The Wrong Distinction

I began the move into my new condo. The previous owners had their cleaners clean. I hired cleaners to clean and yet I still spent two hours removing a film a grease and a quarter inch layer thick of grim and dust off the kitchen stove. That was just wrong. But it was also, subjective. Full disclosure, I happen to love to clean. So, I will admit, int his case, my determination of “wrong” is very subjective, based on my standard of clean.

Then there was the other wrong. The condo had a smell so bad, it was worthy of its own name, “the stank.” I did serious versions for odor removal according to google involving combinations of bleach, baking soda and vinegar. I sprayed icky poo and moved onto the vodka, essential oils combo for odor elimination. Yes, I was losing it for three days until Monday afternoon. The painter, the electrician and the locksmith were standing in the foyer and confirmed “the stank.” Something was definitely wrong.
A visual inspection of the duct work revealed the kitchen sewage exhaust pipe was not attached. Building management acted quickly and once attached, the smell quickly dissipated. One mystery solved and another revealed. How did the previous owners not know? Did they not have friends to tell them? The odor elimination products, Febreze, did not initially sell because the people who needed it, did not know they needed it. s Was that going on here? Were the owners inured?

Inured is to become accustom to something, especially something unpleasant and it relates to the job as well. Experiences and history can inure you. Who do you respect and trust, who have you give permission to tell you maybe you got “the stank?” To help you out, you are going to have to give people permission to call you out on your wrongs. I watched a couple of my friends as they entered the condo and caught a small expression as they entered. When I asked if they could smell something, it looked like a relief.

I’ll take this week’s lessons to my new job. Wrong can be subjective and while something may not be done the way I would do it, it’s OK. More importantly, I need to find people I trust and respect to nudge me back into place if I go wrong.  I have friends for this in life, I need their counterparts in the workplace. People who don’t tell me what I want to hear, but people who tell me what I need to know.  The next few weeks is locating those people and giving them permission. After all, I don’t want to end up with “the stank.”