work update

last monday, when i showed up to work, i was told i would be working with stacy. stacy is my next door neighbor (she sits directly to my left) and we hadn't really talked a whole lot. she's always on the phone or in meetings - an extremely busy lady. when i talk to her, she is extremely sweet.

immediately, she handed me some red lines (corrections to plans we're working on) to complete. the work she gave me was organized, easy to understand, and she basically gave me enough for the entire day. i was excited that i wouldn't get bored with it or be done quickly. it's always a little bothersome to me when i have to keep asking for work. i feel like a nuisance.

claudia didn't really talk to me monday morning, but some time in the afternoon, she approached me as stacy and ralph were having a conversation at my desk with me. she tried to ask when i'd have time to help her on her project, and ralph said, "magan's pretty busy with this stuff." stacy looked at me and said, "i have about 60 hours of work for you to do right now." i just said, "bring it on." being busy means that i have a job, so i don't mind. claudia walked away, pretty upset that i wasn't able to help her.

i should insert a disclaimer here. i did *not* ask to be taken off claudia's project. i had the meeting with jeff and claudia a week prior to this about how we were not being very efficient and we weren't communicating well. since that meeting, claudia really attempted to improve and understand that communicating by email is okay. i'm not really sure what happened, but i did not do a single minute of work for claudia last week. i don't mind at all - working with stacy is much easier, i feel more productive, and the work flow is steady. ralph and stacy really seem to get my personality and enjoy working with me. the relationship with them is very relaxed because i understand how they work. my relationship with claudia always felt a little tense and forced.

well, last wednesday or thursday, claudia walked up to me and asked me about a note i had written on a set of plans probably a week or so before that. i had been having a problem with something showing up in CAD, asked claudia about it, and she couldn't figure it out either. i vividly remember telling claudia i would ask nancy about it. almost verbatim, claudia told me, "oh, don't bother nancy. we'll worry about this later." [i have since learned that claudia is pretty scared of nancy - claudia doesn't follow standards, so she avoids speaking to nancy at all costs because nancy will trip out on you.] in hindsight, i should have talked to nancy about the problem and dealt with it myself. but i didn't and i wrote claudia the note when i printed the plans, and circled it, saying" we NEED to talk about this. i can't figure it out."

when claudia approached me last week, showing me the note, she said, "magan, this is an issue you should have taken care of. it's something that I now have to spend time on." basically, she made me feel like i was immature and pushed it aside. i don't think that's the case at all. i confronted her about it when the problem started happening, she sat down at my computer and tried to fix it, and then TOLD ME not to talk to nancy. i tried to blow her anger off. i could tell from that point on that she was upset - someone purposefully took me off her projects and now everything i had been doing and fixing was on her plate. (*i don't think she understood until she had to do it all how much work i was doing for her and the intensity and pain it causes when you have to fix her mistakes.*)

however, she went back to her desk, and huffed, puffed, and sighed. i'm not kidding. she was visibly pouting (which really only makes me angrier...i know how parents feel now when their teenager is pouting about something because they think the parent will give in... but to the teenager's surprise, the parent just gets angrier). finally, she stood from her desk, walked to nancy's and ask nancy for a moment of her time to fix a "problem". nancy sits diagonal from me, very close to me. i watched nancy walk to her desk, sit down at her computer for THREE seconds, and then walk back to her own desk, claudia's problem solved. it took all of 10 seconds for claudia to walk to my desk, perch herself on the edge of it, and say, "so, I fixed the problem. next time, this is what you need to do...." i was *fuming*. i saw NANCY fix the problem - claudia had *nothing* to do with it, but all of a sudden, she was the genius.

this is something i have a hard time with in general. when i'm talking about something, even if it's saying something like, "donnie, dustyn and derryk's dad...." i try to remember to say derryk. i'm not married to derryk, but i think it's a little inconsiderate when people don't tell the whole story (especially if derryk and leslie would be sitting right next to me and participating in the story). i'm not perfect at this, but i try to provide information and make sure all of my bases are covered ... most likely because i tend to be the person that gets upset when i am left out in the story. i don't want to make other people feel that way.

so, i'm really not sure what the deal is, why i was taken off claudia's projects, etc. but i am aware that she's burning a lot of bridges here in the office. i don't have a ton of respect for her at this point. she called nicole a child the other day. people refuse to work with her. i just don't understand.... why she's still here if all of this is valid. she's on vacation this week. i wonder if i'll have another firing story to tell next monday? probably not. in the mean time, good-bye claudia and all the stress associated with working on her projects.