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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Ata's Inner Child

This post will be entirely petty, whingey and generally immature. Turn away now if you have no stomach for such behaviour.

I have been working at a Counselling Office for the last week, and have another week-and-a-half to go. It is an office I worked at for nearly six months last year. Last year, I did administration for the Outreach program (referring country clients to external counsellors). This year, I am filling in for the Office Manager while he is on holiday, and assisting the Group Administration Assistant with the Outreach paperwork as the Outreach girl is also on leave. The Group Admin person I worked with last year - with whom I got along very well and still keep in occasional contact with - no longer works there. With me so far? The current Group Admin person has been there since August, and has not had to do Outreach Admin for two-and-a-half months. You must forgive the long explanation, as I feel it contributes to my present annoyance. The Group Admin person shall, from here forward, be referred to as GAP.

Generally speaking, I like people. Mostly. Most of the time. I'm not bothered by the majority of human behaviour. I'm polite and cheerful and get along with nearly everyone. GAP is one of the few I Just Don't Like.

Instantly upon meeting her, I was struck by a sense of complete apathy toward her, followed by a sense of vague annoyance that seemed to have no real cause. Oh well, I thought, I will not have to have much to do with her, as I am in the Front Office and she is not. I can be a good workmate.

This is where I was wrong. You see, it has been almost a year since I had to do Outreach support. Hence, GAP has been asked to re-train me on the Procedures. The Procedures are simple, and there are detailed notes. But she was quite determined to sit down and go through the Procedures with me. So, sounding only slightly clipped, I agreed. We went through them. There are some very minor changes to last year. As in, don't post this particular form to the counsellor. That was on Friday. I was not in Monday.

Yesterday, GAP said to me just before lunch, "Oh, I just need to go through the ones you did last week. There were a few problems." I would much prefer a note saying "fix this and this" than a session of 'going through' paperwork.

"Really?" said I, attempting to sound friendly and not at all aggressive. "What did I do?"

"Oh, just minor things really. Just a few. We'll go through it after lunch."

"Oh, okay," say I, still hoping to get it over with, "what was the problem?"

"Oh, nothing really" (this was when I felt like hitting her with something) "just some dates."

"Which dates?" persisted I.

"Oh, you have to check the opening and closing dates."

The light dawned in my mind. I hadn't checked the dates.

"But it's okay," she continued, "we'll go through them after lunch."

In an effort to avoid steam actually coming out my ears, I went to lunch. On returning, we 'went through' the problems. There was exactly one. The dates I hadn't checked. Then there was her telling me I had opened a family case incorrectly (put the whole family on it instead of just part), although I had checked with the coordinator whether she wanted the whole family or just part of the family on the referral. Today, incidentally, I was informed that they do want the whole family referred after all. Grrr. Anyway, I promised to have the step-by-step guidelines in front of me whilst doing the paperwork (like that's going to make a fricking difference to whether I make mistakes - I make mistakes because I forget that I haven't done something! A list is only helpful if you remember where you're up to!), and moved on.

This morning - freshly determined to like the woman despite myself - I was, unfortunately, late to work. That was not a problem. The problem came when GAP checked over some Outreach paperwork I had just done and informed me that there were "just a few problems. Just minor ones."

What was it this time? I didn't change the font for the referral letters from Times New Roman to Arial (according to GAP, Arial is the default font for letters). I printed the suburb name on the address in small caps instead of all caps. I put the state and postcode under the suburb instead of on the same line. Then she cheerfully asserted that she would supervise me making the necessary photocopies of the letters. This, I think, was when I began humming - a kind of displacement activity while I struggled to regain control of myself. I copied the letters and began putting them in envelopes. She asked to check the photocopied paperwork before I enveloped it - and, as luck would have it, I had made a stress-induced mistake and was about to post the copy we are supposed to keep on file as well as the one that was supposed to go.

I am sure it is not her fault that I find her so irritating. Even the little pissy stuff like correcting me on fonts (!!!!!) wouldn't bother me so much if it came from someone else. NOTHING would bother me if it were someone else. Possibly not even the fact that she smokes a cigarette first thing in the morning, and then sits at my desk until I get in (she comes in earlier than I do), leaving the rank scent of fresh cigarette in the air. I hate the fact that I feel so psychoticly (is that a word?) irritated with EVERYTHING she does and says! She is helpful, and often does the setting up I'm supposed to do before I get in. She doesn't get stroppy over who goes to lunch when (she covers the front desk when I'm not there, so we go to lunch alternately). She is cheerful and doesn't whinge about other staff members, and never says anything bitchy or nasty. She even tries to soften the blow when telling me to use a different font, for goodness sake, by blaming it on the computer.

And what makes me most annoyed, I think, is that my little breakdown comes down to my need to feel clever. GAP doesn't follow everything quickly, and I've had to sometimes explain things a couple of times before she gets it. That, combined with the fact that I've done her job as well as the Outreach work for longer than she has, makes me feel like I shouldn't need to be supervised. So then when she decides to correct me on little stuff, I feel like forcing her to see that I know better (state and postcode SHOULD go under suburb, dammit! Since when is Arial the default font, and what's wrong with Times anyway? It doesn't matter whether the font in the letter matches the font on the envelope, woman!!) rather than just letting it roll off. It's that sort of 'I don't need to be told what to do!' attitude, and knowing that I'm capable of more complex work than data entry and processing paperwork doesn't help me shake it off. I like being good at what I do. I don't like some woman telling me I don't know what I'm doing.

Sigh. So I should see it as an opportunity for personal growth, really, shouldn't I. Learning to set my desire for status aside in favour of harmonious working relationships. I've got a week and a half to learn to like this - this - ARGH! - woman.

posted by Ata @ 6:03 pm

3 Comments:

At 6:34 pm, myo said…

Maybe she feels threatened by you, ata, and that's why she's going on and on about these petty issues.
Or maybe she's just anally retentive.

Sometimes i find myself working with someone I Just Don't Like.
I think it's easier when one has a Reason for the dislike.

Quote:
"state and postcode SHOULD go under suburb, dammit!"
-ata

Errrr
*dons anal retentiveness hat*
You wouldn't be talking about the address on the envelope? No surely not. Because the post office guidelines say:
"The last line should contain the place name or post office of delivery, State or Territory abbreviation and postcode."
At 9:27 pm, Ata said…

Heheh. I was referring to the address at the top of the letter, but it's supposed to be laid out the same way. The computer automatically inserts the address, though, and sometimes puts it in the state-under-suburb format. I don't usually correct it because, well, there's so many other petty corrections that have to be done in those letters (honestly, why can't they just put the correct spelling in the letter template? But that's another rant altogether) that I don't bother with the address. Do you know, I actually have clear memories of being taught in typing classes how to lay out addresses - so I know how it should go, I just don't like to be told to do it differently!

The last couple of days have been better, though - I apologised for being snappy, and I still don't particularly like her but I don't have an irrational impulse to slap her every time she suggests/reminds me to do something. In fact, I not only let her give me a task to fill in some spare time, I also checked whether she wanted the phone numbers written on the left or right of the names in the table.

I even changed the letters to Arial today, AND arranged the address right. Aren't I a team player?
At 8:14 pm, myo said…

Sounds like you could make a full team all by yourself.

And what has happened to the carrot?