The Bet

Aug. 3rd, 2003 09:35 am
klsiegel320: (Default)
[personal profile] klsiegel320
Forgot to mention one of the most amusing side incidents from hell week: The Bet.

Last Friday, going into hell week, the project manager made a bet with me: "Five dollars says N tries to hijack this deliverable away from you." I laughed, and said, "Him and what army?"

And at first, I have to say, everything went just fine. The PM looked at me inquiringly Wednesday morning when we returned with the printed copies, and I shook my head. "No dice; everything was just fine."

Thursday, after the incident previously mentioned, I pulled a five out of my wallet, walked over to the PM's desk, tossed it in front of him on the keyboard, and said, "You win" as I turned and walked back to my desk. He roared, put the five in his wallet - then looked a little sheepish and tried to give it back. I wouldn't let him, of course - a bet's a bet, and until I saw N's behavior on Thursday, I'd've said the odds were firmly in my favor.

So Friday, he insisted on taking me to lunch. Sigh...

It was a good lunch; he was looking for perspective on what had happened, and how to handle the various personalities going forward. Now, he had had information that I didn't: he had worked with N before also, but in different kinds of situations. And in every one of those situations, this behavior had surfaced.

I, on the other hand, had only worked with him in one-on-one situations, essentially: he was providing a document or documents as part of a larger package, but he was only involved in his documents, and didn't have any real participation with the other deliverables. Now, it was like pulling teeth to get him to release his documents for review; he was always 'still tweaking a few things.'

But I had never seen him get possessive and domineering, trash-talk other people's work, and act like the only important opinion in the world was his own. Never.

Which, of course, is why I was confident enough of my odds to take the bet in the first place, and so shocked later at behavior I would never have expected.

Date: 2003-08-03 04:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cjsherwood.livejournal.com
As this was posted at 9:35, I'm guessing you didn't make the 9 AM at All Saints... oops!

*hugs*

Can you tell I miss you?

Yes...

Date: 2003-08-05 02:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] klsiegel.livejournal.com
I suspect it was the fact that I sat up for another hour or two reading that really took care of my making it to church...

...and you are perfectly free to miss me...unfortunately, you're going to be free to miss me for a while longer...

Bets with bosses

Date: 2003-08-04 08:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] readinginbed.livejournal.com
Reminds me of when I worked at a radio station when I was first married and bet my boss (originally from Wisconsin) that the Orangemen would beat the Gophers in the first round of men's NCAA basketball; the loser would pick up Dunkin Donuts for the station. Guess who was carrying donut boxes the next morning -- me! But Scott insisted on repaying me because he knew how little money I made and I let him, because he was right; we were pretty poor in those days.

Re: Bets with bosses

Date: 2003-08-05 02:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] klsiegel.livejournal.com
Yeah, well, five bucks isn't going to break me, and he won it, fairly enough. Granted, he had information I didn't have. On the other hand, so does the guy who reading the morning line (the odds on racehorses) vs. the guy who just reads the program and picks them by name, or me when I pick them because they're pretty.

Besides, Bill's good folks. He's a nervous Nelly, which I find difficult to deal with around deliveries, and it's clear to me that it's his inability to let go that is the real reason we have to be onsite. But in general, he's good folks.
kls

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