Luckystott

2005-12-08 - 7:54 a.m.

Welcome to the winter of my discontent.

Yes, I know that line has been used in sooooooo many diaries. But....so apt for where I am at right now so I'm using it in mine.

I haven't been keeping up on my posting lately because I have been so damn negative. I don't want to be a black rain cloud coasting in on whoever might be reading my site...

BUT:

This reception job is $%&*ing killing me.

This morning, I had seven (SEVEN!) guests arrive for a meeting at the UNGODLY hour of 7:30am. They had ordered food for the meeting, which - of course - our office services guys knew nothing about.

(A little back knowledge for you: my company, Hedgehog, rents its surplus office space to 19 other funds. But, due to security issues, I receive all guests up front. The IT and office services guys tend to help out with all the funds as well...so I can see why the boundaries get a little foggy, but it doesn't excuse the self-righteous behavior of the other funds. Dudes - when we help you? It's a FAVOR.)

Sometimes the companies that rent space from us comply with the way we do things. But most of the time they don't. Which is why our kitchen guys had to scramble to set up a room for this food delivery/meeting that they knew nothing about.

At 7:30 in the morning.

Beeeeeee-cause they weren't given a heads up by 4pm the previous day, as procedure would normally dictate.

So, back to the story: I had to handle the food transaction this morning
WHILE
this group hovered at my desk
WHILE
I am calling every phone line for this God-forsaken fund...which is on a different floor of the building, by the way...

...and I am not getting an answer on any of their phones.

Finally, I call a Neighboring Fund on their floor and ask if they wouldn't mind being a set of eyes for me:

"Would you mind checking to see if any of the workers from Lame Fund are at their desks, please?"

"Um...no. It's really dark over there. I don't think anyone's in. Want me to call the CEO's cell for you?"

Neighboring Fund? you are lovely for doing that.

Ten minutes later, CEO from Lame Fund calls my main line and is all, "I'm out of town and the analyst who was supposed to take the meeting just called me to tell me he's not coming in because he's sick..."

"...so why don't you just tell them the meeting's cancelled?"

EXCUSE ME?

"Mr. CEO? I have the main contact standing right here at my desk. Would you like to speak with him yourself?"

"Naw, I don't feel like talking to him."

??????

Seriously. So then it becomes MY JOB to sh*t all over your guests that came in for a 7:30am meeting with your fund...because you don't feel like talking to them?

How about.....? NO.

I let Mr. CEO know as politely as I could (in front of his guests, after all) that calling in and expecting me to cancel his meeting for him was out of line. After all, I work for Hedgehog...not Lame Fund. It's not my responsibilty to handle his guests any further than greeting them, pointing out the coat closet and restrooms, followed by alerting Mr. CEO and/or his analyst cronies that their guests have, in fact, arrived.

Without any further discussion, I handed the phone over to the main contact person.

See? I'm such a giver: Mr. CEO very quickly found the balls to cancel his own meeting. Imagine that. Encouraging him to lead his own company is a very good thing. tra la.

For me, what was unfortunate about the situation was that the group didn't have another meeting until 8:45am. So...

I put them into the conference room and let them sit there and eat their food to kill time.

Nice of me? Sure.

But this type of thing puts MY JOB on the line because we have a pretty strict security policy. Guests aren't supposed to walk past the lobby area without an escort and I was clearly breaking that rule by letting them hang out.

But, you see, here's the thing about my job that really drives me nuts:

it's seriously, like, 2 degrees outside. I wasn't going to send them out onto the street to wait for their next meeting at a Starbucks or something. So, my butt gets put on the line in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

And for those of you who don't know me well, here's a big clue into my pysche:

I can't STAND being put into that position.

Believe me, hundreds of my hard-earned buckaroonies have been handed over to a therapist to hash out why I attract these situations to myself and why they put me into such anguish and "how can I handle myself better when backed into the corner and then treated unfairly after making a judgement call?"

Because this is how it works in my life: I'll get yelled at for letting unescorted guests use a conference room...but then, if I had sent them out into the bitter cold, I'd get yelled at for THAT.

So.

This is a mere example of what I deal with on a day to day basis. And I know (I KNOW!) most people reading this are probably thinking: "giiiiirl, pull up a chair and tell me about it." so it's really a moot point to rant about it.

Which is why I haven't really posted, because I don't think daily rants about the idiots I work with would make for a good web journal for me. I never intended my journal to be all about the stupid people I have to spend eight hours with every day. However, this particular subject is sucking the JOY out of my life right now from 6:45am - 2:45pm.

By the time I get home, I am too tired to write about lovely things.

Remember in the movie "City Slickers" when one of the characters (was it Billy Crystal?) said "You gotta find that one thing"?

Well. I don't have a "one thing" about this job right now. I seriously hate it. Hate it with all my might, I tell you.

If I was allowed to leave my desk to use the restroom when I felt the urge...then...MAYBE I could find some redeeming kernel about this job. But I can't even do THAT.

---------------------------

In other shocking news (what? me having a bad day at work is shocking? not.)

Spoiler alert:

I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT "LITTLE MISS OMIGOD(!)" WON TOP MODEL.

I guess I was secretly gunning for her to win because she's SO pretty. Also, she's very pale (like me!) and has long brown hair (like me!). Perhaps I was "projecting" just a little bit, ya think?

But, while I liked her beauty and portfolio, I didn't think that she would actually WIN. I mean, yes, the girl takes stellar pictures. But when she opens her mouth...oh my LORD. I was under the impression that you had to have some spokeswoman skills to win. Every time Little Miss Omigod!) opened her mouth, I wanted to smack her. For just about most of the competition.

-----------------------------

Okay, so back to my sucky job...in which you should know that I have had a guest sitting up here in the lobby for the past 20 minutes.

I notified both the Managing Director she was visiting as well as his assistant via voicemail twice. Neither party was picking up their phone.

Finally, at the twenty minute mark I called the MD's line again and he picked up. Aaaand he was all, "Oh, she's here? Can you call my assistant when my guests arrive from now on?"

Christ on a cracker.

Also? I have to pee very badly and I am not schedule for a break until 53 minutes from now.

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