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Friday, December 2, 2016

Microstory 465: Floor 21 (Part 2)

Project Manager 2: Hey man, what’s got you down? The lock...uh, down? The lockdown? Sorry.
Project Manager 1: Oh no, it’s got nothin’ to do with that. They locked us out of the system, so I can’t even do busy work. That’s really been the only thing that’s kept me from a complete meltdown over this window business.
Project Manager 2: Ah yeah, I get it. It’s a real bummer. All those people who died, and now some of our people are dying? It’s crazy. So crazy.
Project Manager 1: I mean, it’s not that. I feel responsible. You can blame the designers or builders until the cows come home, but the fact is they can’t do their jobs well if they don’t have the one thing that we’re all trying to get more of.
Project Manager 2: You mean, money?
Project Manager 1: Well yes, but not that. No, I’m talking about time.
Project Manager 2: Of course, that was my next guess.
Project Manager 1: Time is supposed to work for me. I’m a sodding project manager, and I failed. I failed this company, and I failed those victims. I’m a failure.
Project Manager 2: Yes well, if you make a point of assuming responsibility for every problem in the world, I suppose that would make you feel bad.
Project Manager 1: Come on, you know what I mean. This was important stuff. Someone messed up, I’ll give you that. Somebody screwed up something about the windows that led to the deaths, and I do not take responsibility for that. What I do take responsibility for how the general process went. Maybe someone felt rushed, and I didn’t give them enough time. Again, it’s my job to know how to organize all that, and to prepare for unforeseen circumstances.
Project Manager 2: Oh okay, so you’re worried that you made some kind of mistake that resulted in someone else making some other mistake.
Project Manager 1: Yeah exactly, that’s what I’m saying. Bottom line, the buck stops with me.
Project Manager 2: Well no, the buck stops with us. We’re a team, and frankly it’s insulting to the rest of us that you absorb all this pain over a problem that we all had a hand in. And this is all theoretical, because all you’re giving me is hypotheticals anyway. We have no evidence that we did anything wrong at all. Maybe the machinist was going through a terrible divorce. Maybe a pen exploded and obstructed the installation instructions. There are too many variables. Not even a master of time such as yourself can see them all, let alone do something about them.
Project Manager 1: All right, I get it. My ego is the real problem here.
Project Manager 2: That’s right, you’re getting smarter. Now, come on. There are plenty of things we could do without access to the system.
Project Manager 1: There are, like what?
Project Manager 2: When is the last time you played paper football?
Project Manager 1: Depends on what you mean by football.

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