And I don't doubt that she's juggling multiple freelancer balls and completely forgets what you don't and do know. Never ascribe to your stupidity what other people's lapses explain.

She is juggling a LOT, but even so, I don't know if *she* remembers I didn't get any training. You know? If she thinks that she did give me training, then I look like a big ignorant ass, and if I try to say, hey, you didn't give me any training, then I look like I'm just making excuses.

I don't think you look either of those ways.

Low motivation morning.

Teppy, I agree with msbelle and Jesse. Who knows what other balls boss lady is juggling and a gentle reminder that added information is needed is a good thing. It isn't that YOU need the info, it is that ANYONE editing that paper/artile needs that info.

We have been making breakfast "muffins" Sunday nights for the last couple of weeks - tater tots smooshed in the bottom of a muffin pan, veggies - spinach, mushrooms, onions, red peppers, then egg and some cheese. So nom. And easy.

I would go with msbelle's suggestion.

I will also note that there is no shame in being ignorant of something you had no way of knowing.

I tell people all the time "I have no idea what that is." Did it like 8 times in a very remedial phone trying for fed ex shipping. Terms and acronyms I don't know. No self-consciousness about asking for information.

Sometimes I find it easier to talk out a lack of knowledge than in email -- tone of voice counts for a lot, but you also can stop the person the exact moment you find your knowledge of what they're talking about goes off the rails.

If she thinks that she did give me training, then I look like a big ignorant ass, and if I try to say, hey, you didn't give me any training, then I look like I'm just making excuses.

Nope. If she thinks she gave you training she needs to know she didn't. It's not on you to know what you have never been told, but it is on you to make clear that you have never been told. It's not making excuses to ask for resources necessary to your job.

Once, when I was about 11 years old, my dad told me to clean the garage. So I picked up a few things in the garage, and told him I was done. He then proceeded to read me the riot act -- and gave me a list of about a dozen things that I should have cleaned up, but I didn't. How could I have been so stupid to miss all that?

The thing is, our garage growing up was never clean. My dad was suddenly asking me to bring the garage to a state of cleanliness that it never was in before or since. I had no way of knowing that was what he wanted. He could have told me what to do before hand, but he didn't; he was setting me up so that he could have an excuse to humiliate me. This was his typical MO.

To this day, I hate being in situations where I don't know what's expected of me. I start to believe that people are deliberately setting me up for failure.

Damn, Tom. We had some seriously similar seriously badbadbad childhoods.

To this day, I hate being in situations where I don't know what's expected of me.

I don't venture outside my comfort zone for this very reason. I cannot abide "failing" in front of other people (even if "failing" means "hasn't roller-skated in 30 years and thought tonight was a good time to try it again despite being out of shape," which perhaps healthier people would not consider "failing" but would just consider "hey, it's 42-year-old on roller skates"!).