v25.7: Spectacular - 10

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

It is Hump Day!  That's right, for some of us, Wednesday indicates the hump in our work week.  We spend Monday and Tuesday climbing the hill then on Wednesday the climb starts to even out and the the walk becomes easier as we coast downhill to Thursday and Friday.  Of course this only means something to those who work a regular 40 hour week Monday - Friday.  For the rest of you, hats off, I don't think I could ever go back to shift work again.

-slurp-

I arrived at work earlier than usual today.  My goal is to write.  Of course I never get time to do that anymore because I have this bad habit of coming to work and working.  I need to write this stuff before I leave for work in the morning so I can focus; but if I do that I'm not here early and make a good impression to my boss who isn't in and won't be in for another couple hours.  Why do I bother?  So I can leave early.  You see, we have these card scanners that allow us to get into the building; since that stuff is logged there is no disputing when I arrived in the morning.  One could easily go and request that information and verify that I indeed showed up earlier than usual this morning therefore when I go to leave around 4 PM today, I can justify it.  Not that I need to justify it, but if things ever came under question, I could easily fight it.

-slurp-

It is easy to become petty when you're a manager.  You feel this need to nit pick at every little thing you can just to make it look like you're doing your job.  At the end of the day you feel like an ass and make a pact with yourself to never do that again; then the next day you rinse and repeat.  I like to think of myself as a good boss.  I don't try and nit pick, I try to be fair while at the same time ensuring that I hold the authority I need to get people to do the things I need them to do.  It is hard trying to manage two teams (which is sort of what I'm doing right now) but the experience is helping me to multi-task better and keep my management exposure fresh and sharp.  Some days it can be a handful to have to juggle the two responsibilities, but I'm learning.

-slurp-

The biggest hurdle I still need to overcome is the ability to hand-off.  I get assigned a bunch of things to do and immediately begin working on them without thinking.  My boss has told me a number of times that I need to learn to push things down the stack but I just can't seem to get my head around that.  I've been used to people giving ME things to do most of my life, it is hard to break the cycle and have stuff to give others.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, as luck would have I got caught up in work again and keep getting distracted with the musing.  I'm cutting it short here so I can focus on the job.  Take care all.

-slurp-

Cheers,
Al