Professional Darwinism: Update to OP on p.74

[blue2000]

I'd say he is failing the second one as well. He will not be working in a vacuum, even if he is self-employed. He will still have to follow tax laws, labour laws (if he has any employees) and contract rules from companies he deals with. He will have to schedule meetings with other people in mind. He already has trouble following non-negotiable rules, I doubt he will find them easier when he is boss.

[Midnight Kitty]

When I worked out of my home as a consulting engineer, I found that being self-employed meant you had many bosses (clients), all of whom think they are more important that your other bosses/clients.

[GSNW]

When I worked out of my home as a consulting engineer, I found that being self-employed meant you had many bosses (clients), all of whom think they are more important that your other bosses/clients.

Exactly, and agreed regarding tax issues too.  I'm not sure where this guy fits, because there are rules no matter how you choose to make your living.  But thankfully that will no longer be the problem of those of us in the hall with him, in his department, or most importantly, the kids that got shortchanged this year because of his nonsense.

[Giggity]

I know what it means in this context, but I keep thinking "Designated Hitter."

I read Rob's post as "Designated Hitler".  Definitely a presbyopia moment.

That's how I first read it, too; had to read it again since I was sure that's not what it actually said (but had a good laugh in my head).

"What, me? I gotta be Hitler AGAIN? I swear, I gotta start keeping tabs. I am positive I've been the designated Hitler for like our last four re-creations."

[Mediancat]

Heh. That does sound like it would be used in WW II reenactments, doesn't it?

Rob

[Sirius]

Senior analyst thinks this whole thing is hilarious. She says she's going to make it a game to see how many direct questions she can ask Mr 16 Years in one meeting without him ever directly answering her.

I wonder if he doesn't like answering to a woman?  I've worked with a lot of guys like that.  I have a male co-worker like that right now, actually - when he joined the company a couple of years ago, I was assigned to train him.  He all but patted me on the head and said "I'll wait for Boss, thanks."  Fortunately, Boss made it very clear that he was to answer to me, because she was too busy.

I've worked with men like this, and they find out very quickly that I don't tolerate it. 

Back when I worked in a military commissary, our store officer was a short, petite blonde.  She was very nice but was not to be messed with, and when one of the produce workers hit on her he was suspended without pay.  That may seem an overreaction on her part, but he hadn't taken her seriously when she'd warned him that it better not happen again after it happened the first time.   

[Midnight Kitty]

I overheard one of my coworkers go off on another coworker last Monday.  Let's call the one who lost control "Jerk" and the other employee "Guy."

Jerk:  If you're so smart, you write the justification. (in a snotty, sarcastic tone)
Guy:  (soft murmuring sounds like he's trying to calm Jerk down)
Jerk:  (yelling) I don't have to take this s***.

Guy saw me walking by just before Jerk lost it, so he knows I heard this unprofessional exchange.  I told him I was willing to testify to what I heard if Guy wants to file a complaint with Jerk's manager.  My supervisor told me that Jerk has done this before.  It's not that he engages in a shouting match because he's the only one shouting.  Jerk did this to another supervisor in front of our Deputy Director and neither the supervisor or the DD wrote him up.  That's why he thinks he can get away with acting unprofessionally: He's done it before and there were no consequences. His supervisor will back him up even if he's in the wrong and management is too lazy to take disciplinary action.

[Wulfie]

This happend today. This started off normal :

Good Morning,
I was reviewing the cash batch for *ComplexIManange* that contained the *BigPayee* payment and noticed the check stub was a copy and not the original. 
In the future, could you please attach the original check stub to the cash batch so that all originals can be stored here?
Thank you for your help,
*TempName*

And I replied back:

Sure! I was told by *FormerEmployee* to keep the originals here but I can send them.

Then it took a turn for the Darkside:

SEND THEM TO ACCOUNTING *FormerEmployee* WAS AN EMBEZZLER. OF COURSE HE WILL TELL YOU TO KEEP THEM THERE.

My reply:

No problem, I will send them. *FormerEmployee* has been gone for over a year. Nobody said anything in the past so I didn’t think that his instructions were wrong.

