The (T)ale of the (T)rolley

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. Each post will be associated with a letter of the alphabet with the theme ‘Today, at work…’.

**********

Today, at work, The Boss rushed into the main office and asked us “What happened to the trolley in the pantry? Who took it?”

This is the woman who schedules meetings and forgets about them.

This is the woman who makes a decision and when we minions carry it out, changes her mind causing us to scurry around rectifying things like headless chickens.

This is also the woman who can’t remember what the organisation general email address was (even though she’s the longest serving staff in the small organisation and was likely the one who had it set up) and was not aware that a spreadsheet can have multiple tabs.

I digress, back to the story about the trolley.

She’s obsessed about that trolley. Or maybe, possessive of it. Who knows really. It’s used for ferrying around heavy objects and is normally kept in the pantry/ store. The pantry/ store is frequently unlocked during office hours as instructed by The Boss. I know this because one day I locked the pantry and returned the key to the main office and she comes to my cubical and tells me that it’s not necessary to lock the pantry during office hours because the staff will be going in and out. So, I’ve never locked it since. Oh, and the pantry/ store is accessible to everyone traversing the hallway. Even the folks from the neighbouring office.

So, since she likes to know where the trolley is at all times and most of the time it’s in the pantry/ store, shouldn’t she insist that the pantry/ store is locked since any tom, dick and harry may sneak in and steal her beloved trolley?

Also, this is not the first time she’s asked about the whereabouts of the trolley. Even when we inform her we’re taking the trolley to ferry stuff, 15 minutes later when she’s in the pantry and it’s gone, she’ll ask “WHERE’S THE TROLLEY?? WHERE’S THE TROLLEY??”

What strange/ unique/ funny idiosyncrasy does your boss have?

The (I)nterview

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. Each post will be associated with a letter of the alphabet with the theme ‘Today, at work…’.

**********

Today, at work, The Interviewee brought her mother to her job interview. Sigh.

At first, we thought they were lost because we’d expected only one person but no, it was The Interviewee. And her mother.

We also thought that her mother would leave shortly after but nope, she made herself comfortable in the waiting area.

While The Interviewee was in with The Boss, The Interviewee’s mother “interviewed” us, her daughter’s potential workmates. Sigh again.

The Mother walked around the office, commented on how busy we looked and asked if we had to work late. “Depends,” my colleague replied. I was hiding behind my PC trying to avoid eye contact.

We also had new chairs being delivered that day and when the delivery guys brought the chairs into the office, The Mother immediately went to one of the new chairs, sat down, adjusted the chair height and made herself comfortable! She even remarked that it wasn’t quite comfortable and maybe we should’ve chosen another design! I made sure to mark the chair she’d sat on so that I wouldn’t be the unlucky recipient later.

By then I was sincerely hoping that her daughter did badly in the interview and that we’d never be workmates. And why was the interview taking so long? Not a good sign.

When The Interviewee finally left with her mother, we breathed a sigh of relief. Later we learnt that The Interviewee didn’t even schedule the interview, it was her mother. Also, The Interviewee wasn’t the one who sent in her resume for the position. Yes, it was her mother. Surprising that The Mother wasn’t in the interview with her daughter.

Yup, strangest interview ever. And thank goodness, The Interviewee didn’t become The Workmate.

 What is your strange interview-related story?

(H)appy Events

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. Each post will be associated with a letter of the alphabet with the theme ‘Today, at work…’.

**********

Today, at work, we had a meeting about “happy” events.

First, some context.

During her exit interview, an ex-colleague said that one of her reasons for leaving was because the office was not a happy place.

Naturally, The Boss took offence and called us in for a meeting. During the meeting, she asked us if we also thought the office was not a happy place. I looked at my colleagues and saw that none of us wanted to be the first to answer that question, there was no correct answer. So, we sat there in silence.

Thankfully, The Boss, in her obliviousness, declared that we would have monthly “happy” events so that no one would ever be able to declare that the office was not a happy place. Each of us (except for her) would come up with an activity for all of us to do that would contribute to the increase of happiness in the office.

The first “happy” event? Bowling.

Which of course didn’t happen because on said date, our workload exploded and we postponed the “happy” event and never found the time to re-schedule. Thank goodness.

What was the weirdest work initiative at your workplace?