Work started out hellaciously today. There is something nice about something rotten going down that’s not only not your fault, but wouldn’t have happened had you been a part of the process. For reasons unknown to me, they bypassed the normal testing procedures on a couple of contracts because the changes were minor and they were wrong six ways from Sunday. Unfortunately, that nice feeling goes away when you still have to clean up the mess. All morning was spent cleaning up the contracts and correcting all sorts of errors rannging from spelling errors to the wrong fields pulling. The whole time people within the company were breathing down my neck because they wanted it by 8am. Around 11 or so I got an ophthalmic migraine, rendering me partially blind. Ordinarily when this happens I clock out for lunch, but today I couldn’t because I had to get these done. Looking at a monitor and stress individually do nothing but exacerbate the condition, but I hadn’t much choice. When it was all over I emailed Willard to tell him that I was taking a long lunch and spend an hour-and-a-half recouping from the migraine and the stress.

The second half of the day was much better. I asked Willard for a private conference regarding the events of the morning and he let me in on some changes that are afoot. Bill Darden, the new CIO, apparently wants team leaders for each of the teams in our group. It’s Willard’s plan to fold this position into that of Request Coordinator, the position currently held by Golden Boy. This is good for three reasons: First of all, I am a natural candidate for the position. That’s not to say that I’ll get it (I’m not even sure I want it), but Simon doesn’t want it and outside him I’m a more natural fit than the other two candidates. More importantly, though, it means that Golden Boy is likely to lose his coveted spot and be reduced to the work of us plebes once again. He was arguably a decent choice for the position as it exists now, but he is a dreadful pick for the position that it’s becoming. Willard himself said that if he gets it, his first task will be to replace the 2-4 employees that quit. He knows that I am likely gone and that Simon will start looking for work outside the company. Martin has already made noises about going back to his previous employer.

The third and most important thing is that this will be good for the company. Even if I don’t get the position, the fact that Golden Boy won’t have it and that the position will become what it was meant to be (and what it was when Jarvis Hadley held it) means that operations within the department will be much more smooth. Personality conflicts aside, Willard’s having to persistently keep Golden Boy in his place meant that there was an authority vacuum whenever Willard wasn’t around. When Jarvis Hadley was the Request Coordinator, he was the de facto second person in charge and he was good at it. That’s what we need.

Though while the third may technically be the most important, it’s the second that will uplift my current job satisfaction.

Unless, of course, Golden Boy does get the promotion. At that point all hell will break loose and it may not affect me because I may be hunting for a new job.