20:36 - 16.06.05
Dis - spirit
About 15 minutes into a Brook Benton CD this morning I realized that there was frantic movement at the end of my workstation. The one supervisor I respect was standing there waving her arms like a windmill. She was laughing as I pulled off my headphones to talk. I mean seriously, if you had Mr Benton singing directly in to your ears would you pay attention to anything or anyone else? Nuh uh. At that point, I heard someone from the other side of the partition ask the supervisor what was wrong. Still chuckling, she said she had just been trying to get my attention without scaring me to death, given that I was oblivious with my headphones on. There was some muttering on the other side as the two of us just exchanged greetings for the day. She wanted to talk to the one supervisor who works in that group of four in that station. She hadn't arrived yet, so the laughing supervisor was trying to get some help from the others who had arrived. My headphones went back on. About a half hour later she came back and we chatted briefly about the events we have each sponsored for tomorrow.
I didn't come up for air again until about 10:15 when I again sensed a presence tapping on the desk. It was the department head from Texas. She must have thought a lot about our conversation a couple of day earlier. It also appeared that she may have read the weekly reports I had been submitting to my supervisor ever since I began on this project. She said the company really wanted to ensure that the taxonomy they had developed captured all the necessary aspects of the business and reflected them accurately and that they also incorporated the requirement of Canadian law as well as US statutes. She explained in more detail what was going on at head office and what timelines were driving her. One of the frustrations she expressed was that there was a fair amount of adjustments that needed to be made based on the information I have gleaned as I've analyzed their Canadian data. In just over a month all of that has to be assessed, adaptd and incorporated into their larger picture, so that she can present it to her supervisor and then to their big boss. She said he was fair, but would be quite upset if somewhere down the line after a plan had been set in motion this large chunk of new requirements suddenly appeared. She also said that they still had to develop the same framework for their international endeavours and were finding that quite intimidating, because they didn't have as much background in overseas law. I told her about the assignment I was working on exactly one year ago with the one European company. There was one VP there who had done extensive work helping the UN develop international protocols for this industry who was very knowledgeable and approachable too. Passed on the business card to her for follow up.
She seemed pleased with the conversation and noted several times that the expert I had met the first week I worked at this company would be travelling back to Canada in the summer to work with me on my findings. She also noted several times that it was hard for that person to travel for personal reasons. I almost volunteered to do the travelling instead - never been to Texas, y'all - but the loud supervisor was standing a few feet away and there wasn't any of the usual clacking going on the other side of the partition either. Apparently what was being said was causing something of a stir with my co-workers. Remember I was minding my own business when the head of the department came and spoke with me. I've been very careful not to approach her because of the politics swirling about the place. As a lowly consultant I know what my "place" is perceived to be. I've had enough trouble from some of the staff even when I just go in and work straight through the day.
She left just after I had given her the business card and the headphones went back on. Not 15 minutes later, there was more tapping on my desk. I'm never going to make any headway at this rate. My supervisor left Calgary today to attend her high school reunion in the US. Standing there was the loud superviosr. Through gritted teeth she stated that she was very unhappy with what she had heard of my conversation with the head of our department. This is the person who threatened "bad things" would happen to us when I was sitting near her desk and the young coworker and I both looked up when she shouted "the cookies are here" while she was on the phone, because we were supposed to respect other people's privacy in the office. Uh huh. She was so angry that she was shaking, and she was clutching the shawl she had on, convulsively kneading it with her fists. Oi. She stated that the Canadian records program was way ahead of the US one and we "do things differently here". I just noted that our conversation had mostly been about incorporating the changes necessary to be in compliance with Canadian law and also to upgrade the taxonomy to fill in the gaps that exist with respect to certain business units/disciplines. Wasn't that what she wanted? She just repeated that it wasn't going to be done the way it was in the US. As long as the head office chooses compliance with Canadian statutes where our processes are mandated I don't see why she would buck them. There are a thousand different ways one can name or handle a single piece of paper. None of them are either right or wrong. In the 20 or so cmpanys I've consulted to they've all had their own workflows based on the goals and priorities of their business plans. The loud supervisor went away angry, saying we would discuss this further - I think meaning after the two visitors are safely out of the country. Oi again. My supervisor just introduced me to the records specialist on Tuesday then walked away asking me to explain what I had been doing and what I had found. She took no issue with anything that I had said then, which was the same material discussed today with additional information requested after the specialist had had time to digest it. My supervisor isn't due back until the 23rd. Wonder if I can hide until then.
Decided to go visit a new to me bookstore at lunch just as emotional therapy. I had thought it was all technical material but it turns out to be 3 floors of just about anything one could want. Ordered Greenwitch since I hadn't been able to find it any place out. They have a copy at one of their other stores and will have it brought in as soon as possible. Yes. On the way out there were all sorts of magazines and brochures for upcoming literary and cultural events this summer. Jazz festival up next and right on cue two buskers started playing outside on the promenade. Man were they good. I also found a brochure for a science fiction/fantasy writers conference coming up on the Canada/Independence day weekend. My youngest really wants to go and I think it would be a great experience for him. He enjoys both the writing and the animating.
Back at work things just didn't get better. This time it was because of the one organizer's passive obstruction when it came to the event I had agred to sponsor. I spoke with the oner of the dance studio and he is upset with the lack of enrollment. Not much I can do about that. At the end of the day an email came around saying two of the events had to be cancelled due to weather but it appeared that none of the staff affected were offered the choice of choosing another event tomorrow. They were instructed to show up at work with a promise of another playday "sometime in the future". Whatever. I couldn't have done much differntly because I had ben away sick with pneumonia through the enrollment period. I wouldn't have even known what she had done if I hadn't come in to work that one disasterous half day before I was well enough to cope. I did do as much as I could over the phone from home but she managed to stall the real program being explainded until the last afternoon for enrollment. Just one of those days. Don't know what to do about it either. By the end of the day I just felt really dispirited. I guess that might have been the intent on some people's parts. Don't know about that either.
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