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22 November, 2008

Ugly Betty Ugly Betty Ugly Betty

(sorry, I wanted to see if she'd pop out of my computer monitor like Bloody Mary or Beetlejuice!)

I caught up on the last three episodes of Ugly Betty last night. I really love that show, but I have to be in the right mood to watch it. That's why DVRs are so great!

The story arc of the last episode was about Betty trying to get into a management training program and how her boss was supporting her, but was too busy chasing around a pretty girl to help her with her presentation or write her letter of recommendation. At the end of the episode, he made it up to her by writing her a six-page letter of recommendation and calling the judges to speak to them personally. And she got in. And he said the same thing he has said every other time the story takes Betty to a higher place - I hope that you're still here a while longer because you're great, but I know you won't be here forever because you're great. And I'm proud of you and I support you. (yeah, total misquote... that's why I didn't put it in quotes!)

I'm about to indulge in a paragraph or two of pointless whining, so please stop reading now if you might be inclined to say something snarky or mean.

And so, I had a total moment of "waaaaaaaaah - nobody I work with cares whether I ever do anything other than what I'm doing right now." I've been banging my head against this wall for over a year - I ask to learn new things and I ask for different responsibilities and what they hear is "Jamie needs more busy work." I also told both of my managers in the past two days that they are bad managers for not nominating one single person for the quarterly award since I got it last August. "What do you think that says to your employees that you don't think enough of any of them to nominate them?" I even sent them reminders for the past two quarters! In a company that prides itself on its advancement training and its culture of recognition, this location falls dreadfully short.

That moment in Ugly Betty took me back to that feeling I get every time I watch Finding Nemo. "Waaaaah - my dad would never cross an entire ocean and battle sharks and jellyfish to see me. He won't even battle my Wicked Step Mother!" Sigh...

And thus concludes my whine for the day.

3 comments:

Data Byte said...

Welcome to the world of the "support role"
It's the same here in 911 or my other job doing Tech, the support guy just doesn't get the credit.

Anonymous said...

Your favorite books and movies very often resonate deep into your psyche. (When Walt Disney was alive, he was really good at it!) It's always a winner when a "little guy" slays his dragon and rescues his Nemo ... or when Wesley comes back for Buttercup.

On some level you need to know that you have a hero coming for you that will face anything and pay any price to save you.

That notion is the seed of eternity that is planted into every human heart. Your very life depends on that hope.

Minima said...

My sympathies. I know good bosses are rare. I don't think I've had one that was interested in "mentoring" since the 80s. I guess it's just a different world now.