Al the trainer??

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

I'm psychic. I sense more drama coming in your work situation. Good luck. Keep your head down and kiss arse is probably the best strategy. I have a feeling that you will do the polar opposite of that but.

We've been losing people in our QA team. Down to just 2, both really good, one exceptional. After training/guiding them and building up their confidence for months now... the exceptional one has asked if I can be a reference for her in a job she is applying for. I will give her an awesome reference but I'd rather my company hadn't done such a great job of making people uncertain about their future.

[Al Swearegen]

I'm psychic. I sense more drama coming in your work situation. Good luck. Keep your head down and kiss arse is probably the best strategy. I have a feeling that you will do the polar opposite of that but.

We've been losing people in our QA team. Down to just 2, both really good, one exceptional. After training/guiding them and building up their confidence for months now... the exceptional one has asked if I can be a reference for her in a job she is applying for. I will give her an awesome reference but I'd rather my company hadn't done such a great job of making people uncertain about their future.

The irony is for all her faults she is not a terrible person. She is also VERY good at the work. I will not fault her for her performance (other than to say she talks a bigger game than what she brings). If she was more modest and not prepared to waterboard us continually with how terrible everything is and how it must be fixed and to her specifications and her willingness to undercut everyone to get ahead.

As for doing the opposite. Well yes I will and it is bad for the section. But possibly surprising for some to hear is that it is under sufferance.

[Al Swearegen]

The Boss decided to make that lady temporary appointment of supervisor. Interesting. So far okay. She is a little full of herself but that is not so bad yet

[Al Swearegen]

Well, I have been the trainer for a while. I then adopted the supervisor role and then have become the escalation point, something that takes up most of my time to be honest. The manager is now looking at me to be a relief manager for him and fill in for him when he is not there. I am probably skill set and personality wise the best person for it BUT there are people in more senior roles than me that I will be overseeing at such time and it will get a few noses out of joint I predict. It will also mean that the duties I created for myself will probably encroach on that too.

[Jack]

Welcome back.

[Pyraxis]

Good luck with the stress and drama of it.

[Walkie]

Hey Al
I only just caught this thread. Sorry. Or else I would surely have wished you well along with everybody else.
But the good thing is that my state of suspense about how this pans out for you didn't last long. Really pleased to hear you're doing good.

Yep, it's funny to hear an Aspie described as a ""people person""  but I think your boss was really onto something there.  I'm thinking of all the good, patient advice that   you've often offered on our more private boards. You really are a good listener and I don't think that's uncommon for an Aspie at all. I think that many of us are genuinely interested in other people..as opposed to that superficial , rote, stage-managed  crap that neurotypicals  are pleased to call social interaction. So we tend to make good calls when it actually matters. And we often  do make good supervisors, if we can be co-opted into the role.

As for that co-worker of yours...I guess she's finally got it into her thick skull that you're not a competitor after all , so now she's turned on her charm with you instead.  I'd continue to be wary thiough. People with that degree of self-interest don't change character overnight, and i do believe she'll make a really crappy supervisor, and is probably making somebody's life a misery, if not yours.

Like they say, people who really want to have positions of power are the last people we ought to appoint to the same 

[Al Swearegen]

 Thanks. Yes that other co-worker is gone and has moved to another department. Word is they refuse to have mewtings with her and the friction is palpable. Not my issue

[Al Swearegen]

After two hours unpaid overtime after work today I have a few misgivings.

My Manager is a gem. He really is the best. No stress. Not one of those that is overly fussy about when someone gets back from break and into work or when work is nuts. Very mellow. He expects people will do their jobs and does not suffer fools but so long as you put in and do your best he does not mind. As a consequence, everyone who works for him loves him. He also is prepared to back you if you are in the right. I know some of you may find it difficult to believe but I have had a couple of run-ins with a couple of people. I was in the right and sticking up for the team and my team mates and he said "Fair enough. Tell them to come to me if they have an issue". (They never did. In fact I never have spoken to those people since).

One thing I notice about him though is that he does not have pretty much any clue about what we do. He is all about knowing broadstrokes and processes and identifying when process fails or could be tightened. As a result he is not really an escalation point. He just forwards any escalations to me. He has a degree in IT but he has not got any clue of the technical aspects of what we do or the products. Like pretty much at all. He does not care to know. So people do not seek him out for that. I am one of the main points for that.

The last two days I was in back of house. We share this. Two days every fortnight or so. It is okay. Attending inboxes, logging cases. Attending issues, and queue management. Essentially the kind of work no one can get to ordinarily and is left for the back of house person or when you are really quiet, which pretty much doesn't happen. It is okay. It has variety which I like. We are REALLY behind because we are short staffed.

So my goal was to get in and smash it. Get the team up to date.

It fell into a hole from the moment I got in yesterday. Escalation after escalation, advice after advice, and helping out others. One of the guys who works around us who used to be Supervisor there, walked over and said "You up for a game of pool" I told him "I was getting fucking smashed" he said "Yeah, I can tell. You can only do what you can do. You have to start pushing back on some things, they rely on you too much". He was right (and he beat me in pool).

But it has me thinking. If I start filling in as Manager, who are my escalations and supervisor enquiry an specialist advice and training support all going to go to while I am trying to be Manager? The big one of the lot is escalations not just because the people who reach out to me are reaching out more often but they refer others to reach out to me too. Probably have to learn to delegate? Bit worried. I can see it all going to shit