Workin' 9 to 5...sucks ass
My day thus far has sucked all kinds of ass.
I am a Property Manager for a 300,000 sq. ft. office building. There are approximately 1800 employees working for 12 different tenants on 16 floors. Normally, things go like clockwork, a maintenance problem here, a special request there and I am free to work on office things, like the 15 million dollar budget that's due by mid-September, maybe study a little, or surf the 'Net. But no, it won't be quiet and peaceful today. No, today the work Gods have conspired against me and decided that I would have a day from hell. And it's not even noon yet.
First, as I pull into the garage, I notice there are barricades blocking the ramps to the lowest level of the garage. I parked, and called my building engineer to find out what the deal is. Just as he answered, I noticed that I had wandered into about 6 inches of standing water about 3/4 of the way down the ramp. Yeah, that's not normal. Turns out, with all of the rain we've had lately, the washout has filled my drains full of crap, which has caused the lower level of my garage to become a lake. Great. I call our plumbing contractor and he thinks he might be able to possibly have someone available maybe around eleven. Maybe. Could be closer to two. Or tomorrow. Um, no. Unacceptable. I tell him he will have someone out here by noon.
Now, with soggy pant legs and squishy sandals, I head for the elevators. Which took an extraordinarily long time to come. Uh-huh. Um, what's up with that? Well, of the three elevators in the garage, two of them are out of service because we had a power surge from the storm last night. Ooookkkaaay...so I place a call to the elevator company and request immediate service (keep in mind, this is before I even reached in my office). Sure, they've got a tech in the area but aren't sure when he'll be off his current call, but they'll put my request next. Uh-huh. I call the elevator rep and tell Jimmy that I need someone within the hour. Jimmy's on it; he'll find me a tech by 9. Rock on, Jimmy.
I finally reach my office (after climbing four flights of stairs with wet feet) and boot up the computer to check emails. I see that I have 12 new messages, but the damn computer won't let me open them. It keeps giving me errors. Great. I call our IT department (which is a misnomer, it's one person, not a department, but anyway...) she tells me what to do, but it still isn't helping. Piece of crap (the computer, not the IT person, she's actually very nice.). Whatever. (Still no email, but at least I have the net. That helps.)
Waiting for me in the lobby is the concrete guy. He's here to give me a bid on replacing the sidewalk and circle drive in the front of the building. We go out front to take a look and so I can explain the scope of work we're looking for. We were outside for 40 minutes while he told me what I really wanted. He also didn't believe me when I told him that the area we were talking about was over the garage (which has suspension wires) and would need to be X-rayed before any work began. But he did believe it when my male engineer told him the exact thing. I freakin' hate that. Yes, I'm a female. No, I'm not an idiot. If I don't know what I'm talking about, I'll say so and defer to someone who does. Anyway, like I said, we were outside for 40 minutes. Did I mention it was raining?
After the concrete cretin left, I had a meeting with the roofing contractors. Up to the roof we went to check out some areas that are still leaking, even after we replaced the roof last fall. And, yeah, it's still raining, so now my wet pantlegs aren't as obvious, since the rest of me now looks like a drown rat.
This afternoon, I will have to fire one of my security officers. She works the midnight shift and was caught sleeping in her car at 6am this morning. If this had happened on any normal day, I would probably give her a write up and suggest at the very least that she buy a small alarm clock so she'd wake up at a decent hour, say no later than 5am.
The day is off to a perfect start, wouldn't you say? I'm sooo going to leave early today; that way I'll be long gone before the flood, famine and locusts hit.
I am a Property Manager for a 300,000 sq. ft. office building. There are approximately 1800 employees working for 12 different tenants on 16 floors. Normally, things go like clockwork, a maintenance problem here, a special request there and I am free to work on office things, like the 15 million dollar budget that's due by mid-September, maybe study a little, or surf the 'Net. But no, it won't be quiet and peaceful today. No, today the work Gods have conspired against me and decided that I would have a day from hell. And it's not even noon yet.
