Today at work . . .

Showed up on time today. Not an hour early. It is going to be a long day. After lunch we have a meeting with the boss, which I usually manage to get out of because I just honestly see no need for me to be there when R can deliver the information and it doesn’t take two people to speak about one thing. To be honest, I prefer being streamlined and effective. In my opinion it is more economical. So far, no problems with it. Although sometimes R “forgets” to tell the boss this or that. It’s not a big deal. I can always text the boss if R forgets something really important. Or he can text him. But I always have it blocked off in my schedule “just in case” and there are also some things I have to do in preparation for the meeting. So, we usually do the prepping around 11 a.m., have lunch, then usually the boss arrives sometime after 1pm. We also have two client meetings later today. I don’t think either of them are ones we want to take on. I’m pretty sure it’s a waste of time. I told R that if he’d provided more info during the phone call when the appointment was arranged, we wouldn’t be wasting their time or ours. But of course, we disagree on most things.

Over the past 5+ years, we’ve had so many arguments over things at work because he does things his way and I do mine a more effective, concise, and logical way. Of course I’m biased to my own opinion, but I’ve proven time and again that my way is often (not always) a better way. He argues because he has a problem with the fact that I’m a woman with ideas. On a rare occasion, he implements my ideas or information and on a rarer occasion, he has a good idea.

I know it sounds like I don’t like or respect him, but that is an earned opinion. It has slowly dawned on me over the past five years that he doesn’t really have good judgement in a lot of areas. I always used to ask his opinion, take his advice, and believe him when he told me my ideas were bad ideas, (he literally said, “you think your ideas are great ideas, but they’re not! You haven’t had a great idea yet!” ) but yet, our previous boss loved my ideas, implemented them, grew the company, gave me frequent bonuses, and both R and I got raises. So, it has taken me a long time to realize that he’s wrong about me. I have to remember that under our old boss I was the first one to get hired and when he applied, he got rejected three times and I basically convinced the old boss to hire him.

I’m not saying R is stupid or anything at all like that. But he has a different way of working. He is singleminded, which in some cases is necessary and extremely good. But he’s also closed minded and is unable to deviated from a path that’s been set out. He cannot bear to discuss new ideas and in any way change from what is. I’ve learned this about him. And it is okay. So, I allow him to work his way, but I insist he allows me to work MY way.

So, even with all this friction between us 85% of the time, somehow we still manage to get things done. This difference in work patterns and thinking patterns is why I just don’t even bother attending the meetings with the boss. He can do it. We have two bosses. One is an idea person and the one that usually meets with us is more of a slow methodical thinker and is closer in thinking patterns to R than to me. That’s fine.

But also, I think R is a bit of a …I don’t know. Let me just say that when I end up talking to clients, I have to frequently inform them that I’m the OTHER manager, because they somehow think that R is the only manager.

In other news: here’s hoping I win the lottery tonight so I can quit my job!