Practicing troublemaker

Yesterday afternoon sucked ... bigtime. And left me in a quandary.

At around noon, a coworker of mine (we'll call him Dick) dropped a bombshell on me. But to better explain the story, let me back up to the day before, at around 2. My supervisor called an impromptu meeting to give us a heads-up about some future things, and the conversation turned to Dick at some point, and his troubles with his current project. So my supervisor volunteered me to help him the next day by taking one of his additional projects, leaving him to focus on the problem one. Now, I didn't mind - we all help each other out at some point. My only stipulation, which I voiced in front of the rest of the people in this meeting was:

Don't give it to me at say, noon, right before lunch. If you need me to take it, say so first thing in the morning.

So, back to our story ...

Dick drops his shit on me about 30 minutes before I'm leaving for lunch. He pops his head over the cube wall and says, "Does that offer still stand?" I so wanted to go Whack-a-Mole on his ass and pop him in the head. "You've got to be kidding! No." I looked over the schedule, and there was no one else to do it. I had to. But I hadn't finished other obligations I had that morning. Quite a predicament.

So I took it.

I finished my pre-lunch work about 45 minutes after I got back, and got started on Dick's project at 2:30 in the afternoon. Please keep in mind, this project is normally an all-day affair (the explanation of why will have to wait for another post, but suffice to say, it's the "baby" of the head of our department). To add fuel to the fire, I had to search 4 different websites for VERY specific photos, and the department head was leaving at 4:30. His orders to me at 2:30: Do something special. Make it look good. So here's the rest of the afternoon:

2:30 Receive orders from department head.
2:31-3:15 Search for photos I know damn well don't exist. Create back-up plan.
3:16-4:15 Design "something special." Made it look good. Gave a [very rough] proof to DH.
4:16-4:30 While being proofed, I fix problems I have with the layout. Photoshop crashes, to the point where I have to restart my machine. I cry. Receive phone call from DH, "You're going to do something with the headline and clean up the cars, right?" Me: "Of course." No, I liked having it look like a kindergartener cut them out of a magazine. Fucking duh. I give the proof to the other copy editor for a second go-around.
4:31-4:45 It's in proofing stage 2. I then find out that DH and other copy editor are leaving. Right then. I ask DH who should check the changes, and he pawns it off on someone and walks out the door. Copy editor follows shortly thereafter, and so does the rest of the editorial-related part of the department, save that one poor girl DH pawned the last proof on. She's leaving at 5.
4:45-5:00 I haul serious ass to get all the changes made from DH and the copy editor. Give poor girl proof at 5. Felt bad that she had to stay late.
5:00-5:15 Crop photos down. Submit for correction by another department and pray they get them done quickly. Try to make the text actually fit the page.
5:15-5:30 Got photos back at break-neck speed. I've got three items to clip out ("clean up" in DH's words). At this point, I'm 100% absorbed in my work, headphones on, when Dick yells at me again from over the cube wall.

"How's it coming? Is everything okay?" As okay as it could be, and I tell him so.

Then he has the nerve to tell me I did too much to the page, and tells me how he would've done it differently. Fuck off. No, really.

And he does. Little did I know he would take that as his cue to leave ... EARLY! I hate Dick.

I finished the page and got out of work just after 6. Dick was probably home by then, watching Deal or No Deal. Smoking, drinking, being an asshole.

In hindsight, I should've told him to stay and finish it up so I could go home. But I didn't. My best come-backs are usually too late.

I've received a couple of recommendations at this point: To tell my supervisor (not the DH) what happened after she left at 5. Dick can do no wrong to some people, but we know better. It's high time he's called on it.

Dick is so oblivious when it comes to this shit. Unless you tell him, he doesn't do it. He probably has no clue he did anything wrong. His actions weren't deliberate, but it wasn't right nonetheless. So if I call him out on it, and the supervisor calls him in to "talk," he's going to come back and tell me how I should've said something when he asked if everything was okay.

So my dilemma is this: Speak up, or let it go?