Tuesday, August 24, 2010

See Me!

Attorney 6 has a few annoying habits, but one of my least favorites is that he leaves files on my desk with a post-it that just says, "See me."

I'm even not sure why this pisses me off, but it does.  It's a pretty reasonable request, I guess.  "See me" regarding this file.  What's so wrong about that?  I mean, other than the fact that I'm being ordered around by someone who should be my clerk....though, come to think of it, that's definitely part of the problem.

Anyway, another part of the problem goes back to when I was in school.  I was never very academically inclined, so I constantly got tests, quizzes and homework assignments back with a giant, red, "See Me!" written across the top.

Let me tell you, nothing good ever came from a test with "See Me!" written on it.  Inevitably, I got a lecture about how I clearly hadn't been paying attention in class, that I wasn't working up to my potential, and that school was too important to blow off.  Never, in twenty years of schooling, was "See Me!" followed by a congratulatory speech about how well I'd done on an assignment.

Those experiences must have stuck with me, because a note saying "See Me" still pisses me off.  I know Attorney 6 probably just wants me to explain something to him (so that he doesn't have to ask Attorney 3) but I still see the note and start seething.  I might want to get this under control before I blow up based on a post-it.

On the bright side, at least he's not doing it in red pen.

2 comments:

  1. Part of what makes this so annoying is the curtness. The other person apparently doesn't have the respect to take a few extra seconds for a little civility. "Could you please drop by my office when you get a chance this afternoon?" Is it that hard to write?

    The bigger issue though, at least in my opinion, is that it's a highly unproductive request. Unless he's planning a surprise party, some information about why he wants you to drop by would be more useful to both of you. "Could you drop by this afternoon when you get the chance? I had a question about XYZ issue in the memo you sent me yesterday."

    By letting you know what it's about, he gives you the chance to review any notes or whatever that would allow you to give him a meaningful, complete answer. But, he loses the opportunity to catch you off guard and make you sweat, and it may be the only time during the day where he feels like he's in a position of power.

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  2. I do Boss 1's billing for him. He corrects everything (generally to remove time) and adds up the changed hours himself. But at the top of every corrected bill, in his red pen, he writes "Check math!"

    I'm fucking good at math. I have a graphing calculator sitting at my desk that I've been using since high school. I *know* that he's just suggesting that he might have added wrong and he wants me to double check it, but I still get offended when I see "Check math!" like it's calling me out for being bad at math or something. And I didn't even do the math, I just punched numbers in a calculator.

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