I wanted to respond immediately. This, at first blush, was another of those, "Why in the hell are you working so long?" e-mails that would have made me snap. But I didn't want to say anything I'll regret, and I really wanted to tell him off about all this shit I have to do -- shit, by the way, he doesn't know how to do. But I needed to stop and think, two things too many people in this country don't do. I think he understands that there's a lot to do in The Third Department (although he pointed out that, in winding language, my co-workers don't stay late and I do -- I think I'll have to let that slide). He said that my supervisor asked me on Friday if I needed help and I said no. Now, I don't remember what I said on Friday -- not only because I read the e-mail yesterday/Monday, but also because my hair is on my fire whenever I start working in The Third Department, so I won't know what I said to anybody there a minute after I say it.
The big takeaway I think I get from him is that he is surprised that, even after staying late, there was so much other stuff to do. This ties back into all the shit I have to do in this position. But there is another dimension to my work, namely what do I need to do before I leave at the end of the day and what can wait till the next day. Frankly, I don't think there's much I want to leave till the next day. If I do leave it till tomorrow, I'll just, you know, have to do it tomorrow, along with all the other shit that comes in that day. Why not just do it before the next day? But in his e-mail to me, my boss detailed a lot of things I didn't get around to that he thought I would. Beyond not having the time, many of those are tasks I thought I could put off till the next day. That's partially why I told my supervisor I was good. Again, I'm not one to tide stuff over to the next day. But at some point even I have to call it quits, and without a natural stopping point, I feel there are some tasks that don't have to get done right then and there. I believe I was told as much, but apparently my boss thinks otherwise.
This brings up a lack of communication of how The Third Department is now supposed to go. My boss said a few months ago that he did not want us staying late. But in this e-mail, he wants me to do all the things that I left after I left work on Friday. So which one is it? I haven't been sat down by my boss or my supervisor (who didn't acknowledge me at all yesterday/Monday and may be pissed at me for all the shit I left over on Friday because she might have needed to do them on Saturday) and told this specific task can wait and this specific task cannot. There are a lot of things I could use more direction on, but everybody seems to be so damn busy, I didn't bring it up until problems came to a head.
I'll look at his e-mail again. But I'll "invite more discussion" on what should be taken care of and what can wait. Maybe this will smooth things over. But when I initially read the e-mail, I thought that I need to go on a job search again, just to cover my ass. And I still think that's a good idea.
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