(and we’ll have fun, fun, fun till the funders take the money away…)

Another fun story from my company for you all on a Friday:

So, the CE(n)O has declared that from now on, anything that has the name of the company now needs his sign off before it can go out. This is particularly good, considering he’s in the office less per day yet has MORE meetings than ever before. (don’t worry, that hasn’t stopped him from blaming everyone else for not showing him anything though). That having been said, I had a progress report that had to be in the hands of one of our funders this morning. Not through email. Physically in their hands. Thus, “New Barbara” and I (NB replaced TNS — more on that in a later post) were working feverishly to finish it yesterday afternoon before the CE(n)O left for the day (early of course). (Work, work, work, work work work work, Hello Boys! — Blazing Saddles anyone? aww, come on!)

Well, I walk over to the EA and ask if I could have 5 minutes of his time. “No.” She helpfully responds.

“No?” I ask.

“No. He has no time. He’s on a conference call every half hour and that’s only if this call ends early.”

“Okay, (EA), well, here’s the thing. I need 5 minutes of his time.”

“Can’t happen.”

“(EA), let me try this a different way, I am asking you to help me, because if he needs to sign off on this and he is the only one who can do so, then I need either to see him or for him to see this.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you.”

“(EA), Alright, since obviously you’re not seeing what I’m saying, let me try it this way. I need you to not be passive-aggressive. I need you to help me do my job, which is your job, and keep us all employed. So, if I have to stand out here and interrupt whatever it is that he is doing next, I will do so unless you can find me time with him…”

“Well, you can wait here until this call is over, and he can look at it then.”

“And when is this call supposed to be over?”

“In about a half hour.”

“Can you call me when it is over?” (crickets) “EA, that does actually require a response?”

“Yes, fine, whatever.”

“Thank you,” and I walked away.

So, after I walk away, he walks out and starts talking to the EA in which she starts bitching about me (I get that a lot, fyi), and he says, “no, you should have interrupted me, I needed to see this.”

Now, I’ll skip over the part where he didn’t read even one line of the report and just flipped through the pages…then signed off and handed it back to me to be sent out.

Upshot of this whole thing? The EA now has a Jihad against me (irony much?). Clearly, I must be missing something.

Have a great weekend, everybody!