Do your co-workers make you shake your head in disbelief?
12Last week, I was made project manager of a complex project (not rocket science) because the first pm didn’t get the job done correctly. In her defense, we have a complex landscape of technical interfaces, as well as overly complicated business process.
However, I have been there, done that, for quite a long time, so this is old hat to me. I took a job as an accountant to get out of that pressure to perform environment, but I have been telling my boss I am underutilized in this current job. He inherited me, so he doesn’t quite understand the skills/knowledge I possess, which is ok, but it turns out I am an adrenaline junkie and need to do more. 
When they were looking for someone to lead this project, I was voted onto the island. It happens often, whichever job I am in, I get co-opted because of my crazy combination of business and technical knowledge. But I said to my co-worker that I feel like a “prized pony” that is only trotted out when the barn is on fire. That when push comes to shove, the bigwigs dust me off from my quiet corner and use to me to get things done. (None of this is complaining, just the way it is.)
So all of that was context for this photo:
My desk was attacked by my pretty little ponies… Moral of the story, be careful of crazy co-workers …
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That kind of crazy cow-orkers are the best. I have some of those.
But I also have the kind that make me shake my head and wonder how they manage to find their way here each morning. The kind that are taken by surprise every single time the sun rises.
@blaineg I don’t have many “cow-orkers” but, yes, she made me smile… and she also gave me stickers, so when another cube neighbor had a melt down this morning – I shared my “my little pony” stickers with her. It is amazing how adults can revert to children and smile over stickers!!!
@mikibell Cow-orkers is a deliberate typo a friend generated a long time ago, and I stole it from him. It is more appropriately used for the ones that make life harder.
I’m a bit of the show pony in my job as well. I get passed over on projects and promotions, but they come to me when the building is on fire asking how to fix it. Then, at review time, they never seem to remember that I’m Mr. Fixit.
After my last review, I have begun telling them I’m not interested in doing the work unless they want to give me the pay that goes with it. Sure, it’s probably ruffling some feathers, but I think it’s doing a great job of sending the message that I’m becoming an old bitter person.
I’ve worked with most of my coworkers for 10+ years, but we all work from home, so we don’t banter much anymore. Most of us just want to be left alone so we can do our jobs while avoiding the office bureaucracy.
@capguncowboy right with you… same boat completely; except I am not old yet – just cranky!!! I am the Ms. Fixit.
After teaching gabillion college students I think there are some who have a skill for seeing the trees and how they form the forest, all the interconnections, etc. and others that get lost in the forest and struggle to see a path through the trees, but they know a lot about the particular tree they call home (well and then there are others who see a tree and say - cool a place to nap in the shade). It is all in how your brain functions and what you like/are good at. Fortunately there is a place and a need in the world for many different styles of thinking/skills.
Part of the key, I think, is being in the right job that requires you to use your best skills. And also being surrounded by the people who fill in your gaps so that collectively, together, everyone can shine. And of course the reality is that this isn’t even remotely possible for many folks for a multitude of reasons so you "make do and chafe at the restrictions when someone is screwing up in ways that seem obvious to you, it isn’t always obvious to them though - especially if you are powerless to stop the carnage and/or then have to mop up the mess.
That “collectively” part is something a number of managers (and others) struggle with.They’d rather go over the cliff than give an inch or acknowledge (or use) what others can offer to create a better mouse trap/solve the problem/create the new best mouse trap…And if you are in the “right job” with the “right people” then it is no big deal. If you are not it becomes frustrating or worse. And then you “shake your head in disbelief” or even sometimes hope they’d go play accident in the street with a full cement truck.
I am a “big picture” look across fields and connect the dots person. Heave help me and those I’d work with if I was in a job that required looking at only what was on the head of a pin. I’d drive myself nuts and likely everyone around me too.
