So, I got an email last night from Mark at work. I’ve included it below.

Gents,
not moan but a request….

Can the individual who has defaced the task list please re-print. Various signs and reminders have been removed, binned or defaced. If this behaviour continues, the individual/s concerned will be called in to explain their actions to management.

If anything presented is either in-accurate or wrong, e-mail me so I can rectify it. Don’t scribble on it – we are a professional company and it is going to stay that way.

Mark Zacchia
Operations Teamleader

So… defacing? Here’s my reply. See what you think.

Mark,
I “defaced” the task list.

As long as by “defaced” you mean “made use of”.

I figured that the list was printed out for us and placed on our noticeboard so that it would be of some use to us. Not so that it could be ignored and unused.

If we intend to keep it in pristine condition then maybe we should contemplate laminating it. Or possibly it could be kept in a read-only document on the server. Then we wouldn’t be able to “deface” it any more.

I really don’t consider crossing out tasks that are completed, tasks that don’t need doing, members of the list which do not need to be on the list and correcting one mistake for ease of understanding to be defacing something.

Our notice board is like the whiteboard in Martin’s office. There are many items crossed out, things half scribbled down on there. Surely if us using the OST notice board, in the same way as you and Martin use that whiteboard, is defacing then you are being hypocritical.

I took the “Check the fax machine” sign down. It’s not needed now that the fax maxhine is in the same room as us.

And below is David’s reply, sent 10 minutes after mine.

Mark,
I am the one that took down a couple of the signs. Namely the ones that would’ve made Ancis look less professional to visitors – i.e. all of them.

I mean this with no offence, but in all honesty if I were a customer passing through Ancis and I saw that their technicians need reminding to update their logs, etc, I would take that as a sign that these people do not know what they are doing.

I can see that the signs would make Ancis look more professional, IF they weren’t signs that treated their technicians as children, but as well as patronising us which is also very good for lowering team morale they show the customer an image that is not the image Ancis need to be displaying.

I wasn’t involved in any “defacing” of the task sheet, but if by “defacing” you mean that some of the tasks have been crossed out I don’t think that this was meant as defacement. I can’t speak for whoever did it, but I presume that they were merely using the sheet to track their progress.

Crossing out a task when it is done – so that everybody else (namely you and Martin) can see that it has been finished. This is also very useful to stop tasks being done twice. Several of the tasks (nearly all of them actually) have been assigned twice, to 2 different people, so if the first person to do it crosses it out then the other person will obviously realise the reason it has been crossed out, and not waste time doing it again.

I was planning on doing the same thing myself, as I thought that things like that were the whole point of us having a message board – so that we could actually use it in a similar way that you and Martin use the whiteboard in his office. If a thing such as this is labelled defacing, then surely you are being hypocritical whenever you use that whiteboard.

Again, I say that I mean no offence by any of this, I merely wish to explain my actions and attempt to explain the obvious reason for actions of others.

Regards,
David Swinstead
Operations Support Technician

Mark is a jerk.
The emails explain it all.

Comments

Posted by Steve Johnson
Hi,
I know Mark and now work with him; I can say that you are completely wrong with your childish opinion and obvious lack of respect for people to actually publish what is a private email between worker and Team leader.
All I can say is that you need to grow up a little and learn a bit about life!
To show that you have actually matured since publishing this nonsense, I really do think that you should apologise to him.

Posted by Stu
You can’t say I’m completely wrong with an opinion you moron. An opinion is subjective, so shut up.

Posted by Stu
Also, if you ever check back for a response to your comment you could leave some kind of contact info, or hell, email me: stuart.gilbert [at] gmail.com

I doubt you’ll bother though, oh well.

There’s no way I’m apologising to the guy, no chance in hell. I don’t care if you think this reflects upon my maturity. He deserves everything I ever said about him, regardless of how or where I published it.