Tiny Earthquakes Sign Of Major Tremors To Come

I'm having one of those weeks. Oh you've had them.. when something is just.. off.. right? There are some good moments, of course, but you're not clicking.. not feeling it.. and not feeling good about it either.

I never talk about work because it's probably not something that drives me and not within an industry I feel passionately about, but I have a very good work ethic and as detailed as I am, I'm extremely valuable if I can keep my tone light and you know.. not piss people off.

The company is going thru growing pains. Too small to need more people, but too much work for the current group we have.. and there are days we ease the stress with humor and random life stories that have no other purpose than to relieve the tension in the room.. and then there are days spanning to entire weeks where the venting that was heard at the beginning of the week becomes a seething vengeance buried by the knowledge that voicing it will do no good anyway so why waste the breath.

I can only guess that these are normal complaints felt in degrees by other people who work for other companies focusing in other arenas.. but I feel stuck. Of course I want to make a change.. but that is for another discussion as far as my career.. yet, if I want to help change my current environment, really, what are my options?

Do not talk to me about meetings. First of all, uh.. we've had them. Second, I don't believe in meetings that last longer than an hour. After 60 minutes, people stop paying attention, meetings stop being productive, people start getting distracted by hunger, bodily functions, and the ticking clock. If you haven't covered what you need to address and its possible solutions and/or directions within the first 30 minutes, then you haven't efficiently served the meeting's purpose. And maybe you have a lot to cover and therefore it can take a whole hour's worth of time - ok.. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there.. BUT IF YOUR BOSS ISN'T LISTENING ANYWAY.. you might as well start doodling on your notepad of your dream job and how you'd be a better manager and ooh look at your funny stick person.. because you'll be back here in the same spot in a week's time DISCUSSING THE SAME GODDAMN THING.

I'm burnt. And so is everyone in my group. And the boss knows it. And he's having a meeting with our president. Yes, great! Good steps, clear discussions. Right! But I'm going to tell you what will happen: they will hire one new person, who will take three months to train - which is totally fine - and some of the workload will be directed to her and some people will be happy about this and they will feel some sense of relief and all that is positive. BUT.. the sales people will always be sales people.. and the basic complaints our group has against them will not change because Sales will continue not to be trained, we will continue to bear the brunt of any blame or responsibility because we don't bring in any money.. even if we do all the supporting and know more about the products sold than most of the sales team. In fact.. who do they call for how much products and features cost? Operations. Let me ask you.. if you were buying a car.. do you think your sales guy would excuse himself to ask the dealer's mechanic how much he should sell it to you for? I'm guessing not.

We do a lot more than supply answers to the 'tough' questions they should already know tho. We are the center of communication in a communications industry. We email, we call, we create rapport with the customers, vendors, agents within an acronym'd language not many could maneuver. We explain what Sales has not, or rather, left out. We extricate the story from the customer and rearrange it in a more fluid way so that what was sold actually now makes sense and more importantly, will even work because we crossed the T's, corrected the typos, and clarified what had been previously assumed, but was still incorrect. We bend, we bow, we cya*, we do as we're told and in the end, what is remembered is when shit goes wrong because it shouldn't have been sold in the way it was and you've asked a question that no one likes because they didn't think about it in the first place so now it's YOUR problem to fix when it shouldn't be your responsibility at all EVER and then you have to get your boss involved and the sales person's boss and possibly the boss' boss' boss and then they all look at you because you know the fucking answer to the problem.. and yet you need them to direct you to do it because if you did it on your own and you were wrong? You don't even want to know, that's what. So now you can say they told you to do it this way and you have the email to prove it, which is great.. until they call you tomorrow and tell you they are changing the entire thing completely and you will have to redo your paperwork for what is now the third fucking time while they gallivant off to lunch and you are left munching on carrot sticks because what is lunch anyway when doing it right is what is important.. but doing it that way the first time would just make too much sense. Oh and here's a Starbucks card or an $8 sandwich from the nearest Subway to make up for all your troubles we've caused you. Gosh.. thanks.

I walked away from my desk today for air.. just to our break room.. sat on the couch with my hand over my eyes and breathed in.. that's all.. for 10 minutes. I was simply overwhelmed with my workload.. overwhelmed with the thought of what it would be like to love my job and its day to day challenges rather than only doughnuts on a Friday or quarterly happy hours at the nearest Mexican joint and worry about which customer will be calling next asking to speak to my manager or implying we aren't living up to what 'we' promised when I wasn't even there. The pressure had wreaked its havoc and I was very close to my personal limit.

To be honest, I love the people I work with and for - there is a family feeling I've never felt with any other job. They like to have fun, they drink as hard as they work, they really want me to have a good weekend and hope that I'm happy in my personal life. But like any family, there is dysfunction.. and we are nearing nuclear levels of breakdown that will require intervention to prevent and if that warning is not heeded, I foresee mutiny, anarchy, or at the very least.. a mass exodus within my department similar to what I've seen before in this business. And then I would like to see how Sales would deal with that.. because they will rue the day they have to start answering repair calls with questions they can't answer..

..ooooh but goddamn, what I wouldn't give to see that happen.. just for five whole minutes.

*This means 'cover your ass', which is absolutely necessary to do all the fucking time because if you've forgotten to make notes or keep that email, you will be one sorry motherfucker..