2708 Secretariat.
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Carol had become invested in the management course. Probably a good thing since she’s terrible at managing people. Of course managing through fear gets results and gets them fast. Sometimes it’s the last resort you have, but it’s a toxic method that erodes morale too much over time. You need to know when to use the carrot and when the stick is required. I only ever worked for one truly competent manager and he never used the stick except on one employee. He would have extended screaming matches with one guy because that was the only thing he understood. The guy always thought he was right and it was nearly impossible to convince him otherwise. The only thing you could do was yell until he relented. And the thing was the guy was a good enough worker that the manager would tolerate it all because once you lined him out you could leave him alone for extended periods and he would self motivate. He was a decent guy, he just believed himself to be much better than he actually was. A very common failing. Eventually he did have to be fired because the fights were getting so out of hand that it was cartoonishly ridiculous. I was sad to see him go in spite of it all because you could depend on if to manage himself if he believed what he was doing was correct. I used to run into him from time to time and he always seemed to be doing fine. I think at some point, if he could get out of his own way, he would be a good manager, but I don’t know if he ever got there. He was the kind of guy who really needed to be his own boss. I think if he ever found a way to do that he would thrive. Or perhaps fail and learn enough humility to succeed the next time.
I always had the problem of seeming smarter than I am and then having to convince people not to depend on me too much. Many times I would say “I can’t do this.” and would be ignored. That’s why I eventually left Hastings. I kept getting promoted past my level of ability. Getting forced into a promotion when you know you can do the thing they want you to do is extremely unpleasant. I was always so surprised how my aura of competence could so completely fool people even when I was expressly stating that they were judging me too kindly.
Anyway, I’m right about where I belong now. Banished to my little corner of the internet where it’s too inconvenient to try and get me. The safety of obscurity. If you’d like to help me maintain my tiny kingdom there are support links above the post, as always, if you’re a regular I hope your week starts of nicely. Come see me on Wednesday if it pleases. I look forward to it.
9 Comments
divorced* from emotion?
I was gonna ramble about spelling and what makes it official, but I’ve got another question to pose open-endedly instead. Which meaning of “divorce” came first, anyway?
Looking up the etymology, ” divorce” probably was first used for the separation as Thomas used it, and then later to the separation in relationships, as most people would first think of it.
I would like to comment that this was a long build up for Carol’s punchline.
Second speech bubble in the second frame has “divirced” which I believe should be “divorced”.
If you were showing up on time, sober, and doing the work that needed to be done, you probably WERE competent enough to be a manager, at least by the low standards of such institutions. My coworker’s spouse manages several gas stations and, yeah, they keep promoting people to management after just 3 months of being an adequate warm body who can count and isn’t polluted by powerful illegal pharmaceuticals.
And until next time, DRINK SODA!
DRINK SODA!
As you wish!Gosh, have you seen some big rats around? (Sorry, don’t know the reference.)
As someone who also got forced upwards into management at a Hastings despite my obvious reluctance and questionable competence especially at the parts that were Managing People, I wonder how many stores had that situation going on.
Well, in my case I lasted until the death of the company after having been bounced around department management positions a few times despite never receiving any of the “required” training, even though I lead purely through example…so I guess maybe that’s a flavor of competence in the same way failing to drown might be a form of swimming?