The Official "WWWD?" Thread

[ArkieDukie]

Huge empty water bottle?

1. Procure a sports drink ... yellow in color.
2. Water down sports drink by 1/3 with water
3. Add a little ammonia if you have it on hand
4. Pour a quantity of this mixture into water bottle


Problem solved

You are brilliant, windsor! This may very well be worth purchasing a yellow sports drink and some ammonia.

I do not lose. I do not take prisoners.
A household cleaner that contains ammonia will work...they won't be giving it a lab analysis.

I'll have to look; I might have some window cleaner. I think it would also be more realistic if I splashed a bit on the ground beside the bottles and a little bit outside as well.

[Lavabe]

Are these the "Culligan"-size 20 gallon water bottles? They get delivered to one's home. I believe that Culligan (or some other water service) usually takes the water bottle, and delivers another completely full one. Perhaps your complex has some rule about this sort of delivery service. I mean, it's probably legal for them to leave it at their front door, but NOT legal for them to block the stairwell or your access.

Is there an issue with the water quality in Galveston?

[ArkieDukie]

Are these the "Culligan"-size 20 gallon water bottles? They get delivered to one's home. I believe that Culligan (or some other water service) usually takes the water bottle, and delivers another completely full one. Perhaps your complex has some rule about this sort of delivery service. I mean, it's probably legal for them to leave it at their front door, but NOT legal for them to block the stairwell or your access.

Is there an issue with the water quality in Galveston?

They're the 20 gallon bottles. The bottles aren't blocking the hallway; they're lined up outside their door (in an alcove). There are 6 of them, and they've been there for over a week now.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Huge empty water bottle?

1. Procure a sports drink ... yellow in color.
2. Water down sports drink by 1/3 with water
3. Add a little ammonia if you have it on hand
4. Pour a quantity of this mixture into water bottle


Problem solved

You are brilliant, windsor! This may very well be worth purchasing a yellow sports drink and some ammonia.

I do not lose. I do not take prisoners.
A household cleaner that contains ammonia will work...they won't be giving it a lab analysis.

Is this just to give the illusion (and aroma) of a big urine sample in the water bottle, or something more nefarious?

[windsor]

actually it is more effective if it isn't a BIG sample. Enough liquid to make them wonder.

[Lavabe]

actually it is more effective if it isn't a BIG sample. Enough liquid to make them wonder.

If you avoided the ammonia, how long would it take for mold to start growing?

[ArkieDukie]

The good news is that the water bottles are gone today. The bad news is that I didn't get to try the yellow sports drink + ammonia trick. At least I have a plan on reserve in case they do it again.

[windsor]

Sports drinks have a long shelf life

[ArkieDukie]

I have determined that one of my new associates is going to be very difficult to work with. Imagine the near lethal combination of NuBarbie and The Minion and you've got the new person. She's being very territorial about a project I'm supposed to be helping with. In fact, she's really working on edging me out of the picture. For some reason she has latched onto this project as her own turf. What's sad is that I got things rolling - the project was completely stalled when I arrived here because she had done something completely wrong in the data analysis. Now I'm trying to do method development for this project, and she's trying to take that over, too. I had a chat with her boss today and told her about some of the things that went on with our instrument training this week, and let's just say she was not a happy camper. I believe that, if it has not already happened, her boss will be giving her a "Come to Jesus" talk.

Today we finished up training on a new instrument (annoying chick is being very turfy about it, but I'm supposed to have instrument privileges, too). The person doing our on-site training was extremely good, and the two of us hit it off. In fact, the two of us independently came up with the same idea for analyzing samples for the specialized project that I'm supposed to be working on (see preceding paragraph) and discussed collaborating to develop the method. I bounced the idea off my colleague (boss of annoying chick), and she thought it was a great idea. The two of us have been trying to troubleshoot the specialized method, and now annoying chick is trying to horn in on our work. The thing is, she didn't even understand what we were talking about any time we worked on it in her presence. When my new friend left today, annoying chick told her how much she was looking forward to collaborating with her and that she would analyze the data in order to decide how to proceed. It wasn't her idea, she doesn't know what she's doing, and she doesn't have the slightest clue about how to proceed, and yet she's trying to boss us around. My new friend is also not impressed with annoying chick for a number of reasons and recognizes that she doesn't have the expertise necessary to get the method working. We made plans for things that need to be looked at. I looked at a couple of things before leaving today and made some observations of things that we need to think about. Now, here's the question: politically speaking, should I include annoying chick on the email string? Should I chat with her boss first in order to get her take on the situation? I think I need to chat with her boss in order to decide how to proceed and how I should include annoying chick in the process. What do the rest of you think?

[IowaDevil]

I think introduce her to the asshat docs. She could help them analyze their trash! Sorry, the devil made me say that!

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Pardon my glee, AD, but I'm so glad you have another "situation" for us, well, Windsor and Laaebe primarily, do deal with!

