I have a new coworker, and I actually really like her. She seems nice, and we do get along pretty well. I have a problem though…she will send me an e-mail with a task she needs me to do (low importance tasks…like…the lowest), and then send me an IM to let me know she just sent an e-mail… AND she marks these e-mails high importance, which really annoys me.
I feel like this is so petty. But it really annoys me AND stresses me out that she thinks these tasks are high importance, so she is expecting a quick turn around when I have other more important things I have to address first. Is there a polite way to suggest that she cool it a bit?
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I’ve had this problem on and off over the years, let me see if I can remember my go to scripts. “I get requests from various different sources so I will prioritize along with all of my other work. In general requests such as X will be turned around in Y time frame, requests such as A will be turned around in B time frame. If there’s a reason something needs to be expedited, such as an urgent request because of [example], then I can make it higher priority but that’s going to be the exception rather than the rule.” And then obviously stick to the time frames outlined.
For me, this conversation usually came from my manager to the other groups but she talked with me and my counterpart first to make sure we were all on board with the time frames and that they were reasonable.
You may want to also point out that email is the best way for you to keep track of things, IMs interrupt your work flow unnecessarily if she already sent an email and, for me at least, IMs get forgotten as soon as I’m looking at another window. I’ve definitely asked people to email me the thing they just chatted me about on multiple occasions and repeat offenders have definitely had their request forgotten (not on purpose!) till they chatted again the next day. You can also say that her marking all her requests, or a lot of her requests, as high priority doesn’t actually help them move up in priority once you’ve read the email and assessed it within the overall picture of all your different requests if there’s no other reason provided in the email as to why it’s higher priority than usual.
Don’t let her stomp all over your boundaries because she’s “nice”. She’s not doing it to be mean, but it’s okay to push back to how your normal work procedures happen.
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2.5 hours on hold. I missed my kid’s parent/ teacher meeting.
The delivery of my mattress had been cancelled and no one had told me. It has now been rescheduled for Saturday. It needs to actually happen, please. Life without a bed isn’t great.
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I thought you slept on a mattress recently? I thought that was your new mattress, I’m sorry that it wasn’t and people are denying you mattress-sleep and further inconveniencing your life with 2.5 hours (!!) on hold.
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The basement floor mattress is way better than a bare box spring, which has been my bed for 3 weeks. It’s still the oldest and worst mattress, on the floor. Getting up off it in the morning when I’m very creaky is super hard to do. I can’t bring it upstairs. It’s all just a shit situation but maybe it will be resolved on Saturday?
I’m hoping very hard.
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TV: Husband got a couple of courses to teach online for the summer at my institution. TC: he has to go in person to present ID for the hire paperwork, which means also passing pieces of paper/cards back and forth.
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Can you pull a Daffodil and create a plant cage? (Like, could you use the cat carrier for them? Or something else that would make them completely inaccessible for a bit?)
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Oh what
@daffodil2001 what’s the cat/plant/cage story?
I have been thinking about a wire dog kennel on top of the table temporarily.
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My spider plants live in a dog kennel for their own safety. The cats still chew some of the tips off the plants but at least they can’t destroy the entire plant (or pee in the pots) this way. It was supposed to be temporary but I haven’t gotten around to finding a more long term solution.
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This is so perfect, thank you!
Thankfully the girls don’t try to pee in any of my plants, but Karma is a professional Plant Murderer.
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I have a lot of feelings and I could unleash them on IKEA for you…what was the original date again?
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Monday. I will have been without a bed for 26 days when the mattress arrives. If it arrives. In a few months this will be a blip but night now it’s not great.
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Update: Just got a text that my order is ready, so I’ll be picking that up after work today. I hope it will fit in my car…it should. But I haven’t measured.
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New complaint: Today feels like a fog. I can’t focus well. I hope my walk in about an hour will help.
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I want additional coffee. This desire neither suites my rationing nor the fact that it’s 5pm.
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It did. Overcast and 70°F, it was a nice walk. Why don’t I do this more regularly?
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Can you use cat grass as a deterrent? I find having a container for the cat to nibble on makes her ignore the spider plant for the most part. My spider plant is also elevated off the ground on a podium.
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I can and have in the past! She gets bored with it, though, or decimates it (hauls it out of its pot and drags it to you, roots, dirt, and all to show you her kill) and then turns to the house plants.
I’m hoping that the shelving (and decoy shelving) will help keep them out of reach longer term.
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I spoke too soon. My Home Depot order is ready, but the boards that I ordered are out of stock. Can’t really build shelves without them. Guess I need to pick up a wire dog kennel.
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Housemate got off work two hours early when I had just settled into a bath and hadn’t yet made dinner (need to avoid the areas he’s been in for a minimum of 30 minutes which in my house is the whole first floor)
And I left my underwear in the bathroom 🤦
Critters were fed at least and I stashed crackers in my room for these situations
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