A funny thing happened today at work. As you can imagine, my troubles with my supervisor continued today. I was doing quite well in not talking with her today, just doing my work when she asked if she could talk to me. We walked over to a quieter area on the floor and she sat down and asked me to have a seat. "I'm getting fired, I thought." This was only further enforced when she qualified her statements with "Now, I don't like doing this..."
"Here it comes, Kevin." Instinctually, I thought to defend myself in the most politically appropriate way that I've learned how in my days of customer service - through tact use of words.
My supervisor discussed that she had received "complaints" that I have been asking too many simple, unnecessary questions about areas of the job that do not pertain to what I do specifically. My supervisor indicated that I should not do that, and that my job was simple. I made sure to let her do the talking, and remain attentive and apparently receptive to what she had to say. All the while, I'm loading my bullets. My supervisor explained that I had been making too many mistakes, and while she thinks that I'm an intelligent person, "people who make too many mistakes won't be asked to come back next year." She asked me what I thought of scanning (where I was newly placed), and I told her that I was enjoying it because I was able to correct my mistakes before sending my work on to other people.
As a side note, I must mention that when I ask questions, I ask questions about particular incidents that defy standardized solutions. Anyone that I ask is quite willing to help me, and encourages me to ask questions "if ever I need help." I thank them graciously. One thing you must understand about my job is that there's always an exception to the rule, and another exception to the exception...Which leaves me with more questions.
You may ask, "Why don't you try to develop a sense of judgement so you can make those calls without having to ask 'too many questions'?" I've tried that. The answer that I've gotten? I should ask the supervisor about what I should do because I don't want to make a mistake. So instead of learning something, I ask the supervisor. I had once been told that "no question is too small, and it's great to ask questions," but today I was getting the impression that that's all just bullshit. My supervisor wants results, and she doesn't want to answer any questions about why I do the things that I do. Why even ask about why we do the things that we do? I've learned to ask these kinds of questions while I was working at the Home Depot in customer service.
At the Home Depot, there are several departments in the store that are managed by an individual department supervisor. Aside from the regulars like kitchens, hardware, lumber, etc. there are the operations departments like "receiving," and the department that I worked in, "special services." Quite literally, my days at special services were filled with paperwork, reports, and labels that were intended for returned special order products, and so on. The philosophy at Home Depot? Ask questions. Why ask questions? I'm glad you asked. Ask questions because an informed employee is a good employee. "Why fill out this form when doing this return? Who does it go to?" Asking questions like these allow me to do my job better, because I now have motivation to do the things that I do, and it's authentic.
So, Val, I ask too many "little, unnecessary questions." She believes that's inappropriate for our line of work. Let me sum it up:
After our talk, I was pretty upset because I was feeling like I wasn't doing a good job, and I was embarrased because my fellow co-workers all saw me being talked to by the supervisor. I don't agree with the aforementioned philosophy as a good workplace philosophy. What did I do about it? Good question. I sorta bumbled through my work, now unable to concentrate, until lunchtime. I finished up with the work that I was doing, shut down my computer (like we do at the end of the day) and informed the secretary that "something had come up, and that I wouldn't be in for the rest of today or tomorrow," and I left.
I didn't tell my supervisor I was leaving. Like I said, I wouldn't say goodbye to her when I left. Instead, I went and had lunch with my friends Aniceto and Nola, and we went grocery shopping afterward. With a luxurious two hours to spare before rehersal, Aniceto and I did dishes, put groceries away, and had enough time to warm-up our voices beforehand. Anyway that's my rant for the evening, thanks for reading.
