Thursday, August 16, 2018

Trial by Fire

I walked into the office yesterday to find someone sitting in my new office.  It was the manager of the new team that moved into our area.  He had been angling for that office even before they moved downstairs, and I guess he just decided that possession was nine-tenths of the law.

Granted, I hadn’t had a chance to clean it up and move my stuff in yet, but still!  The audacity.  The inconsiderateness.  I was outraged.  I was furious.  My blood was boiling under my skin.  But I decided to just sit down at my desk and get on the meeting that I had.  I kept telling myself during the meeting that I’d give him the benefit of the doubt.  I’d give him until after the meeting to prove me wrong.  He didn’t.  In fact, it just got worse.

Right after my meeting started, he called his team of two into the office and conducted a team meeting in there.  On top of that, the manager’s boss came by and started giving him high fives and taking his picture as a show of congratulations for “scoring” the office.  I was so livid, I was shaking.  I was breathing.  I was praying.  I was hardly paying attention to the call I was on.

For an hour, I watched this flagrant violation being tossed in my face…in my team’s face.  Their team meeting broke up just as my call was ending, and his two direct reports left the office and shut the door behind them.  That was the last straw.  I grabbed my cleaning supplies and slowly walked to my office.  I didn’t knock.  I just opened the door.  After all, it was my own office, why should I bother knocking?!  I told the guy that I was moving into the office at that very moment, so he needed to leave.

And this is where the situation went from crossing the line to outright disrespect.  The guy had the audacity and cajones to look at me and say, “It’ll be 30 minutes, because I’m about to get on a customer call.”  I was expecting…well, more hoping…that his being in the office was just a slight error in judgement, and he didn’t realize that it was my office.  A respectful person would have profusely apologized for the oversight, gathered his things, and quickly relocated.  This was not a respectful person.

The old me would have taken being trampled on, agreed to his statement, and slowly backed out of the door to wallow in anger.  The old me.  I am not the old me, and I was pissed.  I told him that he would have to take his call somewhere else, because I was moving in.  My voice was low and menacing.  I didn’t yell.  I wasn’t compassionate or sympathetic.  I was in charge.

He tried to play the disgusted card, whining that this call was with a customer and couldn’t I come back later.  I simply said, “No.  This is the time I have to move in.”  Then, he tried to play the exasperated card, acting like I was being unreasonable and where was he supposed to go. 

All the while, he hadn’t moved.  He was still sitting at my desk with his papers strewn out everywhere, and his continued disregard for me was flipping every switch I had and a few that I wasn’t aware that I had.  That was when I lost my cool, and I said, “Frankly, I don’t care.  You can find a conference room, or how about this, you can take it at your desk.  Either way, you need to leave, so I can clean my office.”

At this point, he let out a huge huff, gathered his papers, and scuffled off to a conference room to have his call.  On the way out of the door, he looked back and said, “You know, your name isn’t on this office.  How would anyone know it was yours?”  That was an unnecessary parting shot, so the very first thing I did was to go peel the name tag off of my old desk and stick it to the window right beside the door.  Then, I proceeded to clean and organize my office.

This incident didn’t just affect me.  It apparently affected everyone on the team.  Some were outraged just like I was.  Others were waiting to see what I would do.  At the time, I didn’t realize that they viewed this as a test.  They had had their doubts as to whether I was ready to lead the team, and this would give them their first glimpse to prove myself.  I passed with flying colors. 

I was told later by one of them that he knew at that moment that I wasn’t going to be walked over anymore.  That office was a symbol of the team, and just like I fought for it, I was someone that was going to fight for the team.  I wasn’t going to be cowed by someone with more time in the company.  I wasn’t going to be intimidated by title or seniority.  I belonged.  I was ready.

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