I Am The Enemy

Do you ever NOT do something you know you should do? And even think, several times, Gee, I really should do that thing I've been putting off doing. And then, just like you knew would happen, the consequences of choosing NOT to do the thing hits you. Or me, as the case may be.

I mentioned before that I manage litigation for my company. It's a particular kind of litigation 90% of the time, but every once in a while a different type of litigation comes in, that I'm not as comfortable with and don't enjoy as much, but because I'm the litigator, it comes to me.

This guy I've been working with has been out of the country for 10 days. Before he left, he sent me an e-mail outlining what he thought should be done on this particular situation, that likely will turn into a court case. It arrived on a Wednesday night I was out of town, and I didn't get back to the office until Friday, which was a half day 'cause that's how we roll on Fridays. I didn't worry about it too much because there was no immediate need to do anything, and the dude who sent it was out of the country, right?? Then Monday, I was in a meeting from 8:00-2:00, which made the rest of the day suck, because, duh, too much to do! From Tuesday to Thursday I thought, several times, I have to get on that project because dude's coming back Friday. Did I get on it? Nope. And Friday afternoon (late enough to ignore) I got an e-mail from him asking for a status update on what I had done since he sent the e-mail the previous Wednesday. The answer is, status remains the same as it ever was. That probably won't sound too good though, which is why I'm sitting here, at 9:00 pm on a Sunday night, trying to figure out what to say.

Now, to be fair to me, nothing NEEDED to be done on this situation. This is really just a management of people issue, since this guy WANTED shit to be done. But I KNEW that, and I still didn't get on it. I was really busy...but I also KNEW that I was going to get this very e-mail! Dammit. I hate being my own worst enemy.