I'm the Pod Bitch

and... I'm kinda likin' it. Something about being in my 40's, but I'm just not going to take anyone's shit anymore.

Even though I like my pod neighbor, the one who brings in his stinky breakfasts, AGAIN, after I asked him not to and explained that everyone complained about it, I'm not taking his shit, either. He stopped bringing his breakfasts in for a while, but he's back at it now. This morning, at 8:00 am, he was eating something that looked like sausage and shrimp over pasta, some kind of brown sauce, and spicy! Onions and garlic. I mean, onions and GARLIC!!. Lunchtime, dinnertime, that might smell ok. Early in the morning, particularly this PMSing morning o' mine, it was enough to make me wanna barf. It smelled so awful that I got a stomach ache and had to take 2 Tums. Grrr...

So I played my tattle-tale card and went and invited the boss to wander on over to our pod. He got half-way there and could smell the boy's breakfast. Suffice to say it would be a rare individual who would have enjoyed that aroma early this morning. Boss-man didn't give any details, and I don't need 'em... he just said he'd handle it. (And he's great, so I know he will.)

And THEN...

I ragged on one of the accountants. This chick is smart, in fact, I think she could be very intelligent, she's just not too bright. Yesterday she sent a kazillion reports to the printer, and once AGAIN, all in error. She couldn't figure out AGAIN how to cancel her print jobs, so she left it. Oh, she'd go over and unload the printed sheets, immediately tossing them, but then she left for lunch. That left everyone else in the pod to continuously remove her print jobs and keep refilling the paper drawers. They were waiting for their reports and just figured someone sure had a lot of stuff to print. We're still doing some quarter close junk, so big print jobs aren't all that uncommon. It is uncommon, though, to print 10 reams of paper over the course of a couple of hours, causing such a waste of supplies and other people's time, and just, hey, go to lunch. The damn printer cartridge alone costs about $150.

This woman is kind of quiet, but she's uppity, too. And I don't dislike her, in fact, I've enjoyed talking with her. But yesterday was too much. I went and asked her if she was totally clear on how to cancel a print job. Then she started excusing it all like she'd done nothing wrong. Not the best tactic. Not this morning. I chewed her out Big Time. Albeit, in a very professional manner, explaining the consequences of her actions regarding the printer and ensuring she understood her responsibilities and how it affects us all. Oh, and please don't break the printer, because I'm pretty sure we'd have trouble getting a replacement. Budget and all that. At one point, I thought she was going to cry... oh no, not because I hurt her feelings, but I think because I well and truly pissed her off. But she knew I was right.

So did my other pod neighbor, who said, "you go, girl" when I got done.

I caused commotion in our pod this morning, but holy crap, it was 'bout time!