Disclaimer:
We, the Gurus at ...OrHardlyWorking, are in no way advocating overachieving or shining at your job by any means! However, we do believe that you should do your own job. You don't even have to do it well, but do not pass your load onto your fellow cubies. Also, please note that we used the term, "he" in this post for the sake of convenience. You know we hate extra work, and writing "he/she" is an inconvenience. That does not mean we don't respect women. We do!
That is all.
You already hate your job. Coming to work every day is a drag. If you're a follower of this blog then we know you'll wholeheartedly agree that any additional aggravation is totally unwanted. What do we consider more aggravation? Many things can be filed under this category, but this post will focus on SKATERS.
What's is a skater, you ask? Pull up a chair young padawan, and make yourself comfortable while the OHW Gurus school you.
See, a skater is a master at passing his work off to you, while making the big boss think he is the biggest contributor to the "mission". All the while, everyone else in the trenches knows that the skater is skating. He’s really clever at what he does too. He knows all the right things to say to the manager to cover up what he really is. A perfect example would be:
Skater is tasked with producing a list of distributors for the boss to consider reaching out to for marketing purposes. You nor anyone else knows this.
One day at lunch, you are sitting with your co-workers shooting the breeze and eating, when the skater casually mentions that he is looking for some information on a particular distributor. Between bites, you say that you had a whole list of distributors that he could take a look at. However, you warn the skater that you made the list a good while back and that you would have to hunt it down.
The skater acts very grateful, and tells you that he would be happy to have it when you find it.
Fast forward an hour. You’re at your desk hitting the keyboard home row with the latest Tae Kwon Do moves when you notice the skater signaling for your attention. You look up, take one earpiece out your ear (iPod defense against the Loud Talker) and make the “What do you want” face. Skater says, “I told Jim (your boss) that you had a distributor list we could use, and he said he is very excited to see it.”
At this point, you are dumbfounded. Once you digest everything the skater said you respond, “Wait a minute. I told you I had to look for it. That list is like from two jobs ago.” Skater replies, “I know, so I guess you’d better start hunting.”
That’s it. The buck has officially been passed. See how smooth the skater is? If it had not been the skater's responsibility, he would not have mentioned it to your boss. Understand?
BEWARE, and WATCH YOUR BACK
We, the Gurus at ...OrHardlyWorking, are in no way advocating overachieving or shining at your job by any means! However, we do believe that you should do your own job. You don't even have to do it well, but do not pass your load onto your fellow cubies. Also, please note that we used the term, "he" in this post for the sake of convenience. You know we hate extra work, and writing "he/she" is an inconvenience. That does not mean we don't respect women. We do!
That is all.
You already hate your job. Coming to work every day is a drag. If you're a follower of this blog then we know you'll wholeheartedly agree that any additional aggravation is totally unwanted. What do we consider more aggravation? Many things can be filed under this category, but this post will focus on SKATERS.
What's is a skater, you ask? Pull up a chair young padawan, and make yourself comfortable while the OHW Gurus school you.
See, a skater is a master at passing his work off to you, while making the big boss think he is the biggest contributor to the "mission". All the while, everyone else in the trenches knows that the skater is skating. He’s really clever at what he does too. He knows all the right things to say to the manager to cover up what he really is. A perfect example would be:
Skater is tasked with producing a list of distributors for the boss to consider reaching out to for marketing purposes. You nor anyone else knows this.
One day at lunch, you are sitting with your co-workers shooting the breeze and eating, when the skater casually mentions that he is looking for some information on a particular distributor. Between bites, you say that you had a whole list of distributors that he could take a look at. However, you warn the skater that you made the list a good while back and that you would have to hunt it down.
The skater acts very grateful, and tells you that he would be happy to have it when you find it.
Fast forward an hour. You’re at your desk hitting the keyboard home row with the latest Tae Kwon Do moves when you notice the skater signaling for your attention. You look up, take one earpiece out your ear (iPod defense against the Loud Talker) and make the “What do you want” face. Skater says, “I told Jim (your boss) that you had a distributor list we could use, and he said he is very excited to see it.”
At this point, you are dumbfounded. Once you digest everything the skater said you respond, “Wait a minute. I told you I had to look for it. That list is like from two jobs ago.” Skater replies, “I know, so I guess you’d better start hunting.”
That’s it. The buck has officially been passed. See how smooth the skater is? If it had not been the skater's responsibility, he would not have mentioned it to your boss. Understand?
BEWARE, and WATCH YOUR BACK
With all that said, do not fret young scholar, for all is not lost. You can fix this one. Here's how:
When the boss and the skater are together, nonchalantly mention the list. You can say something like, "Hey Jim, Skater mentioned that you would be looking for a list of distributors from me. But as I told him, I have to search for it and may not even be able to find it at all. Is there a time you need it by?"
Boom! You're out of the fire and back in the saddle.
Now you can go back to HardlyWorking...
2 comments:
Ooooh skaters burn my biscuits!
Now you guys know I have a million "life of a temp" stories and I've come across more than enough of them. I had to learn the hard way to document EVERYTHING because if not it will turn into a my word vs your word game and no one wants to play that game especially when your paycheck is involved.
Also whenever something was dumped on my desk I always talk to the person in charge and asked questions and sometimes it would get to the point of them telling me that it wasn't my assignment to handle in the first place and give it back to said skater. Check mate!
great advice. you're da bess (no drake)
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