it'sthatbad

Friday was the kind of work day I like best.  M does not work on Fridays and C called in sick (which she does quite frequently).  That meant it was me and N and R, the team I far prefer.  However, N made the mistake of opening a file in the shared drive to ask me a question, during which I noticed that the entire team had neglected to do some important paper work that was meant to be done back in October.

I was mad.  It isn't that I am a person who yells and screams - because I don't - but I was mad, clearly mad.  N tried to tell me he didn't know he was supposed to do this paperwork, but then meekly subsided when we found that he had actually started one of the forms and didn't finish it.  Clearly he knew he was meant to do it because at some point he had started.  (R wasn't part of the team at this time so he was out of the line of fire.)  C and M hadn't even started.  I wasn't in the least bit surprised by M because she consistently does not do her job, but I was surprised and extra annoyed by C, who dislikes being asked to do anything because she already knows everything.  R witnessed me ranting but did not say a word.  At the time I thought I was educating him (potentially) about the importance of doing his paperwork lest his Department Head lose her shit.

At the end of the day, R stopped by my office to chat.  It wasn't until he left that I realized he had sneakily been counselling me for the last twenty minutes.  With all the apparent naiveté of a twenty-something counselling student he doled out some very gentle wisdom, gently enough I almost didn't notice he had given it to me, or that I had taken it.  It was quite lovely.  It gave me clarity to let N off the hook (since he was already squirming), to address it with C on Monday morning (calmly), and to ignore M with purpose and decisiveness.  It is my opinion that R is going to be a better counsellor than any of us.  He spoke to me about relinquishing that which doesn't belong to us.  I think I like listening to him because he comes off like a bit of a dumb jock, but then surprises me with his insight and vocabulary.  It's disarming.

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