vacation, all I ever wanted
So a coworker of mine who - in my opinion - happens to be maybe a little too aggressive with deadlines and schedules for THE ONE AND ONLY PROJECT THAT HE HAS TO HANDLE here at work (as opposed to my 8-10 major projects at any given time…not that I’m complaining because I actually love this job) - has been trying to schedule a very pricey consultant to come in and do some work for us on this ONE project of his.
I am heavily involved in that project, so according to my boss, I will need to be involved with the interaction with said consultant. Sigh. (And btw - this particular consultant charges $4 per MINUTE. Yes, their hourly rate was so mind blowing to me that I wanted to know exactly how loud the sucking sound would be for every minute of this Chinese torture.)
Couple of months ago, I put in for vacation time in September. And in the previous weeks, I’ve been counting down the days to this vacation because although I adore this job and typically have a lot of fun with it every day, I am just really ready for a break. I know once I’ve had some time with some real sand between my toes (even my newly straightened ones), I will come back into the office with fresh ideas and more inspiration. So I need this break. Need it. Planned it. Ain’t giving it up.
My coworkers know when my vacation takes place. I’ve mentioned it anytime some sort of potential conflict within the office has come up. Not in any sort of “ha ha, I won’t be here” kind of way, but rather in a “hey if you need me here for that, we’ll have to find another time.” It’s also posted on a “team availability” document that shows my time as clearly “UNavailable.” And finally, I also explicitly stated my vacation time directly to my single-minded single-purposed overly deadline aggressive coworker when the idea of bringing said consultant into the office during the week of my vacation came up. I won’t be here. I just won’t.
So what, prey tell, did I just get in my email?? What? What could it be? Well NO SHIT! It’s an EMAIL from the project coordinator of said $4/minute consulting firm saying that their plan is to be in Pittsburgh for our “kick off meeting” (sorry - pausing to control the bile rising in my throat) during THE WEEK THAT I’M OUT OF THE OFFICE! So WHO IN THE HELL gave them possible dates during that week to plan this meeting? Oh yes, it was the single-minded single-purposed overly deadline aggressive coworker! Shocking. And now what is he going to do? Convince me to cut my vacation short? HELL NO.
I’m sorry, but why the fuck couldn’t this “kick-off meeting” wait just a few more days? Why was that again?
He has ONE PROJECT. And because it’s a project that I formerly managed on top of my 9 other ones, I’m still heavily involved. And that’s fine. I like to be helpful. But for CHRIST SAKES, he can’t even fully manage his ONE PROJECT.
I should probably be feeling bad right now. If I were a good person, there would be a part of me that felt badly that somehow this coworker of mine misunderstood. Or maybe I should just have patience and understand that he’s only been working here since April and there is so much for him to learn yet that he’s probably just overwhelmed.
But I don’t feel that way. And that’s just how it is.
You should offer to conference call in at a consulting fee of $4.25 a minute….
You go girl. That is GO on vacation. Enjoy. Every. Minute.
I see stupid people EVERYWHERE.