Two Truths & a Lie
Posted by ablack on Feb. 2, 2016 / Subscribe 0
Have you ever played Two Truths and a Lie? Do you want to play a quick round with me today? What?!?! You’ve never played before? No sweat…the game is about as simple as they come. I tell you two truths and one lie; you try to guess which of the three is a total fabrication. OK, here we go!
Scenario 1: “Make ‘er Purty”
I’m at work and my boss stops by my desk, eager to give me a new assignment. He says that he has emailed me a report that he started and that all I have to do is ‘make it pretty.’ You know, just make it look nice and make sure it meets our corporate standards (insert eye roll here). “Oh, and by the way,” he continues to say, “I’ll need that in an hour. The client is expecting it.” Ugh…and I imagine myself smacking him across the face…with a live audience applauding me in the background like in a TV sitcom.
My actual response? "Yeah, no problem boss; I’m your miracle worker for the day." Little did I know that I might actually have to perform a miracle to complete the task at hand. Because when I opened the report, it was 10 pages long and nowhere NEAR our corporate standards. In fact, he even managed to send it to me in comic sans font. Yeah, it was THAT bad! The icing on the cake? He threw in some “filler text” for areas of the report that he thought I could just ‘fix up’ for him. Hmmm…
Scenario 2: “Back by Day Two”
I’ve just given birth to my beautiful baby. In fact, it’s only been 24 hours since the actual birth and I’m still at the hospital…just waiting on my discharge paperwork so I can take my baby home. Then my phone rings. Guess who; my boss. “How nice,” I think to myself. “He must be calling to congratulate me!” Warm fuzzies all the way around, right? Too bad that’s not AT ALL the reason that he had called.
The real reason? He wants to know if I can come into the office tomorrow to work on something that has to be done. Apparently, I’m the only person in the entire office who knows how to do it. REALLY?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?! I look longingly down at my one-day-old baby in her bassinet…then agree to come in to the office. The next day, I'm at my desk working with my two-day-old splayed across my chest. Hmmm...
Scenario 3: “Nasty-Gram”
I’m headed in to downtown Phoenix for an early morning meeting with a client at the City. Right before the meeting, I realize (as a 13-week pregnant woman often does) that I need to stop by the ‘ladies’ room for a quick pit-stop. But when I get there, I discover a major issue...MAJOR issue. I AM HORRIFIED!!! I run out of the restroom and tell my client that I need to leave IMMEDIATELY.
Within the 40-minute drive home (which, by the way was sheer panic and terror), I manage to call my husband AND my office. I have two meetings with clients lined up for the day that really shouldn’t be canceled, so I assign people from my office to cover the meetings for me. I even have the clear-mindedness to download/send the meeting agenda along with the other items that they’ll need to take with them. With the clients totally covered, all remnants of work obligations quickly disappear and I begin fearing the worst…
What I didn’t realize was that one of the clients would be upset by my lack of attendance at that one meeting on thatone day. So upset, in fact, that he would send me a nasty-gram about a week later stating that “because of ‘lack of proper attendance’ at the meeting, we just don’t feel that you are dedicated to the project and the deadline and we may have to find another firm to finish our project.’ Hmmm...
Which is Which?
So now you want to know which of the two scenarios are true and which one is a total fabrication, right? I’m sure you’ve got your own suspicions, but before I divulge the answer, I’d like to pose a question in an effort to put ALL THREE scenarios into perspective. Here goes…
Does it really matter which one is the lie? They are ALL nightmares…nightmares brought on by the simple fact that sometimes, people SUCK. When did we lose our hearts? At what point did deadlines, budgets and project parameters become more important than how we treat each other and even ourselves?
A Few “Truths”
The A/E/C industry is dominated by endless deadlines, ridiculously low budgets and the ‘almighty dollar.’ I would venture a guess that many of my colleagues put in more than 40 hours per week…possibly even more than 55 hours. Usually because somewhere along the line, someone arbitrarily decided that it would take their team two weeks to finish a project that should actually take no less than six. And this casual decision was probably fueled by an underlying need to fill the backlog and an overriding urge to impress the client.
Never mind that long-term BD efforts are really how the backlog gets filled…the two-week schedule is set and the boss leaves it to the team to make up that time. But when do we, as A/E/C professionals, finally say “enough is enough?”
Before I get to the “big reveal,” I’d like to explore a few of the truths behind the current state of A/E/C that I (or at least the part of me that hugs people and trees) find extremely appalling.
