Some days I really hate being an “I-Told-You-So”
Especially when knowing better than the other person ends up causing me more work
because they refused to listen.
Turn the clock back about 36 hours. Boss #1 is conferring with the reassembly crew
about the file room shelving. I’ve already over-ridden the floor plan and demanded
two back-to-back rows of three starting at the wall with a 2-panel section and a
3-panel section in other locations. And the guy agreed with me that it made more
sense and was less likely to raise a fire code violation.
Boss #1 doesn’t like the location of the 2-panel, and moves it to a different wall
which just so happens to block the fire klaxon in the file room. Bad thing. Now,
if we never ever ever use that top shelf so the klaxon stays visible, we might get
away with it. (although I’m fully expecting a warning from the fire chief when he
comes to inspect. – and trust me, they do). Boss leaves the other cabinets as is,
though. However, Boss #1 has also prescribed a shelf configuration that didn’t look
right to me as they were just starting – clue #1: way too much open space on the
bottom shelf – and kept telling me that he measured it out, everything was right,
and I was over-reacting. Well, it later proved to leave way too many unused shelves
and supports (clue #2). Now I know we shouldn’t have so many, but what do I know,
right? I only spent how many hours in the file room on a routine basis? So I shut
up and let myself get frustrated at something else.
Well guess what? Today while K and I are unloading boxes, we find absolute proof
that Boss #1 was wrong and I was right – boxes labeled "shelf 5". Boss
#1′s configuration leaves only 6 shelves per cabinet. Plus we lost one cabinet entirely.
So we’re down EIGHTEEN shelves from where we were at the old office. Nope, this
is totally not going to work. That’s three full cabinets at his layout, and there
is no way in hell we can fit 84 shelves worth of files onto only 66 shelves total.
Boss #2 was around for this today, and all I can say is he better be feeling damned
lucky that he’s not #1. If he were, he’d be in deep doo-doo. As it is, Boss #1 is
really up a creek when he finally comes back to the office Monday afternoon. And
I fully expect that Boss #2 warns him about the situation…
So K’s mom, who came down to help us out for the day, went out in search of a hammer
so I could undo all the shelving and reset it correctly. Hammer required because
the construction guy used a rubber mallet to set them in place and there was no
way I could get the center pieces out by manual force alone. At least I got myself
a nice outlet for my anger and aggression.
TWO HOURS of completely wasted time because he couldn’t accept that I knew what
I was talking about. Two hours in which I alone could have easily unpacked another
15 boxes and in which everyone else had to spend sorting instead of unloading so
they didn’t get in my way – and precious little room available for THAT.
I only got 6 cabinets reset – the center ones that hold Bosses #1 and 2′s files.
And the only reason I did those first was because they were the most accessible.
K and her mom stayed after we left and they were going to keep working on those
files.
Oh, and as for the other bosses? As I said, #1 is in NYC. #3 was there when I arrived,
hadn’t been for long because his girlfriend signed in as a visitor about a half
hour before we checked in, and left about an hour and a half later. Boss #2 showed
up about 2:30, left for a haircut shortly after the shelf situation exploded, came
back after K’s mom got me a hammer and left again within an hour. The other secretary
and the bookkeeper? Nothing. So K was there till midnight on Thursday. H and I were
there for 6 hours today, and I bet K and her mom will put in about the same. And
H and I will probably put in about another 6 hours tomorrow.
I am so very tempted to say "screw it", not go to the office tomorrow
and spend the day doing my own housework and errands. But I’m getting overtime and
maybe even doubletime for this, so the money is turning out to be a very persuasive
argument.
Tomorrow I get to move all the boxes away from Boss #3′s cabinets, reset his, and
unpack, and then the same for AER. I’m leaving him for last because he’s changing
his entire scheme from at the old office and I need to be able to focus, and because
we’d already sorted his boxes based on the old layout, so I need to move everything
to reset shelves and resort it all to be reshelved. He may not get done till Monday,
to be honest, and no real skin off my nose if that’s the case.
