Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The nicest thing anyone's told me in a long time

… is “Boy, you’ve got a tough job!!!”

That’s what the “new guy” told me yesterday, after sitting at a desk near mine and hearing the various conversations that were taking place. Granted, yesterday was a hectic, stressful day, dealing with mass confusion, an impatient boss, someone else’s lack of foresight (= cleaning up someone else’s mess, which still might produce customer wrath), people walking up to my desk out of the blue to request something done, support requests to deal with, project work to do, etc. So it was pretty much just a regular day. :-D

But what was nice was the acknowledgement. You know, a little bit of appreciation can go a long way.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, you have a petty paper work job. How sad. The ones doing the hard work are the people around you, because if you havent noticed, THEY seem to have to clean up YOUR mess.

Anonymous said...

It must be so comfortable for one of Eclecta's team mates (or former team-mates) to trash and bully her anonymously. Perhaps if the commentator above had the balls to actually address their concerns to Eclecta directly at work, she might not have so many messes (hers or anyone else's) to deal with.

If we're gonna talk about SAD, we should spend some time on the anonymous author who is too spineless to be a grown up and face her directly. I think he (or she) borders on the pathetic.

Anonymous said...

I would challenge anyone to sit in Eclecta's shoes and do what she does all day in this workplace environment. It may not always be technical, it certainly isn't glamourous, it's definitely thankless, and she handles it professionally and effectively at all times.
In some places, middle managers are just middling. Around here we run lean, and you need someone to manage the flow from above and support the technologists. The anonymous comment above marginalises the work of all managers. This surprises me in a way, since most people with ambition would choose eventually to be promoted to management. I can only conclude that the anonymous poster lacks ambition or has no understanding of the difficult task of a middle manager in this place. If the former, well there's not much to be done. If the latter, it is because Eclecta does such a great job of buffering this that people don't see it.

Eclecta said...

Dear Anonymous,

First, let me apologize if my post came off as though I thought I’m perfect and that every day I go around fixing other people’s mistakes. Our workplace is far too busy – and I am too human – for this to be the case. Since it is such a hectic, complex environment, everyone’s help and input is essential, and each person brings his/her unique talents, strengths, and skills to the team. It would be wrong of me to imply (even unintentionally, as in this case) that anyone else is not doing a good job.

Anonymous, if you ever want to have a frank but respectful discussion with me about your feelings, I would be open to that. However, you will also need to accept that people may not always live up to your impossibly high standards/preconceptions – and yet they are still okay and good at what they do.

You obviously have a lot of anger and I know there is nothing that I could have done to deserve your comment. If you are who I think you are, I think you are an amazing person but that you really have to look inside at why you could spew such hate and rage. If you can’t address it by yourself, please get help. I truly worry that it could eat you up inside and/or affect your relationships with your family and loved ones.

With absolute sincerity,

Eclecta

P.S. Many thanks and much love to Andrea and Ryan for their support and kind words.