My office is the only actual office on the first floor of my building. Couple this with my being female and there is an immediate assumption that I am here to serve. If someone stops in with a quick question, I try to do my best to provide a qualified answer, something like “well I think, but I am not sure, that person’s office is inside the vault, if it isn’t, you might check with one of the admins upstairs in room X, they will know”. In my own mind that is akin to saying “I am going to be helpful to you, but this isn’t my job”. In a polite manner, of course.
Today I am sitting at my desk, kind of. I have my laptop on my lap, working away. My desktop is busy running simulations, so everything is essentially locked up.
A small, thin, older woman who I didn’t know comes into my office, barks at me, “I am late would you call Jane Doe (who I had no idea who this person was) and have her meet me outside”. She starts to turn around.
I don’t often get just really rude interactions like this. Most people are at least pleasant and say please. Please would have garnered at least a little less rudeness in my voice.
“Actually, I have a phone here, you can feel free to borrow my phone to call this person, but I am busy,” I tell her.
“Well I am running behind,” she whines to me. When she sees me look at her blankly knowing that I don’t give a rats ass, she succumbs. “Well can you at least look her phone number up for me on PopFon?”
“Actually no, I can’t,” I tell her honestly. “My computer is running simulations and is locked.”
She huffs at me and puts her hands on her hips. This I love, “you are incredibly unhelpful”.
“My projects don’t pay me to be helpful to random people walking by my office, they pay me to do science,” I tell her.
“Well I thought you were an admin,” she says while walking off.
Can I just note that at no point was there ever a please, a thank you, a sorry to bother you, nothing. This just leads me to believe that admins have to be the most abused people around. I am always conscious of my pleases and thank you’s when working with my admins (or someone else’s), apparently not everyone is. Hug your admin today. Or wait, don’t do that, you could get in trouble for sexual harassment. Just say “thanks”.
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