Management Style? A-hole.

It has been a while…

Here is how not to be: I was in a planning meeting today with a manager that was to my surprise, a jerk.  While some things that came out of his mouth were reasonable, most were not.  He had this idea that when expected completion dates were put on a task, a burrito was ‘bet’.  In other words, if his subordinate didnt complete the task by the specified date, he or she would have to buy the manager a burrito.  This was not only asinine, it was insulting.  It wasnt a bet so to speak, but was more some kind of punishment that was designed so that he himself would benefit.

I guessed that his gruff, arrogant and sometimes rude behavior made him difficult to work for.  In my 20+ years of working in the ‘real world’, I cant remember a manager that behaved this badly.  He seemed to have some kind of ax to grind, something he was angry about, unrelated to the work at hand.  He was also all over the place.

I am a firm believer in having fun at work–it should never be uncomfortable.  I would quit before working for someone like him.  It is just not worth it.

My guess is that karma will provide him with heart disease.

The American Cultural Revolution

I was reading this post on Consumerist about a Sprint Exec, who made $150k and is now a grocery store baker making $10 an hour.

This got me to thinking about the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (I love the political posters towards the bottom, btw) in China between May, 1966 and 1969.  Essentially,  Chairman Mao alleged “that liberal bourgeoisie elements were dominating the party” and they needed to be removed through “post-revolutionary class struggle”.

Essentially, overqualified people were sent to shovel pig manure in the country side.

While Chairman Mao was the cause of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, it appears that the global financial crisis is the cause of ours.

While the parallels between the two are thin, the outcome might be the similar. It is effecting everyone in different ways–almost all of them negative.  Luckily, in our country, there are lots of opportunities for people besides underemployment to survive.  A lot of people are choosing different careers and/or more education.  As a society, we nearly always win with more education.

The economy is a mess and if the Cultural Revolution is a guide, it is going to take a long time to sort it out.

~m

What happens when…

your child is able to understand what you spell?  How do you then hide sensitive topics?
Naps are a very touchy subject in our house.  My wife spelled out R-I-D-E, referring to taking M out (hoping she would fall asleep in the car).  M turned around and said “ride?!”
Claire and I were shocked! And impressed…but then, what next?  How long do we have before she knows what “I want to H-A-V-E  S-E-X when M  G-O-E-S to B-E-D” means?

Now with more meat!

I dropped out of the blog scene when I moved back from Indiana in 2005.  It was too much for me to keep up with, new job, new baby and I had to get settled in.
Without further ado…