Chain of Command

Today at work was a complete contrast to yesterday. The day just flew by for me and there wasn't a moment where I was bored.

It all started with an argument. My boss wanted to know why something had been done to our system. He couldn't understand what step had been missed in our process. These are his words, the process. I still have to wonder where management learns all of these trite phrases. Another personal favorite of his is dropped the ball. Sports analogies are very popular with management lingo it seems. The worst part is that all of them make me laugh, because I think that they are so inane.

So there I was bluntly telling my boss that I hadn't missed a step and I didn't know why I warranted this little heart to heart that we were having. Yes, a mistake had been made, but the systems analyst didn't tell me that he had changed a parameter in the system. My boss felt that I should have been more intuitive, when I was making changes to the system. I guess that I have to work on my mind meld technique with the guys in the system support group.

I know that my boss was surprised by my reaction. Usually I just stand there and nod until later when I can piece together was the hell he was talking about and figure out what caused him to talk to me. I do my job to the best of my ability and I don't like taking any crap for something that I didn't do. I also don't like having a mistake become grounds for a public flogging.

Nick says that our department has a high profile and we do. Everyone knows when we make a mistake. We live in a fishbowl and it isn't going to change. Most of the time I do just ignore the flak, but for some reason I didn't feel like standing and nodding this morning.

If anything my boss was impressed that I didn't take his crap. Later the president, my boss and I were laughing about my little outburst. They said that I must have missed my breakfast.

Working for a small company has its advantages and disadvantages. A person can't hide from their job responsibilities and there is less bureaucracy to deal with on a daily basis. Listening to Brenda talk about the power structure in retail frightens me. There are all of these different levels of importance that in my mind mean very little. Where I work there is just my boss and that's it. No, hierarchy of managers to mess with my mind. I had enough of that at the insurance company. I like living under the illusion that I am a free agent at work.