After a year and a half in my current job, I’ve pretty much gotten used to being the “Go-to” girl – the one that everybody seems to come to when they need help with something. Most of the time it’s computer- or copy machine-related, but occasionally they’ll come to me for other things. Eventually you have to learn when they really need help and when they just need a little encouragement to do it themselves, otherwise, you spend your whole day helping everyone else while the pile of work on your desk just keeps growing and growing and growing…
For the most part my coworkers are pretty good about their requests. Every once in awhile, however, I get one that just makes me go, “HUH?” This week, I’ve gotten 2 so far…and it’s only Wednesday. Is there a full moon this week?
The first one was at least understandable – no one wants to deal with a clogged up toilet, especially when they weren’t the one doing the clogging. But geez, I’m pretty sure that the word “Maintenance” doesn’t appear anywhere in my contract, so why come and tell me about it? It took everything in me to smile and say, “Ok,” when a teacher came to report to me that the ladies’ room toilet was about to overflow. All I kept thinking was, if you were at home, what would you do? Pick up the plunger that is *right next to the toilet in question* perhaps, and take care of the problem?
The second incident just serves to prove that some people shouldn’t be allowed near computers. One of the teachers was typing something on the staff computer in the office that is adjacent to mine. As I stood in my office talking to another coworker, the teacher in question turns and starts grinning and waving at me through the plexiglass that separates the two rooms. Apparently I am supposed to understand that this is sign language for “hey, I’ve screwed something up on the computer and could really use your help. I’m so sorry to interrupt your conversation, but could you please come over here? Thanks.”
Being the expert that I am at sign language, I excuse myself and saunter over to the other office.
“Yes? Did you need something?”
“Miss Jenny, I don’t know what happened, I was typing our daily schedule and it just went away, and I don’t know why, but can you fix it, I don’t know what happened, I was just typing and then all the words were gone. ” (Imagine this sentence spoken at about a million miles an hour and without pauses for like…breathing or anything. Know who it is, Sharon?)
“Did you click anything or hit anything?” (I haven’t yet actually looked at the screen, I just wanted to see what she would say.)
“No, nothing, it just went away, can you fix it?”
From 5 feet away I looked at the screen, and without cracking a smile said, “Scroll up,” and went back to my office.