Sync Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 A couple of days ago I went to my project manager to express that I was having trouble with as aspect of the project and ask for help or suggestions or whatever. He moved me to a different part of the project (which was the ideal solution anyway, there simply wasn't any more work to be done on the part of the project he was having me work on, which was pretty much the 'problem' I came to him about). He seemed a little cranky, but I figured we were okay. Today, he visited the facility I work at and just mocked me for having trouble with it in front of all my coworkers. He made this high whiny voice imitation and said something along the lines of "some people just can't hack it I guess." Apparently a bunch of other people had come to him with the same concern and he was mocking them too. What a fucking asshole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickler Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 (edited) That's a great way to win your employees' loyalty right there, make fun of them. Yeah. What a douche. So I'm wondering what exactly he wanted you to do, just drift off and go work on another part of the project without clearance to do so? You couldn't do that, I imagine, without him getting irate, because he's supposed to be directing things. This is the sort of person that makes me fantasize about having a bulk order of 500 live cockroaches gift-wrapped and shipped to their home as a Christmas present. You know something though? what you witnessed was him failing at his job. ...Not really in a tangible way that will necessarily get him fired, though...but if what you saw is generally how he rolls, then he's not going to retain the best employees or get the best out of the ones he has. His attitude will likely foster a toxic environment. The ones who can leave will get themselves gone-so the best will bail. The top talent. The ones who are stuck with his abusive behavior will shut down, meaning they won't emotionally invest in their job. Therefore they won't do their best work. They will just shuffle in and make time. ...And asshole boss probably won't have a clue as to why this chain of events occurs. He'll just get nastier and more bitter as the years go by. Have I pegged it? I mean, you work there... If I'm correct it's probably not a great place to work. Edited May 3, 2014 by Stickler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sync Posted May 3, 2014 Author Share Posted May 3, 2014 That's a great way to win your employees' loyalty right there, make fun of them. Yeah. What a douche. So I'm wondering what exactly he wanted you to do, just drift off and go work on another part of the project without clearance to do so? You couldn't do that, I imagine, without him getting irate, because he's supposed to be directing things. This is the sort of person that makes me fantasize about having a bulk order of 500 live cockroaches gift-wrapped and shipped to their home as a Christmas present. Right? Woo, thanks guy! A+ leadership skills right there. Way to motivate your people to do a good job for you. Not to mention, I didn't even ASK to be moved to another part of the project. I just said "Hey, I'm having this problem and I can't figure out how to solve it. I would really like to do what you're asking but right now X is preventing me from doing so. What should I do?" Like hey, if he had a better solution, I was literally asking for it. And if he had a problem, he should have discussed it with me privately instead of making a public mockery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catnapper Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Any chance this moron is going to be let go anytime soon? If not, I'd be looking for a new job, either inside or outside the company. Depending on how this guy is connected, even if a bunch of people working for him quit over time, senior management might want to keep him, and will ignore what's happening. I was about the sixth person to quit for asshole I worked for, and management seemed unable or unwilling to consider that maybe the problem was the boss, not all the people who worked for him that quit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sync Posted May 3, 2014 Author Share Posted May 3, 2014 Nope, he's not going anywhere. If I complain about it I'm pretty sure I'll be seen as a whiner. It'd be pretty hard for me to find a better job. I wouldn't even really know how to go about looking for one. This is an entry-level job into my industry, too, so I would rather not quit too early and look like I'm unreliable to future employers or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimako Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Nope, he's not going anywhere. If I complain about it I'm pretty sure I'll be seen as a whiner. It'd be pretty hard for me to find a better job. I wouldn't even really know how to go about looking for one. This is an entry-level job into my industry, too, so I would rather not quit too early and look like I'm unreliable to future employers or something. The times this has happened to me, it was always the douchenuggets deflecting from their own performance. They felt like if they made someone else look as bad as possible, their performance might would go un-noticed. Then there's the douche canoes that just like being an ass. I've found this species to be much less common than the douchenuggets. Office politics is not cuthroat. Instead it's almost like a bunch of chimps flinging poo at each other. Or maybe I'm feeling particularly irritated with work today. whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LikeMinded Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Sheer, epic FAIL on part of your boss. I am so sorry you had to go through this. Many people get put into leadership positions without understanding what leadership entails (hint to your boss, it's not just earning more money!). To counterpoint, I am somewhat afraid of taking leadership positions for the same reasons. I am worried that I might make off-kilter remarks and do similar damage that your own supervisor did. I hope you can get the douche-nugget to reprimand himself. If I were in his shoes, I would be pretty