The sound of silence

Sometimes, silence is highly underrated.  It gets a bad rap, too.  "There was an awkward silence."  Or... "There were a lot of silent pauses in our conversation."  I don't think silence is deserving of this type of degradation.  These people don't understand, they have never dealt with, people like Rod.
Today, Rod has been mostly quiet.  What a relief.  Yesterday, well, let's just say after yesterday, the days can only get better.

I have taken a vow of silence.  Unless directly asked a question, I have been silent all day.  I have been employing the monosyllabic silent treatment, I guess you could say. 

Today, Rod came in and said "Good Morning!" full of good cheer.  Since my morning was ruined the minute I remembered I had to go to work (Oddly enough, this was about 5 minutes into my shower), I couldn't really agree that it was a good morning.  I replied simply "morning," but I was really saying "mourning."
 
I put on headphones.  I listed to the new Susan Boyle cd for a bit, but it was boring.  So Madonna came next.  Perfect mix of 80's and dance.  I said not a word, and not a word was said to me.  Perfect!  Then Jen came in, and the cheery "Good morning, Jen!" from Rod.  She was nicer, of course, and actually spoke to him in full sentences.  I was still pouting.
 
I think, perhaps, hours went by.  I got a lot of work done.  It was amazing!  Followed up with customers, read some documentation, got some documentation done, finished up some call notes, it was really a good day.  Until...

Rod spoiled it.  He wanted to have a pre-meeting for the meeting.  His topic, those pesky Capacity Planning reports.  The topic of the actual meeting?  Working with the developer to get the software working.  I pointed out the dichotomy, and he said "I appreciate that," in a tone that really said, "Shut up."  Over to my cubicle he wandered, and he proceeded to ramble, as usual, about everything except the upcoming meeting.  We talked about documentation we have here in the office, we talked about the difficulty of reaching developers, we even discussed web site changes, but for those 20 minutes, we absolutely did not even once discuss the upcoming meeting.

I took notes in the "pre-meeting."  He was listing random things for me to do, so I started writing them down - I didn't want to forget.  Come up with a best practices document, he thought that was a great idea!  Read all documentation for one of our products, including install guide, implementation guides, etc.  That's well over 1000 pages of literature.  When am I supposed to do this?  I guarantee, I don't have the time to do that much reading, but he will expect it of me at some odd, random moment in the future.
 
He even wants me to type up a document that lists the things I don't know.
 
Think about that one for a minute. 
 
Yes, a list of all the things I don't know and would like training on.  I don't know about you, but the list of things I don't know is far longer than the list of things I do know.  Anyway, as he saw me writing, he said, with a sloppy gesture at my notepad: "Where is THAT document you are always writing on?  Where is that ELECTRONICALLY stored?"  I was stymied.  These are just my own personal notes. I was supposed to be typing them?  "Umm, they're not.  I guess I don't want to duplicate all the effort.  It's easier for me to write notes when we are speaking than to type them."  It was a true answer.  "Yes, I know that, but HOW am I supPOSED to KNOW what you are WORKing on if I can't find the DOCument?"  I smiled and patted my note pad.  "It's all right here!  That's the beauty of paper!  It's not filed in some crazy mapped drive on the network!  You can look through this any time you want to find out what I'm working on!"  I thought it was brilliant.  I thought he'd love having permission to go through my stuff!  Alas, no.  I am to start typing up my notes for him, putting them out on the network, making sure I put the file location in a footer, and then, yes, even printing it out for him.  Tree killer.

So, he finally left.  As he was on his way out, he asked if I knew how to place a conference call.  "Yes," I said, "Didn't I just do that yesterday when you were on the phone with me?"  His reply "I don't, know, DID YOU?" was just ridiculous.  What do you say to that 6 year old mentality?  I sighed sadly, dejectedly.  "Yes, Rod, I did.  I'm sorry you don't remember."
 
Maybe this is just a bad week for me, what with the holidays coming up and having other things on my mind.  But the only good thing about working here (besides the 15 minute, out-of-doors conversation I get with Jen) is getting to write this blog, and hopefully entertaining a few of you everyday.  This place, this man, are really starting to wear me down.  I need a break, badly.  I need this upcoming 4 day holiday more than I can express. 
 
Oh, wait.... That's right.  I don't even get Friday off because I work for Ebeneezer. 

Eye Tee Girl