Pr3++yG33kyTh1ng

So from 3pm to 6pm CST the Sales team hosted the Operations team at "Happy Hour".
Since they let us pick the location, we chose a seedy hole-in-the-wall. Of course, they kicked off early and went to a "nice" bar to gear up in anticipation.
The net result?
Operations drinks alone until after 5pm, when the first members of the sales force start to stagger in.
"Now what ish it you do?" is not a question I enjoy answering even when family asks it.
"I deliver on all the dumb-assed impossible promises you guys get paid to make," is the response I settled on, followed by a playful hug which is just long enough to make the non-confident uncomfortable. If you've given one of those hugs, you know how long they are. If you've gotten one, you can be sure someone blogged about it later.
I also had the least comfortable lunch on record, when I had to break it to a co-worker that as much as I like hanging out - I'd kill someone if forced to do it longer than needed.
He informed me of discussions I'd not been privy to where my position was modified so drastically that no one would recognize it or other scenarios where I take an official demotion and pay cut just so that I can continue to keep things running from the background while appeasing the sales staff. No one thinks I'd go down like that, but there were discussions.
I also found out why my director hates me! Months ago, he asked me what, if anything, I'd change about the way we do business. At the time, my opinion mattered.
I told him that I'd establish standards for all equipment that we host and manage so that if something we are required to fix breaks, we know what it looked like before it broke.
He asked if there was anything that could actually be done.
I emailed back and sent sample documentation that showed a server could be rebuilt and restored to production status in under three hours, by an unskilled worker, if step by step instructions were provided.
I never heard back, but this email apparently effectively ended my value to this director. He was looking for an "Everything is great! Continue selling stuff!" instead of a "Let's rethink the promises we make and ensure that we can actually deliver."
I almost ALMOST gave him the link here, so that he could at least draw some humor from it. In the end I smiled, told him I'd be fine, and promised to keep him on my MSN buddy list.