Overlooked

“Chris, come here I have something for you.”

Our financial guy beckoned me into his office this morning. At first I panicked that I had made some serious financial error that was coming back to haunt me. Late last week I got a call in my office from a finance lead telling me that I had been coding my time to the wrong team for the past 6-months and that they were just now getting around to solving the problem.

Great, I made another mistake with this stupid program. It’s not enough to label the hours we work every week, but we also have to document all the activities associated with those times so they can track where their money is being spent. A great concept that’s just tiresome to manage. Half the time I don’t even know what to bill my time to, but as long as I keep receiving paychecks it’s all good.

So what did I do this time? I enter the office expecting the worst.

“You got overlooked when they were handing out the CORs (Certificates of Recognition) for that weekend project you helped on.”

Overlooked? I understand that I was on a plane to Iowa when the event took place, but I was the one that orchestrated all the planning and scheduling for it, which was no simple task. I didn’t even volunteer for this job; rather it was forced on to me and I had to cram it in right before my Europe trip on top of the other projects I was trying to complete.

Two weeks ago they handed out CORs to all the office staff for their hard work on the project, but I didn’t get one. I didn’t complain because like I said I wasn’t there so maybe I missed out on something special. I just shrugged it off and went back to work, but I knew that I was left out. Overlooked indeed.

But before I could feel jaded, the guy went on.

“It comes with a $50 gift certificate at Tahoe Joe’s for you to use.”

Free steak dinner? Well, I suppose all is forgiven. It’s not like the project was that difficult. And really, who am I to judge other people. Now to get me some meat!