Librarian Ire

Quick! Pass Me the Stupid Stick.

Have you ever been asked to do a report by an idiot? Oh, I mean your boss? How about by a boss who is not only lacking intellectually, but is completely without foundation in the department she supervises and the workings of those in her profession?

So, I was told that I was to write a report on this hodge-podge of statistics that this idiot, I mean boss, requested of the data people. This was it. No direction on what I was to say, how a was to say it, what I was to focus on, who the audience was, if she had requested the right sort of information etc. I admit, I forgot who I was dealing with and I processed the information in the manner that I was trained to - being an intellectual with a lot of higher education and a firm background in my field. First time I gave a summation the boss, I mean idiot, came back with an excruciating amount of dumbass questions: "What is this data?" "Why did you request these statistics?" "What do these terms mean?" etc. Ok, she requested the data and she didn't understand the numbers she got back, the categories, what they meant? This lady is supposed to be in charge of circulation and she couldn't even deduce what common circulation/library terms and categories meant (like item_id, location_code, status, filled requests). So, I got my rude awakening "You forgot Loki that you work for an idiot. Put her in her place and try to understand her primitive grunt-speak." So, she tells me she wants me to do up this data I've reported to her into a formal written report. Ok, she poo-poo'd all the data I gave and the analysis I made, but I'm supposed to report on it now? Oh no, Loki won't fall for that again. So I go into her office and I confront her with my list of 100 stupid clarification questions starting with "How long is this report supposed to be?" to "What is the Audience for the report?"

So I did the report as per specifications. How can you underestimate someone when you already estimate them in the negative? I did a decent report, grammatically and structurally sound, put in jazzy facts, lots of definitions of the terms I used. She goes over the report and criticizes EVERY element. "This sentence should be at the end. I don't like this word - could you use another one? These terms you used, no one knows what they mean but you and me." So essentially I was to entirely remake a report to how she liked it - which is clumsy, doesn't make sense to me or the reader. She wants me to use words and descriptions I've never heard of, she gave me a long lecture on the audience for the report - which is completely opposite to the audience I asked her about in the first place. This is not my report - I don't understand what I'm reporting. She spent so much time come up with criticism for this report she should have just done the damn thing herself! Why make me do something that will require me going back to her again and again so that I have every little preposition in the just the right place?

Stupid Stick. Bam, Bam, Bam.

posted by Loki at 3:43 PM