Estimated reading time: 16 minutes
As I get ever closer to retirement, in what sometimes feels like running up a down escalator, I continue to mentally replay career flashbacks both good and bad. Part of replaying these flashbacks is gaming out how I could have changed bad events to come out different. For some events, as often as I’ve replayed them, I’ve never been able to game out how results could have been different.
One of those events was dealing with a client who openly scorned me from the first day we met. Over the ten months I worked for her, I was never able to gain her trust. Nothing I did was ever good enough.
A Consultant’s Life
I had amicably changed consulting firms two years prior prior to this story, when my Washington, D.C., Coast Guard contract ended. There was no available work within my firm so I had to move on. I did find new consulting work at a competitor firm, providing logistics support on a Washington Navy Yard contract.
Then, one Monday morning after two years supporting this client, I learned they no longer needed my services. Two hours later my Team Lead handed me a “no work letter,” giving me two weeks to find new billable work or else get laid off. No one else in my firm seemed to need another logistics consultant, so two weeks later I cleared out my desk and went home.
A few days later a friend, Steve, from my previous firm called me. He asked if I might be interested in an information technology (IT) opening he just became aware of. I told Steve his timing was perfect.
On A Rebound
Steve explained they had a Washington Navy Yard client who managed a specialized IT system. Steve’s firm had a contract to provide a system administrator. The day before our phone call, that position had abruptly come open. The Government contract officer notified Steve’s firm they had two weeks to find a replacement, or else lose that position to another firm.
Steve thought I had the skills needed for the position, and that it would be a great way to get back to my former firm. I agreed, and Steve notified HR. Over the next couple of weeks I did all the necessary paperwork to be a “Comeback Kid,” the term my former firm used for people who left and later returned.
The Comeback Kid
I officially re-joined my former firm on a lovely Monday morning, happy to be back. After initial paperwork my new Team Lead, Sharon, briefed me on my assignment and client.
My New Assignment
My new assignment was supporting a Navy program office as system administrator for a specialized software application. This program office managed six “small” (by DoD standards) research and development (R&D) contracts for surface ship defensive systems. Sharon explained the program office used the software application for documentation management, but didn’t know much else about it.
The present system administrator, John, had been supporting this program office for almost ten years. He became a member of our firm several years earlier when we bought his company and his contract. John had always worked full-time remote from Indiana. Sharon explained that the Government contract officer had abruptly disallowed John’s remote work arrangement several weeks earlier. Reason given was “remote work not allowed by our contract.” John was quite insistent he would not move to Washington to keep his job.
My Client
My client, Valerie, was the Logistics Director for this program office, with a secondary role of managing the software application used within her program. She was career civil service but working at this program office only a couple of years. Valerie had two other support contractors besides John, both of whom were members of our firm.
After this briefing, Sharon took me over to the Navy Yard for my introductory meeting with Valerie. Sharon introduced us, then excused herself to take care of other client issues.
Going Downhill Fast
Valerie started our meeting by saying “I’m only accepting you because the contract officer says I have to. John has been my system admin since before I’ve been here. He knows everything there is to know about the application. You don’t know anything about it. What makes you think you can do his job?“
So, OK. She was a bit hostile.
Valerie continued by explaining she totally opposed the contract officer’s decision to replace John with a local person. However, she had not been able – yet – to change the contract officer’s decision. Valerie informed me that if she was able to change that decision, she would have no need of my services.
I presented her with my resume and she wordlessly scanned it. Then, said “there is nothing on your resume that shows recent IT work.” So, I explained my 22-year Navy background as an Electronics Technician, post-Navy work developing logistics database applications, former administrator for configuration management software systems, and the wide range of sophisticated logistics database applications I had been working with over the previous few years. All of which was on my resume.
Then I asked her to describe her software application. Still openly hostile, Valerie simply described her application as archiving and documentation workflow software. She also told me that the software was critical to her program office operations.
