Cafe Hitch-hike

2023-04-10

If I can keep a bad situation from getting terrible

I drew the shortest straw again for another building task, but this different than what I've normally done. Since we lost so many people and I'm one of the very few remaining with a combination of experience, being here for an relatively long time, and being not too shabby at near-impossible or difficult projects, I volunteered to be interim/ substitute/ not-quite middle pubah. Noooo, not an interim Grand Pubah*, but someone who will work under them and on a temporary basis. My building is going to have 2 less people after 2 middle pubahs retire in the fall, along with the dozen or so other people we haven't been able to replace.

We've been having an awful time hiring new people because of multiple levels of fuckery. I'm in charge of hiring some people and my work group has done every. possible. thing. they can (and, they've been remarkably cooperative and cohesive), but forces above us are really blocking us. I can't blame anyone for not wanting to be here now that I've seen what's going on at the levels above me. If it weren't for my retraining, I'd find my way out of here sooner than later. More people have quit these past 6 months, and the ones who remain are quite demoralized.

And then, the story about the guy who got thrown out of a window by his colleagues from the third floor comes to me. Better to stay with the chaos I know than the type I don't know, and stick with what I know and can handle.

I will became substitute middle pubah because they simply didn't have enough bodies to fill the position. All the people who were more popular or with bigger egos moved on. I had a strong feeling this was coming and also realized my standing (see the 'not too shabby' reference). I had no ambition for either middle pubah position, yet I figured I better be a team player and take the middle road between 'yes!' and 'hellllll no!' I offered my services as temp middle pubah, and they took it. I'm sure it will take at least a year to fill these positions, so I'll try my best to hold up the fort until the replacements come in.

Now, I'm reading up on policies, procedures, and human resources documents. Two and a half years of tangles from 2 colleagues introduced me to the merde that underlings can toss. I'm even going so far to read about how to have difficult conversations and to deal with personnel issues. The building had some very serious ones in the past 5 years and some even before that. Hope for the best, but don't be too surprised by the worse, so getting some knowledge is my approach. It's not as if these things never happened in this wonderful building! If I follow the rules to the letter and things still implode, at least I can say I followed instructions. If I can keep a bad situation from getting terrible, then I can say I did what I could.

I decided to take a break from my retraining in the summer. I'll be out of town for a good part of June and would miss too much class. I really want to get the retraining done, but I could use a break.

*My reference in jest to high-level administrators, borrowed from the head of the Loyal Order of the Water Buffaloes on The Flintstones)

downwind | upstream