(no subject)

[graculus]

There's nothing worse than someone who has to have the last word. And unfortunately I'm dealing with one of those at the moment. Grrrr. Let's call him Q, though that's not his name...

A situation arises in which I have to have a discussion with Q about what should happen next - sadly the majority of the following is via passive-aggressive email or secondhand through another team member:

Q: You need to do Y.
Me: Okay. *looks at policy, in which there is no mention of Y* Hmm. *phones Q's admin* Can you tell me about Y? Is there a criteria, a policy or anything that actually tells me about it?
Q's admin: Dunno. What's Y?
Me: Okay then. *looks again at policy and decides to do X*
Q: You need to do Y.
Me: Y does not appear to exist any more. If I can ever find out what Y is, assuming it's not a duplication of something I've already done, I will do it.
Q: You need to do Y, which is in fact X under another name that nobody has referred to it by for nearly 5 years, though I have failed to mention this fact in any previous conversation but will subsequently claim I have. In fact, you should have done it 2 or 3 weeks ago.
Me: *headdesks repeatedly*

I am so hacked off right now there are barely words. Any tips on how to handle passive-aggressive dipsticks like this gratefully considered!

Comments

[leethet.livejournal.com]

DO you work for the government? :-) I ask because I do (the American one, of course), and this is PRECISELY, EXACTLY the kind of time-, money-, patience- and brain-cell-wasting exchange that goes on regularly between me and my few intelligent co-workers and the vast majority of officious morons who're running things.

If you're young, you fuss and make waves and think you're going to fix the system. If you're old, you sigh, vent, and remind yourself you're doing this to pay your rent, and that in this economy a lot of hard-working, bright people can't find jobs, that all jobs have stupid people, and that you don't have to take it to heart.