Week 9: Day 4-5

On Thursday afternoon, my meeting with Margaret began. Laura and I sat at the table as time passed. I assumed that she must be an uncaring or unmotivated person because she missed our meeting last week and had the audacity to come late to this one. As it turns out, my assumptions were incorrect. She was actually quite pleasant, coming into the meeting with one of her teammates. She and her teammate, Alita, were very candid and helpful in our meeting. They laid out all of the information that Laura and I needed to make an effective process map. Towards the end of our meeting, Margaret made us promise to make the map as short as possiblee. She pulled out an older process map that Meridel made that was over 12 pages. Margaret explained to us that it was almost unreadable, alluding to this being her explanation for skipping our meeting. I did not like that explanation, but I certainly understand why an employee would consider process improvement to be a waste of time. Immediately after my meeting with Margaret, my meeting with Tarik began. One of the first differences that I noticed between Margaret and Tarik was that he was less helpful. He kept digressing from the points that I needed addressed, forcing me to break my choreographed routine. I tried my best to contain my frustration and he certainly noticed. It became clear to me, after hearing the details of what he does, that he was just stalling. He does not do any part of his job correctly. After an hour and a half of what felt like harsh interrogation, I lost my composure. I politely scolded him for missing our meeting last week and wasting our current meeting, forcing him to get back on task. It took Laura and I hours to make sense of the details that he gave us. It amazes me that anyone can be this incompetent and keep his or her job.