The Woes of an EIC

I usually try to keep my temper in check. And I usually do not explode just because I am extremely pissed at someone. They first have to push me...twice, thrice, or even more...before I finally cannot stand it and am forced to confront them straight in the face that I detest their behavior.

Right now, I have a few people whom I would dearly love to get my hands on. If possible, I would want to give them a piece of my mind while they are buried neck-down in hot sand. I shall delightfully watch and listen to their agonized screams while sipping iced-tea and watch with satisfaction as fire ants feast on their pathetic faces. Okay, maybe that's mean. But then again, since I can't really do that in real life, seeing them suffer slow, painful deaths will be left in the anals of my imagination.

My Managing Editor, Vic, is frankly (excuse my course language) a pain in the ass. He knows how important he is in the functioning of the school paper, but he is being a liability more than an asset. He wasn't as bad in the first semester. I sometimes wonder if he does this on purpose just to annoy the heck out of me and some of the senior eds, or this is just how he really is: a bona fide slacker who cares about nothing else but his boyfriend. And yes, that's boyfriend. I didn't spell it wrong.

Really, he knows how important his job is and yet he acts irresponsibly. The least he could do is be professional about it. He joined the paper out of his own free will. wasn't coerced into joining the school paper. And most certainly he isn't the only one wishing to quit just to get rid of all the pressure, scrutiny and busy schedule associated with being part of the school paper. I would love nothing more than to quit, but my sense of responsibility and accountability prevents me from giving up my post.

But apparently that does not exist in Vic's case.

And if that is his normal behavior (to find excuses to avoid his duties, simply disappear when needed and avoid replying to important text messages on purpose) then he should not have entered the school paper to begin with. He should have just quit early on to save us all the trouble instead of setting a ruckus in the middle of the school year by threatening to quit (which is devastating news when there is no other person qualified to replace him just like that).

If I could replace him, I would. Really. Fact of the matter is, no one else is trained for his position. He was the only one trained by the previous Managing Editor in all the functions of that said position. All of us expected him to perform all the tasks delegated to and expected of him. He was capable. And he seemed responsible enough. How sorely wrong we were.

It's frustrating to work with him. So frustrating at times that I want to just tear my hair out of exasperation and cry. But since these actions aren't productive or going to help me anyway, I try to be more rational during these times. I just pop chocolates and think of happy thoughts (like skewering him with a large fork).

There are times when I envy Roh having Jinx as her Managing Editor. You can count on Jinx. She probably had superhuman abilities to have been able to accomplish all the workload Roh piled on her. I don't even assign Vic the same amount of work and yet his performance is dismally slow or unsatisfactory. These days, I need to prod him a couple of times or get extremely pissed off before he does his duties. So stressful.

And what's even worse is he gives off all these excuses or leaves his work unfinished simply to meet up with his boyfriend. I mean, honestly, can't their rendezvous wait until his responsibilities in the school paper are through? That is so damn unprofessional and unfair on the rest of the staff, as he is relied upon to work on action plans so we can have the MONEY for our activities. I'm not even asking him much. I simply want him to be more responsible.

Just this Monday, I stayed up until 1 in the morning waiting for his call because we were supposed to plan for the Christmas party and Christmas outreach. I told him that regardless of what time he came home, he should call me because this was important, as we had limited time to prepare for these. He said he would call at 11 PM, since he'd be home by then (how strange though that he comes home that late as it is a school night and he has classes at 8 AM the next day). But 11 came and gone but he never called. He never even notified me that he'd never call. Never even apologized. Nothing. I could have spent all those hours getting much needed sleep. That was so inconsiderate of him.

And just yesterday, I told him we'd meet at the publication office to discuss on the activities. He came, but he told me he was very sleepy and he had not gone home (geez, I wonder what nocturnal activity he did...). We discussed for an hour, but there were still some areas left to clarify or finalize. He did an action plan. After which, I decided to update our bulletin board. He asked if he could go home since he was sleepy. I told him that it was not my problem since it was his undoing (come on, that's no excuse...and besides, he should accept the consequences of having sex all night), and instructed him to finish all his assignments (which included the long overdue inventory, the project proposal for the Christmas outreach, action plans, venue for the Christmas party...all of which he could have done so a long time ago.)

When I came back, my friend, who had been loitering in the office, told me he had left. Without telling me. On purpose.

Now that got me steamed. Not so much because he had completely bailed on his assignments, but he did not even have the decency to tell me he was leaving. Would it hurt just to inform his superior that he was leaving? I wouldn't really stop him from doing so anyway. I found his behavior infuriating and completely rude.

And right now, he won't even respond to simple text messages asking whether he has actually booked the venue for our Christmas party or not. I am only waiting for a yes or no answer so we can arrange or finalize the venue as we are short on time as it is...But I bet if I were Deo (his BF), he'd reply in a hear beat.

Gugmang giatay. Peste talaga.