Temp (ccing my boss and my boss’s boss) :

Please send them to accounting. I don’t care that you were not told to. SEND THEM TO ACCOUNTING.  I am not surprised that he embezzled from *MyCompany*. I am surprised that he was caught.
Thank you for your help,
*TempName*

BIG boss to the whole company:

Good afternoon, all:
I am writing to let you know that effective this afternoon,*TempName* is no longer employed by *MyCompany*. 
We have no reason to expect any issues to arise.  However, if *TempName* appears at your property, please do not admit her and alert me or your property manager.  Please ask building-based Cleaner/Light Maintenance staff to do the same.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 
Thanks much,
*BigBoss*

[Mel the Redcap]

BIG boss to the whole company:

Good afternoon, all:
I am writing to let you know that effective this afternoon,*TempName* is no longer employed by *MyCompany*. 
We have no reason to expect any issues to arise.  However, if *TempName* appears at your property, please do not admit her and alert me or your property manager.  Please ask building-based Cleaner/Light Maintenance staff to do the same.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 
Thanks much,
*BigBoss*

...Ooo-er! I'm guessing that *FormerEmployee* was not in fact an embezzler and *TempName* was, um, indulging in flights of fancy?

[Wulfie]

*FormerEmployee* really did embezzle from our company. It shocked everyone as we are a low income apartment company so he was stealing from people who are poor!

Yes, he was fired, arrested and his trial should be sometime this summer.

[Mel the Redcap]

*FormerEmployee* really did embezzle from our company. It shocked everyone as we are a low income apartment company so he was stealing from people who are poor!

Yes, he was fired, arrested and his trial should be sometime this summer.

Whoops! Well, in that case *TempName* was probably not supposed to be spreading that information around.

[Amara]

Please send them to accounting. I don’t care that you were not told to. SEND THEM TO ACCOUNTING.  I am not surprised that he embezzled from *MyCompany*. I am surprised that he was caught.
Thank you for your help,
*TempName*

So what was her problem? Did she think you might be in cahoots with him?

[ladyknight1]

We had an employee (FE) who resigned over a year ago and left in good standing, to move with her DH across the state. We promoted someone (CE) to her position from within, and all has been well since.

All was well, but three of the other employees of the same level as FE have been campaigning for FE to get her job back, only problem is CE is in the position, and is doing a great job. CE used to work in my office and is a great guy. Now, FE is moving back to the area, and there is much clamoring (by the current staff) for FE to have a position made for her, which is certainly not in the plans or budget.

So, while this is not traditional PD, I still nominate FE for a "sour grapes" kind of PD.

What is even more ironic, the main person campaigning for FE did the exact same thing 8 years ago, and has lamented the loss of her seniority ever since!

[asb8]

We had an employee (FE) who resigned over a year ago and left in good standing, to move with her DH across the state. We promoted someone (CE) to her position from within, and all has been well since.

All was well, but three of the other employees of the same level as FE have been campaigning for FE to get her job back, only problem is CE is in the position, and is doing a great job. CE used to work in my office and is a great guy. Now, FE is moving back to the area, and there is much clamoring (by the current staff) for FE to have a position made for her, which is certainly not in the plans or budget.

So, while this is not traditional PD, I still nominate FE for a "sour grapes" kind of PD.

What is even more ironic, the main person campaigning for FE did the exact same thing 8 years ago, and has lamented the loss of her seniority ever since!

Are you sure FE is aware of the clamoring? I only ask because I was in the FE position and I was highly irritated to find out that my replacement had been given all sorts of grief after I left and that someone even asked outright if management would please try to bring me back.  And my replacement was doing a terrific job, probably better than I had!

[Wulfie]

The way I read it was that she thought our company’s accounting practices are so bad that she is surprised that we were able to catch someone embezzling from us. The forensic  accountant that we hired was even impressed with how *FormerEmployee* did it.  She doubts that she found all of the money that is missing and says we may never really know the true amount that he stole and from whom.

Our company has been fairly open about the fact that it happened and the generalities of what is going on with the case. They didn’t want it to be a secret if it hits the papers.  I know a bit more about what is going on because he hit one of my “sister properties” and I covered for the manager for 3 months while she was on maternity leave.