Under no circumstances
Posted 07-30-2012 at 10:45 PM by Xyon
An interesting email hit my many inboxes today while working; well, actually several interesting, fifteen mundane, and three spam. But one in particular caught my eye, from our installations manager.
I currently work, in case you don't know, for my dad's solar PV panel installation company - so that kind of installation. He also manages stock and warehouses, and at any given moment he's probably the busiest person in or out of the office. We get on well.
"From: Mike
To: You
Subject: List from the boss
Message:
Hey bud latest from your dad I'm dumping your way
... Snip ...
Under no circumstances
Mike ****
BSolar Installation Manager
"
Hmm. The lines I snipped out were the usual instructions to "do this" in addition to the billion or so other things I'm supposed to do on a daily basis. But the message didn't really fill me with confidence about my empowerment, and "le boss" is on holiday, so it was a kind of odd thing to read. In fact I think the number of times I've been told NOT to do anything has been, er, nil.
I rang. Mike answered. A five minute discussion ensues about what the last sentence could possibly be about. Neither of us know. Nobody seems to.
I'm by this point wondering if I should do *anything* just in case when I get a text message from le boss (from Malta) which reads:
"Sent mike email with jobs in. Didn't have time to finish. Don't forget to <48th mundane task of the day involving the server for a website we barely use>."
Oh yay. Under no circumstances forget to be useless.
My job has such purpose.
I currently work, in case you don't know, for my dad's solar PV panel installation company - so that kind of installation. He also manages stock and warehouses, and at any given moment he's probably the busiest person in or out of the office. We get on well.
"From: Mike
To: You
Subject: List from the boss
Message:
Hey bud latest from your dad I'm dumping your way
... Snip ...
Under no circumstances
Mike ****
BSolar Installation Manager
"
Hmm. The lines I snipped out were the usual instructions to "do this" in addition to the billion or so other things I'm supposed to do on a daily basis. But the message didn't really fill me with confidence about my empowerment, and "le boss" is on holiday, so it was a kind of odd thing to read. In fact I think the number of times I've been told NOT to do anything has been, er, nil.
I rang. Mike answered. A five minute discussion ensues about what the last sentence could possibly be about. Neither of us know. Nobody seems to.
I'm by this point wondering if I should do *anything* just in case when I get a text message from le boss (from Malta) which reads:
"Sent mike email with jobs in. Didn't have time to finish. Don't forget to <48th mundane task of the day involving the server for a website we barely use>."
Oh yay. Under no circumstances forget to be useless.
My job has such purpose.
Total Comments 4
Comments
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Lab rats have more meaningful careers than I do.Posted 07-30-2012 at 10:57 PM by Scav 
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I kind of feel your pain. Or rather, I used to be able to feel your pain. The job I have now is under a contract. The management is forbidden (regardless of what they think) to give me extra responsibilities without compensation without renegotiation.
That being said, there are things I do "for free" just to keep their butts out of the fire. I don't mind them getting a bit toasty every now and then, but I don't want anybody to get burned... Except for our old maint/mods manager, he's left the whole maintenance dept out on a limb in the past. I keep thinking that Ka will get him one of these days.Posted 07-30-2012 at 11:08 PM by PhantomCruiser
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When I was younger, I assumed that when bosses went to 'boss-school', that they were taught there how to assume that people knew what they were thinking, and could naturally fill in any blanks left by the boss. Now of course, I realize that it just occurs naturally when you 'boss'. It clearly is related to the uncanny ability to walk around the corner at the precise moment that the worker who's been diligently, hard at work all day, stops to take a breather and ask a co-worker a question.
It's an effect, I think, of 'Bossness' itself.
Posted 07-30-2012 at 11:31 PM by Aeadar 
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I just had an email asking me if I'd fixed something when the original email asked 'is it possible to [insert list of bizzare permission requirements]'.
So now I have to have a look at how to do this stuff.... off to the test lab!Posted 07-31-2012 at 10:58 AM by garyw
