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Jul. 7th, 2006 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiffel_71Yesterday at the top of the shift Phil, the Unit manager, called me over and asked if he could have a word. After my time-out with Angela yesterday I wanted to get on with my work at the proper start time, so I agreed to come and talk to him a bit later. When I did, he asked me for the story about the calendar argument. I told him. While he said he didn't condone the way the woman spoke to me, his next was "Why did you change the calendars over?"
For goodness' sake, it doesn't matter WHY I changed the calendars over! The sole point is that the way she reacted was totally out of order.
I used the same jocular phrase that I wrote on here, that changing the calendars on the 1st of the month is "almost an OCD" with me. I'd thought it was clear enough that I meant it in a light-hearted sense, but he jumped on that phrase straight away and asked whether I had a real medical condition that compelled me to do it, and whether they had to make any provisions for me under the Disability Discrimination Act! After a couple of minutes I persuaded him that I don't have anything a doctor would diagnose. He was really keen to get to the absolute bottom of why I'd changed those blooming calendars, though.
I did explain about the running joke I had with a couple of the girls in the block. He took no notice. I made it clear that my only grievance was the way the woman spoke to me. If she'd asked me nicely to leave their calendars alone, there wouldn't have been any problem. Phil's response? "She probably felt entitled to not ask nicely."
Well, it's high time someone put her right then!
He asked me more questions, during the course of which I found myself explaining that if someone or something peeves me I can't just shrug it off and forget about it - I have to vent. I couldn't believe it when Phil said "Is that part of your OC thingummy?"
Keeping completely calm, I told him no, it's just part of my character, and it's not a disorder or flaw at all, just a perfectly acceptable personality trait possessed by thousands. Under questioning I did mention briefly that I have a troubled past involving quite a bit of bullying and emotional abuse, and he did say he didn't want anything at the office to make me feel that was happening again. He finished up by telling me again that he didn't condone the way that woman talked to me, but then advising me to leave other people's stuff alone or some people might be offended, and that if I ever want to talk about an issue in the office that's making me emotional I should see him or Sue from Welfare.
What a complete and utter waste of time. Phil missed the point completely, and it takes the biscuit that, just because I changed a calendar - to the right month - and I have to let off steam when I get radged off, he seems to think I'm disturbed.
I just don't think anyone has the right to talk to someone like they're a piece of crap, all over a shitty calendar that's not even hers.
He's just siding with her because she's a fellow senior manager. Bloody management mafia.
Spent the rest of the shift, in between calls, softly singing, to the tune of Het Wilhelmus:
Zij, die zich zonder rechten,
Heeft tot een Heer gemaakt,
Spreekt weêr tot ons als knechten,
Naar wier beheer zij haakt:
Zij wil ons overvleugelen,
En door haar Tongesschaar,
Als ketters wreed beteugelen,
Als voor vijf duizend jaar.
Sarah #2 gave me a lift home. As we walked out to the car park she asked me the story - she wasn't in yesterday and had heard about it from Louise. Sarah actually works in the coding block, so knew who the woman was. She told me this woman has pissed off a lot of people, including her; one time Sarah's daughter's school phoned the office and the call was put through to this woman's phone as she's in charge of the unit. The woman went absolutely ballistic over that and tore Sarah off a strip, not listening to Sarah's protestations that she didn't give the school the woman's number, the call had just got routed there. Sarah and I had a good time exchanging choice words about the woman as we drove through Stubbington.
Went to see The Full Monty last night at the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth. At the ferry, someone shouted hello to me. I turned - it was Katie Bee. I waved; Katie shouted "Wilhelmus, come here NOW." She was with Digby and baby Thea, talking to an oldish gentleman whose granddaughter was about to have her 3rd birthday. I only had a couple of minutes to talk to Katie before my ferry went, but I did quickly mention that I'd be going to see The Villagers do A Midsummer Night's Dream on the 19th. She said they were all going to meet up with Daniel at the performance on the Isle of Wight on the 15th and that they'd be delighted if I could join them; I had to explain that my mother and I have a function that night :(
The Full Monty was brilliant. I'd seen the film, and the stage version is every bit as good. The change of setting to America hasn't harmed it one bit - it's still the same heartwarming underdogs-come-good story with all the humour intact. At the interval I'd drunk half my Lambrini when a lady swinging her handbag knocked the rest all over the floor, so her husband immediately bought me a new one (full, of course). Not bad, eh?
