It’s only Monday, and yet I’m already very p*ssed off today 
From 9am until 5pm, we had a full-day session with our client, P**M. That’s not the problem. My problem is with this one guy in the company. Let’s call him H. H is a smart guy (intellectually, that is), and he’s been with the company ever since it started the development of the huge system. So, you can say that he’s THE GUY as far as the system is concerned.
Unfortunately, H lacks some people skill or public relations (PR) skill, especially when dealing with fellow colleagues. He’s definitely very nice to our clients, and is always preferred to by them. I have no problem with that. Lucky him, to be liked and wanted by our clients. But to treat fellow colleagues like kids and as if they don’t have dignity is too much. True, they are a couple of ranks lower than him, but that’s no excuse to be rude to them. They may just be system analysts and programmers, but they are a bunch of hard working and dedicated people!
I don’t know how to put the story. About a month ago I tried to tender my resignation, because I just felt that I could not work with him. I was kept in the dark most of the time, and instead of guiding me (as it should be), I was left alone to discover many things on my own. Never mind about that, maybe this job is just not for me. Back to my attempt to resign – to cut the story short, a senior guy talked me out of it so I decided to stay on. The incident caused many people to know about it, and many of them told me that they’ve been treated that way (unfairly) by H all this while, and they’ve learnt to tolerate him. I told them that’s good for them to be so patient, but as for me, I do not need to be put in such predicament. I was more than happy to leave the job and go back to my free-lancing life.
Since that incident too, I’ve been re-assigned to work with a different group of people, phew! However, I still need to finish up the task that was given to me prior to that incident. That requires me to occasionally work with H
Furthermore, even with the current task, there would still be times when H will be involved Again, I can be professional and put my feelings aside.
Last week, he scheduled for me to have a meeting with him and a couple of other colleagues toda,y and it was scheduled to start at 6pm. Bear in mind that the office hour officially ends at 5.30pm. I thought, never mind, I can occasionally stay until 7pm (the meeting was scheduled for 6pm-7pm).
Unfortunately, it only started at 6.45pm, and we stopped for maghrib prayers at 8pm (after which I decided to just leave for home). I went to the shopping mall next door to get KFC for dinner for my family. Reached home almost 9pm, and by the time I had my showered, and opened my mailbox (it’s been 2 weeks I’ve been without Internet at work ) it was close to 10pm.
I tell you why the meeting was so long (Hah! I didn’t stay on to find out what time they finished). Another SA (systems analyst), Hm was supposed to present some format of output. As soon as Hm put up his first slide, H started giving his comments and remarks. I know his comments were relevant andd vital, but what I couldn’t understand was why did he have to wait for the meeting to make his points? He could have given them in an email, and saved us the time
It’s fine with me if he loves staying late at work. He is entitled to bonus and I am not. He’s a full time employee while I am only a contract consultant. I get paid by the day, and no more insentive for staying late at work
So, I get very annoyed if anybody makes me stay back at work unnecessarily!
I am planning to write an e-mail to him and to be cc-ed to those involved. I will tell him what I feel about last night’s meeting, and I intend to put the email on this page, so friends, watch out!! 
Till then, good night!
Oops! Here’s the letter:
Dear H****,
I am sorry that I could not stay on for the meeting earlier tonight. I really admire your commitment to work, and it amazes me the hours that you put in at work. Like most of the other staff, you are so hard-working. On top of that, you are also very smart and knowledgeable, which I am neither.
Unfortunately I simply can’t afford to spend as much time at work as you and others. Last night I had to leave at 8.15pm right after the maghrib prayers, because the kids at home were waiting for me to bring back dinner. I just could not re-join you guys at the meeting. It was way passed my tolerable office time.
I noticed that, the 6pm-7pm scheduled meeting (which to my displeasure, didn’t start until about 6.45pm) was fruitful, despite being very late. Those issues that you raised and the points that you high-lighted were very important and vital. I have to admit that being new, both H****m and I overlooked them. Even for the meeting itself, I thought that it was meant for only the few of us, namely D***i, you, H****m and I, to discuss, identify and finalise the “Report Format” before we call the other SAs. I take the blame for not inviting the other SAs to attend the meeting (hence we only managed to scrouge only those who had not gone home). As you must have noticed, I cc-ed all my correspondences with the SAs to you and D***i. You could have replied to any of the e-mails and told us that you’d prefer ALL SAs to be present. If you did, I am sure they’d obliged to do so. Unfortunately you did not do so, and preferred to show a bad temper at the start of the meeting L
I also noticed that those points that you put forward to us tonight, you could have also highlighted to us (H****m and/or me) beforehand, so that we could consider them and have more thoughts. Then we would be more prepared for the presentation and would have saved a lot of the time tonight, and prevented the meeting from being dragged that long.
Honestly, when you said earlier that H****m was to prepare the format, like H****m, and most of the SAs, I also understood it was only for the format. Not that we didn’t think of those issues that you mentioned but we (or at least I) think that those issues would be considered when we want to determine the man-days later and to justify the calculation.
If by any means you feel that I am not fit to be in the team and the company, and I am a misfit to the team/company, I am more than happy to leave the company. You need not have to wait until the last minute (such as the meeting earlier tonight) to embarrass me and make me feel inadequate.
Also, as for the meeting with J** on 26th and 27th June (this Thurs and Fri), I am sorry I will not be able to make it. As indicated by my calendar which I filled in at the beginning of this month, I will be in Saigon from 26th-29th June.
Thank you and good night.
What Flower
Are You?