« Brilliant! | Main | Basic Human Needs - Affection »
March 04, 2005
Bad Moods Are Contagious
Ugh...I started off the afternoon in a perfectly nice mood. It was further enhanced by the advent of successful wireless internet capabilities at the local coffeeshop. And then...
It all went sour.
First, there were a string of emails that got snippy at the end, all related to something I started in what I thought was a joking matter. Sigh.
Then, I saw with delight that several people had responded to our survey. Using our super-stealthy new email address (designed specifically for this project), I went through the 50 or so "delivery failed" messages (sigh, the master contact list was more than a little faulty) and noticed with glee that we had actual emails from some of the survey participants. I read the first one with a rapidly beating heart--after all, a lot is riding on the success of this survey--and imagine my terror when I read:
Hello, I can't access your survey. I get a message saying: survey is closed.
With a trembling hand I opened up three other emails with similar sentiments. I swear, we had pre-tested this survey to death--how could it be CLOSED?? I hurriedly went to the survey and, sure enough, there is a secret button you have to choose to "open" it to outside participants. I opened the survey, and quickly wrote back to the emailers, noting that we had fixed the problem. I just hope that a bunch of other people hadn't tried to answer the survey, seen that it was faulty, and threw the email away without contacting us. Distaster.
So by then, I was in a truly foul mood. I thought that a trip to the Fox & Anchor for the famous free Friday buffet would fix things, but the bantering just made me more irritable.
I got home around 9 and checked back on the survey website. Seven people have completed the survey (yay!), so it appears that it is working at least. Then I took a closer look at the responses. One of them came from my former boss, which was amusing just because of the way the world works. Another response was quite rude, implying that we had completely misunderstood the nature of sustainability reporting. Now, I have spent the last 2+ years working on the issue of sustainability reporting: I assure you, I have an excellent grasp of the subject. But it made me MORE irritable (if possible) than before.
Then, we have a "special" guest at the house tonight for dinner, and there is loud music playing in the kitchen, that even two closed doors cannot block. I can't figure out what my next steps are for the thesis, and I'm at a loss on how to combine my two spreadsheets with thesis information.
Finally, one of my peer group members is unhappy with our choice (led by me) to use a yahoo group account to coordinate information from our thesis peer group. While I realize this is NOT intended to be a personal attack, once I'm in a bad mood, it's hard not to see it that way.
No whining, I know. I'm just at a loss on how to salvage the evening.
