Thursday, September 25, 2008

My Word of the Day

Incompetence - Devoid of those qualities requisite for effective conduct or action.

I had a bad day at work today.  Nothing was easy (yes, I know work isn't always easy) but today was one of those challenging days were I wished e-mail was never invented.  I'm not sure I could explain the level of duh! I encountered today but suffice it to say that it was not pretty.  Not everything was bad but apparently there is a big misunderstanding about the following words:
  • Immediately means without delay or instantly to me.  My job is to prioritize things and tell people what to do - for other departments.  It's a good thing we don't deal in life or death issues because apparently, immediately means 8 hours later to some people.  
  • No means no!  I can only tell someone so many times that something isn't available, doesn't exist or can't be done before I lose my patience.  I try to be nice and polite but it's a good thing you can't read between the lines on e-mails!
On the bright side, I had a very good experience today as well that helped balance out the bad.  It was a little weird but so cool.  I ran into a woman today who looked familiar and we exchanged pleasantries.  "You are 'Monkeygirl' right?" she said. (She used my real name not Monkeygirl)  She went on to tell me that she attended my presentation the other day and she really enjoyed it.  Wow!  I was impressed that she remembered me and that she had such wonderfully good things to say.  The weird part was this entire exchange occurred in the women's restroom!  It was great but not exactly the best place to hold a professional conversation.


1 comment:

NV said...

Sorry it was a funky day. I know the feeling about "immediately." I just had to ask for input on a few things -- something I rarely do -- and the person who promised me something right away has yet to get back to me. My draft was turned in first thing this morning. I had to go find the stuff myself!