Guru Rant: I am not the guru

Has this ever happened to you:

You volunteer for a special project at work that is not really in your field of expertise per se, but you have some knowledge of what they need in that area. Let's say it's something like, taking pictures at a conference. Your wonderful boss decides to have you not only take photos of events for your firm, but tells a rep from another agency that you wouldnt mind sharing the pictures with them in addition to getting a few more shots that they requested.

Going in you know its going to get bad. And it does.

After the conference, you take the time out of your busy schedule and burn the photos to a CD. You even categorize them and place them in separate folders because you want to represent your firm in the most positive light.

Next thing you know, the point of contact at the other firm is asking you all types of questions. He wants to know if you can print out a contact sheet, make prints of select photos, and even has the nerve to ask you to burn him another CD for his co-worker!!!

To top it off, now that he "knows" you, you have become the one and only contact about photography in the office, even though you've explained over and over that you are not a photographer. He starts dropping by your desk asking for little favors, asking you questions to which you have no idea how to answer, and he refuses to go to anyone else.

You have become the GURU. What do you do?

Beware the Skater

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

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...