I'm sipping my usual hazelnut life raft this morning and putting off the Wednesday Number Crunch Session. I've got other things to ponder this morning, namely, interoffice communication.
Now, they say that everyone communicates differently. There are the Mass Emailers, who enjoy sending email updates about anything and everything. Some of them aren't even work related. Some of them have subject lines like "Give This Puppy a Home!" and then I have to open the email and download a huge file of puppy pictures and feel like an asshole because I can't adopt the puppy. Mass Emailers (MEs) feel an urge to "get the word out." They are human fire alarms. Perhaps they were cheerleaders in a past life. Similar to MEs are the Serial CCers. I work with such a person who cc's me on every single email they send out. It doesn't matter if it has one word in it ("Ok.") or if it's relevent but as long as everyone's kept in the loop, they don't have to worry about doing their job because everyone else should be on top of it.
The point is, I could go on and on about the different types of Dilbert / Office Space / The Office communicators and people I deal with on a daily basis (ask about the Cinco de Mayo celebration we had on Monday) but I can't. I wanted to share the latest encounter: The Interoffice Caller (IC). The IC is potentially the most toxic and detrimental of all, especially if you're like me and have a phone from 1985 and you're struggling to figure out how to send calls straight to voicemail. The IC sits just a mere 12 feet or so away and knows my extension, and others', by heart. The IC calls to discuss important projects. The IC will call you when you're on a conference call and he or she can clearly hear that you're on the phone, yet they call anyway (sometimes two or three times in a row!) and proceed to leave no voicemail. Hell, the IC called just to chat about my weekend this past Monday. The IC called after they emailed me and, since I didn't respond within 30 seconds or less, they called just to ask if I received the email. That's all.
It's getting to be painful. Sometimes I'll turn my phone volume down super low and pretend that I am in deep thought and I can get away with ignoring the call that way. Or I can be passive aggressive about the whole thing and do an annoyed sigh when they ring and act all distracted. But that's not really my style. I suppose I could start calling THEM every 10 minutes or so and see if that works, but what if they like it?
Someone suggested I just shout over towards their desk, "I'm not here!" when they call. That might just be goofy enough to work.
Now, they say that everyone communicates differently. There are the Mass Emailers, who enjoy sending email updates about anything and everything. Some of them aren't even work related. Some of them have subject lines like "Give This Puppy a Home!" and then I have to open the email and download a huge file of puppy pictures and feel like an asshole because I can't adopt the puppy. Mass Emailers (MEs) feel an urge to "get the word out." They are human fire alarms. Perhaps they were cheerleaders in a past life. Similar to MEs are the Serial CCers. I work with such a person who cc's me on every single email they send out. It doesn't matter if it has one word in it ("Ok.") or if it's relevent but as long as everyone's kept in the loop, they don't have to worry about doing their job because everyone else should be on top of it.
The point is, I could go on and on about the different types of Dilbert / Office Space / The Office communicators and people I deal with on a daily basis (ask about the Cinco de Mayo celebration we had on Monday) but I can't. I wanted to share the latest encounter: The Interoffice Caller (IC). The IC is potentially the most toxic and detrimental of all, especially if you're like me and have a phone from 1985 and you're struggling to figure out how to send calls straight to voicemail. The IC sits just a mere 12 feet or so away and knows my extension, and others', by heart. The IC calls to discuss important projects. The IC will call you when you're on a conference call and he or she can clearly hear that you're on the phone, yet they call anyway (sometimes two or three times in a row!) and proceed to leave no voicemail. Hell, the IC called just to chat about my weekend this past Monday. The IC called after they emailed me and, since I didn't respond within 30 seconds or less, they called just to ask if I received the email. That's all.
It's getting to be painful. Sometimes I'll turn my phone volume down super low and pretend that I am in deep thought and I can get away with ignoring the call that way. Or I can be passive aggressive about the whole thing and do an annoyed sigh when they ring and act all distracted. But that's not really my style. I suppose I could start calling THEM every 10 minutes or so and see if that works, but what if they like it?
Someone suggested I just shout over towards their desk, "I'm not here!" when they call. That might just be goofy enough to work.
1 comment:
We have an "announcer" at my office...someone who comes over the intercom to make announcements that maybe 2 people in the office need to hear. I work in an office that maybe takes 35 steps to walk from one end to the other.
We also have the "person life talker", a woman who has a tough family life and lets anyone within normal voice distance know just how hard she's working to make ends meet in hopes of sympathy and/or donations. I'm serious, she is not above asking for donations. This woman protested the results of a Halloween Costume contest when she didn't win the $100 gift card prize. Literally, protested.
Hope you're doing well.
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