Working for 9 - "5"'s, What a Way to Make a Living!
Last week turned out to be pretty fantastic, well... all except for that whole "Mr. Right falling through the ceiling and leaving a pretty impressive butt prink in the hood of my car" thing. The rest of the week seemed to go a lot more smoothly, even with the tornadic weather with the downpouring of stone-sized hail and the temperature that will not setting into a routine. 70's one day and 30's the next. Just one more reason to love living in Kansas.
Our office is going to move somewhere, and I told my boss that I found the perfect spot for it. Cancun! He laughed and said we would probably be the only two who would go for it. I'm pretty sure I'd go even if it meant going with just him... I'm sure I could convince Mr. Right that he could handle things on this end until the sun decides to cooperate at home. I just want winter to be over. (And I'm pretty sure that Mr. Right would only let me go without him over his dead body...)
On the plus side of work, my two year anniversary just passed. It also meant that it was time for my yearly review. Our area of the country in this company was in on a new beta program for employee assessments. It was a neat program that has each employee evaluate, analyze and define his/her strengths and weaknesses. Having natural ability to communicate well in written form, I loved going through each of the nine categories that they defined, answering in detail each and every given category. If anything, I bet the computer was grumbling, "Just say you're perfect and move on already." And it would have been right, in my not-so-humble opinion...
For the most part, I can say that I've had an excellent time in this position. I've only had a handful of days/situations that I can remember that were awful - you know those days when nothing seems to go the way it should, and it's even worse because you mostly out-of-town boss happened to be in the offices on just those days. Have I mentioned that my boss has an excellent memory? Those days just suck... Oh, and I don't enjoy my ever -expanding backside which is an unwanted side effect from sitting most of the day. (But I'm working on that one.) Other than those two things, I have to say that since I must work so that we can eat, I love being in this office and in this position. God has truly blessed me here.
Anyway, the written evaluation and my manager review happened to coincide in the timing. So it was convenient that after submitting my written evaluationto my manager for his comments and rating a month earlier, I had to go into his office for my one-on-one discussion about my work.
He began the review by stating that he believed it should be hard to receive the highest rating of "5" in each of the categories. He felt that that rating should be reserved for the cream of the crop, used only for the most outstanding performances in that area and that a "5", in his mind, means perfection. He went on to say that a "4" should only be used in cases where the work is still exceptional and the employee exceeded expectations of what was considered the norm. He also told me that he felt that review should be contingient to whether or not an employee should receive a raise.
To my delight, I received four "5" ratings and five "4" ratings. He declared that he was excessively pleased that I'm his assistant, gave me a couple of pointers in areas that he would like to see me improve and and then emailed HR immediately to put my raise into effect on the next check.
And that, my friends, made for a very grand Friday.
And it gives me a goal to add a few more "5"'s to that evaluation next year...
And even though I don't feel this way today, I love this card. Because there was one day in particular about a month ago that I felt this way, right about the time that I needed to submit the aforementioned evaluation. My boss was in the office, everything that I touched turned to mud and I'm sure tears weren't far behind. I remember telling him that I needed to leave early to either go back to bed or to hit a bar, and it was only 11 in the morning. If I recall correctly, he gave me a loooong lunch hour that day...
And yeah, he did mention that day in the review. At least he laughed about it, too.
Our office is going to move somewhere, and I told my boss that I found the perfect spot for it. Cancun! He laughed and said we would probably be the only two who would go for it. I'm pretty sure I'd go even if it meant going with just him... I'm sure I could convince Mr. Right that he could handle things on this end until the sun decides to cooperate at home. I just want winter to be over. (And I'm pretty sure that Mr. Right would only let me go without him over his dead body...)
On the plus side of work, my two year anniversary just passed. It also meant that it was time for my yearly review. Our area of the country in this company was in on a new beta program for employee assessments. It was a neat program that has each employee evaluate, analyze and define his/her strengths and weaknesses. Having natural ability to communicate well in written form, I loved going through each of the nine categories that they defined, answering in detail each and every given category. If anything, I bet the computer was grumbling, "Just say you're perfect and move on already." And it would have been right, in my not-so-humble opinion...
For the most part, I can say that I've had an excellent time in this position. I've only had a handful of days/situations that I can remember that were awful - you know those days when nothing seems to go the way it should, and it's even worse because you mostly out-of-town boss happened to be in the offices on just those days. Have I mentioned that my boss has an excellent memory? Those days just suck... Oh, and I don't enjoy my ever -expanding backside which is an unwanted side effect from sitting most of the day. (But I'm working on that one.) Other than those two things, I have to say that since I must work so that we can eat, I love being in this office and in this position. God has truly blessed me here.
Anyway, the written evaluation and my manager review happened to coincide in the timing. So it was convenient that after submitting my written evaluationto my manager for his comments and rating a month earlier, I had to go into his office for my one-on-one discussion about my work.
He began the review by stating that he believed it should be hard to receive the highest rating of "5" in each of the categories. He felt that that rating should be reserved for the cream of the crop, used only for the most outstanding performances in that area and that a "5", in his mind, means perfection. He went on to say that a "4" should only be used in cases where the work is still exceptional and the employee exceeded expectations of what was considered the norm. He also told me that he felt that review should be contingient to whether or not an employee should receive a raise.
To my delight, I received four "5" ratings and five "4" ratings. He declared that he was excessively pleased that I'm his assistant, gave me a couple of pointers in areas that he would like to see me improve and and then emailed HR immediately to put my raise into effect on the next check.
And that, my friends, made for a very grand Friday.
And it gives me a goal to add a few more "5"'s to that evaluation next year...
And even though I don't feel this way today, I love this card. Because there was one day in particular about a month ago that I felt this way, right about the time that I needed to submit the aforementioned evaluation. My boss was in the office, everything that I touched turned to mud and I'm sure tears weren't far behind. I remember telling him that I needed to leave early to either go back to bed or to hit a bar, and it was only 11 in the morning. If I recall correctly, he gave me a loooong lunch hour that day...
And yeah, he did mention that day in the review. At least he laughed about it, too.
posted by Shalee at 9:01 AM
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