also: this completely blew my mind!

she didn't want to coordinate with the mep engineer and she said we didn't need a permit!!!!!

wtf? it is a rcp demo + n construction!!!!!!!!!!
ahhhhhhhhh!

Ah, incompetent PM stories. I could go on for days.

Is this her first time managing a project? That could explain it. Then again, one has to wonder why it took her 15 years to become a PM. What's her background?

It's really hard when people cry at work. It's not terribly professional and then how are you supposed to treat them after that? Like you didn't see them acting like a child?

At the risk of all the other women on the site attacking me:

Is she pregnant? I cried twice at work, when pregnant. But not in front of a client or anything.

Leander, it sounds like you need to take this opportunity to shine as best you can and make sure the people above your lousy PM are aware of it. Ask another PM if they think you need a permit, it's in the best interest of the firm to not run into problems on this project and if you are trying to protect them they should appreciate it. Good luck.

I had a pm in my former line of work who got me fired (for no apparent reason other than the fact that she did not like me) and then about four months later when I ran into her downtown wanted me to thank her for saving me from a job that was "very bad" for me. I was so chocked I never found myself to ask how a good solid pay check and plenty of time to do stuff other than work could be bad.

"It's really hard when people cry at work. It's not terribly professional and then how are you supposed to treat them after that? Like you didn't see them acting like a child?"

yes, that is what they would prefer. As someone who cries easily (hasn't happened at work, though, thank god); sometimes I KNOW I'm being weak and stupid by crying, and wish I would just stop already, but I'm trying, but the tears keep coming, and I wish there were a way to let everyone know, "hey, if you ignore it, I'll be able to stop quicker". Some of us have very, er, full tear ducts or something, and sometimes it just happens. Not saying that it's a good thing to cry at work or that you should think differently of the people who do it than you do, but that the easiest thing for all concerned is to just act like it never happened.

wow. just wow. if this is a sign of things to come, youre in trouble.

I think the world needs a little more crying.

snnffff.
what's wrong with crying?
snnffff.

You should go to the principal in charge and rat her out. They might promote you for it. She sounds like she's crusin for a pink slip anyway. If you like where you work, then take it upon yourself to have a little "chat" with the bosses about the situation.

There's no excuse for crying at the office. Leave your problems at home. As for the other stuff, she sounds like she overbilled herself in the interview and is going to cost the company a lotta dough.

what the f is a pink slip????

i cry when i get really angry....

pomotrash, there's also no excuse for getting angry at the office. But every now and then someone slams down a phone or raises their voice, right? Everyone needs to keep their emotions in control in an office environment, tears or anger or purposefully knocking a coffee cup on the model or whatever.

i am crying right now

i just go down to candy machine with my best girlfriend at work. we get into the freight elevators, use profanity to discuss who we cannot stand, and then we share a twix and fritos.

thanks for the support everyone. i am pretty sure everyone knows she has temperment issues. i have cried at work before, but i was working in sweatshop cinditions and was homeless in la - a 23 year old girl straight off the farm.

anyway, my pm issues started last week when i won an in house design competition!! woo! and she jumped in and said she would project manage me. (?) She kept trying to steal my design ideas, and she has basically just made a fool of herself. A few of my coworkers have seen and heard how she specks to me. The best thing is, my senior pm, who is the nicest, dorkiest man around, told me to just listen to Aretha as loud as possible on my ipod and forgot about her. He keeps sending me quotes about leadership via email. I guess that is a good sign.

Yeah, she is going to cost the company big bucks for sure. Liberty Bell: You are right. I have used this opportunity to actually learn more and gain more responsibility. If I am uncertain of her knowledge, then it forces me to become accountable.

I wanted to cry today. I felt like I am living in a perpetual Mean Girls scene. I wanted to go to the bathroom and cry during lunch! BUT I didn't, and somehow I feel much better venting my frustrations to my friends and on archinect...at least people in the office do not see my vulnerability.

no woman no cry

my Project Manager is allright, its the Prime Minister i hate

i cry myself to sleep thinking of all those great competitions and brief flying around that we dont enter because we are 'not that kinda practice'

This quote is perfect. It really makes me miss working in an office (although the initial reason for the thread does not).

