A Piece Of My Heart

Work Annoyance

A little annoyed by what happened at work today. But before we get there, you'll need a bit of backstory.

My position is funded by a grant. This means that everything I do needs to be recorded so the funders can have some assurance that the purpose of the position is being fulfilled. I have to be very conscious about where I dedicate my time so that the funders know I'm not using the money for anything they would consider a waste of staff time.

That said, I'm still very early in my position, so there is some available time that I can use for peripheral activities. One of our partner organizations asked me to participate in a presentation to a local chamber of commerce, which really isn't in my job description and wouldn't be especially useful to me or fit within the terms of the grant, but I agreed anyway, mostly to keep in good terms with the partner org. I talked to my supervisor about how to make the most of the situation, and we came up with a fairly decent plan, but it was still out of my focus area, and so there was little I could talk about and still connect in some way to the grant funding. Still, I spent a fair bit of time planning my presentation and getting input from my supervisor, and I felt pretty prepared come today when the presentation was scheduled.

I head over there, eat the provided lunch, and settle in to listen to the first half of the presentation that was to be given by our partner org. They were to use 20 minutes, and I was to use the last 10 minutes. Unfortunately, and here's the annoying bit, they talked the whole time! And even went over time so I literally had no time to say anything! Not only had I gotten all worked up and nervous about this damn presentation, but now I had wasted approximately 8 hours of my time, plus 2 hours of my supervisor's time for NOTHING! There was nothing I gained from being at this presentation because all I could do was beg people to come talk with me afterward if they were interested, but of course no one did. I was really pissed off that I had put all this energy into this, and now I would have to either report to the grant authority that I had wasted this time, or fudge the numbers somehow... Why did they even ask me to come if she would just use up my time!? I mean ... she even said she would flip through her slides quickly, but obviously she didn't rehearse adequately because dang, she just dragged on and on.

This job really forces me to think of myself as a resource. I only have one brain and it needs to be focused on what's most important. Gaah ...

At least I have tomorrow off...
-Emily