Simply Not Wanted
I really wanted to stay with the firm and knew they wouldn’t shift me to another consulting assignment on my first day. So, I diplomatically talked up my skills as fast learner.
Valerie listened to me, then said “If I can get the contract officer’s decision changed, I will not be needing you. Meanwhile, here’s John’s phone number. Call him and set-up training. I’m not allowing you administrative access to the application until I’m satisfied you won’t break anything.” Valerie ended our meeting so I tracked down Sharon and we left the Navy Yard.
As we walked back to the office Sharon asked “How did it go?” So I, diplomatically, told her Valerie appeared a bit hostile over losing John, and was still trying to find a way to keep him on. Sharon assured me it would all work out, and Valerie would warm up to me. Under Government contracting rules, Valerie could not reject me if I met the contract-specified job requirements. Which I did.
As it turned out, my relationship with Valerie that day was as warm as it would ever be.
The Next Few Weeks
I contacted John, and quickly recognized he was as hostile to me as Valerie was. Sharon was also John’s Team Lead, and she had to direct John via email just to get him to talk with me. Meanwhile, I quickly “learned the neighborhood.”
The application software was a Navy-specific system, used nationwide by a few dozen Navy organizations. It had been initially developed at the Crane, Indiana, Navy base local to John’s home. The developers were still working at Crane and John provided email introductions. I quickly learned these developers were very professional and very helpful.
John also got me hooked into the application as a user, which at least allowed me to start doing some poking around. Between talking with the developers and working through the outdated user manuals I self-trained on the application.
John’s Story
John had been working as a system administrator since the application launched ten years earlier. He had no formal IT training and no software experience beyond this application.
John explained he was involved with multiple activities as “reasons” he didn’t have much time to work with me. He was president of his local Rotary Club with numerous organizational duties. John also owned a side business renovating buildings at the Crane Navy base. He managed his small farm, and managed his daughter’s small farm in a nearby town.
Which led me to wonder how was able to work full-time on his administrator job with Valerie.
The Software
The application provided documentation archiving and workflow functions. Our program office used the application to archive several hundred non-classified contract and technical documents. The workflow functions were used to track reviews and adjudication of engineering changes packages (ECP). At any given time, there might be as many as ten ECPs simultaneously in review on the system.
Given my IT background, the only unique aspect of the application was the specialized coding language used to program workflows. But any programming changes would only ever be made by the Navy software developers John introduced me to. Otherwise, from an administration perspective, the application appeared no more complex than the websites I already managed as a hobby. And, it was a ten-year old application.
Trying to Gain Credibility
I tried explaining my software background to John as proof I could handle admin responsibilities. I needed John to vouch for me to Valerie. As the application manager for her program office, Valerie had final say on allowing account access. And she only listened to what John told her.
John completely disparaged me, repeatedly explaining how extraordinarily complex the application was and how I would need years of experience to become a trusted admin. I did have to admire his ability with using technobabble and doublespeak to overhype simple concepts.
I also recognized that Valerie had absolutely no IT systems or software background, and only rudimentary user-level database application skills. John had seemingly convinced her his extensive application knowledge was the only thing preventing total chaos followed by system meltdown. She absolutely trusted John.
Without John putting in a good word for me, Valerie would never let me take his place. John refused and Valerie continued to refuse me admin access, which I needed to do the job I had been hired for. But, I really wanted to stay with the firm and knew I would not find new billable work after only a few weeks on this assignment.
Not A Training Visit
Shortly after our initial meeting, Valerie did agree to fund John for a week’s travel to D.C. so he could train me. But she continued trying to keep John and ditch me.
On the Monday of my fourth week on-the-job, John showed up in D.C. I walked him over to the Navy Yard where Valerie greeted him like a long-lost member of her family. They talked for a while, completely ignoring me. John laid out his intentions of meeting and providing application training to several people during his week’s visit. Valerie was OK with whatever John wanted to do.
