I call this blog Cindy's Daily Ramblings, because sometimes I tend to ramble on and on, without saying anything. Or, at least that is what it sounds like to me. So for this assignment in my writing class, I am to create a blog related to my major, which is.......Public Administration!!! So I am going to blog about my job at a University that shall remain nameless. Because I may say something that I don't want the people that I am talking about to know that I am talking about them, you know?
So in my job at this University, I am a director of a business office. I direct the work flow and the activities of seven staff members. We provide all of the business services for the faculty and staff in our college. We are a very busy office and there is not any time to waste. I have a really good staff and I just hired a new staff member and she started yesterday. I am really excited to be fully staffed once again. We will see how long it lasts.
Anyway, today was a day, not unlike most other days. I did a pretty good job of not getting irritated by anyone. (Unusual) That is, until about 4:50 pm. Almost made it! The cause of my irritation? Well, the facilities director. We had a conversation this morning regarding my new staff member and how she needed a private room to pump milk. She had a baby recently and is nursing. He was supposed to find a suitable private space for her to nurse. So at the end of the day I emailed (we will call him Jake) Jake. I asked Jake if he found a nursing room. Jake replied to my email "I didn't copy you on the email, why is it your concern?" Humm, I think, are you brain dead? He provided me with the email that he had sent out to several other people saying that there was a room on the second floor, but that department's business manager said that they had someone using the room, she supposed that they could give out another key, but keep in mind that this is just a temporary solution. And then he had noted that he had a conversation with another person who we will call Joyce. Joyce told him that this is a problem for each department to handle and that it should be only escalated to the college level if the department could not solve it. I am thinking, am I not in the SAME department as you Joyce and you Jake? So needless to say, I replied to Jake "Duh, she is my employee, that's why I am concerned. Forget it then, I will take care of it, and I will let her use my office." Then Jake replied to me "Are you in a huff?" Well, yeah I am in a huff. This is the kind of stupid stuff I have to deal with on a daily basis that wastes my time.
The continuing dilemma is we could get a lot more work done and be more efficient and effective if things were simple. We have to get a dozen people involved in a single decision, when there really is no reason to. I should have just taken care of the issue myself in the first place, and told my new staff member that she could use my office at a designated time every day. Then I would not have got irritated at the end of the day. Such is life at the University today, September 27. Tomorrow will be another day.
