Tactless Ling

I used to think Eugene was in need of some tact. Actually I still do. But even Eugene knows there are times when it's not always wise to say the first thing that's on your mind. With that said, I've managed to find someone that needs it even more. Unfortunately I've been working with this person for the last six months on the project from hell (that's still going on).

Ling was transferred to our group as part of the reorganization of the company(Translation: layoffs). She was originally slated to go to another group but came in ours when we lost a member of our team due to the same reorganization.

First off in the grand scheme of things, Ling is not the worst person I've had to work with. That distinction goes to this bitch I nicknamed Pickaninny who actually finally retired. Ling if you want seems like a decent person. Every now and then, she'll ask me what certain words or phrases that she encounters in emails mean. She's even been relatively helpful at times.

But Ling's mouth and actions border on annoying at times. I remember when she first started, she told Dan and I that a couple other guys that sat not too far from us used to work with her but they really don't talk to her much these days. Then she mentioned how another ugly, the same ugly who reported that I was singing in my desk, complained how loud Ling was. I was automatically sympathetic with her after that.

But over the next few months, I would begin to understand why some of the other folks complained about or avoided her. Project wise there were times when I felt like Ling tried to throw me under the bus. Basically she would blame certain processes that I maintain for causing present day issues. These processes she blamed were ones that have been running for over 15 years with minor problems. When she did this, others would jump on the bandwagon and that wound up putting me on the offensive defending my processes. In the end, it wound up being the new process that was the issue. And I had to investigate to get to that point.

She would borderline sexually harass her male counterparts. This one was kind of tough to call but if I did some of the things she did, I'd probably be slapped with a suit. A couple times I've worn my new Polo shirts. I've been working out so naturally my biceps and triceps would be sticking out. She touched my biceps and would go 'ooooh sexy'. It irked me a bit but I just backed away and laughed it off. She would hug me when I least expect it as well. I've seen her do the same thing to our offshore resources. Like I said, if I did that stuff to her, I'd immediately be hearing from H.R. I've told her in front of some people that I don't like her hugging me and then she still does it.

When I got my brand new baby, I became the unlucky person to drive her to lunch almost a month after that blessed event. You would swear she was a little kid. She went about pushing every little compartment in my car trying to find out "what I have hidden". She decided to play around with the radio. I had it off since usually I know my musical tastes differ from everybody else's. Dan happened to be in the back seat and we both tried to tell her to stop with the craziness with no avail.

She then made the comment that she hates people who drive certain brands of cars and luckily for me, she approved of my car since she drives a Nissan product herself. One of the brands she hated happened to belong to someone else on our team. This is where her mouth can get her in trouble.

What prompted me to blog about Ling finally was some comments I heard her make today. There's this guy that sits across from her that's heavyset. We recently had our holiday party and she got to meet his wife. I overheard her say to this guy that his wife is "so tall and skinny". Then she remarked that his son is "so tall and skinny". (He has a picture of his son on his desk.) She repeated the comments about his wife again. So it seemed to imply that she couldn't believe that a fat guy like himself could land such a skinny spouse. The guy was like 'yeah..and?' I turned around and looked at Dan and he looked at me and both of us had our jaws dropped shaking our heads in disbelief.

Ling says she wants to become a manager. All I could think of is if she's my manager, I'm so looking for a new group to work in. Just another reason I need to get out of this company.