The New Girl

There's a new girl in Cube City, and it shows. Due to the craptastic and seemingly bottomless recession, few people have left the company, and even fewer have joined.

But one who has recently joined is stunningly incompetent. With all the joblessness in this country, you'd think we could at least get a solid candidate in the door. Not so. The new girl doesn't have any idea what she's doing, and I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard. Her boss says to give her 6 to 9 months to learn the ropes.

I'm fine with giving someone time to learn, and I'm also fine with helping them along the way. It's when they don't know basic information, like the order of events they are supposed to be organizing so that we all get our work done on time, that I think, "This person spent a lot more time lying and selling herself in the interview than in learning the ropes once she got hired."

It's important to raise the flag in Cube City to save yourself because perceptions can change very quickly. The new girl is supposed to set up meetings and keep projects on track, but she acts like she has no idea what to do. So here's what happens. I miss meetings and people figure I'm too busy to attend. Uh, no, I was never invited and therefore was unaware that the meeting was taking place. So once I realize that I'm out of the loop, there's a two-hour meeting to get me up to speed on what I missed. Another example? A project is delayed for weeks, and I'm told not to start until someone gives me the green light. Then suddenly, on a Wednesday, the new girl says, "Hey, just looking to see where you are with this project because it's due tomorrow." WHUT?!!!

Luckily, a lot of people have had the same issues with the new girl. Otherwise, they'd think my work is slipping because of me, not because of her.

I hope to survive the new girl's learning curve. I hope she survives too because instead of teaching her the ropes, I'd like to strangle her with them. I've worked weekends to meet deadlines I didn't know about until the last minute...because of her. I've sacrificed vacation days to make up for her mistakes. And she doesn't even seem to be learning from her mistakes! It just makes me mad!

I suppose her being the new girl makes me the old girl, but I'm fine with that. It's the one time I'm okay with being old. New is not necessarily shiny or better.