I saw this on my way to work the other day. I have no idea what the hell it's doing in front of the Newman Center.Today was our office retreat thingy. We do it twice a year around the beginning of each semester. Sometimes they make us play games, and wear name tags, and talk about ourselves in front of the other co-workers. All of those things stress me out a little.
This semester was actually pretty cool. Our boss got up and thanked the hell out of us for rising (ha ha) to the occasion during the floods. It always sounds more impressive when they can tell you numbers, and he said we took at least an extra 1,000 phone calls in two days. Jeesh! It looks like I was cranky for a reason. Then we got to meet our new boss. They finally hired a provost about a month ago. This guy speaks four different languages and has about 9,231 different degrees, but he's completely down to earth.
Back in June when I was taking all those extra 100's of calls and everyone was pissed off at me; like I personally caused the flood, or made the policy they disagreed with, I would make all nicey nice with them. Then after I hung up the phone, I'd say to no one in particular, "As soon as the big bosses ask me what I think, I'll be sure to pass all that crap along..." And then my co-workers and I would all have a great guffaw at our own expense. But today at our little retreat thing, our new boss actually asked us what we thought. No. For real. We were all quiet for a minute, because we weren't sure if we were hearing him correctly.
His big questions were about attrition and diversity and how to curb alcohol abuse. We batted shit around and he left saying he would keep our answers in mind when he met with some of the bigwigs. Whatdya know?
The other part of our retreat was that we all went on a tour with a guide around our fine institution and then we got to eat in the dining halls. Which is way better than it sounds. The food is pretty good and like Alice's Restaurant, you can get anything you want.
Tonight supper club was super kick-ass too. We went back to the Hilltop where my pint of beer and cheese fries still cost less than $5. My friend K. pointed out that my friend TRipple was in the bar and when I asked her what she was doing, she told me that our friend Jen was celebrating her birthday in the other part of the bar with our friend Gomez. I hadn't seen either one of them for a very long time. It was such a nice surprise.
Okay, I've had a busy, but really nice day and now I'm going to try to go to bed at a halfway decent hour, so that I won't get all sleep deprived and fuck up tomorrow.
13 comments:
It is nice getting to actually tell the bosses what can be better in a sane way. Things work better when all are calm.
The photo: That is an odd sight to see and indeed not something one sees every day.
I will have to post about my work day...(we had a TBA in the afternoon)
It's odd when a boss asks what the little people think. I worked for a few companies where the bosses told us what we think. I hope you got enough sleep.
Churlita,
Nothing's better than a boss that asks for your opinion, listens and acts on your input. They're rare unfortunately, which makes them even more enjoyable to work for.
Maybe the owner of that canoe is on his way here to join me in our annual 90 mile canoe race in the Adirondacs! :-)
rel
That;s a rae thing for bosses to ask what you thk.. Let's hope he follows through on that.. Cause that would be cool if they actually listened to what you guys said.. now get some sleep..
The canoe thing is something I see everyday. Bill's has been painted to look just like that one. We have three canoes in the back yard so if you ever need to borrow one or two or three you know where to go. Just in case you want to park one in the middle of I.C.
Ohh, when they listen to you, you have to keep 'em close.
Are you sure the canoe wasn't there as a safety measure in case of future flooding? Like an escape pod for some forward thinking individual?
I helped cause the flood too--every day I had to tell TONS of FEMA employees that there was no room at the Inn....of all people, shouldn't they understand?
My boss never asks me for my opinion since I declared I was taking on the roll of "negative nancy". Hope you got some sleep!
It really does feel good when the big bosses listen. And they are smart to do it...who knows better than the "front line" people what the real concerns are?
I'm glad you had such a good day!
How nice of your boss to ask for ways to improve things. When I worked for the state, my boss just told us we were lucky we had jobs. Didn't really do much to improve morale.
Your day sounds like an average day, that just happened to be on one of those days that all is well with the world. We all need days like that sometimes. I hope that made sense.
Evil-E,
You definitely win the "awesome work retreat" award.
Aliencg,
It was odd. He was great though. I'm pretty happy he was appointed.
Rel,
He's so high up on the food chain, I doubt I even see him again. I wish I worked directly under him though.
Mrs.,
I think he'll try to change thins. It's hard because our institution is HUGE and we are at the mercy of the state.
Moy,
You have 3 now? I thought you guys only had one.
Mr Atrocity,
It may just be. I think a ark would be more appropriate though.
DJ,
Isn't it great to have so much power that we can create a flood?
Susan,
My immediate boss would never ask me either.
LauraB.,
For sure. We're usually the contact anyone has with the university. We might actually tell you what people's concerns are.
Minyo,
I work for the state and my immediate boss has told us that it could be a lot worse, whenever we had complaints. That's why it was so refreshing when this muckety muck actually cared what we thought.
Wow, a boss who actually asked you guys what you thought? Are they hiring?
Anyway, I love bosses who are down-to-earth.
Tara,
It seems so odd, but it should be the norm, shouldn't it?
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