Lost in their planning was the nominal purpose of John’s travel – training me. During the week John spent in D.C., he spent less than four hours with me. He refused to introduce me to any of the various people he met with. John and Valerie did find time to meet with the contract officer in one last futile attempt to keep John working remote. After that meeting Valerie became even more hostile towards me.
Also while John was in D.C. he accepted his “no work letter” from our firm and made arrangements for sending back his computer and other company property. He returned to Indiana without so much as a “good bye and good luck.”
Now In Charge
Two weeks after John’s D.C. visit, he did leave our firm and his system admin job. However, Valerie still refused to allow me admin access to the application. So my role, with only user-level access, was passing all requests for admin support to the Navy software developers. They were professional enough to take care of me once they understood my situation. But, I felt humiliated asking them to do the tasks I should have been doing.
Trying to Establish Credibility
The existing manuals were outdated and poorly written. I thought taking initiative and building much-needed documentation would establish credibility with Valerie. So, I updated the user-level manuals.
I spent several weeks working this project, and ended up with what I thought were nice manuals. My fellow teammates proof-read them for me, and liked them. Then, I delivered the draft manuals to Valerie for her review and approval to distribute.
Three days after I delivered them, Valerie called me to her office. When I arrived, I saw my manuals stacked in front of her. She looked at me coldly and said “Ron, I’ve reviewed your manuals. You used two spaces after each period instead of one. These are totally unacceptable. Take them back and make them right.“
I had the spaces issue fixed and the manuals reprinted within a few hours. I brought them back for Valerie’s review the next day. She never again looked at them, or even mentioned them. Ever.
Not Much To Do
After that my work became “routine.” The three of us contractors met with Valerie and her deputy, Carlos, once a week on Wednesday mornings in their Navy Yard office. Otherwise I stayed in my firm’s office and waited for the phone to ring. If I received a new user account request I’d screen it and pass to Valerie for approval. Upon her email approval I’d email the software developers to add the person as a user on our account.
Occasionally I’d receive a user request for some technical assistance. As I still was not allowed admin access, support requests frequently ended up with me recording details of the issue and passing to our software developers for action. Once or twice each week Valerie would email me a question which might take all of thirty minutes to answer.
I was typically spending a maximum of eight hours per week on my “admin” duties, including Valerie’s weekly meeting at her Navy Yard office. I now understood how John was able to juggle Rotary Club activities, a side business, and managing two farms, with application administration duties without anyone here in the Navy Yard noticing. Except, possibly, the contract officer.
I was now confident that, even if I had been allowed admin access, I was way overqualified for anything this job could throw at me.
Insult and Abuse
Meanwhile, Valerie was routinely heaping abuse on me in addition to the insult of not allowing me to do the work I was hired for. Every time I talked or corresponded with her she would find ways to be condescending and insulting. During our weekly meetings Valerie would consistently find reasons to rudely reprimand me, in front of Carlos and my two teammates, over some minor issue. On several occasions she descended into screaming at me after I tried defending myself.
John’s Return
A couple of months after John left our firm, I started seeing emails between him and Valerie, copied to me. John would not respond to my emails, and Valerie would tell me nothing. The Navy software developers told me John had been hired by another firm to provide application Help Desk support.
Valerie would now routinely contact John with questions on the application before asking me. I checked, and discovered John once again had admin access to our system, apparently granted by Valerie. This was a violation of my firm’s contract, violation of Government contracting rules, and violation of standard database security practices. In addition to being yet another insult to me.
Breaking Point
Discovering John was administering my system behind my back with Valerie’s support was my breaking point. I had a long talk with Sharon about the situation. Sharon agreed she needed to be more involved in “resolving” our client-consultant relationship.
Sharon attempted to push Valerie into granting my admin access via an email request. Valerie passed Sharon’s email to John, copied to me and Sharon, asking John if he agreed that I should have admin access. John’s email response was an impressive mashup of technobabble, interspersed with doublespeak and deceptive phrasing. His closing statement was that I lacked the necessary skills to be trusted with administrative access. In his words, John “was concerned I might change something in the archives.”
