Develop A Strategy
I went to dinner with my new Brazilian friend & 1 of the 2 other black women from work. Very soon after meeting the first black woman, I didn't trust her. I could tell that she would tell you what she thought you wanted to hear and repeat what you said to make you think she agreed with you. Then she would probe for your opinion on different people & situations at work. Basically, she has no spine...but I invited her to dinner anyway.
The three of us ended up talking about work most of the evening. I shared how I came back from vacation and found the assignment I'd passed on to my brother Scott was incomplete, and he wasn't all that motivated to seek answers on how to get it done from anyone except me. It's his strategy for trying to get back into dumping his toxic feelings about his wife, so I redirected him to the engineer who's leaving who had the assignment originally. Scott didn't like that, and the engineer who's leaving is uninterested in helping, which meant I had to hold both of their hands and drive the project to completion.
I sent the final report to corporate & didn't bother to copy in Scott. Even though he did most of the research, he did the engineering equivalent of pulling the numbers out of his ass and didn't bother to show up at the final review with our plant manager. When corporate came back with several questions about the numbers, I pulled the two engineers in to find the answers (analysis they should've completed while I was on vacation). I sent the replies to corporate after an engineer who was in Belgium on business saved us by answering one of the critical questions and copying in our boss. This sent up a red flag & my boss asked me what was going on.
SQESH Goddess: "What happened with the eco-efficiency report? From the email it looked like Scott didn't have anything to do with the report. Did he not finish it while you were gone, or did you have to do it when you came back, or what?"
Me: "Well, I think that because he's new to the company and the site he wasn't sure of who to get the information from so when I came back I kind of had to guide him through the process to complete the project."
After relaying this to my dinner companions, my Brazilian friend raised her eyebrows and the black woman said, "You know what you just did, right?" "What?" I asked. "You just covered his ass!" she replied. "Well, I think it's kind of like family. You don't duke it out on the front lawn. You solve the problem and fight in the backyard. I'm also waiting to see if it's a pattern of behavior and then I'll let his ass hang out there in the wind." "But do you think he would do that for you?" she asked. "I think he would. He is my brother!"
I know the people I work with aren't my family, but I'm still getting used to this politics thing. I've got a lot of maneuvering to do to get to where I want to be, but I'm playing the game while maintaining my morals and standards. I hate the lying and bullshit that goes on with such ease and expectation, but I realize it's a part of business. I've already promised myself that I will play the game with compassion and never do anything to stay in the game that even remotely resembles selling my soul. In the meantime, I'm still developing my strategy which I need to finalize soon, lest another year pass & I still haven't been promoted.
The three of us ended up talking about work most of the evening. I shared how I came back from vacation and found the assignment I'd passed on to my brother Scott was incomplete, and he wasn't all that motivated to seek answers on how to get it done from anyone except me. It's his strategy for trying to get back into dumping his toxic feelings about his wife, so I redirected him to the engineer who's leaving who had the assignment originally. Scott didn't like that, and the engineer who's leaving is uninterested in helping, which meant I had to hold both of their hands and drive the project to completion.
I sent the final report to corporate & didn't bother to copy in Scott. Even though he did most of the research, he did the engineering equivalent of pulling the numbers out of his ass and didn't bother to show up at the final review with our plant manager. When corporate came back with several questions about the numbers, I pulled the two engineers in to find the answers (analysis they should've completed while I was on vacation). I sent the replies to corporate after an engineer who was in Belgium on business saved us by answering one of the critical questions and copying in our boss. This sent up a red flag & my boss asked me what was going on.
SQESH Goddess: "What happened with the eco-efficiency report? From the email it looked like Scott didn't have anything to do with the report. Did he not finish it while you were gone, or did you have to do it when you came back, or what?"
Me: "Well, I think that because he's new to the company and the site he wasn't sure of who to get the information from so when I came back I kind of had to guide him through the process to complete the project."
After relaying this to my dinner companions, my Brazilian friend raised her eyebrows and the black woman said, "You know what you just did, right?" "What?" I asked. "You just covered his ass!" she replied. "Well, I think it's kind of like family. You don't duke it out on the front lawn. You solve the problem and fight in the backyard. I'm also waiting to see if it's a pattern of behavior and then I'll let his ass hang out there in the wind." "But do you think he would do that for you?" she asked. "I think he would. He is my brother!"
I know the people I work with aren't my family, but I'm still getting used to this politics thing. I've got a lot of maneuvering to do to get to where I want to be, but I'm playing the game while maintaining my morals and standards. I hate the lying and bullshit that goes on with such ease and expectation, but I realize it's a part of business. I've already promised myself that I will play the game with compassion and never do anything to stay in the game that even remotely resembles selling my soul. In the meantime, I'm still developing my strategy which I need to finalize soon, lest another year pass & I still haven't been promoted.
posted by N'j at 5:47 AM
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