The Adventures of ZuperZue

ZuperZue studied for 3 years in Germany, and now is back in the tropics - Trinidad and Tobago to be exact... she thought she could be ready to take over the world, but the process is a slow, full-of-doubt one... can she fulfill (FIND!!) her destiny??? We keep track on the Adventures of ZuperZue!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Ah Swipe off the 'S' offa Superman Chess, so Doh Tess

Heck, ANYONE can be Jamaican when it comes to Blog Titles!

Soooooooooooo

I'm going through some sorta test... it has to be. IT HAS TO BE. There is no way on earth that what is happening around me is "just the way it is". I refuse to believe it. So don't try to tell me otherwise...

Awrite... maybe you can try, and maybe I'd listen... but!

Anyways - I had a super duper weekend with the fam and folk at a wonderful house in the hills just before Maracas Bay... it was most relaxing, enjoyable and filling!

I should've known this was a well deserved calm before a storm...

*You mean the tornado that hit Central on the Sunday?!*

Er... well, no. (But what the heck! Tornado in TnT?!) I mean, a more personal, internal storm...

Monday morning, and I'm bright and chirpy (with dark hair! sooooooooooooo many signs to a dark day... but I had to get serious! And blonde-fun... well... there's a season... and, well... new dark roots... anyhooooooooz) - feeling all serious and organisy (did I mention - brunette!) I spoke to one of my groupmates, got us a huddle room to have a final meeting concerning thesis write up structure and responsibilities, got a white-board marker, got my diary, had a coffee and just waited for the Bleh Bleh Bleh to grace us with her presence - anticipating the meeting.

Laugh laugh... check emails - send some...

Bam. She reach.

Bam - meeting start.

Bam - say WHAT?!

Wait wait wait wait... let me count that... of 20 chapters, I am responsible for writing up 4?! Buh wah de mudda... Let me count that AGAIN.... eh eh!

"Uh... no, I did this, so I will take credit for it..."

Wait... she is trying to SPEAK OVER ME?! Wait wait wait... am I getting royally effed in the a? I certainly am...

Waited for her to silence herself.

"Nope - I was responsible for this, therefore it's mine"

"ok"

Alright - I'm up to 6... but wait, other chick is still at 4...

"No, wait... we need to deal with the fact that you have most sections and J still has just 4..."

Hooooollllld up - is she MAKING UP minor sections for J?! Kyah kyahhhh... this cannot be happening... I had to laugh to clear the steam from my head and the curse words from coming up my throat...

"Nope... disagree... to be fair, we need to do this and this..."

Ok!

Wait... from this excel matrix here, BBB: 9 chapters, J: 8 chapters... Zu: 7?! Now 24 Chapters... and I'm being given credit for 29% of the workload?!?!!?!?!?! Muthah feckah...

Email to BBB and J:

Here is the matrix for the write up - naturally, I'm not happy.

No response....

Steam accumulates... I take a walk. Steam dissipates...

Gets a call - two "bottom of the barrel" guys from my MSc. class get desirable Reservoir Eng. positions...

This is not happening...

Zu breaks down...

I'm getting effed in the A from my own project, and now those less deserving are reaping unwarranted rewards!

*Heeeeeeeyyy - nasty attitude there missy!*

Ah know... but honest - that's how I felt :(

I sat there, infront my monitor, from 5pm to 8pm... numb. I had already cried and cussed my heart out...

I've failed. Whatever test this was, I failed miserably.

Dust it off, Zu!

Email to BBB and J:

Guys,
I'm not satisfied with having 29% share in the write-up, so here are my proposals to fix this (inserted new matrix with changes). My pick would be proposal 1 - each of us having a 1/3 share of the writeup responsibilities.
If we cannot agree on any, please feel free to add to the proposals - once it's fairly distributed. I know I surely had more than 29% share in the actual work, and that's why I am not comfortable with the uneven share.


J replied:

Agreed - BBB, what do you think?

Nothing...

Midday - still nada.

"Uh... BBB, did you see....?"

"Uh... yeah - uh... working on it"

I go get me a coffee / steam-lifter break.

J comes to me: "Um... BBB says cool - good to go"

That's just when I took myself out the race... I'm not begging for a teammates approval anymore, nor am I fighting in a war that leads to a deceitful victory - I've pulled myself out of this "master-subject" relationship BBB's pushing on me, and I tell myself that I am in no way her competitor - I never was, but I allowed her to use be as a benchmark...

No more *Yes Parrot... no more!*

It's a choice, and I choose no.

I've started my write up, set up meetings to complete the work I've done thus far... I'm trying to keep busy so as not to get myself in situations like that again...

I don't yet know how to deal with people like this, so for now I'm blocking it all off... since the meeting, I've been very point blank in my correspondence with BBB... this is what I need for my protection ... Until I know better.

And get this - she's been taking most of the credit anyways I've realised - she's not in today, and our Supervisor came to see her, told me about a meeting they had earlier, and guess what... it's all work that myself and J shared over the past couple months... and he seems to think she's the shiznit.

I'm actually ok with that - NOW. Before it ticked me off to the max... but now, what can I do?

I have to focus on my write up and presentation skills... on the 26th, one day after my 26th (wink), we present for the Operator, and I need to pull it together!







Lord - grant the Zu a blessed day... Zu needs it!

2 Comments:

At 10:40 pm, August 12, 2009 , Blogger Owner said...

I don't think it's a test, boogie, I think it's just a learning opportunity, like everything else in life.

It looks to me like you are unknowingly accepting her position as group leader, by allowing her the final call in a decision (and she freely takes this opportunity to reinforce her own image as group leader). One way to go around this would be to set a deadline for her: "reply with your thoughts on my suggestion by noon tomorrow, or we'll do it my way". This way, the power balance tilts a bit to your advantage. Also, who assigns the chapters and why are you being assigned chapters, instead of doing the assigning?

Don't lose hope, my green (erm, brunette ) booger, things always balance out somehow :) And it's over soon! So soon!

mwaaa

 
At 7:10 am, August 13, 2009 , Blogger Unknown said...

:) oh karlita - my widdle boogs...

actually i try to do everything diplomatically - i.e. we sit and discuss who does what... now, since we split work up in the group, we obviously take those parts... however she came up with these "new" unknown "special" chapters - thus making the original plan null and her having so much more than us... in fact, some of the work originally assigned to me (i.e. the work i did), she apparently took up the work halfway (not knowingly) and REdid and claimed...

when i did realise this, however... i did take a stance and said "no - i did the work, i do the write up"...

i do, however, need to take my stance much more early in the game... trying to please people never works out in my favour - nor fairly - so yet still have to learn this.

i remember when i was being signed up for the management trainee programme at my last job, the talent coordinator - after doing an assessment with me - told me that my biggest hurdle is being a "people pleaser"... followed closely by the "either i take the lead or i sit back and dont participate" mentality... i thought it silly initially, but it's sorta true.

i just try to generally avoid conflict...

maybe you can teach me a thing or two? :)

see - if you were my roomie still, there'd be noooo problem.

Dammit to heck!

love ya boogs

 

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