My take is, you were hired as the expert for this type of data analysis, you're the new big dog in the house (and they're paying you big bucks to be the expert). With your and annoying girl's bosses blessings, you need to step up and put this girl in here place real quick. DO NOT LET HER GET AWAY WITH HER SHIT!

But that's just my take on it from what you've said so far.

[ArkieDukie]

Pardon my glee, AD, but I'm so glad you have another "situation" for us, well, Windsor and Laaebe primarily, do deal with!

My take is, you were hired as the expert for this type of data analysis, you're the new big dog in the house (and they're paying you big bucks to be the expert). With your and annoying girl's bosses blessings, you need to step up and put this girl in here place real quick. DO NOT LET HER GET AWAY WITH HER SHIT!

But that's just my take on it from what you've said so far.

That's what I've been doing, and I think I need to have another chat with her boss so we can all get on the same page. I laid the groundwork for that today. Her boss actually said to me that she has recognized her employee's tendency to be territorial about projects, so I immediately mentioned that she was being that way about our joint project. Life is really too short to deal with people who are obsessed with one-upsmanship, especially when I've already one-upped them more than once. In any event, after what happened with The Minion, I'll be keeping the lines of communication open with her boss. The big improvement in this particular situation is that Minion 2.0's boss is a reasonable person and recognizes the situation for what it is. In other words, she is knowledgeable to not be snowed by her underling. She knows who fixed the problem because she was there when it happened.

Part of the reason my new friend hasn't been impressed with Minion 2.0 is that she's been bossing everyone around during the training class - including the instructor. How would you feel if you were trying to teach a class and one of your students kept insisting on what needed to be done? We had to edit a sample queue last night because annoying chick started a 24 hr sample queue after the instructor told her that we would be venting the instrument to clean it this morning. I sent an email to all relevant parties to tell them what we did and why we had done it, and she got all bitchy because we didn't call and ask her permission (well, because we didn't have her f***ing number and she left at 5:00. We discovered what she had done at 6:00, after everyone else had already left). I found this out from her boss, who came by my office this morning to talk to me about it. She understood completely and didn't know why it was such a huge problem. That's what started the whole conversation about her minion's attitude.

The other big problem with Minion 2.0 is that she has already decided how things should be done and is unwilling to listen to anyone else - including the expert who was here to teach our training class. She's telling her boss something needs to be done in a particular way, despite the fact that the expert said the complete opposite. I filled her boss in on that one, too. Their project is far too important to go down a counterproductive road simply because one of the team members is too stubbornly arrogant to admit that someone else (in this case, the expert from the company that manufactured our instrument) might know a bit more than she does.

As an aside, Minion 2.0 is really not the best name for her, but it's a good placeholder. She's seriously a NuBarbie-Minion hybrid. Same attitude as both (me-first, backstabbing climber, bossy). Definitely smarter than NuBarbie. More professional experience than both, but still not as knowledgeable as she lets on - much like both NuBarbie and The Minion. Again, the difference here is that her boss recognizes her for what she is. Maybe because her boss is female rather than male??? Supervisor Barbie, NuBarbie, and The Minion are all big-time sycophants. I'm not seeing that so much in Minion 2.0 - but then, her boss is immune to sycophants from what I can tell. That's the fun part of the equation.

[windsor]

What seperates this from the Minion/NuBarbie situation is (fortunatley) her boss recognizes what is going on and is not part of the problem.

I would have a sit down with her boss. This is a conversation that needs to happen in the passive voice (this time at least).
Ask if there is something going on or some history you are not aware of since you are the NuPerson. Ask how best to deal with Minion2.0 because you want to be a team player. Tell her you are NuPerson, you do not wish to start of on the wrong foot. Ask how best to include Minion2.0 to help her make valuable contributions to the project (bonus points if you can say that without upchucking).

Seriously, since are the new sample in the lab, you won't take soft tone that is all about getting along and working together. The time to hoise the battle flags is not now. It may come, but it is not this day.

Do not exclude Minion2.0 from any e-mail chain, as this will only make her worse.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

I've lost track of the "neighbors-with-the-trouble-staying-in-the-lines-and-leaving-the-trash-out" drama. Where do we stand with them? And sometime when you get a chance I could sure use a cast of characters listed in a flow chart showing pecking order before I get too far behind in this chapter.

Meanwhile, I picture you "turning the world on with a smile" and "making it after all!"

Love, Ima

PS I still have trouble picturing you without the Arch in the background.

[ArkieDukie]

What seperates this from the Minion/NuBarbie situation is (fortunatley) her boss recognizes what is going on and is not part of the problem.

I would have a sit down with her boss. This is a conversation that needs to happen in the passive voice (this time at least).
Ask if there is something going on or some history you are not aware of since you are the NuPerson. Ask how best to deal with Minion2.0 because you want to be a team player. Tell her you are NuPerson, you do not wish to start of on the wrong foot. Ask how best to include Minion2.0 to help her make valuable contributions to the project (bonus points if you can say that without upchucking).

Seriously, since are the new sample in the lab, you won't take soft tone that is all about getting along and working together. The time to hoise the battle flags is not now. It may come, but it is not this day.

