Once, it even ended up in a disciplinary hearing for me, brought about by manager. My manager ended up with a reprimand from the director, instead.
I was given a five day, must be done, no excuses task on Monday that *HAD* to be done by Friday. On Tuesday, there was a customer field issue, which was *CRITICAL* and had to be done immediately. It took two days. As a result, the "must be done by Friday" task didn't get completed until the next Tuesday.
In my hearing/interview, as the facts were laid out, the director was confused. He'd expected two different stories, but my manager and I agreed on all of the facts. How, he asked, did my manager expect me to complete the first task in time when the second task took precedence?
The manager stiffly informed him that she had told me when assigning the second task that I could not use it as "an excuse" for not completing the first in time. And yet, that was exactly what I had done, and why she wanted him to approve the reprimand she'd submitted on my record.
The director looked at me, said "you can go, don't worry about it", then looked at my manager and said "you, stay". It did not go well for her.
The second case had no reprimand, but was even crazier. We had a mandated move (the fire department said our layout was in violation of the fire code), so we had to move to the other side of the building. This was in the 1980s, when a PC was a 15lb beige box, another 20lbs for the monitor, more cabling than you can shake a stick at, plus a keyboard. Add two bookcases worth of technical books, a phone, and whatever lab equipment was at your desk that day.
Unfortunately, moving day had a customer issue reported, that was high priority. So, I was working on that.
My boss came by, and asked why I wasn't moving yet. I explained the field issue, and he said that I had to move, they couldn't start disassembling the current location until everyone was out. Fine, I got a cart, started unplugging things, putting them on the cart, and moving the quarter mile or so within the building. I had six carts worth; some engineers had ten.
On my fourth trip, my boss saw me moving, and asked me how the field issue was going. I pointed out that I wasn't working on it, since I was, you know, moving. As should be evidenced by the PC and monitor on the cart I was wheeling.
My boss said that the field issue was priority. When I mentioned that an hour earlier he'd say the move was necessary, he said, "the field issue is priority, you should try to do the move as a background task".
As a background task.
Sure, I could (and did) move some books and whatnot while the PC was compiling, but most of the fix required debugging at a powered computer, something difficult to do when it's unplugged and on a moving cart.
Hoo boy, have I had this happen.
Once, it even ended up in a disciplinary hearing for me, brought about by manager. My manager ended up with a reprimand from the director, instead.
I was given a five day, must be done, no excuses task on Monday that *HAD* to be done by Friday. On Tuesday, there was a customer field issue, which was *CRITICAL* and had to be done immediately. It took two days. As a result, the "must be done by Friday" task didn't get completed until the next Tuesday.
In my hearing/interview, as the facts were laid out, the director was confused. He'd expected two different stories, but my manager and I agreed on all of the facts. How, he asked, did my manager expect me to complete the first task in time when the second task took precedence?
The manager stiffly informed him that she had told me when assigning the second task that I could not use it as "an excuse" for not completing the first in time. And yet, that was exactly what I had done, and why she wanted him to approve the reprimand she'd submitted on my record.
The director looked at me, said "you can go, don't worry about it", then looked at my manager and said "you, stay". It did not go well for her.
The second case had no reprimand, but was even crazier. We had a mandated move (the fire department said our layout was in violation of the fire code), so we had to move to the other side of the building. This was in the 1980s, when a PC was a 15lb beige box, another 20lbs for the monitor, more cabling than you can shake a stick at, plus a keyboard. Add two bookcases worth of technical books, a phone, and whatever lab equipment was at your desk that day.
Unfortunately, moving day had a customer issue reported, that was high priority. So, I was working on that.
My boss came by, and asked why I wasn't moving yet. I explained the field issue, and he said that I had to move, they couldn't start disassembling the current location until everyone was out. Fine, I got a cart, started unplugging things, putting them on the cart, and moving the quarter mile or so within the building. I had six carts worth; some engineers had ten.
On my fourth trip, my boss saw me moving, and asked me how the field issue was going. I pointed out that I wasn't working on it, since I was, you know, moving. As should be evidenced by the PC and monitor on the cart I was wheeling.
My boss said that the field issue was priority. When I mentioned that an hour earlier he'd say the move was necessary, he said, "the field issue is priority, you should try to do the move as a background task".
As a background task.
Sure, I could (and did) move some books and whatnot while the PC was compiling, but most of the fix required debugging at a powered computer, something difficult to do when it's unplugged and on a moving cart.
There goes crazy Bob again, and his time laws-lawls.