September 13, 2005
Adult : Child :: Boss : Employee (or is that backwards?)
Why must work suck?
Okay, okay, so not everyone's work sucks and work doesn't necessarily suck all the time. And, of course, there's the whole "do what you love, love what you do" thing.
When I was a teacher, I might fuss about grading (okay, so I complained about grading long and bitterly), but I really, really, really enjoyed my work. And everyone except my department head and the dean of the first year studies thought I was damn good at my job. Even the guys in the teaching and learning center tried to get me to speak to other instructors. And I loved it. I adored teaching. I adored mixing with the students. I loved watching them "get it." I enjoyed commiserating with them about stupid rules. (Like the fact that most majors at ND only got a couple of electives at all and those didn't really come until senior year.) I was crushed when I couldn't reach one of the students, even though I knew I wouldn't be able to reach all of them. Didn't stop me from trying. Didn't stop me from trying to figure out what I could have done differently.
I know a lot of professor types who just hated teaching first-year students. I think it's a blast.
Now, as a copy writer, though, I gotta wonder: does every boss treat their employees like children? I mean, come on! Give me an assignment and let me the heck alone to get it done. From talking to other folks, it sure seems like more bosses than not have this obsessive need to check in on their employees (although the new boss's habit of standing quietly in the doorway to my cubicle has just GOT to stop). I am not a five-year-old. Give me an assignment, give me a general idea of priority or a deadline and I'll get it done for you. And I'll do it well. But I can't get the thing done if you keep coming in and checking on my progress!
(And I also can't get it done when you give 1/2 the project to the dude who works in secret and won't show me anything. I can't write about how to use a website if I haven't seen how that website works!)
The endless explanations that I've heard 18 times and already taken into account (even by his admission -- but it's really important and bears repeating ... again and again) ... the projects changing 76 times in three days ... the projects with no boundaries to them -- write a newsletter for this magazine (a newsletter about what???) ... the ever-changing projects -- this emailer needs to go out Wednesday, no wait, make it about this instead, no wait, we're not ready for that, can you make it about this? Why isn't it ready to mail out?
I can have fun at work and I try not to let all the little changes and office politics bug me. But the tendency of some of the executives to treat the creative department as wayward children is really wearing. How do people deal with this every day?
I wish I was teaching again. (And not just to avoid the executives -- you still get some of that crap from the academic world, too.)
*sigh*
Guess I just needed to vent. That's a part of the reason I've been somewhat quiet over the last couple of weeks.
Oh, and lest this slips into oblivion, here's a quote from the University of Notre Dame's University Writing Program:
Students who have attended FYC regularly and submitted all major assignments should earn As, Bs, Cs, or Ds only. (Fs are reserved for students who stop attending or who do not turn in one or more of the three Unit Assignments.)
You can see it here (it's most of the way down the long page).
Posted by Red Monkey at September 13, 2005 5:49 AM |
Never Underestimate the Power of Human Stupidity
| 
Stumble |
I've realized that every work place treats people as a child since a large majority of people have ASKED for it. People take responsibility for nothing anymore...
Drives me NUTS too...i'm always feeling like someone is hovering over my shoulder...starting to feel like halluncinations...
September 13, 2005 6:41 AMRed Monkey said:
Yeah, I know some of those folks who want to be treated like a child, too. I just wish the bigwigs could tell the difference between those of us who work best with not so much supervision and those who need a hound on the shoulder.
Meanwhile, today, I just hate people. One more email or phone call changing or "explaining" something that I understand and completely missing the question I asked and I AM GOING TO SCREAM!
(We have 2 websites launching this month. Who's brilliant idea was that??????)
thordora said:
omfg-we've had the EXACT issue around here-let's change EVERYTHING the week the data guy is on vacation....and THEN we'll fuck it up, and get mad at him for being mad about the waste of time....
man....I need to win the lottery
September 15, 2005 6:15 AM
Leave a comment
thordora said: