I believe the appropriate speech is: "The girl is too awesome for words. Let's eat cake."

Precisely what I was going to advise.

All Pix~ma.

Best wishes to Seska and The Girl!

Pix, I hope things ease up for you and you feel better. You know what we need to do? We need to run away to the spa for the day, and then ... maybe join the circus.

All Happy Wishes to Seska and The Girl!

Relief and rescue~ma to Pix.

Pix, I hope things ease up for you and you feel better. You know what we need to do? We need to run away to the spa for the day, and then ... maybe join the circus.

I think this is an excellent plan.

So the meeting went okay. Turns out that apparently some people in my department feel like I'm trying to usurp the current department chair, which stems from the fact that the current department chair has been pushing responsibilities onto me because she's really ready to not have the job anymore. Apparently also at least one of the MS teachers feels like I think MS is less important than upper school (which, for the record, is not remotely how I feel). The US and MS directors were both really supportive of me and said that they know I've been in an awkward situation given that the current chair has been pushing things off on me, and they also said that they know that I don't feel that way about MS at all--it's about perception. They were really just giving me information so I could do some PR. I'm just...disappointed. And bummed. Because I thought I had really positive relationships with everyone in my department and had hoped that they would feel comfortable with me.

Anyway, it's probably only 1 or 2 people and I will feel better tomorrow, but it's sad to feel like the politics have already started.

Pretty pysanky, erin. I have one I got in Prague, years ago.

All Happy Wishes to Seska and The Girl!

This!!

Ah, so I've been feeling futless today. I fed the goats, came home and took a 3 hr nap, took a shower, ate, and have been catching up on the board since. My phone rang, I thought about not answering, it was a 504 number (NOLA), thought some more about not answering, answered. So now I have a phone interview scheduled next Tuesday for a job in New Orleans! Yay! I'm not sure I want the job, but it's good to at least have an interview.

Yay, smonster!

Because I thought I had really positive relationships with everyone in my department and had hoped that they would feel comfortable with me.

At my job, nobody says anything negative to the BigBoss because no one likes or trusts her. They just complain behind her back. At least these folks trust you not to fire them for speaking up, and are comfortable enough with you to express their concerns. So, I dunno. Better than facing a sea of angry silent faces like BigBoss has to?

Yay, smonster!!

Pix, I am sorry you feel so crappy. At least the meeting was decent; office politics, they do suck. Is the old dept. chair staying? Could you ask him/her to make it clear she s/he is damned tired of being chair, and is happy to have to take over the headaches?

As far as MS, pfft. Someone's always going to think you don't focus on their thing enough, and that's because people always think their thing is the most important, because to them, it is. Can't please everybody.

WOO HOO smonster! Go girl go!

They just complain behind her back. At least these folks trust you not to fire them for speaking up, and are comfortable enough with you to express their concerns.

But see, they did complain behind my back. They went to my boss and complained to her rather than expressing their concerns to me. They also told her that they didn't feel comfortable with her using any specifics or their names. So yeah. That's what's bothering me the most--the perception that I'm controlling or a BigBad of some sort that they can't talk to.

The funny thing is that because my dept is so small and I know everyone really well, it was pretty easy to figure out that it's the two newbies who have this perception--everyone else knows me better than that. So yeah. Damage control. But I'm glad I know. I'll step more carefully in the future.

Is the old dept. chair staying? Could you ask him/her to make it clear she s/he is damned tired of being chair, and is happy to have to take over the headaches?

Yes and yes. I had a great talk with her afterwards, and she was extremely supportive and told me that she will make a point of saying something to this effect at our next dept meeting on Friday.

As far as MS, pfft. Someone's always going to think you don't focus on their thing enough, and that's because people always think their thing is the most important, because to them, it is. Can't please everybody.

True, but this is a case where I need to gain some trust to be successful as a chair. Since I'm pretty sure it's the newbies, I can focus my "You're important! I trust you!" charm on them and smooth things over. It will happen in time; they just need to get to know me better. I know that I have a strong personality, and people are often intimidated by me when they first meet me because (as an old colleague once said) I am "terrifyingly competent." They read that as me thinking I'm better than them, when really I've found it's more a reflection of their own fears and insecurities. My being confident and good at my job doesn't equal judging other people, but not everyone groks that. I also know that I have built strong relationships with the people in my department who have been here awhile, and once the newbies get to know me, they will realize that their fears are unfounded. It's just a bummer of a way to start when I haven't even taken the position yet.

The other huge thing I learned is that I can't trust everyone I thought I could trust, so I'll be a lot more careful about talking about any of this at work. I'll vent here instead. Aren't you all lucky?

Anyway, enough about me. Thanks for listening.