Saturday, August 05, 2006
why i hate collaboration. and sharing.
this week is all about my only-child-hood.
so, my final project for the class i was taking until thursday was a collaborative paper and presentation. i don't know how you go about writing a fifteen page paper with someone else; obviously people write entire books with a partner, but i think they probably get to pick them and they probably are interested in the same things.
so i got assigned to this guy who could do nothing but talk in run-on sentences about anecdotes tangentially related to our subject. i was determined to wrassle my inner clench into submission, so i just kept telling him what i was doing, and asking if he was okay. the day before it was due, i asked if he would send me his part of the annotated bibliography by 9:00 pee em so i could integrate it with mine.
he called at 10:17 to tell me he was still writing and had no bibliography. i said, okay. i guess just bring the pages in and we'll put them together just before we turn it in. and then he showed up in the morning
with nothing.
on friday, a co-worker--my friend patrick--was using my computer, trying to install some piece of crap that i didn't need. while he was doing so, an IM popped up from a handle i didn't recognize. who's that, i asked? it's probably X, he said, a friend of his in marketing. he answered the friend's question, and then typed,
"by the way, you have a great ass."
i shoved him aside and typed, "that was patrick! patrick! he was using my computer!" and the person typed,
"who is patrick?"
and this was odd, since the marketing friend was a friend of p's, so i figured it was a joke. there were a few more backs and forths before i realized the person typing was my new boss. who is a Very Serious Female Person.
in both cases, i sort of apologized and sort of explained, but left feeling like i was somehow complicit. not complicit! did nothing wrong! but have been tarred by the brush of LOSERS.
i'm getting over it.
so, my final project for the class i was taking until thursday was a collaborative paper and presentation. i don't know how you go about writing a fifteen page paper with someone else; obviously people write entire books with a partner, but i think they probably get to pick them and they probably are interested in the same things.
so i got assigned to this guy who could do nothing but talk in run-on sentences about anecdotes tangentially related to our subject. i was determined to wrassle my inner clench into submission, so i just kept telling him what i was doing, and asking if he was okay. the day before it was due, i asked if he would send me his part of the annotated bibliography by 9:00 pee em so i could integrate it with mine.
he called at 10:17 to tell me he was still writing and had no bibliography. i said, okay. i guess just bring the pages in and we'll put them together just before we turn it in. and then he showed up in the morning
with nothing.
on friday, a co-worker--my friend patrick--was using my computer, trying to install some piece of crap that i didn't need. while he was doing so, an IM popped up from a handle i didn't recognize. who's that, i asked? it's probably X, he said, a friend of his in marketing. he answered the friend's question, and then typed,
"by the way, you have a great ass."
i shoved him aside and typed, "that was patrick! patrick! he was using my computer!" and the person typed,
"who is patrick?"
and this was odd, since the marketing friend was a friend of p's, so i figured it was a joke. there were a few more backs and forths before i realized the person typing was my new boss. who is a Very Serious Female Person.
in both cases, i sort of apologized and sort of explained, but left feeling like i was somehow complicit. not complicit! did nothing wrong! but have been tarred by the brush of LOSERS.
i'm getting over it.
