April 09, 2007

You know what you are? You're a slacker!

I work in advertising so life here is fast. You have to be on your toes, your mind ready with fresh new ideas for those creatives and you gotta know your stuff. Everyone here asks my expertise, can we do this fabulous idea and still afford it? I work in print so the creatives look to me and pray that I make their vision a reality. There are 3 others in my department; Babra my boss, Kent and Sydney (Sydney is male but swings to the left). The boys and I are all Production Managers. I work on 2 accounts and special projects, Kent works on 2 accounts and Sydney works on 1 account. It's Monday morning and Babra calls a team meeting with only Sydney and I. Kent of course is running late this morning so why even have him part of this meeting. Meeting starts off with Babra saying that Kent cannot handle the workload he currently has so she has to shift some accounts around. In the end, Kent ends up with the easiest account that requires hardly any brain power. I end up with the 3 hardest accounts and Sydney ends up with 2 medium hard accounts. A week goes by and Babra calls another team meeting. Kent doesn't have to participate. She announces that she will be going on vacation for 2 weeks and needs us to fill in and help as much as we can. No problem!
First Monday of Babra's vacation both Kent and Sydney are late. It's 8:30am and they are still not in. 9am rolls around and Kent strides in and soon after Sydney rolls in. Here's the thing, Sydney and I are good friends. We go to lunch almost everyday and we get along pretty well. He doesn't bother to even call or send a message that he's running late. For some odd reason I have a feeling he's going to slack due to the fact that Babra is out and I'm his friend and he knows I'll cover for him. Wednesday comes, Kent comes in late and Sydney calls and says he's having "car trouble", right. Rolls in at 10 am, takes an hour lunch and leaves at 4pm. Not cool.
Friday comes, Kent comes in at 9am, Sydney calls and says he cannot believe he overslept and will be in as soon as possible. Sydney comes in at 10:45am, takes an hour and a half lunch and leaves at 4PM. Meanwhile, I'm doing my work, covering for Sydney because he's running late and covering for Babra. I lose it.
I'm driving home after a hell of a week and I'm pissed at the fact that these two clowns do not have the decency to pull their own weight. I decide that I have to say something to Sydney and basically call him out that he took advantage of our friendship and he thinks I won't say anything to Babra about his slackiness.
The crap hits the fan, we both yell at each other, he says that he's already put in his time at this place, which I forgot to mention. He's a temp and he's only been there for about 6 months so this whole thing of him already paid his dues is bull. I get so pissed off on him that I hang up on him. Now what I do I do? Should I tell Babra that this slacker has pissed me off and he slacked for the 2 weeks she was gone? Yes says half of my brain and the other half says no, not your problem. But it is my problem. I had to cover on his work because he slacked.
Monday rolls around and I request a meeting with Babra. My mother taught me to play it safe at work by just presenting the facts. Do not say anything that is your point of view or your feelings when it comes to issues with people, just present the facts. So I presented the facts, Babra thinks "slacker" and that Friday becomes Sydney's last day. Kent ends up quitting a month later and as we stand today, it's just me and Babra. I'm slammed with work, which gives you the answer of why I haven't written in my blog for ages, but I'd rather be slammed with work than to deal with slackers. I hate slackers.

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