Annoyances

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Snipped and x-posted from my own LJ.

...is when I'm followed into my office when I get in... please, please, just let me get settled in first! My job is to get everything functional, yes. That means I won't be outright rude to you, even though I might want to be. Obviously, I'll attend to your concern as soon as I can fit it in and it needs it - but first, I will turn on my computer and check both my email and my voicemail. I will also likely set up my laptop, and possibly would like to change into the company supplied clothing hanging besides you. Sadly, you are currently telling me about your issue - which more often than not is not that urgent (ed. - the people who follow me into my office don't bring critical problems, I've noticed. They speak of malfunctioning printers and such) - which in turn means that I cannot change, nor can I check my voicemail without being overtly rude. I can, however, put it on speakerphone, which might (should) tell you something.

The second is the assumption of immediate availability. Again, this is often from those who follow succinct paths of work, instead of those doing eight projects at once like I and much of management does. This is always made by the same people, often the perps of the above crime, but not always. It should be, and is, obvious to most people that if I'm working on an issue, the best way to get a solution to your issue is *not* to walk up and start talking to the back of my head about it, assuming I'm listening (I am, but in annoyance that increases forthwith.) Therefore, you should not be surprised when I turn around and tell you to hold on a second, or continue the previous conversation you jumped in on. It's not part of my job description to be rude, and I will probably apologize about it, but the fact that computers are not your native language (that's ok, believe me, I don't know a thing about the stuff you maintain) doesn't mean that you have a free license to interrupt me with a request that turns out to be as simple as deselecting a checkbox.

Note: This includes, oddly enough, using "Alert" instead of call on a phone. I don't understand why - they're functionally the same, but I find one far ruder - especially when it's, again, a relatively minor issue. Of course, that's a whole 'nother barrel of frothing monkeys.