Trainee Blues

On other note, the trainee placed under my care seems to be improving. She was extremely annoying, whinny and spoilt, fidgety and always seems to have some nervous breakdown at all times for the most simplistic things like a sneeze of my department manager. I’m not kidding. She even mailed me saying it’s scary when he sneezes, right when I was busy doing my never-ending work. You have no idea how pissed I was that time.

My boss even spoke to me about her, requesting me to keep one eye on the girl, be like her big sister. There was one thing I really appreciated about my boss. She said, ‘even if J does not learn any technical stuff when she completes her training, I just want her to at least have some confidence in herself and be able to stand on her own.’ Respect. Have you heard any boss say that?

I’m not writing this to make fun of her, but here’s one girl who really needs help. She emails me 5 times a day, asking if my boss would be angry if she asks her something, or if she can approach my boss on that particular day and something similar, to which all my replies would be the same, you have to decide for yourself, I can’t decide for you.

Or, there will be emails saying a group of people are near her cubicle, and she has this strange feeling that they are talking about her. Or when the 3 top bosses are having a meeting, according to her, every time she walks by, they all seem to turn and see her from the meeting room, and then talk about her. Or there will be emails like yesterday, when my boss was supposed to talk to her regarding some matter, and before that she was busy talking to the manager..and this trainee mailed me 5 times, saying she was going to have a mental breakdown, just waiting for my boss to talk to her. I usually ignore these mails.

She’s also at times, rude and ignorant but seems to be improving, given all the sarcastic remarks that I say every time she asks a silly question. There was even a time when I just told her straight, ask me any work related question and I will help you but not other ridiculous matters.

There are times when my boss compliments her, saying her nervous level seems to have subsided and she will come, breath heaving up and down in excitement, and thanking me profusely for helping her, calling me an angel, darling and sweetie pie and wanting to buy cake and gift for my birthday. Yuck. With the exception of my boyfriend, I hate people calling me with all the sugary words. Calling me the devil makes me prouder.

I could go on and on but that would only make my blood boil even more with annoyance. Sufficient to say, this is the way I keep my distance. Every technical problem, I help her as much as I can. I try to build her confidence with lengthy advices whenever she needs it or direct to the face remarks if she behaves like a 5 year old. And as for her imaginations, I usually ignore it.

Sometimes I feel bad for treating her that way but I’m human too and there is only a certain level of irritation that I could tolerate. I just hope her four months stay here would be a good lesson to improve herself and to stop being spoilt silly.