Friday, June 7, 2002. Entry #158

I got one half of my teeth cleaned today.

A big downside of not getting your teeth cleaned for six years is the sheer amount of accumulated gunk that must be picked, pried and blasted off when you finally do get around to it.

What fun.

After a half hour of X-rays and probing of my gums, my hygienist Claudia (pronounced Cloud-ia, if you please) began the real work. A whole hour with the oral equivalent of a jackhammer, and only the right side of my mouth was completed. I have another hour and a half appointment coming in July for the rest of the mouth, plus polishing and other treatments.

Lisa brought me a toothbrush when she came to take me to the dentist, so I could brush before my appointment. I think that's kind of a funny idea. I see it as being a lot like tidying your house up before the cleaners get there. You don't want them to see how messy the place is normally, but you know they're still going to notice all the crap you stuffed in the closet and under the couch.

Yeah, I brushed anyway.

Had a coworker blow up at me today.

That has never happened to me before, at any job, and I really had no idea how to take it.

One of my responsibilities is to coordinate our bi-weekly data 'push', where all our changes on the test server are 'pushed' to the live ones. I make sure everyone on our side is complete their work, and then advise the IT Ninjas to go ahead with the 'push'.

Things were rushed this morning, as usual. We were behind schedule, and I was moving from person to person seeing who I still had to wait for.

I got to Mick and he said he was still updating images. I said okay, and went back to my desk. A couple minutes later, I got an email from a Ninja asking him how soon we would be able to go. I turned my chair to face Mick and said, "How's it coming, man? You done yet?"

"No," he said.

"C'mon, man," I said with a grin. "You were supposed to be done at 9 o'clock."

"Just leave me the hell alone!" he snapped at me.

The hell? I was completely flummoxed. Frank, our boss, was going past at that moment, and told Mick to relax.

When he was gone, I said, "What's going on Mick?"

He said, "Just turn the fuck around and shut the fuck up. Go on! Turn the fuck around and leave me the hell alone!"

I threw my hands up and left him alone. He completed his work a minute later, so I told the Ninjas to go ahead.

I was waiting for Frank to come back so I could talk to him, and he motioned me into his office before I even said a word.

He brought Mick in as well. Frank told me that Mick knows what he is doing, and if he needs more time, then it's important.

I agreed, and said that wasn't at issue, and I had been teasing him a bit. This isn't unusual -- our whole office is pretty laid back and there is always a lot of teasing.

Frank turned to Mick and told him that he was NOT to speak to anyone like that. Mick agreed and apologized (honestly, I felt), and said that he was feeling pressured (he had been asked to make changes at the last second) and didn't realize it was just teasing.

I said okay, but reminded both of them that if I am responsible for coordinating the push, then I need to know if it needs to be delayed and why. They both agreed and we went back to work.

It was all amiable and such, but the suddenness of Mick's anger scared me. If he blows up that easily when stressed, it's bound to happen again. Things happen quickly around here, and there's no telling when anyone will get swamped under.

Part of me thinks I was too lenient in my reactions. Frank missed the worst of the exchange, and Mick's language and attitude was really offensive. The Company has a low tolerance for crap like that.

I was really pissed off, and part of me wants to press this matter further, but I don't know how wise that would be. Well, it's the weekend now, so I'll just let it go.

But if it happens again...

On Russian Roulette: This is our new favorite game show. Each player is standing on a trap door, and when they get a question wrong, they pull a lever and there's a chance of it popping open and dropping them out of the game. I just love the little squeals as the players drop out of sight. Hee hee!

One Year Ago Today: I was still on hiatus, but in 780 BC, the first total solar eclipse was reliably recorded by Chinese.

Mom Rating: 3 out of 5. Good about the teeth. Bad about mad Mick.

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Take me home, big fella