So my PMP class is drawing to a close (last day is May 7!) and our project manager lady is apparently the type that turns into a complete and total bitch when she’s stressed out. In the past, I would probably do what I could to appease her and just deal with her until the class was over. Now, not so much. My tolerance for obnoxious people has decreased considerably.
Instead I’ve spent the last 24 hours in a virtual cat fight with this woman who has somehow been put in charge of compiling several Word documents together to form a master plan, but has no knowledge of Word whatsoever and thinks that she is the only one who can format the document. I spent 4 hours updating her document to properly use headers and utilize the dynamic table of contents feature since we were compiling a ton of documents, and she didn’t like the formatting so she threw away all of my work and replaced it with her own, manually created table of contents (which now has to be manually updated any time additional text is added that creates a page shift). That was just the tip of the iceberg, and now she’s decided to publicly blame me for the project being “late” (it’s due tomorrow and she apparently has an anuerism at the idea of printing a document the day that it’s due). Never mind that I’ve done more work than everyone else on this project throughout the entire semester. She’s cranky so now I’m the one who isn’t working hard.
Seriously, I don’t know what it is about me that seems to attract rude, bitchy, or otherwise unsavory attitudes lately. I don’t think I’m the type that provokes people into being argumentative; I still try to avoid conflict whenever possible. Really the only thing that’s changed is my response – instead of rolling over, I fight back. I had thought that was a good thing, but I’ve spent the last day furious beyond measure, and I’m not sure that the ability to stand up and respond to temperamental behavior is worth the toll it takes on my sanity.

5 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 27, 2009 at 7:28 am
Chris
I’m glad to see you’re fighting back. I’m right there with you. I just can’t stand people that are rude and obnoxious (I work with one of those and, surprise, no one likes her).
Sorry she’s being like that. Your frustration over the improper use of Word’s table of contents feature is very much justified. I have to use that feature on a regular basis so I have a healthy respect for just how irritating it would be to not it.
Good luck!
April 27, 2009 at 7:31 am
Chris
Oh, and additionally, upset as you may get, I don’t think “bitchy” is an adjective I could (or would) ever use to describe you. I don’t think I’ve ever once seen you be mean. I’ve seen you angry, but not mean.
April 27, 2009 at 8:53 am
Elli
Haha, thanks Chris. I reread some of the emails I sent in response this morning and was pleasantly surprised that my emails sent in anger weren’t “mean,” just to the point, which happened to imply “lady, you’re wrong.”
April 29, 2009 at 9:35 am
Elli
After several emails back and forth with this lady, and being told that I am immature, a spoiled brat, controlling, bossy, offensive, that I don’t follow things through, and that I don’t care about anyone else’s feelings, I’ve decided that she’s one of those people who decides to just spew out every emotion she feels at that exact moment and can’t use reason or logic to save her life.
Good riddance.
Countdown to May 7…
May 1, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Chris
You should start putting Elli “The Bossy Brat” Swift on all your assignments.
If she’s gonna accuse you of being immature, at least have some fun with it. Hehe