@Kidsandliz Fortunately nobody on my team is the “that’s not my job” sort, but that’s like the antithesis of what you describe in one paragraph above, and all too common in the corporate environments I’ve worked in previously. I’m blessed with people who will cheerfully do anything they’re asked to do (even empty trash cans or run the hoover). Unfortunately it won’t occur to them “can is full, take out trash” without having their focus specifically redirected. Usually if I point out to someone their wastebasket could stand a trip to the dumpster, they’ll actually go over and above and handle it for their entire group. So I don’t believe they’re being intentionally oblivious to a full can or trying to avoid extra work. I honestly believe they just don’t see it until it’s pointed out to them. Just like somehow I’m the only person in the building who seems to hear the phone ring, or the bell in the lobby.
Well my post is full of typos. That is what I get for posting, without proofing, while I am tired. The goat is in luck. I need a nap and am too tired to go find that thread.
@ruouttaurmind Maybe their mothers picked up after them too much?
@Kidsandliz @ruouttaurmind Years ago my wife ran a short term stay home for handicapped children. Several of her staff were recent high school graduates. They were preparing lunch, and she handed one girl some carrots and a peeler, and asked her to peel the carrots. (To be clear, this is a staffer, not a client!)
She came back in the kitchen a few minutes later and the girl was standing there with the peeler in one hand, and an unpeeled carrot in the other. “Uh, what am I supposed to do with this?”
Long story short, this girl had nearly zero life skills because her mom had done EVERYTHING for her for 18 years. She was almost 100% dependent on her mom.
My wife spend a lot of time helping bring her up to speed on life.
@blaineg My exes (15 year old) son was helping me prepare supper. I was fussing with cooking pasta and sauce and asked him to wash some lettuce so we could make a salad. A few minutes later I turned around and he was at the sink with a soapy sponge giving the head of lettuce a good scrub.
If I wasn’t in the way I half expect he might have gone into the dishwasher with it. 
Sometimes I wonder if it’s me, not them. Maybe I’m the odd duck. But FFS, why can’t my staff seem to visualize the big picture? They’re all great people, and each has a particular skill set to contribute, but not a one of them seems to possess the ability to look beyond their individual tasks. No one ever seems to step back and think “Wait, but if I do this, that is going to happen over there.” More importantly, “If we do it this way, that part over there will be improved!”
I look at some of the most obvious potential which was missed, and it’s as glaringly obvious, as if someone left a note in bright neon marker scrawled across the conference room white board… but apparently in a language only I can understand.
I don’t know, sometimes it just seems so obvious it makes me SMH. I very much value each and every member of my team, but come on people, look for the bigger picture.
@ruouttaurmind In my humble opinion, it is a mind set. It is curiosity to know who, what, when, where and how. I WANT to understand the ramifications upstream and downstream. However, that curiosity means I can’t go home at night and leave my job behind me. I wonder about what I have missed, what I could have/should have done differently… yada yada yada.
This is also experience… Your past definitely impacts your point of view. Part of this project was a presentation to the CFO of a multi-billion dollar company (totally humble brag!!!) with less than 24 hours notice. I wasn’t phased by that, nothing is more intimidating than a room full of very cranky cub scout parents… CFO is child’s play.
@mikibell My staff is comprised primarily of “creatives”. I think that also has something to do with the lack of logical thought process. It’s not impossible for a creative to also be logical, it’s not impossible for an logical/analytical type to also have creative abilities.
But I believe this is the exception, not the rule. People who are blessed with attributes from both sides of brain are the sort who tend to rise to the top of their respective fields, and probably won’t wind up working in my little office for the paltry sum I can budget.
Think about the earliest days of the web. All those thousands of HTML websites. The ones that looked great were usually clunky as hell, the ones that were well organized and ticked like a clock were usually as fugly as that dude that stares back at me from the mirror. But every once in a while there would be one that was beautiful, elegant, well organized, cutting edge and worked like a champ. THOSE were usually created by someone who was blessed with “logical creativity”.
@ruouttaurmind hhahaha… I just had this conversation with my husband this morning… that my non-work friends have no idea how logical/sequential I am during my day job. They only see me when I am doing sewing or baking or crafting stuff for scouts and such… I feel like I wear a cape by night and an ugly suit by day
Same friend who gifted me the pony said “at least you know both sides of your brain function!” 
