Liberation at last

I hate to go to work and have "fake" relationships. You know the kind. You sugar-coat the truth and smile politely even though the work is sub-par. Well....that's soooooo not me. Nevertheless, I do try to excercise some tact and decency when trying to give criticism. I figure I like when people tell me the truth even if it's not what I want to hear. There is nothing good about thinking your work is good and the big boss comes in and gives you the Look. The what the hell were you thinking look.

With this in mind, I recently had a new boss walk into the picture. Being the independent thinker and rebellious person that I am, our interactions had been not great. She made some unprofessional comments about my work. Rather than talk to me about it, she voiced it to the remainder of the staff, and I was pretty pissed off. I tried to remain calm. Am I really hearing this in my head? What is the context? What can I do about this. I decided my best course of action was to just sit her down and let it out.

This morning I asked her to step into the office so we could speak. I had made notes and done some breathing exercises to focus my mind and such. I addressed the issues and braced my self for her intense reaction. To my surprise, she was actually dismayed at how her behavior had been received/interpreted. She apologized and we were able to actually discuss business without either of our egos getting squelched.

I am normally one who prefers to work with men because they are more straight forward and less likely to back stab and gossip. I was impressed by how well she was able to handle what was discussed and her ability to take it as simply rectifying a business relationship. Wow.....the female perception has just been enhanced for me. Let's just hope she's not secretly plotting my death.