Thoughts circling like buzzards

[grammarwoman]

It's not been the best of weeks so far. I had hoped that I'd have long, leisurely stretches of no one bothering me here at work so I could write up some of my con recaps. (Salaried status has to have its perks sometimes, right?)

Instead, I've been doing clean-up work in someone else's code for a major project that got released over the weekend. Each program that I've fixed in a speedy and efficient manner (having been interrupted every half hour or so with "This is high priority - are you done yet?") has been greeted with a "Now do this one." No "Thank you.", no "Good job!", just "Next". In between I've been treated with contempt, like I'm the idiot who wrote the broken code in the first place.

It's ridiculous how draining this has been; I've arrived home every night feeling mentally exhausted and beaten. I'm trying to formulate a suitable "you moved my cheese" response, like "I feel that I perform better when you positively acknowledge my efforts before assigning me new work", but I'm afraid that halfway through the statement I'd lose it and snarl "Didn't your mother teach you to say thanks, fuckhead?!"

But hey, at least I still have my job, right? Seeing as the news just broke this morning that a part of our printing business is being sold to another company, so about 16 positions were eliminated with no notice and token severance.

I've got to get out of here, and soon.

Comments

[byrneout.livejournal.com]

In unrelated news, have you seen this (http://www.slate.com/id/2198746/)? I know you are a glasses-intensive household, so when I read it I thought of you.

[grammarwoman]

That looks positively wonderful; we'll have to check them out the next time the Emperor busts another pair of frames.

Thanks for thinking of me!

[samwize.livejournal.com]

Just respond to whatever they say with a polite "You're welcome." They'll get the point.

[grammarwoman]

Huh. That's a thought.

[samwize.livejournal.com]

I've used this to good effect several times. The key is to respond exactly as if they had said "Thank you.". Zero sarcasm allowed. And if they say "Uh... I didn't say `Thank you'." Just respond with "Hmm." or ignore the comment.

[hecateuse.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Do not say it with the same inflection you'd say "Piss off and die", no matter how deserved. You gotta say it nicely or it backfires.

*sigh* People are trainable in SO many of the same ways as dogs.

[grammarwoman]

Can I think "Piss off and die" really, really hard instead?