Music for the Masses


Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Epiphany

This company frickin’ rocks. They know how to treat their employees. With Tybrin, I realized the other day that I had been coasting for the last few years, just collecting a paycheck. I’d go to work with a fake smile, and I’d come home with a less fake smile. If I were the slightest bit tired, I’d be grumpy, pissy and generally unpleasant. That was with Tybrin. Sunday night/Monday morning, I woke up at 1:30 in the morning, and was up until 11 pm Monday night. Monday, of course, was Memorial Day—traditionally a bbq day with Lori’s family. Ralph and Barbara had made no announcement or invite for their place, so we called them to find out what was going on. “Oh, ummmm . . . pretty much nothing.”

“Well why don’t you guys come down to our place for a bbq?”

So they came, as did Rob and Mel and their two boys. Mind you, I had been up since 1:30 am. I did all the grilling, all the cooking, most of the cleaning, and a lot of the watching of our two girls. Granted, later in the day, Rob and I watched “Ice Age: The Meltdown”, but still—most of the day was busy.

But I wasn’t grumpy. I wasn’t pissy. I was pleasant, fun, and . . . dare I say it—giddy! I was actually excited to be awake and with everyone . . . even in my sleep-deprived state. I talked to Lori about what the reasons could be, and it hit me like a ton of bricks: for the first time in about 4 years, I actually enjoy—and I mean *really* enjoy—going to work. My company appreciates me. Everyone here is on the same page. We’re all fighting to get a good, quality product out the door. I don’t have to battle other contractors (read: other contracts, SEIC!) or programs to get a good product out the door. I can come to work, do my job, KNOW that I’m going to get the support I need from everyone . . . and it feels *foreign* to me.

Don’t get me wrong—everyone I worked with directly in my company was good to work with. I always had the SME support I needed. Our hardware team was great to work with. Our SST group was outstanding. Admin, our government reps . . . all great. CM, my team, IT . . . all really nice. It was when we had to wander outside of our group to accomplish anything where the head-butting would begin, and it would never end. You would think that, with such an end-game as supporting war fighter pilots, everyone would be on the same page. Nope. Hidden or not-so-hidden agendas permeated every aspect of our day-to-day activities. “Who’s watching us now? Who’s talking crap about us behind out back now?”

Granted, maybe it’s the newness of everything down here, but there is a completely different feeling down here. And it’s good. REALLY good.

3 comments:

Texie said...

Its sad when you realize that you dont remember how to recognize 'happy'. Im glad you found some and recognized it!

happy mom said...

Well just keep the newness of it there and make sure that you keep in this good mode, even if everything doesn't say the same. But I have a feeling it will.

JLJ said...

Why were you awake at 1:30 in the morning?!?