Not since high school

[Pizza]

So things at the Nuke plant have been good. I just spend two weeks up there, and have it almost wrapped up. Great, right? Well, not since high school have I wanted to punch someone in the mouth. Until today.

It is way too much go to into here, but they have, essentially, a bully at the plant. This guy got his job because his father in law is "someone" there. I have observed that if many of the people at the plant know I am working for him, they stonewall me. Well, now I understand why.

I won't go into it all, but he came after me in an email exchange today - and copied a LOT of people, where he accused me of all sorts of unprofessional and improper behavior. I started to write a blistering, unprofessional email - then stopped.

(I truly wish I could print what was said to me - but I cannot.)

I wrote this:

Mr S-----:



I have done my best to keep you informed. I have done my best to bring this project to a successful conclusion and to adapt to your ever changing demands and short tempered personality.


My efforts have resulted in failure.


I am asking my management to remove me from this project in the interest of my health.


Good luck in all you attempt.

I have had to delete the two emails he sent me -because I get so angry when I read them. Management has not responded to my request. They really can't grant it, there is no one else to send, we have no nuclear qualified people who can go. (We have one guy, but he is a manager and can't be gone for 3-6 weeks to wrap the project up). So, I must go.

It will be an interesting week, when I DO go back, week after next.

So how was YOUR day?

 

[Pizza]

QUESTION: How did I do on that email? This is corporate-level stuff - what was I to do?

THanks, all.

 

[AirDancer]

You did quite the honorable - and Christian - thing where the email was concerned.

You could very easily have gone off on him. Instead, you took a measured and reasoned route in addressing the crux of the situation, and even wished him well.

And since you have no other choice but to return to that job site, you will remain in my prayers. In the meanwhile, Psalm 70 is of great comfort.

 

[Pizza]

Thanks. And I think I'll print that verse out and carry it with me.

 

[AirDancer]

I worked with a bully before. That particular Psalm was posted on my desk.

 

[jasonc]

lol, chokes, leave little evidence.

 

[WIP]

I work in the technical services group at my company. I served for a couple years as a service technician then about 15 years as an electrical designer for field modifications and rebuilds, and now as a project application engineer where I develop proposals for field modifications and rebuilds. One thing that I always try to keep in mind when dealing with customers is that they can say whatever they want about our products, our company, our company practices, etc. but they go over the line when they begin to attack me as a person and/or my character.

I remember one time when I found myself in a situation where we had an unhappy customer. The problem was that they had changed the character of the products we were contracted to work with but they were trying desperately to pass the problem on to us. We deal with that a lot and we go on the presumption that our customers are right. For the most part I think this is one main reason we retain so much customer loyalty. At any rate, I got brought into this situation late to help find a solution for the problems we (we and our customer) were struggling with and by then our customer was getting very heated up as it was not going well. One morning while we were sitting in one of their daily meetings, which we felt were distracting us from working on the problem, this new guy walks in with his 3-piece suit and begins to accuse myself and my colleagues with "milking the job" among other things. Well, this was too far in my opinion and I couldn't stand for it.

Paraphrasing, I told him, "I flew down into this hot hole (this was in San Antonio, TX in july) on a last-minute notice. My wife had to throw clothes in the wash for me to take along and they are still wet in my hotel room as I haven't had the time to take care of them. We are here to help you resolve problems created because you changed the character of the product without our foreknowledge and now refuse to at least partner with us on finding a solution but instead insist on pointing your fingers of blame. We (our company) have enjoyed a relationship for many years and you know that we will never leave you stranded. And now you accuse us of milking the job and intentionally dragging our feet? I can tell you with complete sincerity that there is absolutely nobody in this room that wants to get out of here more than us. If you'd like, I can pack up my wet clothes, catch the nearest flight, and be out of here by the end of this day and when I get back I will ask my manager to send a replacement. The choice is yours.

He backed talked rather quickly and didn't say another word. We eventually did find a solution that worked requiring rather expensive specialized teflon plating on a sheet metal part.

Another time I heard about one of our senior technicians who was visiting a customer because they were struggling with machine performance. This was a machine they had for quite a number of years. He walked in the door, set down his tool box and began to watch the machine to see the nature of the problem. A manager came in and greeted him with sarcasm and nasty accusation against he personal character. Without saying a word our technician calmly turned around, walked over to his tool box, closed the lid, picked it up, and began heading toward the door. The manager yelled to him, "Where are you going?!" He looked at him and said, "I'm not paid enough to take this kind of treatment." To which the guy's tone suddenly did an about face and he began to almost beg our technician to stay.

 

[Pizza]

Thanks for that, WIP.

I like how both situations were handled. I just don't want to get so angry.

 

[WIP]

I can tell you that in my situation I was very upset but I did my best to keep my composure. That's not always the easiest for me. The bottom line is to be honest, direct, and offer what we know we CAN do. It's when we try to skirt the truth or dance around our own lack of commitment that we can get into deeper trouble.

 

[junkyardmystic]

So things at the Nuke plant have been good. I just spend two weeks up there, and have it almost wrapped up. Great, right? Well, not since high school have I wanted to punch someone in the mouth. Until today.

It is way too much go to into here, but they have, essentially, a bully at the plant. This guy got his job because his father in law is "someone" there. I have observed that if many of the people at the plant know I am working for him, they stonewall me. Well, now I understand why.

I won't go into it all, but he came after me in an email exchange today - and copied a LOT of people, where he accused me of all sorts of unprofessional and improper behavior. I started to write a blistering, unprofessional email - then stopped.

(I truly wish I could print what was said to me - but I cannot.)

I wrote this:

Mr S-----:



I have done my best to keep you informed. I have done my best to bring this project to a successful conclusion and to adapt to your ever changing demands and short tempered personality.


My efforts have resulted in failure.


I am asking my management to remove me from this project in the interest of my health.


Good luck in all you attempt.

I have had to delete the two emails he sent me -because I get so angry when I read them. Management has not responded to my request. They really can't grant it, there is no one else to send, we have no nuclear qualified people who can go. (We have one guy, but he is a manager and can't be gone for 3-6 weeks to wrap the project up). So, I must go.

It will be an interesting week, when I DO go back, week after next.

So how was YOUR day?

Don't worry pizza things always change, you just have to patiently wait.