jespah wrote:there are many chiefs and few indians here. For, um, ten (?) people in the group, four are bosses.
did you get that memo regarding the TPS reports?
ahhhh....yeeeeaaaaa.......we gotta talk about that TPS report.....
Yep, it's about the cover sheet. Didja get the memo?
Hiya sakhi! Yesterday, I went to yet another useless meeting. I'm hoping this means I get more fun points later on, that I can cash in for, er, something, but I'm betting I don't.
I think one of the boss-like people has ADHD. I am going to do something bad, I can feel it.
Calgon, take me away.
I am now adding Psychic to my resume as a new skill.
Sounds like there's a story... do tell.
I was hoping you'd ask.
A request for a report came in last night (the request involved getting records on certain employees and the expected list would have been about 600 people according to the person requesting the report). I had already gone home. My counterpart in another department stayed late to finish it. It was not opened until this morning even though allegedly it was a rush. It was "wrong", but no explanation was given for why it was supposedly wrong (my counterpart's report had about 900 records on it). Looking at the request as written, the proffered report was correct.
So my counterpart redid the report and jiggered it a different way. He delivered it at maybe 1 PM today.
1:30, my supervisor and I were asked by the big boss to redo the report as it was "still not right". She (my supervisor) and I look at the request and the two reports already generated. They both seem fine. We call the big boss over and start asking questions.
We get a long, drawn-out tortuous explanation of what's needed. I finally cut to the chase and ask, is this a report about certain people? Yes. Which people? These people on this web page.
We look. There are fewer than 30 people listed.
My question: so, instead of the 600 or 900 record report, what you really want is information on these 27 people?
Yes.
And so it was. I ran a report on the 27 people and it was done in about 20, 25 minutes.
My poor counterpart should not have had to stay late.
The original request in no way resembled what was really desired.
The original request should have been: please give me certain information on these 27 people, not give me a bucketful of garbage and then cut out a bunch of stuff but I won't tell you why or what I really want or the purpose or my train of thought or even if you're close to being right.
How I figured this out from the morass of 900 records, eh, I have no idea.
I don't expect them to know how to do my job or what I do. But I do, oof, expect requests to be in freakin' English. Man, I'm such a stickler.
love it.
Two things I find myself saying to others at work.
1. I left my crystal ball at home.
2. Welcome to my world.
I'm a fan of the blank stare, but then most of the requests I get are in person. The other tactic I like is "kill 'em with the details" where I let my mind wander over every possible scenario. Out loud. Least likely and least relevant scenarios first. That usually elicits a quick cutting to the chase.
I have a magic 8 ball at work, and my supervisor has an excuse ball, which is kinda similar.
So I can say things like "signs point to yes" while she offers up random excuses like "the goldfish died", "Mexican food" (our personal favorite) or "bad weather".
We were both shaking them at the same time when the big boss walked by to thank us for the suddenly correct report.
I now work for the Reporting Department and Psychic Friends Network. Maybe I'll change my nametag (there's one on the cube wall) to Miss Cleo.
We have the project management die. We roll it whenever we don't know what to do. For some reason it always comes up "call a meeting".
Ah need to get me one of those them thar things.
Always give people what they want rather than what they ask for.
