Hot Wheels
First, an update on yesterday
I survived my first performance review - giving one, not getting one. My assistant seemed to take the comments I had well, acknowledging her weaknesses as I had hoped she would (and as I did during my review). Unfortunately, she was pushing for a job classification change for which her job duties simply do not qualify her. Though the reasoning behind not giving her the classicification change were presented very well by our HR guy, and though I only supervise 12% of her duties (being my assistant only comprises an average of 5 hours a week of her 35 hours), she includes me in the blame for not receiving the promotion. Her other supervisor recommended her for promotion, but her recommendation was based primarily on her duties assisting me, not on her other duties. Well, quite frankly, her duties assisting me actually are categorized as being expected of someone two classifications below her current classification. At just 12% of her job duties, even if they did qualify for a higher classification, they don't comprise the majority of her duties so, again, she doesn't qualify for the promotion. Needless to say, she is not happy. Before the discussion about the promotion things had gone quite well. Sadly, I think her disappointment about the promotion overshadowed the rest of her review and she left a very unhappy person. Hopefully, she'll get over it sooner than later. I understand her frustration. She contends that she brings 40 years of business expertise to the job and that we are benefitting from that experience. That may well be the case, but the job doesn't require that expertise so, in fairness to other staff in the same classification, with or without years of expertise, we can't promote her based on that. A promotion has to be warranted by the work you do, not by what you could do or have done. If a doctor takes a job at Wal-Mart, they're not going to compensate him for his years of education or experience. He's going to get paid what the job pays. Unfortunately, she doesn't agree that she should not be compensated for what she brings to the table, despite her actual duties. Before we had our job descriptions and salary scale in place, previous directors and supervisors did just give random promotions. It sort of depended on how well you could argue your case, regardless of the actual merits of your case. If you could argue long enough, loudly enough, and hard enough, you usually got what you wanted. It was so unfair to so many deserving, but more "polite" staff that we finally wrote up job descriptions, classification qualification questionnaires, and a salary scale with written criteria for advancement. Now, when someone is promoted, there is a valid, documentable reason for the promotion. People who are adept at getting what they want through bullying, haranguing, or just plain wearing down their supervisors don't like the system we have in place now, but most staff agree that it is very fair.
Hot Wheels
So, one thing I didn't mention yesterday - we bought a new car. Previously, we had a 2002 VW Beetle TDI, a 2004 VW Jetta TDI, and our two older, paid for cars - 1992 Suburban and 1985 BMW 635CSi. Friday morning we had to take the Beetle to Appleway VW in Spokane to have the heated side mirrors replaced. They had stopped working last winter. Apparently there was design flaw, so they were replaced under warranty. While we were there, we decided to take the Audi A4 quattro for a test drive. We have always wanted one, but Tom didn't want to drive it up and down the highway to work and back, so we had never seriously considered one. The test drive was fun. It's a great car. It handles beautifully, has great suspension, Tiptronic transmission (the Porsche tranny that you can shift manually if you want to or drive in normal automatic mode), the most advanced all-wheel drive system available, and a host of other great features. It was a fun drive. When we got back, our salesman said the usual "so, let's do the paperwork", as if we were going to buy it. Yeah, right Paul. We jokingly said "you make it affordable, we'll do it" and walked back to check on the Beetle. When we got back, Paul had some numbers for us. Well, they were too high. He asked what it would take to do the deal. We told him the payments would have to be close to what we're currently paying and the initial outlay had to be virtually nothing. We went to eat lunch. When we returned, to our shock, he had put together a deal we could not pass up! So, we traded in the Jetta for an Ocean Blue Pearl Effect 2005 Audi 1.8T A4 AT5 with the Ultra Sport package, which means it has 18" alloy sport wheels and tires and a gorgeous ground effects package. This car is amazing. I am a huge BMW nut and this car actually makes me forget BMWs. I know, that's sacrilege, but it's true. The handling, the sound of the exhaust, the features... it is awesome! And the dealership treats us so well. A frequent complaint amomg BMW owners is how shabbily BMW dealerships treat them. We have been dealing with Appleway for 3 years now, having bought 5 cars in three years from them (yes, they love us there and I think we've set a record) . They have an awesome service department, awesome sales reps, and just provide overall excellent customer service. So, I just went from driving the Beetle daily to driving the Audi back and forth to work. We don't want to put a zillion miles on it, so Tom will only drive it one week a month. We'll likely keep this car instead of trade it in at the end of the lease. I love the color too! My husband was never keen on the Wheat Beige of the Jetta. He always wanted a silver one. This ocean blue is gorgeous, especially in the sun. Now we have a Marlin Blue Pearl Beetle (dark blue with purple pearl effect), an Ocean Blue Pearl Audi (sort of "Duke blue" - sort of), a Cosmos Blau (sky blue metallic - sort of a silver-blue) BMW, and a Teal Blue Suburban. Hmmm, I see a theme here. So, here's a photo of it from the Audi site.
Well, time to go to work again.
