Week 9: Day 1-3

My ninth week working at the Bureau of Economic Analysis was devoted to conducting interviews for the Training and Travel Process maps. Unfortunately, the meetings for the maps were scheduled for Thursday, theoretically keeping my schedule open for Monday thru Wednesday. On Monday morning, when Meridel called me into her office for a meeting, my assumption was proved false. The purpose of our meeting was to discuss how I felt about my internship experience. During our meeting, Meridel and I talked about the maps that my teammates and I created so far. I was pleasantly surprised when she commended me on all of the progress that I had made. Statements as simple as “Good job” and “I’m proud” mean a lot when they come from your boss. I told her about how much I was enjoying my experience. Our discourse was going well until she asked me why my meeting with Margaret and Tarik was pushed back. I froze up at the question. I hesitated to answer because I do not like to talk bad about people when they are not in front of me to defend their actions. Meridel continued to pry for an answer until I gave her the information that she wanted: they did not come to the meeting. The expression on her face became unsettling. I struggled to keep my composure as she complained about how useless some members of her staff are. She referred to Tarik as “useless” and Margaret as “lazy” as I sat there awkwardly. When she started to calm down, I decided to come up with explanations to excuse their behavior. Big mistake. I posited the idea that they may have just been busy or forgot the meeting. Meridel interpreted my explanation for their inequities as excuses, making her angrier by the second. Meridel began her tirade from the beginning again, which taught me a critical lesson. I learned that it is best to allow your boss to vent when they are frustrated. Countering your boss, even if it is meant to be constructive, might only further enrage them. When that occurs, there is little more that you can say without further offending your boss. After Meridel finished venting, we went over two internship evaluations. The first evaluation pertained to this class, while the second is usually used to rate employee performance. The results of both evaluations were pleasing, fairly indicating my many accomplishments and strong work ethic. I spent remaining days of the week preparing for my big Thursday meeting with Margaret and Tarik. I wanted to have everything that I had to say choreographed and rehearsed so that I could better hide my displeasure with them. Honestly, I did not want to meet with them. I felt that they purposely disrespected me by deciding to miss our meeting last week. Thursday afternoon, which was the day of my second meeting attempt, would provide the perfect venue to test my strategy.