Dropping bombs

It's only Tuesday and it has already been a VERY emotionally draining week.

Monday morning, the IT division was greeted by an email from our VP of Information Technology. It was sent shortly before 6pm on Friday and addressed customer service and the use of policies and procedures in such. Here is an excerpt...

The statement 'I fouled up, but I followed the procedures' is to me completely equivalent to 'I fouled up'. The statement 'I saw a disaster coming and did nothing, but there was no procedure that made it my responsibility' is to me completely equivalent to 'I saw a disaster coming and did nothing'. The statement 'I could have helped a customer, but I did nothing to help because I didn't have a rule that told me what to do' is to me completely equivalent to 'I could have helped a customer, but I did nothing to help'.

It didn't help that I was involved in a support call from our University Provost that could be percieved as part catalyst for this email. Not that I didn't do everything within my power and abilities to do but my actions and the circumstances surrounding them may have been percieved incorrectly.

Within an hour later, I would receive news that a coworker had died over the weekend. We all knew he had been having heart trouble and he had even had angioplasty (the balloons and stints in the arteries) on Thursday. Apparently, while trying to be away from the worries of everyday life, he had a heart attack and was unrevivable.

Although our relationship was mostly professional in nature, he occupied the office next to mine and I will miss him.

Yesterday afternoon, the Technology Support area was invited to a meeting to discuss the reorganization. The other shoe was going to drop this morning at 10am.

I just returned from that meeting and the best I can say is that I am seriously emotionaly conflicted. I am disappointed that I will be continuing with email support rather than in training. I am glad that I will be continuing to work with my friend and mentor, Ron King. I am worried that Ron and I will be working under a person neither of us trusts. I am sad that our Training and Office Automation team - the one team within the IT division that I feel works most efficiently - has been dismantled. Ron and I are now seperate from our other members Eric Jackson, Wes Higgs and Estee Eubanks.

The fact that it's been raining for the past two days doesn't help, either.