Last Week at Work

Work has been going well. On the plus side I really feel like I am becoming a better businessman (for better or worse). I am thinking more and more in terms of costs and logistics and I have been making my case in meetings more often. And let’s be frank, I am still busy. Given the economic times now this is the most important thing to keep in mind.

So that makes me feel sort of bad if I have any complaints. But the problem I ran into this last week was that things looked fine and weren’t busy in the morning. Then 3PM rolled around—and WHAM! I was slammed with emails and crap to do (which means a day when I was thinking of getting off early then becomes a day when I get off late).

The epitome of this was on Wednesday. I was packing up to leave at 6PM (a little late) when my boss called me. The order I had been working on for our China plant was urgent and I needed to organize it as the only person who speaks English. Well this meant I stayed until 7:30PM talking and emailing with Germany, figuring out payment methods and terms (which ended up being revised twice the next day), and making a PO.

I don’t necessarily mind getting off late. The problem is when I believe there is a chance to get off early—only to have it dashed. That sucks.

Another memorable thing last week was meeting with a vendor, we were discussing problems with the machine they had sold us. The local agents (who are crappy at doing any service were there too along with a new one who was very pretty) were there too. Well my boss comes in. He proceeds to bascially rip the local agents a new one and tells them they suck at service. I was taken aback. I was going to broach the subject at dinner not right in front of them, which makes them lose a lot of face. Oh well.