For goodness' sake, it doesn't matter WHY I changed the calendars over! The sole point is that the way she reacted was totally out of order.
I used the same jocular phrase that I wrote on here, that changing the calendars on the 1st of the month is "almost an OCD" with me. I'd thought it was clear enough that I meant it in a light-hearted sense, but he jumped on that phrase straight away and asked whether I had a real medical condition that compelled me to do it, and whether they had to make any provisions for me under the Disability Discrimination Act! After a couple of minutes I persuaded him that I don't have anything a doctor would diagnose. He was really keen to get to the absolute bottom of why I'd changed those blooming calendars, though.
I did explain about the running joke I had with a couple of the girls in the block. He took no notice. I made it clear that my only grievance was the way the woman spoke to me. If she'd asked me nicely to leave their calendars alone, there wouldn't have been any problem. Phil's response? "She probably felt entitled to not ask nicely."
Well, it's high time someone put her right then!
He asked me more questions, during the course of which I found myself explaining that if someone or something peeves me I can't just shrug it off and forget about it - I have to vent. I couldn't believe it when Phil said "Is that part of your OC thingummy?"
Keeping completely calm, I told him no, it's just part of my character, and it's not a disorder or flaw at all, just a perfectly acceptable personality trait possessed by thousands. Under questioning I did mention briefly that I have a troubled past involving quite a bit of bullying and emotional abuse, and he did say he didn't want anything at the office to make me feel that was happening again. He finished up by telling me again that he didn't condone the way that woman talked to me, but then advising me to leave other people's stuff alone or some people might be offended, and that if I ever want to talk about an issue in the office that's making me emotional I should see him or Sue from Welfare.
What a complete and utter waste of time. Phil missed the point completely, and it takes the biscuit that, just because I changed a calendar - to the right month - and I have to let off steam when I get radged off, he seems to think I'm disturbed.
I just don't think anyone has the right to talk to someone like they're a piece of crap, all over a shitty calendar that's not even hers.
He's just siding with her because she's a fellow senior manager. Bloody management mafia.
Spent the rest of the shift, in between calls, softly singing, to the tune of Het Wilhelmus:
Zij, die zich zonder rechten,
Heeft tot een Heer gemaakt,
Spreekt weêr tot ons als knechten,
Naar wier beheer zij haakt:
Zij wil ons overvleugelen,
En door haar Tongesschaar,
Als ketters wreed beteugelen,
Als voor vijf duizend jaar.
Sarah #2 gave me a lift home. As we walked out to the car park she asked me the story - she wasn't in yesterday and had heard about it from Louise. Sarah actually works in the coding block, so knew who the woman was. She told me this woman has pissed off a lot of people, including her; one time Sarah's daughter's school phoned the office and the call was put through to this woman's phone as she's in charge of the unit. The woman went absolutely ballistic over that and tore Sarah off a strip, not listening to Sarah's protestations that she didn't give the school the woman's number, the call had just got routed there. Sarah and I had a good time exchanging choice words about the woman as we drove through Stubbington.
Went to see The Full Monty last night at the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth. At the ferry, someone shouted hello to me. I turned - it was Katie Bee. I waved; Katie shouted "Wilhelmus, come here NOW." She was with Digby and baby Thea, talking to an oldish gentleman whose granddaughter was about to have her 3rd birthday. I only had a couple of minutes to talk to Katie before my ferry went, but I did quickly mention that I'd be going to see The Villagers do A Midsummer Night's Dream on the 19th. She said they were all going to meet up with Daniel at the performance on the Isle of Wight on the 15th and that they'd be delighted if I could join them; I had to explain that my mother and I have a function that night :(
The Full Monty was brilliant. I'd seen the film, and the stage version is every bit as good. The change of setting to America hasn't harmed it one bit - it's still the same heartwarming underdogs-come-good story with all the humour intact. At the interval I'd drunk half my Lambrini when a lady swinging her handbag knocked the rest all over the floor, so her husband immediately bought me a new one (full, of course). Not bad, eh?