First, as I pull into the garage, I notice there are barricades blocking the ramps to the lowest level of the garage. I parked, and called my building engineer to find out what the deal is. Just as he answered, I noticed that I had wandered into about 6 inches of standing water about 3/4 of the way down the ramp. Yeah, that's not normal. Turns out, with all of the rain we've had lately, the washout has filled my drains full of crap, which has caused the lower level of my garage to become a lake. Great. I call our plumbing contractor and he thinks he might be able to possibly have someone available maybe around eleven. Maybe. Could be closer to two. Or tomorrow. Um, no. Unacceptable. I tell him he will have someone out here by noon.
Now, with soggy pant legs and squishy sandals, I head for the elevators. Which took an extraordinarily long time to come. Uh-huh. Um, what's up with that? Well, of the three elevators in the garage, two of them are out of service because we had a power surge from the storm last night. Ooookkkaaay...so I place a call to the elevator company and request immediate service (keep in mind, this is before I even reached in my office). Sure, they've got a tech in the area but aren't sure when he'll be off his current call, but they'll put my request next. Uh-huh. I call the elevator rep and tell Jimmy that I need someone within the hour. Jimmy's on it; he'll find me a tech by 9. Rock on, Jimmy.
I finally reach my office (after climbing four flights of stairs with wet feet) and boot up the computer to check emails. I see that I have 12 new messages, but the damn computer won't let me open them. It keeps giving me errors. Great. I call our IT department (which is a misnomer, it's one person, not a department, but anyway...) she tells me what to do, but it still isn't helping. Piece of crap (the computer, not the IT person, she's actually very nice.). Whatever. (Still no email, but at least I have the net. That helps.)
Waiting for me in the lobby is the concrete guy. He's here to give me a bid on replacing the sidewalk and circle drive in the front of the building. We go out front to take a look and so I can explain the scope of work we're looking for. We were outside for 40 minutes while he told me what I really wanted. He also didn't believe me when I told him that the area we were talking about was over the garage (which has suspension wires) and would need to be X-rayed before any work began. But he did believe it when my male engineer told him the exact thing. I freakin' hate that. Yes, I'm a female. No, I'm not an idiot. If I don't know what I'm talking about, I'll say so and defer to someone who does. Anyway, like I said, we were outside for 40 minutes. Did I mention it was raining?
After the concrete cretin left, I had a meeting with the roofing contractors. Up to the roof we went to check out some areas that are still leaking, even after we replaced the roof last fall. And, yeah, it's still raining, so now my wet pantlegs aren't as obvious, since the rest of me now looks like a drown rat.
This afternoon, I will have to fire one of my security officers. She works the midnight shift and was caught sleeping in her car at 6am this morning. If this had happened on any normal day, I would probably give her a write up and suggest at the very least that she buy a small alarm clock so she'd wake up at a decent hour, say no later than 5am.
The day is off to a perfect start, wouldn't you say? I'm sooo going to leave early today; that way I'll be long gone before the flood, famine and locusts hit.
posted by kcterrilynn at 9:30 AM
5 Comments:
oh the classic hussle at the work place... gotta love it. Gotta think though, keeps you on your toes
Job stress isn’t it great!
I drives me crazy when men act like you don't know what you are talking about. I sold appliances to builders and their homeowners at one time. I had a few that would ask me how old I was and then ask me technical questions. I would show them the appliances and they would find an older male associate and ask him the same questions that he asked me. It didn't matter that the older male associate had only been selling appliances for two weeks. Obviously he knew more then a female selling them for five years! Guys, try not to be complete asses. We may be women, but we know what we are talking about! Sorry this is one of my pet peeves. I had to vent. I know the day is almost over, but I hope your day got better!
lilith, your story reminded me of when I used to be a GM for a local hardware chain. A guy asked me about a plumbing issue and I told him what he would need to fix the problem and he just stood there looking at me. I asked him if he'd rather talk to someone with a penis. I made the sale. LOL.
And my day did get marginally better, thanks.
Sheesh!! I hope you did get to leave work early today. I'm tired after just reading your story! ;)
It sounds like you can use a nice cocktail or two. :)
Please make sure the concrete cretin is NEVER in the running to end the drought.
You know a LOT more plumbing than me! Hot is on the left, correct?
I'll find you a drink that tastes like Hawaiian Punch that will knock you over after a suck ass day. Don't even think about driving afterwards.
I also couldn't do HR work. Nope, not gonna try that. Now something nice in cooking. Oh Lilith, about that stove...
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