The Devil Wears Prada...

K had leant me the book, she bought it due to the hype of the movie. I thought i should read it and then watch the movie...

I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book and it dawned on me that there is a manager at work who is very much like Miranda Priestly - The Devil in the book.

Two out of the four people who are her subordinates have jumped ship, and have landed themselves positions in another department within the company. I am sure they told the interviewer that they wanted to move due to the challenge of the new role, etc. Not because their manager is a horrible b!tch who makes their lives a living hell!

The two who will be leaving shortly are the two girls. Two guys remain. One is the next in charge, so he wont be leaving any time soon. The other is the lackey that gets the blame for most things and is deemed a "troublemaker" by The Devil, but he isnt really.

The "troublemaker" was pointing out some very obvious "Devil" traits...One such trait is:

"Its like she went to the 'Obedience Training Management School'. When she doesnt understand what you are telling her, she will say one word statements/commands. Have you noticed how she especially likes using the words 'Stop!' and 'No!'...its like she doesnt realise that you are a person and not an actual dog."

And you know what, i have noticed.

The first time i ever had to deal with her, she spoke to me like that over the phone. This was when she did a manual bill for The Bank for our projects. I sent her the spreadsheet she requested that i fill out with all the details she required. I did it. I balanced it. I sent it back to her. She did whatever she had to do. Then she called me. She asked me to balance what she had done, because she didnt get my total. She then sent me her spreadsheet.

I basically went ahead and did her job for her. I reconciled her spreadsheet. I called her and pointed out all the mistakes she had made not actually blaming her but thinking it. Never once did she admit that she did anything wrong. It had to be my mistake. She did the "Stop!" and the "No!"...i wondered why she didnt just say to me "Petals, i dont see where you got that figure? Could you please show me which column you are adding to get that total?"

It was just a bunch of "Stop!" and a bunch of "No!"

I wished and prayed that i never had to deal with her in person.

Mind you, i dont have to report to her. I am only polite to her, simply because she is a "manager" and i have to deal with her to get some of my project billing done...its rare, because she gets all her subordinates to do the work while she disappears from the office for 5 hours of the working day...but i still have to deal with her that little bit, so its wiser to at least stay neutral with her.

I, unfortunately sit in the set of cubicles right next to her and her team. I hear the way she speaks to them. Its condescending and very demoralising and loud. And because i am sitting right next to her and her team...its like, she thinks she can order me around like she does her own team.

I will be on the phone with my project manager and just because she happens to be doing something for the projects im working on, she will immediately call out "Petals!" Which is followed by a "Can you come over here!" Not a question, but a demand for me to go to HER desk, to bloody answer something that she JUST doesnt understand.

At first i ignored her, my project manager is who i report to and i was on the phone with him. Mr Troublemaker informed her that i was on the phone, as he could see over the partition that i was holding the receiver to my ear. But she didnt relent. She just called out again. "Petals!"..."Petals!"...Why dont you bloody shut the f@#$ up!!!

I had to tell my manager that she was calling me and it sounded urgent...he understands that she is one sick b!tch...and told me to call him back after i dealt with her.

I went over and for some bloody reason I apologised to her for keeping her waiting. Although, i made a point that i was on the phone with my project manager.

She proceeded to ask me "What is this?"

I was a bit dumbfounded because it was another manual bill filled out to her specifications. It was balanced. It was perfect. I had even attached to the email all the required documentation for proof of work completed, so she wouldnt have to ask me for it. And yet, here she was asking me what i had sent her???

I told her it was the information she required to do a manual bill for our project that month.

She said "Yes! But shouldnt you be able to put this into the system yourself?"

I told her "No, I am unable to. The purchase order is not in the system, so I am unable to put it through. But we do have the purchase order and therefore I gave it to you to be billed manually."

Her response was "Oh."

I replied to that with "Was there anything else?" in a cheery sing song voice...thinking "you are a dumb b!tch and you have just wasted my time with something so obvious".

I have a few more encounters as such...but i wont bore you with them.

A war story from one of the girls who are moving on, was about their monthly reviews with The Devil. Instead of having just the plain old half yearly reviews, it seems their team gets reviewed on a monthly basis. They sit down with her and get reviewed on their performance. The girl sat down with The Devil one afternoon and was told that The Devil had found that she has been cocky lately.

Now let me tell you first hand. This girl is lovely. She is soft spoken and really pleasant. She sits opposite me in the cluster of cubicles. All i hear each and every day The Devil is present, is The Devil reprimanding her or telling her to do something, or asking her why something hasnt been done yet, whats taking her so long...and she doesnt give much details to the poor girl for her to do her tasks. She is pretty much like Miranda Priestly on the way she treats this poor girl...just not to the nth degree. And this girl manages to take alot of the flack without being rude, while i would have told her to shove it a long time ago. The girl is in NO WAY COCKY.

Because the girl is really polite, she proceeded to apologise if she gave the impression that she was cocky and that she didnt mean for it to come out that way.

The Devil just turned around and said "You see! THAT! You are being cocky again!"

I always wondered why the girl was upset that afternoon...i wasnt informed of this right away and it was Mr Troublemaker who told me afterwards.

The girls are going to watch the movie tonight, because it reminds them of their own Devil.

I am very grateful that my own managers are decent human beings. And that they dont treat me like sh!t...I just need to find a way of taming this Devil who bullies me when she feels like it. She really has no reason to...and i absolutely hate it when she feigns interest in me or when she feigns interest in anyone else...we all know it to be fake.

Grrr...