FYI: The job title is Account Manager not Whipping Post

It’s one of those days. You know the one. The day where anything that can go wrong will. The day where tempers run hot and mouths seem to be running off at decibels that shatter ear drums. The day where you just want to clock out and say “See you world! Until tomorrow!” then curl up in an oversize chair with a glass of wine or even a strong martini and stare at the wall because that’s all your brain can take at this point. That’s my day.
 
I work in an environment that is filled to the brim with big egos, where each one is a little more pompous then the next. My day is filled conversing with legal minds and plastics’ artists. My time is spent talking to the heads of these practices who are often used to speaking down to everyone in their general vicinity. And the joy of being the representative and face of my organization for my client s is that when things go wrong I’m the one to feel the lash.

Sometimes that can be ridiculously hard. The urge to lay blame where it belongs dances around on my tongue though never quite escaping. I bite it back and swallow it down. I sit and allow the verbal mounds of complaints to lash out at me never breaking my calm, never pointing my finger at another, never making an excuse and always accepting the blame.

And when it’s through and I’m ready to wrap my fingers around the neck my teammate who didn’t think before doing something without my permission, I stalk down the hall to their office mumbling explicitives all the way. But before I can begin launching projectile missiles in the form of staplers and keyboards at my colleague, I reign in my temper. I politely let them know what the issue is. I don’t scream how I need this crap fixed in ten but right now damn it! I haggle, I bribe and I beg to get it done today.

Why? Because that is my job. Yes, I’m the project overseer, strategist and account manager. But I’m apparently also the fundamental hidden titles not listed in my job description – the listener, the peacekeeper and the whipping post.   I’m the one who maintains control of my emotions, never blinking no matter how bad it stings. That’s what makes me good at my job.