Splitting fritos and a twix - salty, sweet, crunchy, creamy...girls rock.

Ill say! A good shag in the elevators fixes a lot of things faster than a 30m/s cab.

there's no crying in baseball... i mean studio....

what was that song from the 80's
you aint worth the salt in my tears.

"there's no crying in architecture!"

rationalist, sorry and thanks for answering my question. Having hormones and being homeless are excellent reasons for being upset. Being in a position of responsibility but not knowing what you are doing because you haven't tried to figure it out is not a good reason to be upset.

I have to admit I have a history of being emboldened on the few occasions that I've felt I was being attacked or backed into a corner. I can count them on one hand from both work and school - at school I ended up impressing everyone and at work I got an apology email from my boss because I was right. I've been told I'm a bit intimidating which I guess is why I'm still single :o(

Although I did cry at work once. It was lunchtime, it was my birthday, and my then-secret-boyfriend, who was also my coworker (bad news), was refusing to go to my birthday lunch because he was so scared of me. I thought he had forgotten to buy me a gift, so I was upset. But he hadn't. Still skipped my lunch though.

That story pretty much brings my post here full circle, I'd say.

i remember a crazy day in fifth year studio. i made this prefab concrete panel mockup. the color was wrong, the edges cracked. i was so tired. our professor called us into the classroom with our mockups. i was so pissed mine was shitty. i mean, before all of my hand mixed concrete cubes were great! so, what do i do. the only logical response - throw it across the floor until it crashed into the timber column.

that made so much sense at the time. i think that made him like me more. he was kinda wimpy.

maybe i'm still single because i live at work. i just got home and i have to go back at 6:30 am to finish up some things before they go to the city. ahh! i swear to GOD. I am broke and making a futile attempt at paying off my credit cards. After 6 months of budgeting hell I can finally start saving money.

Anecdote #487: my pm. she sent a bunch of us girls in the office an invite to taco tuesday. she used to be a furniture rep, so it's a "meet and greet for reps and designers with all you can eat tacos!"

wtf. i do not want to go to taco tuesday teresa's house and talk about her shot glass collection and fabric samples.
my best friend and have banned her stupid party.

and she's not pregnant.
and wonderk: do not worry. my grandmother called me on sunday to discuss for an hour - get this - why i am still single. her remedy was for me to move to houston, texas, buy a condo and go to church. unfortunately, my goal is to go to berekely soon, save some cash, move to austin, texas and renovate a loft somewhere. hopefully, a man will come around somewhere on the timeline.

and - to make me feel so much better, on the way back from work i saw a couple walking down the street. a man with a woman dressed all in white with thigh high f**k me boots! f**k me boots! on a monday night! if i wore anything white i would look like meryl streep. dammit.

leander, don't move to Houston! I would visit you in Austin though.

:-D

On a side tangent, it is a good thing that I laugh a lot because can you imagine if I did cry all the time? What the hell would I type? There's no emoticon for "crying". There's only, grinning, winking, and cracking up, and the occasional "boo-hoo I'm single" frowny face.

Good thing there's sound effects. *humph*

haha. my neighbor is watching pee wee's big adventure. i recognized a sound byte. MY LIFE DOES NOT SUCK! WOO!

Are your pm's initials "A.H." by any chance?

WonderK- no apology necessary. Just hoping that if other people understand that half the time when someone's crying, they're thinking, "shit, why am I crying? Stop it. STOP IT! Goddamn it why am I unable to control this?" then it might be a little easier to deal with (possibly even humorous). Not saying that crying at work is excusable in this context, but that the person doing probably knows they're fucking up, even as they're doing it, and there's usually no need to 'have a little chat' and let them know that crying's unacceptable at the office, cause it'll only make them more touchy emotionally, and, ironically, more apt to cry again.