The number they left me to call is a different number than what I was finding when I looked them up, unfortunately.

It's not an urgent thing, just something I meant to take care of this morning. It can wait.

The department director just swung by to give me a hard time for applying for a position in another department and it took me a minute or two to catch on that that is what he was doing because I forgot I had done that. Embarrassing. But it turns out that he started in that office as a temp a million years ago so that ended up being a nice chat.

It is definitely time for more caffeine.

OK, informal meeting with the other department tomorrow afternoon. I'm getting my hair cut at lunch time, so I should be looking good, at least.

I woke up and we had no power in my apartment. I seriously thought about going into work, but then the power came back. Now I have electricity and internets.

Work etiquette question: my boss was out last week, and the person who covered for her was CRAP at answering my questions (in that he just...didn't). So this morning I've gotten 4 emails from my boss along the lines of "X thing should have been Y," or "You returned this file here when it should have been returned there," etc. All of these things are questions I directly asked the person covering for my boss, and he just didn't answer them, even when I sent a second email.

Does it make me look like I'm just trying to make excuses for my own incompetence if I say "I would have made X thing Y but when I asked Back-Up Person, he did not reply, so I used my best judgement"? And/or does it look like I'm trying to get Back-Up Person in trouble?

I'm just pissed because these things could have been avoided if Back-Up Person had bothered to answer my emails, most of which just required a simple reply of "No, make X into Y." I wasn't asking for a dissertation.

Something like "Of course. I wasn't able to get direction on these last week so I'll fix them now. "

Steph, I think it is important that your boss knows what happened. Either Back-Up Person is not a team player and so is a poor choice to provide back-up for your boss, or he is vastly too busy and was unable to provide back-up. Either way, if Boss doesn't know lines of communication were not functioning, then she can't choose a better back-up next time. There has to be a way to frame it that makes it more informative and less whiny excuse-making.

ETA: Brenda FTW.

Something like "Of course. I wasn't able to get direction on these last week so I'll fix them now. "

That works, because she knows Back-Up Person was my only point of contact. Thanks!

(A leftover problem is that any articles I edited last week fall under Back-Up Person's purview until publication, so I'm STILL chasing an answer that he is Just. Not. Providing., and I am getting pissed as hell. I'm going to end up doing the thing that I think is correct, but if I get shit for it, I'm going to shank someone.)

If I think there's any chance that I'll get dinged for something that I did under the direction--or lack thereof after looking for direction--I will document that in the case notes. "As instructed by X, I did Y to the customer's computer" or "I tried to reach X but was unable to, so I did Y." The X's are supposed to be available to the techs, and I have no problem noting when I am unable to reach them.

You could also go with, "Is this the correct contact information for X because I was not able to reach him with questions while you were away."