Hateful colleagues

◘ Abducted contents ◘

My director at work, whom I branded the Ancient Long bean, is showing potential to be really devilish.

You will also read about Miss Pretentious and how she thinks she is of a higher breed.

Oh, disclaimer! *Waves hand nonchalantly*

The things said here are obviously *rolls eyes* things that happen to me. If you people is the below story read this and want to rebute me, go ahead.

If you want to go to simon and raymond and weep into your handkerchief, go ahead too. Scheming is your middle name anyway. Tsk.

We are supposed to be having a presentation tomorrow, and this had been made news to everyone since last week.

This is one of the few projects that had me involved right from the start, and really, I am appreciative to be able to capture information personally rather than hear it through someone else.

Though it would means more work for me (me as in the projects that I am involved in. This new work process will affect all designers and all sales, so please dont presume I am whinning to get myself a better deal only), I am quite willing to engage myself in the entire process because it is an learning experience.

Digression: Having said that, please stop attributing every additional responsibility as a good learning experience. Doing presentations = training for talking. Calling suppliers = picking up interpersonal skills. Clearing bins = Planting feet on the ground. To hell with it.

It used to be that, the sales team meets the client, takes the brief from the client and arrange for proj execs to measure the site. They will then come back to brief us designers, we designers spend the next 3 days or so tweaking the first version of layout.

While we are doing the layout, we need to study the client's requirements, then plan their needs into the space, of course taking into consideration the design and aesthetics.

When it is done, we will have to explain it to the sales person, and they will present it to the client. Only after the proposal is into a later stage then will the designer need to meet the client too.

This is largely due to the fact that while we take ard 3 days to do one single project's layout, it takes much lesser time to get a client to pass us their layout plans because most of the time, the clients want to compare between a few designs and hence they are always more than willing to get more design firms involved.

Then when the proposal proceeds to a later stage, we designers have to meet the client too at the presentations. The sales team will do the presentation then designers will serve as a consultant when the client has some design issues.

But recently, thing had changed, and this change was brought by ALB.

Now designers have to meet the client for the first meeting and take the design brief from the client. Then we will have to visit the site and record the site conditions, while the proj execs take the site measurements.

We come back to the office, and we will have to debrief the sales team on whatever they had missed out, and then we will have to do the layout.

When the layout is completed, we need to send it to the client and make changes according to better suit their requirements.

This would be repeated a few times until the client is more or less satisfied, then we will arrange for a full presentation.

To do this presentation, we will have to brief the visualiser on how we imagine the space to be according to our design.

We will have to choose colours, materials and lighting, and at the same time choose the furniture, regardless system furniture or loose furnitures.

We have to choose the carpets, and how the different carpets would look coordinated at the end of the day.

We have to choose the wallpapers that will be used to clad the walls of important spaces, such as conference room.

Then when our colour/material concept is more or less defined, we will have to call each supplier to get them to quote us a price of how much each item would cost.

And then we will have to prepare the presentation boards, which will include surfing the visual libraries for suitable pictures, then we will need to do storyboarding for the presentation board so that all the information is clear to the viewer's eyes.

(Please remember this whole process is easily a 30 hour process and we have to juggle many other projects at the same time.)

Then when the presentation boards is completed, we will have to set up the presentation ground, and then we will have to do the presentation.

I dunno what you think, but I think we have a hell lot to do.

Because we have this presentation coming up tomorrow, we arranged to have a rehearsal last thurs between ALB, MP and myself. But because ALB felt that he was not free, it was postponed to fri, 2.30pm.

I waited in the office for they two to return, and planned my other work ard that time slot so that it is not messing anyone's schedule.

It was postponed to 3.30, then later postponed to 5. Then ALB called me at 5 to ask me whether it can be postponed to 6.

I was supposed to be meeting a friend at 6.30! So I rejected this idea and told him we shall have the rehearsal tmr morning instead (I am on leave today).

He was immediately unhappy.

What the hell? I wasnt the one who messed up the schedule! While I know he is busy too and he didnt mean to mess up the schedule, is it fair to blow his top at me?

Just because he can stay back on a friday and I cannot, that makes me a sinner? How about all the other days when I stayed and he happily vacated his seat of his ass at 6?

What about those days?

Bloody hell.

Then MP came over and instructed me to send out an email to summarise another project. I was already in the middle of doing it, and hence I told her I am already doing it.

She then insisted that I must cc the email to the proj exec and to the m&e engineer.

Me : But why? This is a design debrief, why must I cc it to the proj people?

MP : ALB says so.

Me : But what is the rationale behind it?

MP : ALB says that it is to acknowledge that the proj people had been to site with you.

Me : But why? They are there with me, why do I need to send them an email to tell them 'Yes we went to site together'?

MP : ALB says so.

Wah? What is this? Messenger?

Is ALB so busy that he cannot talk to me directly and need to get someone to pass the message? And is MP so free that she can be this messenger?

While I get along well with everyone else in the company, these two characters make my blood boil.

How can they be always broadcasting that they are busy, as though the rest of us arent?

How can they be so inconsiderate to the rest of us, happily sharing their workload with us while we are already so overworked?

Oh, yah yah, of course, I cant just critise without giving constructive comments. *Shakes head at myself*. I think ALB and MP should begin to step down from the clouds condensed with our tears, sweat and blood, and begin to shed them like we do.

We cant be burning ourselves to warm their body, then get reduced to a mere charred wick ourselves.

I dont wish for that to happen.