Pseudotherapy

Today at work I pitched a fit. Bigtime. Fortunately, I was behind closed doors when I threw a hissy, but the startled looks when I came out were a sure sign that at least some of my tirade was overheard. I think it’s safe to say my co-workers are now viewing me in a rather different light.

I’m not a yeller. I dislike confrontations, and am a pacifist by nature. I had enough of screaming fights in Marriage v.1.o1. In fact, this was the first time my co-workers had seen me angry to any degree. And let me tell you, I was pissed. I hollered up one side of that office and down the other. And my boss was hollering right along with me. It must’ve sounded like we were having one hell of a fight, but we were actually in total agreement.

It had to do with Very Important Documents that were supposed to be overnighted to me in time for clients coming in at 10:00. Very Important Clients who had driven a very long way to approve said documents, and were only in town this one day. The delivery arrived, but some of the documents were not included in the shipment. I discovered this at T minus 15 and counting. A frantic flurry of phone calls and emails ensued, with the Other Office insisting they had sent everything, and me arguing that they most certainly had not. I cannot tell you how many times I heard or read the phrase, “We sent you everything we had.” On and on, back and forth. Meanwhile, the Very Important Clients were growing impatient and our firm was looking like the Three Stooges Run A Company. Eventually reaching their Maximum Exasperation Capacity, the clients left for an early, extended lunch.

That’s when I hit my boss’s office and started the verbal bitch-slapping of the Other Office. I mean, seriously? How can you go to the trouble of preparing an overnight package without verifying the contents?!?! Especially when a multimillion-dollar deal is hanging in the balance!? As soon as she realized what had happened, my boss surpassed me on the Richter scale. Oh yeah, the volume in that office shot way past 11. She was furious. I have to say, though, I was highly impressed with how quickly she turned off the anger when a call came though from the New York office. I excused myself and went for a short walk outside.

Ten minutes in the breezy sunshine brought my blood pressure back down. I returned to my office to find a voicemail from the Other Office: SURPRISE! They’d found the missing section of documents still at their office. They would scan them and email them to me ASAP. That news, while not surprising, just made me aggravated all over again. Had they even looked for the documents at all before insisting they’d been sent? If they’d bothered to locate them the first time I called, I would’ve had them in hand before the clients even arrived. Aaaggghhh!!! The frustration!

The papers arrived, got printed and approved. The Very Important Clients departed, smiling and stuffed with chocolates and Italian coffee. I locked the documents in the File Room and celebrated with a big glass of cold organic apple juice. But that, my friends, is another story.

[tags]Workplace, anger, frustration, rants[/tags]

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 9:47 pm and is filed under Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.