before, even though I was good at and interested in our research, and had been fine with all my past colleagues and they with me. Time went by. One day I got a call asking if I knew of someone who could set up another lab, in this case a clinical lab. I said yes, I'd be glad to do that.. So, I actually changed back to clinical work, which I liked less than research, to get away from this guy.
In far away retrospect, I should have transferred within the department.

Chumly, is this a whole new job for you, or a new fellow at an old job?

ossobuco & edgarblythe have nailed it very well indeed and yep, I still get my job done with aplomb.

I just re-read my post and I could not find anything that said otherwise.

Perhaps Contrex has misunderstood what I meant. I'm not dismissive, or disrespectful, or arrogant, or unhelpful or unable or incompetent or un-team oriented or un-knowledgeable etc. Just the opposite in fact; and my boss gives me lots of complements as to my abilities and job completion and understanding.

(Not to beat my own drum) but I'm plenty able and smart enough to know what he is talking about well before he has run out a steam (assuming he ever does).

My wife is very similar to my new boss.........way buzzy.

To amplify some:

1) If I had not been with my present wife for the last 10 years I would not be able to laugh it off; the two of them have much in common.

2) I have always done well in school, especially as to the theoretical side of things, but again, even in that context I am more likely to come to an understanding by my own account, than by paying rapt attention or relying on the ever-vigilant mindset.

3) My mind works much more like a continuous processor/preprocessor than a one-time absorber of information/regurgitater. That is why I said in my first post "This memory shortfall has amplified my ability to figure stuff out quickly".

hey edgarblythe
****'em if they can't take a joke...you prolly have a brain more like mine, the world needs more brains like ours!

ossobuco,
Yep I just started this job a month ago. It's with an aerospace firm employing 650 people and the plant is huge (naturally).

I am a Maintenance Electrician doing everything from CNC Machines, PLC's, Robotics, Refrigeration, Motor Control......you name it. I am never in the same place for very long and always up to something different. One of things I can't help but find really funny is my iffy sense of direction! I can't really get lost because there are numbers and letters on each beam, but you get the idea.

Getting back to the point of my point of my point,
it's not a job-performance consideration, and I actually (in some strange way) feel quite sympathetic to my boss. likely because of my wife's pre-conditioning.

But Jesus-Christmas.........if the guy just mellowed out and shut up some it would be so much nicer! My solution is this case has been threefold:

1) I take notes on my notepad
2) After I have the gist of what he what he's saying I pretend to keep listening
3) I keep things causal with humor and laughing (not in any dismissive sense)

By the way, I am far from the only person that senses this about my boss. In fact, starting within the first week a number of people mentioned that my boss was an "overachiever" and "hyper" or none too kindly words to similar effect.

In fact my boss has admitted to me on a number of occasions that people are trying to undermine him, and make it difficult for him and that there is a great deal of politics he has to work through. Let's just say that I can fully see where diplomacy would not be his strong suit, and how he could easily rub people the wrong way. My wife is so similar at times it's spooky.

I can't help but find the whole thing funny, and if Contrex finds fault with that than so be it; perhaps he is one of the "buzzy" crowd. Yes it's true my mind-set does give these types of people consternation (constipation?) but remember what I said in the fourth sentence of my first post: "My new boss is a coffee-drinking, chain-smoking, over-active, speed-talker with a steel-trap for a memory. He lives and breathes his job and to call him an over-achieving control-freak would not be incorrect."

As a partially tongue-in-cheek but partially true claim I'll add that buzzy people need us mellow people for proper metal balance. I should know, I've lived with one for 10 years. In some humorous/serous/Ying/Yang kind'a way I can tell my boss needs me.

I still think he's a bag of over-hyped hot air though!

Thanks for reading this gentle posters, I truly do appreciate it!

Right on, dood.

Yep, losing your keys is better than losing your mind!

I should add that (not in defiance to all the buzzy-ones on the planet - but because it's natural to me) I am feeding my cat on the bed from my lunch plate, and I seem to have misplaced the TV remote.

Food for thought alright, I guess base 10 versus base 12 is worth some sacrifice.

Not to put too fine a point on it but it turns out that a lot of people do not like my boss and are very quick to point it out to me. This is going to make things rather interesting!

One fellow (whom has been there much longer than my boss) went as far as saying that my boss is not in fact officially my boss at all and I should report to the head of maintenance as the millwrights do.

A few weeks ago my boss told me not to talk with any of the millwrights nor associate with the millwrights and that if I want or need anything or have any questions / concerns that I should only go through him.

My boss also told me not to talk to any other employees while I am working, and that I should remain solely focused on my work at hand. This is wholly counter to the obviously affable and communicative culture of the 650 employees of this aerospace firm.

Well, you do seem to have signed up for quite a ride.

What, no advice immediately, except that I'd annotate your observations.

Will do!

Example: I used my laptop instead of writing everything out by hand as I was responsible for reviewing / assessing the electrical systems for a new 25,000 square foot plant they are commissioning on a 5 year lease. There ended up over 20 pages of MS Excel spreadsheets and MS Word documents. That would have been a bitch to write all out by hand let alone edit and update over time!

Everyone else thought I was efficient and practical and time saving and professional; but my boss, although complementing me on my Excel and Word skills, repetitively over the last week took the time to nag/critique me that he had wanted it all hand written and that "electricians do not use computers". That's a big load of control freak-poo.

I kept my cool through these nag/critique sessions and just smiled politely. One things for sure, I am not going to try and defend what is obvious to any sane man.

One thing's for sure, I am not going to try and defend what is obvious to any sane man.

It's clear that his control-freakishness has everything to do with trying to assert dominance that he is the boss, and little to do with what is rational. This is illuminated by the fellow (whom has been there much longer than my boss) that said my boss is not officially my boss at all, and I should report to the head of maintenance as the millwrights do.

None-the-less, my boss asked me for a CD and additional hard copies; all of which I did at home on my own time and of which he was well aware.

When he gets this way I simply act calm, generally say nothing and laugh it off.......the same thing I do with my wife if and when she gets all control-ish and buzzy.

My boss is not making it easy to want to interface with him.

My boss told me today that "we are the best" which I took to mean that we are more professional and harder working than the rest of the 650 employees (fat chance that!).

I get the impression that in some sense my boss thrives on conflict combined with being a control freak and combined with regularly needing to prove himself........I can just imagine the way his father might have treated him.

In some sad way I very much sympathize with him, and understand the internal pressures he self-imposes. That's the point where I have two choices:

1) laugh it off
or
2) get all pissy about it

My wife at least understands her predilection to over-controlling. At least she does if I do not rise to the occasion in a reciprocal manner but instead laugh it off.

Question:
Will the mechanism I use to quell my wife's over control-freakish-ness and buzzy-ness work on my boss?