Back to work and my reaction to the jerk's e-cards

My work e-mail inbox had just under 300 messages waiting for me. It took me half the day to get through it.

I also provided support for my colleague who was training a new colleague. It was nice to ease into work.

The ex sent me two e-cards on my birthday over a week ago. The only positive thing that I can think of is that he was on time for a change. I don't understand why he sent me two.

I wanted to ignore them. I wanted to confirm that they were boring. They were. No emotion. Nothing heartfelt on his end.

One of the bucketed greetings indicated that I was "one of the greatest people that [he] knew." It's interesting how hindsight works. The damage has been done.

My reaction to those cards:

I'm okay. Time has certainly help me deal with this jerk.

A break from meetings

I enjoy when my boss is away for one reason or another. It's a nice break from way too many meetings.

On Wednesday, he took half the day off. Our team has a daily chat towards the end of my workday. I find it a drag sometimes, because I don't exactly want to talk to them when I was to wrap up my work and call it a day. My manager can't end a chat on time, let alone any meeting.

I start my day earlier than most on the team. I can technically call it a day at 4:30 pm. I did that yesterday and it felt great.

Last Thursday, he wasn't feeling well and took the day off to rest up. It was nice not attending our weekly team meeting. 

I am fortunate that I get along with him. However, having him not remember how many years I have been with the company still rubs me the wrong way. It resurfaced last Friday. I nearly wanted to say, "Yes, it's ten years. You didn't see the e-mail to sign my e-card and only acknowledged my milestone when I had to tell you that you missed it in our daily chat."

Today will be interesting. There's a departmental meeting at the same time as our weekly team meeting. We'll see whether he will acknowledge that the former meeting is far more important than his.

The ex and his boring e-card

The ex decided to send me an e-card on Christmas Day. It was roughly around when I posted yesterday.

I took half a day to finally click the link. It was what I had expected. He wished me a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Boring. It could technically be a form letter.

Months ago, I told him to do me a favour and not contact me. Apparently, e-cards are exempt in his eyes.

The only positive thing is that he was on time sending such a greeting. He's still a jerk.

Meeting going at a snail's pace

Work is enjoyable again, except for one member of our team who has been there for a good four years. He talks a lot. He is a scatterbrain. He copies the world on every single e-mail. He's not the most productive colleague.

On Wednesday, he pinged me on our work instant messaging app. He told me that he was in a meeting and asked if I could join. He then sent me the meeting invitation while the meeting was in progress. Nice.

I declined. I don't go for such late invitations, unless it is urgent. This meeting wasn't. I was also working from home and didn't feel the need to be there for work that he had to do.

On Thursday, we had our team meeting. He basically spent twenty minutes of an hour-long meeting making a big deal about the tasks that he was working on and those that he hadn't touched. He also had a bit of a riff with our manager, which made him look like a jerk.

He talked so much that my team didn't get to share what we had worked on this week. I have a writer and a student on our team. We were all bored out of our minds listening to him.

The highlight? Both the writer and I looked at what the student had doodled in her notebook. She drew a snail. We all laughed. It was perfect.