[Courses] [Spineful Living, Lesson 4: Saying No!]

[Doc Nielsen]

On 4/26/07, Jacinta Richardson <jarich at perltraining.com.au> wrote:
> As another useful business tip, make sure you have a good task tracker.  We use
> RT (request tracker) by Best Practical, but there are other good options as
> well.  Ideally your clients should be able to see their own queue, create tasks,
> comment on tasks etc.  RT provides both email and web interfaces and we use it
> to track all of our correspondence and phone call information.  It's great to be
> able to say: on the 5th of January last year you wrote .....

At my new work we use IssueTracker, since all our webApps are zope/plone based.
http://www.issuetrackerproduct.com/

I too have had a hard time saying no to work.
I think it boils down to my eagerness and willingness to please others.
I was bullied at school back in the lower grades, pre-teen, and as a
result, i mostly kept to myself, entertained myself, and didn't
interact much with the other kids. I didn't have many friends, nor
many playmates.
As i grew older, my only friends came from education or work, and were
more colleagues than friends. We had a common goal, and i was always
head of my class in tech school, and in IT school too. So i was sought
after for my knowhow, and i agreed to assist because of my inner need
to avoid conflicts.

Last year i think i said the biggest NO of my life.
During the summer of 2006 i was working as an apprentice at an
IT-support bizz. Most of the summer, my vacation had been delayed
because someone else was taking a vacation at the time when i would
like mine. When i had to go back for my 4 of 8 term (5 weeks) at IT
school, i asked my boss if i could have a few days off, as part of my
summer vacation, the week before school. He refused again, because
that week was his own vacation week, and he couldn't do without.
So 5 weeks past, and when i returned from school, i asked my boss
again for my 3 weeks summer vacation, and he agreed to let me take the
three weeks, provided i came in on thursday and friday during the
first week. I told him NO.

Me and my girlfriend at the time had plans 500km away, as her brother
had finished his education and was hosting a huge "svendegilde"
(completion of education celebration), and there was no way i was
going to travel back and forth from nothern Jylland to Copenhagen,
just to he could fill the schedule for two days. He objected, but he
had no valid argument for not letting me take 3 full weeks, so i did.

So i went on my vacation, and when the 30th of october came round, i
noticed my pay didnt land in my bankaccount.
Turns out i had been fired, via email, because i refused to work..
or as he claims: i agreed to work on the two days, and then just didn't show.

Needless to say, my union is now filing a suit against him...

Many of you don't know me that well, but my working relationship with
him was very straining, and he was not an easy person to work for. I
had on many occations been overloaded with the other techies tasks,
because they didn't have time for them.
Imagine having to explain to a customer why the tiny/urgent job they
ordered three weeks ago had been delayed/ditched because "someone"
didn't bother to follow up, do the job or take the blame, and then
hand it to the apprentice who gets the blame.
That happend more than a few times, and i finally managed to say no
when the other techies threw me late tasks.

Now i'm working as an equal, for a equal, sharing the load.
My new boss is great at being the admin, while i (as junior admin) do
the easier tasks and help out with the major tasks.
In a 4 man IT department, i am now working full time, while covering
for my boss as he attends a few classes tuesdays and thursdays.
I am finally respected and appreciated for my skills, and the pay is
about 50% higher than apprentice pay, while i have fewer hours, and
less stress.

I think i struck gold. Lets hope it lasts :)

-Doc
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