Frustrated

As I mentioned recently, most everyone here at work is walking on egg shells because two of our top guys were fired, presumably at our client's request. This doesn't happen very often and it was big enough to be covered in the business section of the morning paper. (It's always a "feel good" to start the day by reading that your job may be in jeopardy.)

Now I'm not freaking out, but I am aware that "now is the time for all good workers to come to the aid of their agency." Those of us who are lower on the totem pole have to work harder and smarter to undo the damage to our client relationship done by our Big Bosses. It's just common sense. We're all doing that.

Except her. The coworker I've mentioned who cries in the office. Except she's stopped that, at least around me. She's developed a new trick -- sleeping at her desk. She thinks it's funny, too. I asked her if she ever sent out the project we worked on together and she said with a giggle, "No, I fell asleep."

She's tired all the time because since her divorce went through, she's been dating like crazy. Good for her, I say! She was with one man exclusively for 20 years (and he wasn't even very nice to her) so if she's curious about what else is out there, I think she should go for it.

This isn't a moral judgment on my part, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect her to still do her job. It was easier for her to get sympathy for not doing her work when she was going through a divorce. "I was up all night doing a guy young enough to be my son," while certainly an interesting reason, is not as compelling.

Some of our teammates have expressed nervousness about her performance. It's important that, now especially, we behave as though there's zero tolerance for errors in our work, and she's dropping the ball. I said I would try to explain this to her (even though it should be obvious) because I don't want this issue to escalate to our boss. If layoffs come, and they are a fact of life in this business, I don't want her to be vulnerable. I don't think Miss Tears would take being let go very well.

This morning I tried to get through to her. I'm not sure I did. I told her that obviously we all need to step it up, especially since our client relationship is fragile right now, what with the firing of "Jim" and "Tom." Her response, "Jim and Tom?" I felt like yelling, "What? Did you sleep through that big meeting in the conference room? Did you not read about them in frigging newspaper, you wretched nitwit!" But I held my tongue.

Sometimes it's hard being a team player. Especially when I think of the women who are pregnant and nauseous or the parents who were up all night with sick kids or the coworkers with sick relatives who manage to work an 8 hour+ day and meet their deadlines and even somehow REMAIN AWAKE!

Ah, thank you, dear blog. After venting to you, I feel better.