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.

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?

Le sigh. Yep, that's a lesson I learned the hard way at schools.

But vent here! It's What We Do.

OK, gotta make dinner, grade, and resume re-write. WOO.

Weather made me cancel another flying lesson today (yes, first world problems). And I needed to stay a little late at work to take care of some things, so it's just as well that I didn't have to run out the door to drive to the airport. Now I have a headache and feel generally low. But I expect it'll be better tomorrow.

Pix, I'm sorry about the perception problems. And I hope the newbies get up to speed about what's actually happening, soon.

Hmmm. Dinner might help with the headache. Maybe pizza.

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?

Well, yes. Yes we are. I'm sorry about the workplace dramas, like you need any more stress in your life. At least your own higher-ups are on-side. Hopefully it'll improve with time and they realise that you're not secretly bathing in the blood of middle schoolers as part of your daily beauty regimen. (It's actually a morale-building exercise.)

My entire department is just a snakepit of politics right now. Both inside the group and in terms of where we sit in the organizational structure.

I'm anticipating basically a hostile takeover by a department that we reported through but were independent of. They have little or no understanding of what we do or how challenging it is. (To be fair, I know little of what they do except that it involves leaving regularly by five and turning into a ghost town on Friday afternoons all summer.) It's not gonna be good.

And meanwhile the group itself is a freaking powder keg, with a lot of new and not very mature people stirring up trouble all over the place and man, something's going to blow soon. I'm able to stay above the fray more there, thank god, because my position right now is kind of a hybrid where I don't report to the head of the group, I report one level above that, and kind of control my own workflow.

But both of these things are coming to a head and jebus, it's gonna get ugly.

(And meantime, our contract with our largest client is getting ready to expire so I've been tapped to lead that whole effort with everyone in the freaking world wanting to throw themselves into it and the highest levels of firm leadership watching like hawks. I spend so much time managing the personalities I don't even know how I'm going to manage to actually do the work.)

This is a question specifically for msbelle, but is posed to anyone who feels any level of competency with selling things. (I feel no such competence, thus, the request)

Should a person like myself...okay, I...be in a position that requires putting a PLAN in place to sell most of my stuff...like in the event of a move...what are the best strategies?

This has been a huge challenge to me in the past and I just can't let it get me down anymore. Practicality demands turning stuff into cash!

By stuff, I mean books, vintage fine jewelry, vintage clothes, vintage decorative stuff, a Spin cycle, vintage postcards and travel slides, a few pieces of smallish furniture, and small appliances. The miscellaneous houseware stuff will go into a yard sale.

In the past, I have been completely intimidated by ebay, struck out on craigslist and have no idea which avenues are best for which type of item.

I need a game plan.

What has worked best for you? What would you avoid?

I'm going to be around until later this evening, but will be completely away from the computer Fri-Mon...working on the PLAN.

I would deeply, deeply appreciate email at profile addy with any specific suggestions.

Are you moving, bonny?

I may have to. It seems that my landlord is moving to sell the building...and is being very cagey about it.

I figure it is better to be prepared than get caught out.

I have lived here for 12 years and have ZERO desire to move. At the same time, back in the days when I DID move, it was a great opportunity for off-loading.

I'm not a collector, so don't have that much, but what I DO have, I want to make the most of.

msbelle doesn't post in Bitches, bonny.