Cafe Hitch-hike

2020-03-16

Go ahead and try

Could I be experiencing a fit of delusion when I see that others are taking on my roles and responsibilities, and asking me for help once they tried the task for themselves? They aren't running to me to show them the complete steps or processes, but are reviewing the notes I left them? I'm quite impressed!

Someone had to take on one of my tasks, and came to me for help when it was 90% complete. I was going to show how they could it, they had to get it done sooner than they thought and before we could meet. I didn't mind them asking me for help. I tried my best to be gracious, show them how I thought out the step that tripped them (a particular software was misbehaving, and I had to reinstall it), and not add to their timeline- and new task-related stress.

The person looked flustered at doing the task, but very willing to do it. This was one who was constantly telling me how to do my job with tips, tricks and new gadgets to try out, and tended to be critical of my work. I just hope they see that certain tasks are not as simple as adding water and stirring. I actually followed a lot of their suggestions, and lo and behold, the suggestions were never simple. I had to reverse-engineer shit to get things to work, but wow, I usually could get them to do so.

I hope others can see that a secret sauce often exists to make something work, or an extra step or workaround. A lot of this is online technology, and it never, ever works out of the damn box as it claims it will. No siree, the shit is complicated and often requires other steps you didn't know had to be made, and perhaps elements of problem-solving and creativity that are not included in the instructions.

The people who had an opinion of my work or didn't give it much regard are now getting tastes of my responsibilities. Now they are doing it and seeing how complicated some of it could get. I did most of this myself, and now they can experience it.

People have been a lot nicer to me in the building, and now I see why.

downwind | upstream