Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game

Today I was set up perfectly to disappoint my boss by a coworker. I was so impressed by the artful execution of the technique that I almost forgot to be mad about it. It was really well-done, but far in the background somewhere I was also furious. I knew she was cunning, but I had underestimated her–-now I know that she is an evil genius!

Because I arrive so promptly each day, our boss entrusted me with an assignment to prepare a daily progress report for him. My supervisor was very jealous when she found out, but since she is a late riser and the report must be prepared for a morning meeting, she could not reassign the task to herself (which is her usual method of operation when she feels that a task is too prestigious for me).

Well, on this particular morning, the meeting had been canceled. So, he asked me to delay creating the report until the previous evening’s paperwork could be processed, so that the information would reflect up to the minute progress. I started to process the paperwork, but found a note from my supervisor requesting me to enter the month-end inventory for my first task. So, while I was entering the inventory, she arrived and began processing the previous evening’s paperwork. Now, normally, this paperwork is left for me while my supervisor listens to her voice messages, and checks her email, horoscope, catches up on current events online and such. Just as I finished with inventory, she stood up from her chair, announced that she had finished the paperwork and would be completely bored for the rest of the morning. To further demonstrate that she was finished, she went to the coffee station and mixed herself a hot chocolate and chatted about nothing in particular. I checked the inbox to confirm that it was indeed empty. It was. So, I prepared my bosses progress report and set it on his desk. When he returned to his desk, he was visibly thrilled to see the report at his disposal. I beamed proudly. Then she settled into her chair to watch it all unravel. As he studies the report, devising his plan of attack for the day, he looked up and said, "we already did this" and then, "these should have been done yesterday," and to my dismay, "when was this report printed?" Then my supervisor pulled an enormous stack of papers from under her keyboard and says sarcastically, "Of course your report is wrong, I haven’t finished processing your paperwork." Yes, I had prepared a report that was basically worthless because she fed me misinformation. He was so utterly disgusted with my performance, and his body language was so animated as he dashed the report into the trashcan and stormed out that I did not even dare to defend myself. She’d beaten me soundly and now there was nothing to do but applaud.