Anger Management

Kristen has been storming around the office for the last week or so – she’s been a real bitch. There’s no other way to put it. On Mondays we have a status meeting (Tuesday this week) – I’m told this is by design, so that if you have work that didn’t get done by Friday you have the weekend to catch up before anyone notices. Make the status meetings on Friday, and folks get dinged for being late then take off for the weekend. Seems like a dirty conspiracy to make us work more. Although, being so recently unemployed I’m not complaining.

Anyway, at the meeting, Kristen asks me about some changes to the project plans.

“I wasn’t aware of any changes. When did this happen?”

“On Saturday.” She roared at me. “Rich, this is an internet startup not a damn country club. We need to get this to market before anyone else. That means giving it all you have. This is not a 9 to 5 job. You should have been here Saturday instead of out playing with your boats. If this project is successful everyone in this room will be handsomely paid. If you’re not willing to put in the effort, make room for someone who will. There are a lot of folks who would give everything they have to be working with this team.” She looked away in disgust. She turned back to me and said softly, but with venom, “Rich, your goofing off could cost everyone in this room millions.”

I sat stunned. I had been putting in a pretty healthy effort – and getting my work done early. Generally, I was doing more than expected. But I was spending a fair amount of time paddling. I still have a lot of trouble sleeping – I usually wake up around 5 – I’ve hardly bothered with breakfast since the breakup. So I grab a granola bar and some fruit and go paddling for an hour or so. I usually get back home by 7. I shower and shave and am in the office by 8. If I don’t paddle I’m in at 6. The average start time is 11. We usually work though lunch and dinner – which is provided by the company. I usually go home between 9 and 10. Most folks knock off around 11. If I’m thoroughly exhausted I go to sleep after arriving home. If I start tossing and turning I’ll pull out the laptop and go until I can’t keep my eyes open – about 2 a.m. I work about half of the Saturdays and Sundays – but usually only for 6 to 8 hours. Once or twice a week I’ll have dinner with a friend, and knock off at 6 or 7. All told I think I’m averaging about 75 hours a week.

I did agree to see Sarah on Thursday night – but the rest of my week was clear. I could out last everyone else if they needed to see a show of effort.

“Hey.” Wayne, my boss, said raising his hands. “Rich has been good worker. He had his cell, you could have called him if you needed him. He’s been keeping up with everyone – he puts in at least as many hours as you do.”

“I don’t give a shit about how many hours he puts in.” Kristen yelled, now aimed at Wayne. “We need results. He needs to produce.”

Wayne looked at [the CEO]. “He does produce.” He looked up at Kristen. “Can we have a moment?” He stood up and took Kristen outside of the conference room.

[The CEO] laughed nervously and shook his head – most folks followed suit. There are 16 people in the company now, and we all fit in the conference room. We could hear yelling outside, but the words were muffled and unrecognizable. After about 2 minutes [the CEO] stood up and went to the door. “Hey, guys, we have work to do here. Can you resolve this later?”

Kristen and Wayne came back in the conference room, but you could feel the tension.

]Whatever she and Paul are going through, I hope they work it out soon.

Today I left a bottle of Zinfandel on Kristen’s desk, with a brief note that said “You seem a little down lately. I hope this helps. – Rich.”

I got e-mail from her a couple of hours later. “Thanks” was all it said.