O O Ø O O O O
Executive Decision
Thanks, I needed that.
I’m not a bitch. More specifically, I’m not your bitch.
I’ve been doing this longer than you, but that doesn’t matter.
I want to help, but can’t do it alone. When I ask for assistance, it’s because I need it.
I’m not perfect, but I’m not stupid either.
Thanks for reminding me of the former, and assuming the latter.
I have a designation. You have one, too.
Yours happens to be higher than mine, and for some reason, you think that puts me below you on all levels.
This is where the problem starts.
Thank you for taking any good thoughts I had of the company we both work for, and crushing them. Thank you for implying that my only role is to make your problems disappear. Thank you for your sardonic comments pointing out that you can do my job better than me, while leaving the problem in my hands. Thank you for cc:’ing everyone you could think of/look up in the company org chart with the wisdom you chose to impart. Thank you for having the common courtesy for returning my phone call. Thank you for making me feel like a total heel.
Our customer called you and said “help”. You e-mailed me and said “fix it”. That’s it, that’s all. All I asked for was an introduction to the customer, and for you to stay on to ensure the customer had a single point of contact from start to finish. You didn’t care, told me so in a way I could not take any other way (saying “I don’t care, this is not my problem” was pure genius), and walked away from it after I agreed to help out.
I helped our customer. I admitted a mistake had been made on an area I was responsible for, and took responsibility for it. I didn’t argue semantics about whose responsibility it was to take ownership of the customer. I didn’t dick around writing e-mails about why I shouldn’t have to be involved with resolving the issue. I took ownership, contacted the customer, fixed his problem, and apologized on behalf of our company. You wrote e-mails, even after I let everyone know we had resolved the issue.
You went out of your way to tell everyone we fucked up (we did, but no where near the amount you made it out to be). You implied that I wasn’t willing to take responsibility. You suggested I was incompetent, and if I couldn’t fix the problem, you’d be more than happy to move the customer into another environment so long as I was willing to pay for it. You questioned my integrity publicly, and never once engaged in two-way conversation, and you’re not even in my management chain. You’re just a coward hiding behind your e-mail.
Fuck you, and thank you.
Fuck you ’cause you’re a prick, and the only thing you could do with the whole mess is make me feel a half-inch tall. Outstanding leadership, and great work.
Thank you for helping me make a decision I’ve been putting off for far too long.
I’m done with you and your kind. I could have helped our organisation out, because what it’s trying to change I’ve already done multiple times. It’s really hard work though, and I’ve been trying to figure out whether I wanted to make the effort required to bring that change. Unfortunately, you’re the kind of person who’d benefit from the changes I could help bring about, and there a lot more where you came from. You’d stomp all over me again in a second if you had the chance, and that’s about the only reward I’d reap from pulling the changes off. Ok, that makes it easier... buh-bye.
Senior management is supposed to set an example. Their role is to remove obstacles from the paths of the people trying to make good things happen. They’re supposed to protect the company through accountability and solid decision-making. All you did was shovel dirt from one pile to another. Great job.
I know this type of behaviour is commonplace in big companies, but I’ve worked in enough big companies to know that it’s not the way it has to be. I’ve been spoiled by working for a lot of really good people, so I am smart enough to know it’s time to go; all I needed was a push. You weren’t the only push, so don’t think you “done good” by removing an attitude problem. You did, however, wreck my weekend by making me feel like crap, and you and your kind has done that far too often in the last year. I’m tired of people like you doing this to me, and don’t have to take it anymore. I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and, gosh darn it, people like me.
Thanks for that push, and I’ll be sure to mention the assist when I leave. And, in case you were wondering, I’ll leave when I’m finished, because I don’t want to leave people hanging.
It’s not nice.
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
PD DCLXII