Dear Mr(s) Boss(wo)man
Dear Mrs. Bosswoman,
Hello, how are you this fine day? Last time I ventured out of my cubicle it was the sun was still shining and all was right with the world. I think I may have even heard you laugh just a moment ago. Oh joy.
I just wanted to write this little note in reference to my recent tardiness here at The Firm.
I realize that you don't live very far away and have a very loving husband, who will drive you to work when the weather is bad or you just don't feel like walking to the metro to take your one stop to The Firm. I think it's great that you have such a loving husband. Three cheers for you!
However, I am not that lucky. I do not have a loving, or otherwise, husband who will drive me to work. Heck, not even a boyfriend I can call on when needed. Nor do I own a car that could take me from point A to point B. I, my boss, am stuck with the Metro. And to make matters worse, not just the metro (as in trains) but also the bus. Yes, I must take both to get to The Firm.
I'm not sure, but unless you've been living in the office the last week or have had blinders on your entire body from all the love in your home (yes, a baby is on the way!), but it's been raining. A lot. So much so, that everyone is pretty much crippled from doing anything. Today, the sun is shining, but yesterday and last night, rain, my dear boss, RAIN. Thankfully none of my worldy possessions have been ruined by this rain, save for a pair of flip flops that can't seem to dry out and a few gross looking pants' hems, but that is not the same for the rest of the area.
However, the metro is not fine. There are delays. Traffic. Crazy drivers and tourists that get in my way when trying to get to The Firm. This morning was no different. Despite the sun, the water was still all around and my normal commute was a bit longer than expected.
"Then why don't you check the weather/the news/wmata.com for delays?" You may ask. "I did" is my answer. I checked all three so that I knew that I could leave at my normal time and still get to work on time and plenty early for our 9 a.m conference call that I, technically, did not need to be on. But that was not the case. No, traffic was miserable and yours truly did not arrive until 9:11 a.m.
After the call you were cold to me. Didn't you know that I was beating myself up over my faux pas? Isn't the self-inflicted punishment enough for you?
I guess not, because after we had a check-in you mentioned, almost as a side bar:
"Thanks for the call this morning about being late. But, you need to just leave home earlier. Thankfully you did not need to be on the call this morning, but what about if we needed you? You need to work on this. I'm not a morning person either, but you need to be here for your calls and meetings that are planned. You should be able to get here by 9, if not a little earlier if you have a call at 9 a.m."
"Oh, um...Ok. Yes, sorry," was all I could muster.
But as I returned to my desk I started thinking. I realize that I was late, and yes it's my fault for not ensuring that I would arrive in time for the 9 a.m. call (that I didn't need to be a part of), but what is not my fault is a little thing called water and what it does to people in the District. Maybe you've forgotten, but people here are scared or something of the rain. They can't seem to handle it. Imagine their fret when the rain stopped but the water was.still.there.
I'm sorry that the metro was not up to your expectations causing me, your beloved (or loathed?) employee to be late. I will do all in my power to strike metro down. I will use the death stare that you have so perfectly perfected and use all powers of persuasion to stronghold metro to their promise of on time trains and busses. I will do my best boss woman. I will make you proud.
OR I will just be really pissed at your ignorance as to why I was late.
Either way, I'm sure it'll all work out in the end.
Thanks for this heart-to-heart. Have a great day!
C$
posted by C$ @ 3:49 PM
4 Comments:
Wow! I can't believe she would say that to you after the rain we had. That's so ridiculous!
As someone who's apartment flooded and didn't even make it into work on Monday, your boss is lucky you were only 11 minutes late.
Yeah. My same thoughts exactly, eh. It seems like nothing I say/do is good enough for her.
Good thing it's evaluation time coming up :/
Is there an earlier train? Was the train late more than once? If it is always late, why don't you make an earlier schedule? I don't think it is unreasonable for a boss to expect the employees to get to work on time. You must be in your twenties right? It cracks me up how you girls think you are entitled to be late, entitled to take just any day off, entitled to go home because you're feeling crampy. We, the bosses became bosses by getting to work on time every day, putting up with harrassement before it was called harassment and working through PMS...no excuses. Your boss has earned the right to be late once in a while, and luck has nothing to do with it.
You have got to be kidding about the rain crippling your city, right? Try visiting Seattle sometime. Very productive people and it rains all the time. Somehow, they manage to get to work on time.
Wow! Anon, I'm not really sure what to say, but I will do my best to address all of your points.
The DC metro runs on a "schedule," but that schedule is rarely ever on time. So even though there is technically an 'earlier" train, that doesn’t mean it’ll actually show up earlier or arrive any earlier than the later train.
Secondly, because I rely on a bus to get me to the metro (the subway system here in DC) traffic is usually the largest problem with getting to work on time. I can leave my house at the same time every day and arrive at work a different time each day. Sometimes a little early, sometimes right on time, sometimes a little later OR in the case last week, A LOT later. Not a heck of a lot I can do about drivers in the DC metro area not being able to handle a little rain or learn how to keep driving when there is an accident on the side of the road.
I am in my twenties, but what does that have to do with anything? Do you think that just 'cause I'm not 30+ I'm not mature? Well, I beg to differ. I grew up very fast living in a single parent household and can hold my own very well. I also have much more practical work experience than the average twenty-something. Hey, how about this, let's compare resumes some day and see where you were when you were 23.
Not once, have I ever, EVER used the "I’m female" card. I've never left work because I had cramps or 'was having a bad day.' I didn't do it while in school nor in my professional life. How stereotypical for you to judge me based on my gender. What are you an asshole just 'cause your a man, a boss?
And lastly, it wasn't me who said that DC was crippled because of the rain. It was the federal gov't, the media, the rest of the country who remarked about how inefficient DC was due to the massive amounts of rain in the short periods of time. How am I to blame for that? Seattle was built for rain, or at least it was excepted. DC can't handle any type of weather outside of normal. Heat? Can't handle. Snow? GOD no, everything shuts down. 3 feet of rain in 24 hours, yeah the city shuts down and public transportation is halted. What do you want me to do about that?
Let me just get this straight, rain was not the problem. In fact, it was the flooding of all metro stations. When you arrive to your local station and are told "hey you can't get to work because the station is closed and flooded. Deal with it." what would YOU, Anon, like me to do?
The reason I was mad at my boss had nothing to do with the fact that she was angry with me for being late. If it had been a perfectly beautiful day and the trains were running on schedule, traffic was clear and I got to work just 'cause I slept in; fine, be mad at me and request that I get to work on time.
BUT, that isn't what happened. I woke up early, checked the Metro website, watched the news, everything seemed to be in the clear. No alerts, no warnings, no station closings. So I got on my regular bus to head to the train. But traffic happened and the trains were running behind schedule....hmmm...what would you like me to do?
and BTW, driving is not an option, nor would it ensure that I would arrive on time. Please, send me your suggestions, oh wise, older boss man.
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