Well, then you should have told me that...in "WEnglish"...(rant)

In the course of my day-to-day work, one of my job requirements is to "find people" to "do stuff." That was one of my tasks today. I had a list of specs for...an item...and went to three, no four, different places in person only to find out that only one place could do it like "we" (in the royal sense) wanted it done. This is typical.

"We" like things done in particular ways. So, I spoke to "we" about our options, etc. and "we" said "let's have ten of them done," so I went ahead and got the ball rolling to "have ten of them done." This requires getting a load of printed materials together, shipping them to another location over an hour away where a special machine exists to do what "we" want done, and then shipping them back. A pretty tall order. Then I called "we" back and let "we" know what the total price was and "we" said...and I quote..."Ooooh, weeell, that gives us an option to consider, now doesn't it?"

"Wha...?"

"An...option? You told me to have ten of them done."

(I start wondering at this point about the semantics of construing the meaning of "done" to equate to the meaning of "made." "We" like to argue semantics when these situations crop up. Was I taking it too far? I don't think so. I mean, we need these, right? Yes, yes we do. So..."Have ten of them done." = "Have ten of them made." Right? Like a direct order type of thingy. At least I thought so at the time. Huh.)

I obviously misinterpreted "Let's have ten of them done." Because I, like, had ten of them "done."

And now we are just considering? "We" are probably REconsidering because "we" are cheap. "We" want it done for less than a dollar an item (when no one will even do it for less than $10 in the cheapest possible way) is what "we" want and "we" don't want to be the ones to tell anyone..."We" want to send our sys admin/tech writer/office minion to do it because "we" don't mind if she makes an ass of herself. Because, you know, "we" could have done this little fact-finding mission over the phone. So, scurry off little office babe and clean up after ourselves! Which is exactly what I did.

Again.

Gah. I really hate looking like a moron. Or a muppet. Or worse, BOTH.

So, in honor of this little escapade, I am dedicating this little song to the work days, or parts of work days, that really stink. And I'm not even gonna tell you who/whose it is.

Scat

P.S. If you haven't checked out Chris at Notes From the Trenches, you really should...her Aug 10th/11th entries I can sooooo identify with!