boss' idiotic stunts

warning: if u’re expecting an extreme physical stunt like my boss bungee-jumping off a skyscraper or swimming with sharks, u’re in for a more idiotic stunt. (though…i don’t mind him getting lost and making life at the office more bearable!)

last week (monday, 28th february 2005), my boss forced the designer and me to stay back at the office to finish up whatever we had to do for the magazine. he could’ve had the decency to let us know beforehand, like around lunchtime. but no! he had to wait until it was about 6pm, then only tell us we “expected” to stay in until we finished the magazine. i was like…WTH…he was the bloody person who had not finished his part for the magazine and because of his delay, the designer and i were forced to stay back! *ugh*

so fine…i stayed back to do whatever i had to do. (which was basically to search online or call people for whatever extra info he needed for the articles i’d already finished and proofread.) great! so he gets to add in his “editor’s notes” bull**** and grammatically ruin the magazine’s content. notice the irony? he's the editor and he’s the one making grammatical errors!

at least he had the brains to order in pizza for us poor souls who had to stay back to work. so on we worked, worked and worked…until 11.40pm! it was obviously too late by then to take any train or bus back to my aunt’s house in pj, so he had to drop me off. the designer had to take a taxi, since he lives in cheras whereas the boss also lives in pj. good thing the designer’s taxi fare and our pizza dinner were paid for by the office. our only compensation for working overtime? getting the following working saturday off! (if u’re wondering, there’s no such thing as overtime pay at our office.)

i was pretty happy to get the following working saturday off, since that meant i'd be able to clean my room and go home earlier. surprise…surprise…boss pulled off another idiotic stunt. 2 days later, he emailed me with the following message. (he was on leave for 3 or 4 days but had to work from home. according to my colleagues, he took it at the worst time – when a major client was expecting us to get contracts with a few universities signed so they could get their projects going. this client was evaluating us based on amount of contracts signed, not how many university contacts we’d managed to get or anything else).

i quote, word for word, the email he sent:
“please make arrangements to cover X event for 1 1/2 hour to provide1) write up & pics of opening acts and funky people
2) collect any relevant name cards
you may come in later on monday by the exact same 1 1/2 hour, to have a gentle reminder that you are also expected to punctual before 9:00 on normal days.
* you may invite your friends to accompany you to X event at Z club on company’s press pass if you wish. they will get some premium gifts as well, i believe *
thanks & regards,
your boss”

……….

aaaaargh! i kid you not! that is exactly how selfish, stingy, unreasonable and idiotic my boss is! my initial reaction to that email was like…WTF??!! *!@%@$*$%#!%*#@%#@*%! as if my friends would even care to go for such event, just because of the free gifts?? and hello? my friends aren’t the type who like to go places like Z club!

luckily, i'd had a discussion with my colleagues on how to prepare myself should boss ever send me to X event. i quickly typed a reply, saying that i'd already made plans with my family and had personal stuff to settle. the emails went around back and forth, with him asking my colleague/partner to go > said colleague telling me he had a prior appointment and suggesting the designer go instead > me emailing back to relate what colleague said > boss calling colleague to get confirmation and emailing back that colleague’s appointment did not clash with X event – so my colleague/partner had to cover the event.

hallelujah! in the end, the designer and i did get our well-deserved day off after all!

note #1: i don’t normally result to screaming expletives unless seriously provoked, like in abovementioned situation. said screaming is also mostly done mentally and directed at the offensive person, and no one else.

note #2: i could be sued for libel/defamation/whatever things i mentioned. so please don’t go spreading the word around, k? this blog is my only source of expressing myself, besides bombarding my poor friends and family with my endless complaints. hehe…