Tell me you have something exciting or uncomfortable/difficult that we need to discuss. Tell me that we’ll talk about it several hours from now.
Allow me to stew for several hours. At that point, forget about the meeting and fail to call me into your office. When I remind you, apologize and say we need to bump it back another couple of hours.
When we do actually meet, tell me something underwhelming or banal that you could have just sent me a quick email about.
Thanks to Scott Adams and Dilbert for reminding me of this phenomenon–it’s one of the things I love to hate in the work world.
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11 responses so far ↓
1 elysa // Sep 19, 2007 at 4:08 pm
that happens to me EVERY day!
2 Jason // Sep 19, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Oh man, no kidding!
3 Chuck Westbrook // Sep 19, 2007 at 5:30 pm
@elysa– You’re going to have to elaborate for us–that sounds interesting.
@Jason– Totally.
4 Jason // Sep 19, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Oh, I have an addition.
Tell me that I’m not doing my job or achieving my goals, but when I ask for specifics, don’t provide me with any. Or lecture me on how I should do my job, even though I’m doing everything right so far.
5 JoeDrinker // Sep 19, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Sounds like a page out of Management 101.
6 Chuck Westbrook // Sep 20, 2007 at 5:03 pm
@Jason– I have a buddy that was fired without ever having a warning and his performance reviews were always fine. The reason for his termination was that he displayed a lack of urgency. One of my old bosses was a champion at lecturing his employees on what they should be doing better, and it was almost always something that was a chief weakness of his.
@JoeDrinker– That reminds me, I read a management book once that had such manipulative garbage in it you’d think it was a joke. I’ll have to try to track it down again…
7 Bush Mackel // Sep 20, 2007 at 6:54 pm
I’d probably kill my supervisor/5 bosses if they pulled that on me.
8 Chuck Westbrook // Sep 20, 2007 at 7:28 pm
@Bush– It’ll happen someday, just you wait…
9 Holli Jo // Sep 20, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Oh my goodness, I love your blog! I wish I had known about it three months ago when I was still working at the job from hell. At least I would have known I was in good company.
Anyway, I’ll be back. Thanks for making me laugh.
10 Jayne // Sep 22, 2007 at 6:42 am
Oh man that was hilarious. These things drive me crazy too, especially the first one!
11 Chuck Westbrook // Sep 25, 2007 at 2:39 pm
@Holli Jo– Thanks, I love your comment! Also, never wish for anything related to the horrible job you had. You have already achieved the goal, my friend ; )
@Jayne– Glad you liked it. In hindsight, this post came off as being a little bitter. I actually think the whole phenomenon is pretty funny too.
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