Cranky People

I have a really hard time with people who just can't manage to be civil to others for no particular reason. I am the type of person who will be annoyingly friendly and upbeat 95% of the time, regardless of how angry you're making me. When you catch me during that other 5%, I'm usually just short or snippy, very rarely am I downright rude.

Of course, when I am on the phone with someone who is not understanding what I'm telling them or asking ridiculously stupid questions, I will vent when I'm off the phone. But I'm usually not rude to the caller.

So, it's particularly irritating when someone is unnecessarily rude to me. I'm leaving tomorrow for Harrisburg for a 3-day job fair - it's the only big one I go to every year, and I always look forward to taking the small trip. We have a corporate "executive assistant" (EA) who registers us as a system for all recruitment events, orders all giveaways, etc. She asked me to stop by to pick up the materials I'll need for this particular event, despite the fact that she has couriered all of the other materials I've used all year over to me (our offices are not far from each other, but are not in the same building or complex).

I planned to go yesterday, but wound up running out of time on the way to yesterday's recruitment event. So I figured I'd get them today when I leave - EA typically works 8-5, so I could just stay late, make sure everything's under control for my back-up, and pick them up on my way home.

EA left me a voicemail saying that she didn't know when I was picking up the supplies, but that she had to leave today at 2:00 PM and I needed to pick them up no later than 1:30 PM. She left this message at about 11:30 AM, leaving me a small window of time to do so. Now I would have to validate my parking, drive to pick up the supplies, re-park, and have to validate my parking again when I leave. Not a huge deal, but it makes me feel bad having to validate my parking twice in the same day.

Optimistic me decides to look on the bright side. I ask a few co-workers if they want to come along for the ride and then we can all go to lunch at a local German restaurant. I send an e-mail to EA (approximately 15 minutes after she left the voicemail) and tell her I'll be there in about half an hour, and that I'll call when I'm on my way.

I start calling from the parking garage. Her phone is forwarded to her voicemail. I continue to call for the 5 minutes it takes to get to her building. She never answers. I try to track down another person in her office so that she can tell the EA I'm on my way. The other person also doesn't answer.

So we arrive and my 3 colleagues go into the building to try to find the EA. They arrive and find EA eating her carrot sticks for lunch. She is extremely huffy, saying that I was supposed to pick the stuff up yesterday, she didn't get my e-mail b/c she was eating, and her phone was forwarded b/c she's at lunch. She grabs the boxes and starts slamming them around for my co-workers. As she gathers the materials, she tells them to make sure I know to return her cart as soon as I return from my trip.

My colleagues have to use the loading dock to exit the building b/c they can't go out the front door for some reason. The lift is broken, and they have to carry all of the boxes and the cart down a flight of stairs. The EA's cart has her name taped to the handle. After lunch, I have an e-mail from EA telling me that my co-workers didn't seem happy and reminding me to drop off the cart when I return.

Is this situation ridiculous to anyone else, or just us? I know if I were leaving for the day at 2:00 PM, if I even ate lunch, I would do so while answering my phone and keeping up with my e-mails. I'm determined to open a mini moving company just so I can use the cart over and over again and never return it. I'm not sure why she needs it - maybe she wheels paperwork down the hallway?