My Boss and Me

I don't have a schedule at my job. I find out a day or two in advance what I am doing and when I am going to have time off. I was off Sunday and Monday and did not get a chance to call into the office to check on my schedule on Monday. This is normally not a problem. My boss will call at some point and tell me what I can expect. Or, if that doesn't happen he will at least send me an e-mail with my case info and start time. Unfortunately, my boss was absent on Monday and I was unaware of this fact until Tuesday morning.

I got home Monday afternoon from about a week down in the sticks and I spent 16 hours on the road over my two days off. I went to KC to pick up my 96 Mustang and returned with it to my Dad's place(12 hrs) where it will be parked while I slowly restore it to good condition, then, had to travel the 4 hrs home on Monday.

I got home from running around after my office closed and checked my e-mail since I had not heard from my boss. I had not received any case info. At any other job, this would mean I had the day off, however, I know I am not that lucky and knew that someone had screwed up and not sent me my info. I called my boss's cell and left him a message, figuring I would cover my ass. I never received a return call, so, I set my alarm for 7am(my boss's normal start time) and figured I would find out the next morning what the deal was.

6:55 a.m. Tuesday: I was awakened by my phone ringing. A fellow investigator was calling. We were supposed to be working together about 2 hrs from my house and he was wondering where I was at. That was the start of a great last two days. I finally got ahold of my boss's boss at about 8:30 and was told my boss had been out on Monday and Tuesday and he was running our team and had sent my e-mail to a non-existent address(inspiring much confidence in his ability to run our department) and that he had a new case for me. I was to start at 11am.

I was a few miles away from my case when I received a phone call from a second manager asking for an activity update. I told him I was just arriving and he asked me why I had started so late. I told him his boss had directed me to do so. He was very puzzled by the intructions I received and told me to continue to my case but that I would probably be pulled off as soon as I arrived and sent somewhere else.

About 20 minutes later, I received a call from a third manager, telling me to go to a different case and that I would be checking in with him for the rest of the day. Then I was told that I would be working a case I had worked several times before, on Wednesday(today) but, was given no further special instruction. I worked into the evening went home and checked my reports from prior days of surveillance. I determined from these notes that I did not have to start until late morning since that was how I worked it before.

This morning I arrived at my case, figured out what I needed to know before checking in with my boss and placed the phone call to check in. I told him what he needed to know in order to update the client, including what time I arrived. My boss, returning from several days of being sick returned to a mess. I was supposed to receive instructions on the case to work it specific hours, which were much earlier than when I really started. At this point he asked why I had chosen a late start time and I had to explain to him that he had instructed me to start it that late the last time I worked the case and we had observed the claimant an that occasion.

I am thankful he has returned, because, I know where I am supposed to be tomorrow and who I am working with. I also know what time I need to start. I have not had the best working relationship with my boss as of late but, thank God he is back.