another long day...

I hate my manager. It's official. And thankfully, I'm not the only one who feels the same.

Due to last night's hectic events, I only got to bed around 3am. Naturally, I wasn't able to wake up this morning. I did contemplate not going to bed at all, but I already foregone one night's sleep on Sunday because I kind of knew if I went to bed, I'd be very reluctant to wake up and get to work in the morning. In any case, Hubs had work to rush that night.

So after everything last night, I was almost tired enough to just DIE. I slept all the way until my colleague, Dee, gave me a call at 8.27am. I missed her first call because I was that dead asleep. Her second call jolted me up like a bolt of lightning. Thank Gawd for nice colleagues.

Straight after ending the call, I rang up my team leader and told her that I just woke up. She sounded a little pissed, but I guess she would understand because I already told her that my mum-in-law had a very bad fall before I left the office yesterday. I told her that I would get into the office latest by 9.45am.

So started the mad rushing to wake Hubs, shower, change, and get to work. I got there at 9.35 and was introduced to my department manager the moment I placed my bag on my desk. This fella, I tell you, I have no idea HOW he became the customer service department manager. He has almost no manners at all.

The first thing he said was "Hi". Followed by "Do you know what time it is now? What time were you supposed to start work? It's only your second day here and you are already an hour late."

I told him about the problems we had at home and the reason why I couldn't wake in the morning. I even showed him the receipt and admission documents from the hospital.

He just gave me a disapproving look and said: "I don't care what kind of excuses you have, but you are late and that is very inappropriate. Next time, if you are late, at least have the decency to give your team leader a call beforehand and inform her."

And with that, he walked away.

I was so freaking angry.

I have fucking PROOF of my lateness, and it's NOT a lame excuse. And for fuck's sake, I called my team leader the first moment I could and I was brutally honest about the fact that I just woke up. What else do you want from me?!? If I could give her a call to tell her that I would be late, I wouldn't even have been late because I would have already woken up! Fucking brainless manager. It just doesn't make sense does it?

And due to my lack of rest the night before, I started nodding off during training. My trainer was nice and just gave us breaks to freshen up. Most of us were yawning away anyway from just sitting around. It's like being back in school again.

Our training ended around 4.30pm, and we were made to go back to our desks and do nothing. DO NOTHING. How can one not fall asleep when made to do nothing? So as I was sitting at my computer, I rested my head on my chin and just randomly clicked around with the database system. While one of the pages were loading, I closed my eyes for a while.

Next moment, a finger poked my back and I turned around to face the anal manager.

"Do you know that it is still office hours? Are you supposed to fall asleep during office hours?"

And he just walked away like that. This asshole has got the bad habit of just walking away after he unreasonably rambles about you.

I was so completely pissed. I hadn't fell asleep. He is such a FUCKING ASSHOLE. How can he just presume that I am sleeping simply from looking at my back? If he thinks that it is because my monitor screen isn't moving, then he should go fuck himself because the company's system is so freaking slow at loading anything.

I was so angry that I messaged Dee and Joanna to tell them about it. They were both sympathetic about how I was misunderstood. I guess they knew better because I was one of the more awake ones throughout the training.

I was still so angry 15 minutes later, that when my team leader came to remind me to be early tomorrow, I complained to her. I felt so misjudged that I cried in front of her.

It's not like I purposely went in late. It's not like I purposely made my mum-in-law fall down. It's not like I'm making it all up. I've got the proof to show if they want.

She calmed me down and told me that the manager gets very unreasonable when he's under stress and asked me to understand his position. So I rebuked her and asked her if HE understands my position. I am the only female in this household, and I am the one who has sufficient medical knowledge due to my previous years working as a clinic nurse, so naturally I take up more responsibility in caring for my mum-in-law.

It's only my second day at work, and I was so angry at myself for not being able to wake up on time. I really like the work environment there and I was looking forward to the day. And just because I'm a new staff and I'm late, he thinks I have an attitude problem with work. It's just not fair.

It is true that we have to understand that our manager has to bear the blame should the department be unruly, but he has to understand that we have our own lives and families as well. Understanding is something that works best when it goes both ways, not just HIS way.

It's just an irony that our customer service manual says "Practise good customer service amongst colleagues" when our manager is such a bastard. He doesn't listen, he doesn't understand and he isn't sympathetic at all. Worst of all, he puts you on the blacklist just because of one event.

I think he will eventually become one of the people I dislike most in the office. And he has a girly name which we all find utterly silly. Ever heard of a guy named Ellex?