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Class War: Lessons From the Cold Peace
Apr. 27th, 2004 06:48 pmMy boss - that is, my direct supervisor - did not show up at the office today. Apparently, he was not in attendance yesterday, either.
Charlie is in his first job as a manager, was one of my co-workers six months or so ago. Though I think he has made some mistakes, he has been a decent manager at worst and there is no question in my mind that he has meant well and he has certainly not once let his position go to his head. He has been honest with his underlings, and has done his best to be fair when hard decisions had to be made.
He was also the one who informed nine of us last week that we were about to be laid off, with a healthy severance package in our pockets, only to be bruskely informed by senior management that, well, no, that wasn't happening after all.
I'm not close to Charlie, but I like him, the way you do someone you work with and who you believe is not out to screw you, or anyone else, around. I believe he has worked hard to do a good job - which in his mind means both obeying the companies marching orders and at the same time making life as good as possible for the troops under his command.
Last week, as my Gentle Readers will recall, his underlings laid into him for mis-informing us; and his overseers did not work hard to absolve him of blame.
I fear he will be made a scapegoat, hung out to dry because he was misinformed.
Most likely, he has simply taken a couple of "mental health" days, needing a chance to lick his wounds. I fear we will hear tomorrow, or the next day, that Charlie, "has decided to pursue other interests." In other words, that he will be fired, tossed overboard for a naive mistake based on the instructions of his masters.
As a person (if he shows up in the office again), I would like to reach out to him. As an employee, repeatedly screwed around in small or less small ways by all but one of my managers (in three years, I've had something like five - but that's another discussion), I believe I must stand my class ground, given the situation in which both of us find ourselves. Charlie representing the interests of the company, no matter how he may feel about its positions, and I standing up for my own, employee's, interests, since the company for which I do my work has zero interest in my personal well-being.
We should all read The Corporation. And we should all think and talk about how best to extricate ourselves from that abusive relationship.
Charlie is in his first job as a manager, was one of my co-workers six months or so ago. Though I think he has made some mistakes, he has been a decent manager at worst and there is no question in my mind that he has meant well and he has certainly not once let his position go to his head. He has been honest with his underlings, and has done his best to be fair when hard decisions had to be made.
He was also the one who informed nine of us last week that we were about to be laid off, with a healthy severance package in our pockets, only to be bruskely informed by senior management that, well, no, that wasn't happening after all.
I'm not close to Charlie, but I like him, the way you do someone you work with and who you believe is not out to screw you, or anyone else, around. I believe he has worked hard to do a good job - which in his mind means both obeying the companies marching orders and at the same time making life as good as possible for the troops under his command.
Last week, as my Gentle Readers will recall, his underlings laid into him for mis-informing us; and his overseers did not work hard to absolve him of blame.
I fear he will be made a scapegoat, hung out to dry because he was misinformed.
Most likely, he has simply taken a couple of "mental health" days, needing a chance to lick his wounds. I fear we will hear tomorrow, or the next day, that Charlie, "has decided to pursue other interests." In other words, that he will be fired, tossed overboard for a naive mistake based on the instructions of his masters.
As a person (if he shows up in the office again), I would like to reach out to him. As an employee, repeatedly screwed around in small or less small ways by all but one of my managers (in three years, I've had something like five - but that's another discussion), I believe I must stand my class ground, given the situation in which both of us find ourselves. Charlie representing the interests of the company, no matter how he may feel about its positions, and I standing up for my own, employee's, interests, since the company for which I do my work has zero interest in my personal well-being.
We should all read The Corporation. And we should all think and talk about how best to extricate ourselves from that abusive relationship.