You all know it. And we all hate it. TRAFFIC. At some point in our adult lives, we have been stuck in traffic. In fact, I believe that if it's not the perfect ideal driving weather (a little sunny, but not too bright), no one knows how to drive. Rain? Traffic. Snow. Traffic. Morning? Traffic. Is there no escape?!
Now some of us are smart about our daily commute. We find back roads, leave early, carpool, and find alternative means to making it on time to our job. The job that requires us to be at our desk on time on the dot. I won't speak for everyone, but from my personal experience, my managers have seemed to be oblivious to the fact that there are some things out of our control.
"Why were you 2 minutes late today?" my manager would ask.
"It's not my fault. A school bus full of orphaned children bringing kittens to a shelter got a flat tire. They closed the whole lane and had to redirect traffic. On top of that, the lights went out, 6' of snow fell on the ground, and my house is on fire" would be my response.
"Well, I still expect you to be on time, on the phone, and ready to work at 8:30a.m." is her retort.
At this point, some of you may be thinking that this scenario is a little far fetched (and not the Pokemon might I add), but we've all had reasons why we are late. And for those of us who are always on time, always stay late when asked, and do whatever is expected of us, we shouldn't have be interrogated when we are a few minutes past our start point. I mean, we didn't do it on purpose.
So we're stuck in traffic. We make the phone call to our supervisor/manager, inform them we are going to be late, and then wonder what kind of punishment will rain down on us once we arrive. For those who have understanding managers (and I do believe I have one now), it is a much more pleasing feeling working into the workplace late than walking into a manager who is naive that nothing ever goes wrong. Think about it; that manager is always on time (minus the fact that she could work from home if she wanted to) and expects everyone to follow her example.
Well I'm done apologizing for things beyond my control. I can't control the weather, I can't control other drivers, and I can't control traffic (unless I'm a traffic coordinator, heehee). What I will do is call into the office if I will be late to give them a head's up and that's it. I won't get knots in my stomach anymore and I won't care what snickering comments my co-workers feel they have the right to say.
The only thing I will do is leave a teeny tiny bit earlier tomorrow. It is supposed to snow, you know?
