Work Grouchyness....
I have been slaving away on a comprehensive industry report. Our Associate and I have been working on this thing for the better part of the last 5 or 6 weeks. My boss, who tends to procrastinate on the really important stuff, hadn't written a lick during this time but thought we could still get this thing published under the original timetable as she planned to complete her section over the (last) weekend. So, on Saturday my Associate and I put in a lot of work (I was in the office from 9:30am-5pm) and she was supposed to finish things off, in time to get it to our editors on Monday morning. Of course, she misjudged how long it would take to write her section. She didn't get her section fully written until mid-morning Tuesday, leaving me and our junior no chance to give it a healthy edit before sending it off.... It needed more editting than normal, because she was so rushed, but delaying the report further would have meant there was no way to get this published today. Earnings season starts for the other Analysts on Monday, so we need to get this out before than zaniness gets underway.
So yesterday, my boss and I are both in NYC on seperate business trips. We learn from our Associate that there was some heavy editting that needed to be done in the middle sections of the report, so the head editor wasn't able to get the report back to us when planned. The publishing date wasn't likewise moving back a day and our Associate and I were bracing for today to be a mad-sprint to the finishline.
This morning, as I am walking to work, I read on my blackberry a message from my boss pleading with our editors to push the publication date back by a day. I'm frustrated that things aren't going smoothly, but relieved that I will have an extra day to dot my I's and cross my T's. I see an email back from the editor incinuating that there is SO MUCH work that still needs to be done, he thinks it shouldn't go out until Monday. AND, he references the section that I slaved over as specificially needing some rework... UGH, crappy way to start the day. This report has taken over my life and I NEED TO STUDY FOR THIS EXAM. I really don't want this report hanging over my head anymore.
Won't get the report with edits back for another hour.... sitting on my hands in the meantime, bracing for the worst.
As I'm waiting, I decide to clean out my inbox and catch up on the news. Stumbled on an interesting article in the NYTimes about how people seem to mis-interpret emails. (quote below). Maybe, these edits won't be as bad as I fear.....
One reason for this is that we tend to misinterpret positive e-mail messages as more neutral, and neutral ones as more negative, than the sender intended.
Stay Tuned.....
