Totally Frenched Out

From the blogger formerly known as Samdebretagne

Friday, April 30, 2010

The one in which I complain a lot

C is gone this week - he's in Toulon finishing up his marine reservist training - and I'm currently in the middle of packing two suitcases. One for this weekend and one for Monday. But let's backtrack a bit - had things gone as planned, I would've been gone this week as well. I had scheduled several customer visits, and was thinking how nice it would be to kill two birds with one stone and be gone a week that C was also gone.

Enter in my condescending co-worker. ie. the one who simultaneously talks to me like I'm slow and treats me like his b*tch.

I'm the only French-speaker in The Company, which means I get stuck with all of the francophone clients. Which also means I now have twice as many customers as my co-workers. So I took a look at my client list, found a handful who *cross-my-fingers* speak decent enough English, and asked my boss if I could give them away to a colleague to try and lighten my load. He said "Sure" - and then proceeded to give them to the aforementioned condescending co-worker.

Who then decided he absolutely HAD to come to France this week or hell would freeze over. And since he's the most senior person in my team, his needs take priority over mine and I had to cancel my visits.....so I could translate for him. WTF? That was the whole point of me choosing customers who spoke some English. He says it's just a one-time thing, but I highly doubt it. So way to go self, you just added even more to your workload.

The worst part is that he ended up changing his mind at the last minute and canceled everything. For whatever reason, he decided he wanted to move our visit to next week instead - ie the week that C has off and that we were supposed to spend together. Which means that not only could I have kept my original schedule, but also now I won't see C until late next week. The man essentially f"ed up two entire weeks for me. Thank you kind sir.

The one bright spot in the week is that I'll be leaving for Finland this evening with Miss Leyla - we're going to relive our glory days there and celebrate Vappu. (Though considering there is a high of 8°C this weekend, our celebrating might have to be indoors). The downside is that I won't get back until around 12:30am Sunday night - which normally wasn't supposed to be a big deal since I was supposed to have the week off - but now I have to head over to the train station at 6:30am Monday morning (again, thank you dear co-worker).

I don't take kindly to being talked to like an idiot, and even less so when I'm exhausted, so if you hear of one American off-ing another in Brittany early next week, you'll know exactly why....

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6 Comments:

Blogger Starman said...

Since the a**hole doesn't speak French, you could insult him while smiling sweetly.

April 30, 2010 at 8:17 PM  
Blogger wcs said...

Now Samantha. You really should just count your lucky stars that you have such a well-intentioned and talented colleague who takes the time to explain things to you in a way you can understand. Realize that it must be difficult for him to do his job AND think about how to help you to understand yours. After all, you are a woman. Need I say more? /snark

Bwahahahahaha! I like Starman's advice!

May 1, 2010 at 8:24 AM  
Blogger Nicole said...

I don't understand your company- you are the only French speaker and they have so many french-speaking clients that you can't even handle them all and instead of keeping you happy since they need you so badly, they make your life more difficult? Unbelieveable.
I think that you have to make sure that you are not under-valuing yourself and your contribution. When I was working freelance, I was complaining to a (male) friend about how I couldn't take vacation since I couldn't afford it. He asked what I was charging per hour and how I figured out my billing and basically pointed out that I was my own worst enemy. My company was obviously going to try to pay as little as possible and squeeze out the most that they could. So if I let them, and I didn't ask for anything more, it was my fault. He was so right. When I told them that I wanted to leave, they gave me everything I asked for PLUS more.
I definitely think that you need to tell your boss that you need them to work with you. 'Helping you out' by messing up your planning and cancelling your vacation is not cool.

May 1, 2010 at 11:31 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Poor you. I hate nasty colleagues! Just because they have a crappy attitude, they feel like they have to make everyone's life a living hell. I hope said colleague falls on his arse several times during the visit and that you get to witness it!

May 2, 2010 at 12:20 PM  
Blogger julia said...

One American swearing at another in Brittany?

Well, it'll make a change from the Brits!

May 2, 2010 at 7:00 PM  
Blogger Marie said...

Nicole is right, go for it.
You guys are so good at telling the truth in a very polite manner, with you most beautiful smile that, I am
sure, it will work.

May 29, 2010 at 3:31 PM  

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