I received this e-mail from one of the lab workers the other day. It's a forward from our director:

-----Original Forwarded Message-----
From: X
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 9:54 AM
To: me
Subject: Projector

X, could you look into ordering this projector.
Best
Director

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From: * some other guy
*Date: *Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:36:24 -0400
*To: * Director
*Subject: *projector
Hi L, here's the projector we have (~$500 on Amazon):

---link to a projector on Amazon---

So I went ahead to get the OK from my manager to buy it and noted that it was strange that one of the lab workers was ordering IT equipment as it usually goes through me...as per my job description, nonetheless. My manager was confused as expected and questioned the purchase and how it came to be. here's the director's response:

I asked for comparisons to other projectors. What was the outcome, and why?
Director

Here's my response, professional as always :)

Hi Director,
I received the message forwarded from X where you asked her to look into ordering the projector linked below. I verified with Manager as I do with any major purchase and she wanted me to verify which account it should come out of. Also, will this be to replace the one in the conference room? Thanks, sorry for the confusion.

Here is her (always) unprofessional reply:

My request was not to just go ahead and purchase this one, but to do some due diligence to make sure we are getting the best value.  X and Peter, please could you do this.  I think that this was clear from my last email, but perhaps not.
Director

...and my reply:

I understand now. I'll look into a new projector for the conference room. I think the 'ordering' part threw me off a bit.
-Pete

...and the cherry on top:

I am not sure why X would ask you to order it....that's not really your job!
Best
director

...and I'll finish with an excerpt from my job description:

Systems Administrator, ... to provide support, maintenance and general administrative services...This will include...ordering and configuring PCs and Printers, managing equipment property...

ok, a projector is not technically a PC or Printer, but since I'm also troubleshooting laboratory equipment, I think it's fair to say that it is my job to research and order them.

Labels: employ

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