For every little step: Report/update Lodi. His requirement.
So sure, as to be expected, he told me to update him before he ran off to one of his meetings.
I resume working on the task. For this step, I need to upload a spreadsheet file to a site. He has already signed off on the file without actually checking it.
His way of checking was checking one row of the spreadsheet.
Anyway, I open the site to where I need to upload this file.
And the site is down.
Down, down, down, down, down
I refreshed. Still down.
I refreshed again. Still down.
I waited a few minutes. Refreshed. Still down.
5 minutes. Refreshed. 10 minutes. Refreshed.
Still down.
Nothing else to do.
Lodi was still in a meeting. Voices are rising.
So I moved on to my next task.
Moving on
After a while, I received a call from Lodi, while washing my hands.
He does this when he doesn’t see me at my desk for 2 seconds because he panics and assumes I’m not working on any of my tasks.
Well, I’d have to go to the restroom from time to time!
When able, I called him back.
He said he’s back at his desk for a few minutes before he needs to jump to another meeting.
He asked for an update on the file upload task.
Unreasonableness
“The site was down. I couldn’t upload the file,” I said.
“YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOCKED ON THE DOOR EVEN WHEN I’M IN A MEETING AND TOLD ME ABOUT THIS,” he says, his voice rising.
In my head, I was thinking, what are you gonna do about it, punk? This their server? You’re as tech illiterate as my 5-year-old sister.
“I know you’re trying to be courteous by not interrupting the meeting but I’ve told you numerous times to just knock on the door and I’ll let you know if I can jump out to receive your updates or not,” he continues.
“OK,” I say, not wanting to argue or say anything more, hoping he’ll shut up and let me continue working.
All the while I know why he wants up-to-the-minute updates: It’s his way of micromanaging and computing the time it takes me to do my tasks.
Because his theme song is one of the greatest songs of all time by The Police:
Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watchin’ you