Do not exclude Minion2.0 from any e-mail chain, as this will only make her worse.

Yep, going to need to have that conversation with her boss sooner rather than later (see following). Thanks for the suggestions on tone; that's the route I'll take. Wasn't quite sure how to approach it.

I sent an email today to our new collaborator at the instrument company, copying all parties involved in the project. I basically updated her based on everything I had seen with the results of our previous experiment, asked a couple of questions, and suggested a couple of things to try in order to gauge her opinion. We received a response (she also copied everyone) and agreed with my suggestions/observations. She also said she intended to ask some others in her company about one of the issues I raised and would get back to us when she has an answer. [Now, remember: new collaborator and I independently came up with the idea for sample analysis on the new instrument and have come up with all the ideas for this particular method thus far. BarMinion has been advising on sample prep and analysis, and the project was stalled when I arrived here last month because BarMinion botched the data analysis. I fixed her mistake, and, boom: results are there. Now she's trying to take over and push me out of the picture.]

Now, fast forward to group meeting this afternoon. Some mention was made of meeting to discuss our special project, at which point BarMinion jumps in to say that we can't do anything else on the project until our new collaborator responds and tells us what to do. Uh, I made a suggestion and she thought we should try it. Apparently my suggestions don't count. Then, when I'm discussing something else we need to do (unrelated to first point), BarMinion INTERRUPTED me to tell me that I was wrong. I simply repeated what I said the first time: I asked our trainer SPECIFICALLY about the issue and was relaying what I was told. BarMinion corrected me again. I let it drop at that point, because I refused to get into an argument with the idiot in front of the entire group. Once I get an answer from our trainer to confirm what I said in group meeting, I will relay the information to BarMinion's boss.

Now, why the new name? It's a hybrid of NuBarbie and Minion. You may recall that I had many, many occasions where NuBarbie tried to make me look stupid in an effort to make herself look better. She was always wrong but was emphatic that she was correct. It appears that my new colleague shares that particular trait. Chick must feel really, really threatened by me. Sad thing is, I'm trying to help her. If it weren't for the fact that her boss wants my input, I'd back off and tell BarMinion to have fun figuring all this out for herself. BarMinion's behavior at our group meeting today was bad enough that her boss may take care of the issue for me.

One of my new colleagues has a great phrase that he uses in reference to getting into arguments with people: to "lock assholes with" Person X. The first time he said that in casual conversation, I just about spewed a mouthful of coffee across the room. Anyway, on more than one occasion this past week I have thought that BarMinion and I are going to lock assholes at some point. The thought has made me laugh, because the image is just so ridiculously funny.

[ArkieDukie]

I've lost track of the "neighbors-with-the-trouble-staying-in-the-lines-and-leaving-the-trash-out" drama. Where do we stand with them? And sometime when you get a chance I could sure use a cast of characters listed in a flow chart showing pecking order before I get too far behind in this chapter.

Meanwhile, I picture you "turning the world on with a smile" and "making it after all!"

Love, Ima

PS I still have trouble picturing you without the Arch in the background.

LOL, Ima! I'll have to see if I can devise a flow chart for you.

Lazy neighbors are being much better about hauling their trash to the dumpster since receiving the call from the office. They did have a bag of trash out when I got back home last Sunday, but it was gone early the next morning. They seem to be lying low, which is more than okay with me.

[Very Duke Blue]

Reading the new post was my Friday night entertainment. GO AD!!

[ArkieDukie]

I just realized the beauty of the BarMinion name: we can shorten it to BM.

It also occurred to me that there's another common link between NB and BM: their last jobs were with the same pharmaceutical company, albeit in different cities. They would've worked at approximately the same level on the career ladder. This particular company goes through frequent cycles of layoffs, which could foster a bit of a cutthroat working environment. I think I might mention this to BM's boss, because I suspect it could be a big part of BM's problem.

[ArkieDukie]

Just got confirmation that I was correct in what I was saying when BM cut me off at group meeting. I need to decide how I'm going to handle it. What I'd like to do is send an email to BM's boss, but I'm not sure that's advisable. An email to the entire group would not be worth the trouble it would cause. Frankly, I suspect she would escalate her apparent game of one-upsmanship and will become even more difficult to work with. Maybe I should save it for the discussion with BM's boss? Would love for some input.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Just got confirmation that I was correct in what I was saying when BM cut me off at group meeting. I need to decide how I'm going to handle it. What I'd like to do is send an email to BM's boss, but I'm not sure that's advisable. An email to the entire group would not be worth the trouble it would cause. Frankly, I suspect she would escalate her apparent game of one-upsmanship and will become even more difficult to work with. Maybe I should save it for the discussion with BM's boss? Would love for some input.

I'd go to her boss and see what she does with it, BM needs to be put in her place, even if that's out the door. And, you'll know where you stand with her, without having to wait years to find out. But I do have one question: as a new employee, are you in a probationary period, fireable without cause?? That might change my suggestion if it puts you at risk.