- Truth 1: At some point during the recession, both public and private entity owners discovered that they could really squeeze A/E/C firms and require the presentation of full design options DURING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS. The thrill of getting shortlisted is now overshadowed by a sidebar of ‘provide your design ideas during the interview.’ So the owner wants us to provide FREE design during an interview that we have a 1 in 3 (sometimes 1 in 5) chance in winning?!?! The owner obviously doesn’t realize, or perhaps doesn’t care, that we now must take a team of talented (and billable) professionals off of a job that is actually paying us in order to create a theoretic masterpiece...for free. FOR FREE!!! The ones that we lose, the ones that cost us thousands upon thousands of dollars in lost crew time (not to mention printing costs, etc.)? I’ve been told that those are “just the price of doing business.” The “name of the game,” if you will. But I say it’s A/E/C professionals taking it up the…well, you get the idea. Let’s face it; this a step in the WRONG direction and it’s a total disgrace to our industry.
- Truth 2: Ridiculous deadlines, pretty much ALL OF THE TIME. Let’s take for instance the onslaught of annual contracts that all come due around December 30th. I guess A/E/C professionals don’t really need a break to spend the holiday with their families. In fact, I’m fairly certain none of us even have families. We’re married to our computers, laptops and the office printers (I hope you smell the stench of sarcasm right about now). No seriously, what the "h" is with the deadlines the week after Christmas?!?! Do these owners think that we don’t want to take time to be with our loved ones? Or maybe it’s that we don’t really deserve a break. That must be what it is. Especially since many of them don’t even put out the new contracts with the shortlisted firms until APRIL. PUH-lease. This happens much more often than not. Can we get a wake-up call here?!?!
So there you have it; the “truth” according to me. Both speak to the heart of the matter; that we have forgotten about the people behind the deadlines, the budgets and all the hard work; that we have forgotten our hearts. But maybe I just need to go hug a tree; maybe our hearts can still be mended. But how?
Unfortunately, I don’t really have an answer here. But I think the road to recovery begins within each and every one of us, and it starts with standing up for ourselves. The next time an owner wants to ‘cut the fee by ten percent,’ or ‘cut the schedule in half,’ we need to thoughtfully and professional explain why that isn’t realistic. Explain how cutting ten percent off of the fee is really cutting out a firm’s profit (and that without profit, there’s really no point to being in business). Explain that your firm’s values include having a team that goes home to their families at a decent hour every night. Make a commitment to hiring an appropriate amount of staff to cover extra work hours in the event of a long-term work bubble, and remind yourself that you won’t take on a project at the detriment of the very people that you employ. Hey, no one should have to work 80 hours a week on a regular basis…no one.
The Big Reveal
But enough procrastinating, right? Which one was which?
My “total fabrication” was the very first scenario...the "Make 'er Purty" scenario. Most people don’t guess that one because (in all honesty) this EXACT scenario has probably happened to each and every one of my colleagues at some point in their careers. I can only hope that at least one of them has had the guts to stand up for themselves...
That means that the other two are total truths and actually happened to me PERSONALLY.
In retrospect, the “Back by Day Two” scenario is a great example of when I should have stood up for myself. Instead, what did I say? “Yes.” I said yes. What a fool I was; what an idiot I was! The shame; the horror! How could I have?!?!? What I should have said was ‘NO, NOT MY PROBLEM...I've got family obligations right now.’ At the time, though, I didn’t have the gumption enough to tell my boss “no.” I wish I had; I still regret it to this day. The fact that no one else in that office could do what needed to be done should have shown them the value that I actually brought. Sadly, it took me several years before I realized that myself…and even more upsetting is that I don’t think they EVER came to that realization. Of course, I’m not there anymore...so I guess I shouldn't care.
As for the third scenario, my “Nasty-Gram” scenario, it happened not that long ago. Not to worry, though; baby and I are doing just fine. But my client is still deciding whether or not he wants to fire me. I could care less if he does. Ifthat’s the cost of winning that job, then the price is too high for me…and I’m OK with that.
The Point
Yes, after all this rambling, I actually DO have a point…and here it is! Those of us who stayed the A/E/C course throughout the economic turmoil of the Great Recession came out the other side a little bit beat up and frayed. Many of us feel battered and bruised; our confidence waning. But that doesn’t mean that we have to give away our self-respect and forget our hearts. We are still in this industry because we are good at what we do; we survived; we made it. That’s the real truth.
We deserve better; we deserve so much more than what we have told ourselves is acceptable. And it’s about time that the A/E/C industry demands it. Essentially, we need a hug…if for no other reason than to remind ourselves of what it was about this industry that we loved and were so passionate about when we first started. I know I could sure use a hug. How about you?
About the Blogger: This anonymous blogger is a human-hugging caped crusader of justice for the A/E/C industry…self-proclaimed, of course...and a little sarcastic to boot.
0 Comments