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Dealing with a Perfectionist
How I dealt with a perfectionist and you can too.
When I first started working for Jim (not his real name) as a secretary in his customer service department, he was looking to me as the answer to his dreams. I had excellent references and loads of office experience. I had a good reputation as a hard worker as well as a good manager and organizer.
Jim was a sales vice-president for a manufacturing company. After putting up with an abysmally disorganized assistant for years, he decided to fire her. He was ready for the perfect replacement — me.
I had never done customer service but desperately needed the job. The girl who was fired (talk about awkward) trained me, but I was lost. She was in such a muddle that she would explain step “E” and then Step “B” and then Step “A.” She did not write anything down.
The job itself was so complex it took a week to train me. So there I was, plunked in the middle of a hectic job that was going to take some time to organize. I plugged away as best I could.
At first, my boss was ecstatic. Then he started to change. On the surface, he was outgoing and friendly — a stereotypical driven salesman. It soon became clear that the job he had done for many years was an obsession with him. He expected me to know everything right away, and there was no learning curve…
