I was interviewing for a job as a movie theater manager.
In my neck of the woods there’s a limited number of movie theaters, and everyone knows everyone else. So I was interviewing for the job when I’m told
“we heard through the grapevine that after you were fired from your last job you broke into the office and did something unspeakable on the carpet.”
I still ended up getting the job.
I mean, this was when I was living in a suburb of Cleveland OH. it’s not really a town thing so much as it’s an industry thing. I spent 20 years running movie theaters. I worked for all the chains, both national and local. Between managers and projectionists, everyone knew everyone else.
For documenting the accurate number of hours I worked, in a teaching lab. The department head didn’t believe that the lab I taught (as a grad student) needed the hours it was given. Keep in mind, I had to do everything for the lab: create the lab manual, design lab activities, get ethics approval, create lab lectures, setup and clean up the lab, and do all the marking.
Turns out, the department used that document to pay me. This was never explained to me, usually we just get paid the set amount of hours, and I was of the understanding that this was just an audit of my hours to justify what I was getting. Turns out I worked about an extra 30% of the hours set for that lab for the semester. As a result, the department couldn’t fully pay me until the following year because they didn’t have it in their budget to pay for that extra 30%.
I ended up getting an ear full from the department head, but he backed off when I told him I was simply doing what he asked and that I wasn’t inflating the numbers to get higher pay, since I had no idea they intended to pay me based on that audit.
Perhaps it’s coincidence, or perhaps it was petty revenge, but later that year at gathering of the faculty and grad students he announced that I had won a major scholarship (one that would’ve paid pretty well for a grad student), and had me stand up in the crowd along with the other winners. Then, immediately after the assembly, he runs up to our lab office to tell me he read the sheet wrong and I hadnt actually won the scholarship, he just read the wrong name. I spent the next few days shamefully having to explain to everyone that, no I didn’t get the award.
*edit: spelling mistakes.
There was a super insecure manager a bunch of years ago. I didn’t report to him, but occasionally worked alongside him.
I had been working with one of our customers for a few weeks on a feature they had requested. It was something out-of-the-box, so understandably, if you didn’t know the context, it would be rather confusing.
Manager is set to run a meeting with them, and asks for my help as the technical expert. No problem. We get into the meeting, and the customer asks some technical questions. Before I can get a word in edgewise, Manager proceeds to pull the most inane shit out of his ass for a good 10 minutes–clearly knowing nothing that’s going on, but not letting that stop him. After the customer is sufficiently confused, and Manager is starting to look a little panicked, he finally turns to me.
I figure I’ll try to save him some face, so I start my reply with, “I’m not entirely sure, but are you asking…”, repeating their question back. The customer is clearly relieved that I know what they’re asking, and I provide the answers. Crisis averted! The meeting ends and I head back to my desk feeling good.
Until Manager storms up to my desk and proceeds to scream at me, “IF YOU’RE NOT ABSOLUTELY SURE ABOUT SOMETHING, DON’T ANSWER! NONE OF THIS ‘I’M NOT SURE’ BULLSHIT! NEXT TIME THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE FOR US!” and storms off. Nice projection, asshole.
I was new enough to not have the presence of mind to respond, so nothing came of it (though he was demoted not long after–possibly the shittiest manager I’ve ever known) so it all worked out in the end.
I guess just the fact that there are mails with six people in cc is an indication for how bad the order of command is.
I have never heard anyone being scolded for that but then again this is common sense from where i come from so everyone sorts recipients by importance. Edit: I don’t get what is so outrageous e.g. this order boss > colleagues > intern
Common sense? Certainly not. I never do that. I just add people as they come to my mind. Sometimes I order by how important the mail might be for them (which is roughly the same thing, usually). If I had to work in an environment where people are so self-absorbed that they determine their worth from the order of the names in the carbon copy recipients list of an email, I’d look for another place to work in.
So if you send email to the owner of the company and to your colleagues on same level you put boss at last spot if they come to your mind as last?
BTw read what i wrote, again. There is no mention of it being mandatory in my post . It’s similar thing to as when we used to hold door to next person so they don’t get smashed by it. edit> I don’t get what’s so enraging on voluntarily ordering recipient in the mail boss > colleagues > intern.
Because it is inane bullshit. You receive the email no matter where on the array your fucking name is. It is complete and utter sociopathy to enforce hierarchical chest-thumping on it. Only people who’s work is so without value that they need to source it from pissing on others “below” them would care about it.
So if you send email to the owner of the compane and to your colleagues on same level you put boss at last spot if they come to your mind as last?
Exactly. That’s how I always did it and will keep doing it. Anything else sounds absolutely weird to me.
There is no mention of it being mandatory in my post
There kind of is. Because you make it sound like it’s not a written rule per se but still very much a social convention that people kind of expect you to follow.
It’s similar thing to as when we used to hold door to next person so they don’t get smashed by it. boss > colleagues > intern.
So this is where it gets really weird. What is that even supposed to mean? How is the position in the company relevant to holding doors? If there’s an intern behind me, I hold his door open. If it’s the boss I do the same. Just like I’d expect both of them to do the same for me and each other. What is your list even supposed to mean? You don’t hold doors for interns? Your boss doesn’t do it for you? What kind of sociopathic hellhole of a system do you work in? Do you participate in that?
I once worked in a company where my supervisor demanded I’d prepare coffee for him and completely lost it when I wanted to discuss how exactly that was part of my job as a researcher. His point was that his boss had always expected his orders to be followed, no questions asked, and he’d expect the same thing from me. Needless to say I left that fucker as soon as I had another contract available (and never prepared his fucking coffee). This kind of hierarchical thinking may be appropriate for the army but certainly not for an ordinary company.