I ghost-wrote a response to John/Valerie calling out John’s nonsense, which Sharon forwarded to Valerie. Valerie never responded. Sharon took no further actions to resolve my working issues.
I decided I would have to find my own way out of this rapidly degenerating nightmare.
Moving On
After ten months of dealing with Valerie I finally had my chance at moving to another assignment. The contract I had been working on at my previous firm had come up for renewal on a competitive bid, and my present firm had bid on it. One morning we received an announcement that my firm won the contract. I immediately put in a request for a position. My firm’s program manager for the newly-won contract did accept me as a Team Lead.
It was was Sharon’s responsibility to announce my planned departure, with the contract officer being the first Government person notified. It just so happened that my departure announcement provided me a little comeuppance.
Quitting Valerie
Sharon called me into her office a few days after announcing my departure. She advised me she’d just had a follow-up meeting with Valerie and the Government contract officer about me and my planned departure. It seemed Valerie had a long list of complaints about my work performance in response to my departure announcement.
Sharon worked through the list of complaints, giving me a chance to discuss. They all presented as picky half-truths and innuendo, which I told Sharon. She seemed to accept my explanations. Then Sharon told me “Valerie made a big issue of not being satisfied with your work. She claimed you never performed the work she expected you to do. I advised her, and told the contract officer, that it was never possible for you to do the job your were hired to do as Valerie never allowed you administrative access to the application. Any complaints about your non-performance was a direct result of her actions.“
Sharon ended our meeting by telling me the contract officer had dismissed her and asked Valerie to remain.
My Replacement
Even though I was picking up a new contract assignment, I agreed to perform the minimal tasks needed to keep Valerie’s application operational until my replacement was in-place. At least, I was no longer required to attend Valerie’s weekly meetings or otherwise interact with her.
That job search took four months. Given our history with Valerie, my firm took the unusual step of allowing her to pre-screen all resumes prior to conducting interviews. Sharon told me Valerie was rejecting almost every resume we offered her.
Finally, we found a person acceptable to Valerie. Within several days of starting work Valerie sent our new hire to Indiana to train with John. When the new hire returned, I learned Valerie had already allowed him full administrative access to the application.
I suspect there was a “message received” by Valerie.
Coda
Several years after I left Valerie’s contract, I landed what will most likely be my final pre-retirement job; as government civil-service worker with the Coast Guard. I’m once again managing IT systems, but specific to the Coast Guard. My functional role is equivalent to that of Valerie’s at the time I worked for her. Only, I am managing several more software systems, exponentially more complex with exponentially greater user demand than what she had responsibility for.
As a Government worker I supervise two contractor support people. I also work closely with another Government IT worker who supports several additional software systems. I manage two Coast Guard-specific documentation archiving and workflow software applications. These are several generations more complex than Valerie’s application. I’m also managing several additional software applications used within my program office.
These applications collectively archive tens of thousands of contract and technical documents, and normally handle six- to eight-hundred documents simultaneously in review. As compared to the several hundred archived documents and nominal ten documents simultaneously in review under Valerie’s system.
Vindication
I’ve had the lingering feeling of failure, and shame, that I was never able to gain Valerie’s trust to do the job I was hired for. Yet, based on my supervisor’s reviews and general feedback, I’ve been excelling at my present job. I’ve implemented effective process changes, created metrics reports, worked with our developers to create software improvements, and developed solid system documentation. Along with effectively managing all frequently challenging day-to-day activities.
Holding this job has wiped away my lingering feelings of shame from dealing with Valerie. I feel my present job is proof I would have excelled at supporting Valerie, if she had allowed me to. Ironically, by not allowing me to prove myself on a job I was overqualified for, I ultimately ended up in a job that I have proven to be qualified for. So, I should probably thank Valerie for those ten miserable, insulting, months of my consulting career.
But, I think I’ll pass.
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January 8, 2025: Edited for format and typographical errors
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