One of the more annoying tasks I have to deal with, is managing people’s expectations.
I always make a point of warning people, ahead of time, that I suck.
I have learned to do this through a lifetime of hard experience. I also have learned to play it a lot cooler when starting any new thing.
The problem is that I tend to enjoy learning new things and jumping into totally new fields. I can hide my enthusiasm for a little while but not too long. After a while it comes through. And then, despite all my warnings, people decide that I’m much better than I am. They mistake enthusiasm for comptence, or even aptitude, when I have neither. As soon as I start to get a clue what I’m doing, the inevitable disaster is set to follow. Because then everyone’s expectations start to rise. Even though I told them I couldn’t meet them.
And then, finally, every time, the awful moment eventually comes when they realize, hey, this guy sucks. He has no idea what he’s doing. He shouldn’t be doing this. He’s totally wrong for this. What were we thinking?
It annoys me every time this happens, because, I warned them. I suck. I’m not meant for this. I can’t really do this; I’m just faking it because I happen to be good at faking it. And I told everyone I was faking it. But every time they are surprised. Stop being surprised! And don’t dare be disappointed either. I told you I suck.