(I couldn’t design a website if you paid me lots of money!!)
I love the MLP response. Just tell the coworker that they made your desk like, 20% cooler.
/giphy rainbow dash
@Thumperchick she is a good egg… and knew I was going to blush when she did it.
/giphy humblebrag
@medz honest… it wasn’t… it is just the way life is…
I just wonder why I plateaued where I am, if I am the one who can solve problems like this. I am SPECTACULAR!!
From left to right: Princess Cadence, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Apple Bloom, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, Applejack, Sweetie Belle, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie
Does anypony recognize the one in the tape dispenser?
@zachdecker Celestia innit?
@ruouttaurmind If it is, that is some mighty messed up hair on her.
@ruouttaurmind @zachdecker Looks like it, but her crown and eyes look wonky. I have my doubts as to whether these are officially licensed figures. What do the cutie marks look like?
@zachdecker Looks like the yellow bit is her tiara. Hair color is a match though with the blue pink and green roughly translated to Chinasian toy manufacturer’s color palate.
@ruouttaurmind @zachdecker I think Cadence’s crown is just hair-colored…whoops
OP’s co-workers need to up their MLP game. This boot-leg cake topper stuff is weak, bruh.
Putting out fires is part of my job description. Also since my hours are budgeted separately, all the PMs want me to complete their work after they run out of budget.
I know that they use me as a crutch so they don’t have to fix their processes, but I also have a significant interest in seeing projects completed successfully.
Also, my desk is so littered with toys, that if a coworker added a few, I might not notice for a few days.
/giphy very particular set of skills
Sometimes, I think my staff didn’t graduate from elementary school, either that or I’m speaking Martian, take your pick
/
@Cerridwyn I’m pretty sure I’m speaking Martian. Or everyone around me are Martians.
Last week someone asked for help with a computer/network issue. I gave them the usual step-by-step instructions, and never heard anything back, so I assumed the problem was solved.
Yesterday after fixing a 5 minute problem that took 2.5 hours (Yep, Monday. Where’s that goat?), said user approached me and said “It still doesn’t work”. So I walked him through it step by step. And at Every. Single. Step. we had to loop through it multiple times with a running narrative of “This is stupid”, “I told you it doesn’t work”, “What do you mean ‘Wrong Password’?”, etc.
I can only assumed they were recently dropped on this planet, and have never seen or used a computer before last week.
At least I can amuse my counterparts with these tales.
@blaineg
Pretty much yeah
It’s like the classic, did you turn it on?
How do I do that?
At one time I had a target on my wall, that said, bang head here. I miss it. Current environment would not find it funny.
Oh
one of my favorites from multiple past work lives have been me to HelpDesk (not grunt tier).
Look, yes, I know I’m a nurse, but I can reload a hard drive. Please just send me the disk and a new hard drive and I’ll take care of. But but… it’s cheaper to overnight the disk and i will overnight it back than send in a service person and so i’m not paying for them. Call 2 days later, ‘you sent the disk back already’ Me, yep, and it works great, thank you,"
Or Just because I’m a nurse doesn’t make me stupid. Paying 100s in service calls make you stupid (would be over a grand today for what cost me like 18 bucks on an HP printer (would be more now)
I know more than enough to be dangerous
And I try to accept my limits
I haven’t blown the place up… Yet
@blaineg @Cerridwyn
probably landed on their head
@Cerridwyn In someone’s office they had a circle that said “bang head here, clean up drips”.
My boss makes changes to the data system I use after I leave at night, but doesn’t tell me. I find out when it shits itself trying to do its normal tasks.
(I should rather say the member of senior management I work with the most. I have one of those niche positions where it’s not entirely clear who my boss actually is.)
@mikibell I’m sure you’ve seen the Question Dog (a.k.a This is Fine), but that might make a good showpiece since you seem to end up in those situations a lot:
https://topatoco.com/collections/all/products/kcg-tfdog-plush
(Here’s the comic in question: http://gunshowcomic.com/648)