I was in over my head at work yesterday. I usually program in a fairly easy language, but I was wrestling all day with a harder language. At 4:15 I was ready to give up, but I stayed on because 1) “It just might work this time” (as opposed to the last eight hours) and 2) the Boss of All Bosses was going cube to cube, introducing a new UnderBoss.
I had a very complex set of code on my screen, I was the only person from my team in the office, and I wanted credit for being there and for being smart, so I kept plugging away until they could make it to my desk.
They were an aisle away from my cube when I solved the problem I’d been working on all day. Since the Big Boss Lady was in the vicinity, I stifled my usual victory whoop, and quietly did the happy chair dance.
Happy Code Victory Dance lasted a few seconds and quickly turned into the Time to Leave Dance.
Unfortunately, the Boss Train hadn’t made it to my cube yet, so I sat in my chair and rolled to the edge of the aisle and peeked around the corner. I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them, and I leaned on the arm and tilted farther into the aisle to catch a glimpse.
Don’t tilt while sitting in a rolling chair.
The chair rolled out from under me and launched me into the aisle, where I landed in a heap at the feet of the Bosses who had just rounded the corner.
Surprisingly, I didn’t curse as I was going down. I remember saying “Nooooo” as the floor rushed to greet me. And then of course I had to laugh when I saw the shoes of the Bosses, who were very concerned to see me on the carpet.
I stopped laughing and reached up to shake hands with the New Boss. “So pleased to meet you.”
Big Boss waited till I was on my feet to say, “This is Ellen, she’s one of our smartest programmers,” in a feeble effort to paint me as someone who doesn’t usually spontaneously shoot out into the aisle floor. I thought about saying I lost my balance because I was top-heavy because my head was swollen from a programming victory.
Instead I said, “Oh yes, I’m very smart. I’m just sooo imposing.”
2 responses to “In Which I Meet the New Boss”
I wish I worked in your office. It would be worth it, just to have seen this!
Hattie- no one saw it – most people heard it, though. It was a commotion.