7 Quick Takes Friday #49

See more 7 Quick Takes Contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

Maybe I am just a bit frustrated this week, in spite of our great holiday party today and even though I gave up frustration for Lent and rarely give in to it these days, having learned how to handle it during Lent. Maybe it was the pending 1787 emails that faced me after the holiday party, keeping me there until nearly 9:00 p.m. just to get through the most urgent of them. Maybe it was finding out in the early evening that three of my senior managers had made a couple of serious mistakes, and everyone was pointing fingers at everyone else, with no one taking responsibility for his actions or even fixing them. I ended up calling the East Coast office involved and walked that junior manager through what had to be done, including coming back to work at nearly midnight. I also had to take both senior managers in the junior managers' chain to task for not having done what needed to be done. Dealing with their cavalier attitude, "oh, we will take care of that on Monday," Monday being too late to handle it, also irritated me. I ended up telling them that they could come in and do the work that was supposed to have been completed six weeks ago tomorrow (Saturday), or I would do it on Monday for them, with related repercussions. In any event, I thought that today's seven quick takes might focus on the wide range of folks I deal with on a routine basis, especially the ones who challenge me to remember that there is a God-seed inside them.

1. The Demjin model. Demjin came to me a while back and said that she wanted one of our open positions. I pointed out the skill set needed; she admitted that she did not have any of the necessary skills but insisted that she would like the job, anyway. It took some doing to get her to leave my office. I get someone of the Demjin model in my office about once a week; when not appearing in person, I get the notes in the mail or email. They simply do not understand that if they were to get the wonderful job after which they hanker their chances of being able to perform well are quite low, resulting in the possibility of being fired. Risk-takers? Nah! Delusional!

2. The Jingle model. Jingle (not the proper pronunciation of her odd name, but it is as close as I can come), a new temporary employee, complained to me because she was not selected as a permanent employee during the annual selection process for which she had limited seniority. She told me how wonderful she was. She persuasively argued that no one could touch the quality of her work. She told me how creative her products are. She told me that I could not judge her because I had not spent any time evaluating her work. I stood my ground against her self-aggrandizingly proud words. Some months later, I visited Jingle's unit, and, by golly, her work is wonderful; no one can touch it; her products are creative; I indeed could not judge her work because I had not seen it. The Jingle model keeps me humble -- after first humiliating me.

3. The Donald model. I have mentioned a member of the Donald model on this blog before. Talented, ambitious, and overachieving, Donald is shocked when other team members pick on him. His reaction is to come to management and ask for support. Walking him through the process of forgiving his team members for their cruelty is possible but takes a good deal of of my time. Still, I consider my time worth it because I see great potential in Donald, but then, just as I feel justified in spending the extra time with Donald, he tells me that he really needs to defend his honor from something that happened much earlier, something that I thought we had gotten past, something for which I thought he had forgiven his teammates. Can one really forgive if one does not also forget? Sigh! We are back to square one. (That was one of my meetings today; perhaps another event prompting this particular post topic.)

4. The Ronald model. Ronald is a naysayer and someone I have to work with routinely to get my personnel actions through the organizational obstacle course. Ronald is supposed to help me. Ronald is supposed to be objective. Instead, Ronald sets up obstacles when he personally does not like the person I am trying to hire, promote, pay more, etc. He especially does not like positive actions that I take for secretaries and support personnel, whom he considers "lowly" and interchangeable. They, of course, are neither. Sometimes I am forced to go to our attorney to force Ronald to move along the actions requested. If our own folks are against us, why would we ever need competitors, let alone enemies?

5. The Ansel model. Ansel retired. (Some Ansels resign.) After retiring (or resigning), Ansel discovers that he cannot live on the income he imagined he would have. So, he sues our organization, claiming that he had to resign because of a hostile work environment. Off we go to court. Of course, Ansel never wins, but he takes up a lot of my time.

6. The Madden model. Madden is a religious zealot, but the only religion that has any meaning for him is his own. At the same time, he is working in an organization that has ample representation from all three Abrahamic religions, as well as other religious persuasions, including atheists. Madden seems to get his jollies by pitting one religious group against another, distracting people from the work at hand. You see, Madden has few talents and would otherwise end up being counseled for poor performance. However, his machinations result in his being counseled for conduct issues instead, conduct issues of the type that would be difficult to use as a basis for firing him, so his manager's attention is diverted away from the real problem: his poor performance, general laziness (often skipping out early but in a way difficult to prove on paper), and lack of skills (which he has no interest in improving). Getting by with the minimal effort is his modus operandi. It takes nearly full-time effort by his managers to control him, motivate him, and keep his peers from killing each other over their religious differences. I have only a few Maddens. Thank God!

7. The Nigel model. Obsequious to the nth degree, Nigel follows me around like a puppy dog. He panders to what he thinks are my needs. I have none. He panders to what he thinks are my special interests. I have none. He fawns over those he thinks are my favorite people. I have none. What I want from him instead is awareness of his job and the availability of information about the specifics of his job and the people/programs he supervises when I need it. Instead, he slathers me with compliments and deprives me of statistics when I really need them, especially in public meetings. It takes much effort not to show my impatience with him. I don't always succeed.

There is a God-seed in these folks. There is. There is? There is!

And I am fallible. I am. I am.

So, where does this leave me? In great need of God's intervention in the workplace -- and, oh, blessed life, I get it and therefore survive to support the 99% of the diligent, loving employees who like coming to work every day, who not only enjoy and appreciate their workplace but also go out of their way to help me in supporting and empowering their colleagues. So, thinking about it, it ain't so bad after all!

With that thought, I am going to get some sleep. I hope all of you are already in bed! Wishing you all a great weekend, spent with fully normal people. However, if you meet any of the models above or other unique types, please remember that there is a God-seed in all people; there is, there is!