Uh, I can hear you.

This morning, as I enjoyed my Starbucks coffee and Kashi TLC bars, I heard my name being repeated by coworkers in someone's office. No, they weren't gossiping. They were volunteering my time to help with something without asking me first.

No one has spoken to me about this said event. I only know what I could hear through my cube wall, and that isn't much. I heard fragments like, "Ali can do..." and "Ali will take care of..."

HELLO? Did anyone think to include me in that meeting?

I was just cc'd on an email from a coworker who attached an Excel spreadsheet of names. I responded by saying, "Am I supposed to be doing something with this?"

Seriously?

Frustrated.

Why ask me to print something that you can print yourself? Did you lose your ability to walk? It probably took her [aka my boss] longer to tell me which printer to print to than it would've taken her to print the piece of paper herself.

Really? REALLY?

Do people not say thank you anymore?

A friend of mine is in the process of interviewing for a job. After two interviews, and the completion of a project, my friend decided to make a gift and hand-deliver it to the office. She even had the gift wrapped at a premier paper store in the city.

It's been days and her gift has yet to be acknowledged. Even the project that she submitted (upon assignment) went unrecognized. Has "thank you" been eliminated from the vocabulary these days? Is it really SO HARD for someone to shoot an email with those two small words?

I just can't understand it. I'd like to think that, if the situation were reversed, I would have said thank you. Even if my friend doesn't get the job, even if she's not in their top three, her efforts - both on the project, and with the gift - should have been acknowledged. Don't you agree?

IS SHE SERIOUS?

Here she goes AGAIN... twice in one day, and I'm ready to scream...

Will you please print and bind a copy of the presentation and send to Jason?

This is a joke, right? She's kidding?

I'm sorry, am I your assistant?

The head of our department could technically be considered my "boss boss," but we don't work together often and I don't report to her.

Also keep in mind that there are two sales assistants that work here, whose responsibilities include what I'm about to mention below.

I get to work this morning and find an email from the "boss boss" stating the following:

Can you pls. post this online and also replace the sheets in the conference room with this one?

She emailed both assistants and myself. I'm sorry, but when did I become an assistant? There are two already, and this is NOT in my job description!!!

It's 12:27...

... in the afternoon, and I STILL have not seen my boss.

Eggs on an interview?

My friend Kendall was just telling me about an interview she went on yesterday. It went something like this...

Kendall: That lady was eating hard boiled eggs with her hands while interviewing me
Me: Seriously?
Kendall: Yeah, I was getting so grossed out, like almost asked to open the door for ventilation

Really? REALLY?

Human Resources = un-resourceful.

I realize that "unresourceful" has yet to find a place in the dictionary, but no other word seems to do this post justice. I have come to find over the years that these so-called "gatekeepers" are, more often than not, incredibly unhelpful.

Take scenario one: I had just graduated from college and was interviewing for a job at Citigroup. Four interviews deep, I was told I'd hear by "early next week." Early next week came and went, as did the next week, and the next. I followed up two times with both HR and the people that I interviewed with, and still, silence.

To this day, I never heard back from Citi.

Imagine my disbelief. And yet, this sort of thing has since become an unfortunate pattern in my life.

Take scenario 150: Back in January, I interviewed for a job at NBC. My dream job. I don't usually get nervous for interviews, but this one was different. I was a ball of nerves, and it showed. Needless to say, I knew it didn't go so well, and I was expecting to hear that I would not be moving on in the interview process.

And yet, weeks went by without hearing anything. I followed up with the woman I interviewed with three times. And as I sit here, three months later, I'm still unknowing about what happened to the job. I never heard back from the woman.

I can't for the life of me wrap my head around these situations. Though it may take me a day or two, I will always respond to an email or voice message. Who are you to deem yourself so important that you feel entitled to ignore me? Are you just THAT busy that you can't find two minutes to email me back with a simple, "Yes" or "No"?

It begs the inevitable question... really? REALLY?

Really? REALLY?

So without giving too much away about what industry I am in, I want to preface this post by saying that there is a reason for why I'm not so busy. My position here is not as needed as it was at my previous job. With that being said, I don't think the following is normal:

It is 4:24 on a Monday afternoon, and I have not gotten ONE work-related email all day.

Someone please tell me what's wrong with this picture.