hard on myself, as I hope he will be. I always ask for earnest criticism. I hope he's the same. If not, he's a douche canoe and you're not at fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillBytes Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Seems like you handled it very well, prolly better then I would have. My hot button is people laughing at me, rolling their eyes or shaking their heads at me. Nothing pisses me off worse. That's always been a tough one for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LikeMinded Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 KillBytes I totally hear your cause. I once had a boss literally stick her palm towards my face (a signal of 'STFU I don't care about you') and it was the worst thing ever. If co-workers roll their eyes at me, I ask for an explanation. Usually it's since they don't agree with my philosophy. I ask them how I can better phrase my ideas, since obviously they did not understand and I simultaneously misspoke. Or, if you ask the silent me inside, *they* were being f'in idiots. Come to think of it, I remember the one time I suggested a quicker statistical approach to analyzing the performance of our medical devices. Unfortunately, the approach was used against me in that one of our supervisors made a presentation (using my statistical methods, of course!) to prove that technician X [me] had far more variability/incompetency than technician Y [co-worker]. Fortunately, the supervisor kept our identities anonymous (not that it made much help in a worksite of less than 30 people), but uh, the supervisor was right statistically... and I learned my lesson. Hence I am now an informaticist and statistician, and not a medical device tester. Fortunately, I'm now a statistician/informaticist and not a lab technician. If you can afford a discipline/career change, perhaps that's a valuable thing for you. Best of luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvnami Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 A couple of days ago I went to my project manager to express that I was having trouble with as aspect of the project and ask for help or suggestions or whatever. He moved me to a different part of the project (which was the ideal solution anyway, there simply wasn't any more work to be done on the part of the project he was having me work on, which was pretty much the 'problem' I came to him about). He seemed a little cranky, but I figured we were okay. Today, he visited the facility I work at and just mocked me for having trouble with it in front of all my coworkers. He made this high whiny voice imitation and said something along the lines of "some people just can't hack it I guess." Apparently a bunch of other people had come to him with the same concern and he was mocking them too. What a fucking asshole. He's clearly a dick, but is there a way you can issue a complaint with HR or the project sponsor? Or ask for a transfer? If anything, you should make a complaint, since his actions are out of order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LikeMinded Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 A couple of days ago I went to my project manager to express that I was having trouble with as aspect of the project and ask for help or suggestions or whatever. He moved me to a different part of the project (which was the ideal solution anyway, there simply wasn't any more work to be done on the part of the project he was having me work on, which was pretty much the 'problem' I came to him about). He seemed a little cranky, but I figured we were okay. Today, he visited the facility I work at and just mocked me for having trouble with it in front of all my coworkers. He made this high whiny voice imitation and said something along the lines of "some people just can't hack it I guess." Apparently a bunch of other people had come to him with the same concern and he was mocking them too. What a fucking asshole. He's clearly a dick, but is there a way you can issue a complaint with HR or the project sponsor? Or ask for a transfer? If anything, you should make a complaint, since his actions are out of order. This is just IMHO, but this asks for a mass group meeting... Where I am, that usually solves things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillBytes Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 KillBytes I totally hear your cause. I once had a boss literally stick her palm towards my face (a signal of 'STFU I don't care about you') and it was the worst thing ever. If co-workers roll their eyes at me, I ask for an explanation. Usually it's since they don't agree with my philosophy. I ask them how I can better phrase my ideas, since obviously they did not understand and I simultaneously misspoke. Or, if you ask the silent me inside, *they* were being f'in idiots. Come to think of it, I remember the one time I suggested a quicker statistical approach to analyzing the performance of our medical devices. Unfortunately, the approach was used against me in that one of our supervisors made a presentation (using my statistical methods, of course!) to prove that technician X [me] had far more variability/incompetency than technician Y [co-worker]. Fortunately, the supervisor kept our identities anonymous (not that it made much help in a worksite of less than 30 people), but uh, the supervisor was right statistically... and I learned my lesson. Hence I am now an informaticist and statistician, and not a medical device tester. Fortunately, I'm now a statistician/informaticist and not a lab technician. If you can afford a discipline/career change, perhaps that's a valuable thing for you. Best of luck!! Very sound and good advice for sure! I know it's my problem and I try to remind myself it's no where near as bad as I preceive it. Generally I do pretty good, but nevertheless it remains one of my greatest challenges. Thank you for your reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
writehellarandomshiny Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 (edited) I'm really sorry. That really sucks. I wish that hadn't happened (referencing to the main post) Edited June 12, 2014 by writehellarandomshiny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts