Work Rant (crossposted from Tumblr)

[zen_monk]

Quite possibly the most unsettling thing anyone working in an office-like environment are these words, “We’d like to have a meeting with you” by your supervisor. 

Because the worst is always assumed D:

 I mean, it’s not like I’ve never had one. It’s usually an expected evaluation of what you’ve done for a year. The ones I sometimes get when it’s not one of those things are that “You got a complaint” and that “This individual, whom you’ve helped as a tutor, felt you were rude and we want to discuss it with you.” 

I knew about this meeting, because it was supposed to be one on Wednesday, but I checked my email too late cuz I just got that notice on that day, and it was cancelled anyway. So in a way I’ve prepared for what may be to come, and have rallied up a defense to it. I’ve been courteous to students in the computer lab. I help with the computer problems as best as I could. I clean up and try not to linger on stuff like reading news articles. 

(Oh god, what if that’s it. The tutor people got their own space behind a desk and so I’ve kinda been hanging around there a lot where there’s a computer. I don’t wanna be reprimanded for something dumb like that, but I also don’t want to be reprimanded for being rude to someone that I don’t remember being rude to.) 

Like, I’m direct at helping with computer stuff. I tell them to click here and here, and give short explanation of why they should do that: “Go to File -> save as, because we’re confirming the location on where you want to save your file. This is how you use print station, so click here and here and here. You gotta open the pdf file in a pdf program, because otherwise you can’t really print the pdf file when it’s open in a browser. Cuz it doesn’t work correctly here.” 

But for everyone of whom I’ve given prompt service, I somehow always manage to be less than that to maybe one person. And I wouldn’t know it. Well, maybe I do, because I always think about how I’ve assisted someone. It’s like, have I spoken too directly? Did I use language that made them uncomfortable? Talked in a way that seemed demeaning or unhelpful? Because most of the time, I would be around telling people to put their computer tags on top of the computer or help out with the sound or how to print. Any other in-depth stuff doesn’t really happen. 

And I’ve always felt that being a bit direct in technical problems would be what people would need, because they’re students and need to use their time surfing the net

unless the situation warrents for it. 

Well, if the discussion comes to this, I’ll just have to stand up a bit for myself. That I felt that if it’s really my personality or how I talk to students, then it’s just part of the package of who I am as a worker and that like always I’ll keep in mind in how I talk to people. That in the times of how I’ve worked in the lab, it would be as effectively as possible, that I do the tasks more or less on time, and that I really do try to be as helpful as I could be, and that I’ll take responsibility for my actions without excusing myself. I know enough on how I work to know that I can be helpful and can get the job done, and that I’ll take whatever criticism come at me in order to improve myself, because I probably need that feedback to better myself anyway. 

But then I’m afraid of clamming up at the meeting and say something super dumb. 

Comments

[novel_machinist]

[hugs] I'm sure everything will go fine. I remember that pit of the stomach feeling though.