Lifestyles of the poor and nameless

Let's play a game: if your job was an island like the one on the show "Survivor", which one of your co-workers would you vote off first? Although it's a close call for me, I think that in the first week I'd have to get rid of a co-worker named "Roberta".

On the surface, Roberta seems like a very nice person. However, I've noticed that she has some "unsavory" characteristics. So I'd have to let her go.

The first day I got here, my computer was not set up. Tech support was supposed to come up and do it, but I got impatient and decided to do it myself. Roberta comes along and sees the computer connected. She asked if I had access to network mail and I said no, it didn't seem like it. She sat at my workstation and scrolled through the menu options. At that point, our boss passed by and said "hey...you got a computer!" Before I can respond, Roberta jumps in and says "yeah, it was here and I set it up." ARGH! That was supposed to be my first chance to show our boss that I was a "take-charge" type of person who wouldn't wait around for things to happen. And Roberta stole my thunder. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That's right. Female dog.

Over the course of the next couple weeks, similar incidents occurred. Roberta had a project to do and she handily passed it off to me--- knowing that I had no clue what it was about, and also knowing that it involved reading through a huge manual that everyone hated. I couldn't say no. She was "in charge" while our boss was on vacation. I completed the task to the best of my ability, but there was one issue that couldn't be resolved. I highlighted the issue and gave it back to her, but she kept pushing it back on me: "why don't you ask John about that?" *sigh* So I asked John and he didn't know. He suggested that I call Janet in another department and ask her. Janet was out for the day and when she got back, she said she wasn't sure, so I should call Henry in Chicago and ask him. I told Roberta of this runaround and she suggested that I keep following up. Curses!

Of course there have also been the times when Roberta knew I was trying to leave to catch my train and 5 minutes before I have to leave, she comes at me with some "urgent" matter that needs to be addressed right then and there. So I miss the train and have to wait 25 minutes for the next one.

For these reasons and more, Roberta--- "you're fired!" Oh, my bad. Wrong show. Roberta is voted off the island.