Tuesday Has No Phones (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thebratqueen) wrote2004-12-09 01:32 pm
thebratqueen) wrote2004-12-09 01:32 pm
Entry tags:
Urge to kill rising
Well, it's up to day four of Boss Has Lost His Damn Mind. Granted, days 3 and 4 were better than 1 and 2 in that no yelling was involved. But the sharp and rapid drop of IQ in the guy who signs my paychecks is both a frustrating and worrying thing.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who gets all up in arms because their boss dared to give them work to do. I'm mildly annoyed that he's decided to demand I do work that's best done spaced out over a month in the course of a week, but it's still his right to tell me to do that.
What's been going on this week is not that, but insane troll logic. Not to insult the insane trolls, as possibly they'd be more logical than this. Regardless, I've found that dealing with it as if I was talking to a troll actually does help. For example, this Monday I actually wasted precious time, effort, and self-sanity trying to (politely) point out that no, really, things were being done the right way and that his suggestions for how to do it differently were wrong, and wouldn't give him the results that he wanted. End result: he doesn't listen, I get yelled at, nobody's happy.
Contrast that with today, in which I abandon all hope of logical argument, and use the classic response for all trolls, namely: "Okay!"
Allow me to give you actual examples of conversations that we've had this week:
Monday:
Boss: You just got payment from John Doe? That's unacceptable! He's late! We need a system in place so that we notice when people are late and get on them so that they pay us!
Me: I agree. That's why we *have* a system in place to do just that. Remember the meeting we had where we outlined the steps? And if everything was done right we'd catch the missed payment, get in touch with the patient, and get the late payment from them no later than 3 months? Well I did all that, and it worked, because it's less than three months and here is his payment.
Boss: But that's unacceptable! We need a system in place so that this doesn't happen!
Me: But... we... have a system in place.
Boss: No, no, you need to print up monthly reports of who's paid and who hasn't!
Me: I do.
Boss: And you need to bill those people without payments!
Me: I do.
Boss: And you need to call them!
Me: I do.
Boss: And you need to get that payment before three months have passed!
Me: [holding check in hand] I do. Look, see? Money? Date on check? Date which is less than three months? Proof that system is in place and is working because here is the result you just said you wanted?
Boss: No, no, no. This is unacceptable. We need to have a system so this doesn't happen!
Me: [shoots self in head]
Contrasted with today:
Boss: About that payment from John Doe. That is totally unacceptable. We need to have a system in place so that doesn't happen.
Me: [as though I have never heard of this before] Okay!
Boss: You need to print up monthly reports of who's paid and who hasn't.
Me: Okay!
Boss: And you need to bill the people who haven't paid yet.
Me: Okay!
Boss: And you need to call them.
Me: Okay!
Lather, rinse, repeat. Except this time I don't want to kill myself, and the boss feels like he's managed something.
Which again is not to say that the boss can't look at a system that's not working and tell me to change it. But I was literally dealing with a situation where no facts were getting through the pointy hair. To give you another example, one of our conversations from this morning was, I kid you not:
Boss: You need to call Jane Smith
Me: I did, I spoke to her this morning.
Boss: No, you need to call her and talk to her about her balance.
Me: I did. This morning. A half hour ago, in fact.
Boss: No, I want you to talk to her and find out when she's paying us.
Me: I did. This morning. A half hour ago. I spoke to Jane Smith personally on the phone and she said we can expect the check tomorrow.
Boss: No, you need to talk to her about when she's sending that check so we know when to expect it.
Me: Okay!
So that's the work situation, which is both driving me insane and keeping me busy. Hence the lack of email and posting and such, as lunchtime is the only time during the day when I've been able to manage it.
OTOH, at least Canada seems cool, what with the gay marriage thing and all. Plus I'm told I could get a career as a stripper there ;)
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who gets all up in arms because their boss dared to give them work to do. I'm mildly annoyed that he's decided to demand I do work that's best done spaced out over a month in the course of a week, but it's still his right to tell me to do that.
What's been going on this week is not that, but insane troll logic. Not to insult the insane trolls, as possibly they'd be more logical than this. Regardless, I've found that dealing with it as if I was talking to a troll actually does help. For example, this Monday I actually wasted precious time, effort, and self-sanity trying to (politely) point out that no, really, things were being done the right way and that his suggestions for how to do it differently were wrong, and wouldn't give him the results that he wanted. End result: he doesn't listen, I get yelled at, nobody's happy.
Contrast that with today, in which I abandon all hope of logical argument, and use the classic response for all trolls, namely: "Okay!"
Allow me to give you actual examples of conversations that we've had this week:
Monday:
Boss: You just got payment from John Doe? That's unacceptable! He's late! We need a system in place so that we notice when people are late and get on them so that they pay us!
Me: I agree. That's why we *have* a system in place to do just that. Remember the meeting we had where we outlined the steps? And if everything was done right we'd catch the missed payment, get in touch with the patient, and get the late payment from them no later than 3 months? Well I did all that, and it worked, because it's less than three months and here is his payment.
Boss: But that's unacceptable! We need a system in place so that this doesn't happen!
Me: But... we... have a system in place.
Boss: No, no, you need to print up monthly reports of who's paid and who hasn't!
Me: I do.
Boss: And you need to bill those people without payments!
Me: I do.
Boss: And you need to call them!
Me: I do.
Boss: And you need to get that payment before three months have passed!
Me: [holding check in hand] I do. Look, see? Money? Date on check? Date which is less than three months? Proof that system is in place and is working because here is the result you just said you wanted?
Boss: No, no, no. This is unacceptable. We need to have a system so this doesn't happen!
Me: [shoots self in head]
Contrasted with today:
Boss: About that payment from John Doe. That is totally unacceptable. We need to have a system in place so that doesn't happen.
Me: [as though I have never heard of this before] Okay!
Boss: You need to print up monthly reports of who's paid and who hasn't.
Me: Okay!
Boss: And you need to bill the people who haven't paid yet.
Me: Okay!
Boss: And you need to call them.
Me: Okay!
Lather, rinse, repeat. Except this time I don't want to kill myself, and the boss feels like he's managed something.
Which again is not to say that the boss can't look at a system that's not working and tell me to change it. But I was literally dealing with a situation where no facts were getting through the pointy hair. To give you another example, one of our conversations from this morning was, I kid you not:
Boss: You need to call Jane Smith
Me: I did, I spoke to her this morning.
Boss: No, you need to call her and talk to her about her balance.
Me: I did. This morning. A half hour ago, in fact.
Boss: No, I want you to talk to her and find out when she's paying us.
Me: I did. This morning. A half hour ago. I spoke to Jane Smith personally on the phone and she said we can expect the check tomorrow.
Boss: No, you need to talk to her about when she's sending that check so we know when to expect it.
Me: Okay!
So that's the work situation, which is both driving me insane and keeping me busy. Hence the lack of email and posting and such, as lunchtime is the only time during the day when I've been able to manage it.
OTOH, at least Canada seems cool, what with the gay marriage thing and all. Plus I'm told I could get a career as a stripper there ;)