My immediate supervisor has an interesting habit. She values my opinion and often calls me with ideas or as a sounding board. Sometimes I'm not sure if she really values my opinion or if she just wants somebody to blame if things go wrong. On any given day, I could probably flip a coin on this one.
"Well she agreed with it. She thought it was a great idea. I would have never done it if she hadn't told me to"...
...Which would really reflect negatively on her since she's the one in friggin charge. Anyway, today she called me about an email she drafted to her managers. In summary, the goal of the email is to ensure that another person, (read: an old coworker who she doesn't particularly like), gets ratted out for helping on a project that he no longer works on. His continued involvement would make him a small part of our work lives for the next 2 months.
Here are a few background notes to help establish some relationships: As a contractor, my "supervisor" really only supervises me. In terms of her organization, she isn't recognized as somebody with any real weight to throw around. And the person she's targeting isn't some old subordinate who's wet behind the ears. In fact, he has some pull. He's known and respected. Did I mention that the target is also somebody I've liked and worked well with for years? But I digress...
After reading the email to me, she asked, "Do you think this will piss anybody off???"
Well, it's impossible for me to answer that question, and here's why.
I went on some long short-winded explanation of back-door-deals, how employees sometimes reach out for information from other employees, and how I have made and received calls to do the same.(Note to self: Being resourceful is a bad bad thing). In other words, you're not always gonna know or like where employees get their information. Be happy so long as their stuff is right, delivered on time, no crime was committed, no rules were bent beyond breaking point, and no animals/babies were harmed during the collection of said information. All of this was leading to a warning that the managers themselves may not care as much as she wants them to and may not react according to her sinister plan. Even from the view down here, her concern reads more like a personal problem than anything.
But then came her predictable script when I don't necessarily agree with her point. I swear she pulls this out of her a** without fail anytime she suspects I might not agree with her after SHE asks ME for some d*mned advice:
In her world, I am only listening to her if I agree with her 100%. It never occurs to her that (1) she may not be explaining her position very well, (2) I have my own mind that doesn't ask permission to express an original thought, or (3) I just might not be the person to call if her goal is to enlist a "YES MAN" for her personal agenda.
End rant. I'm out.
your supervisor is stupid if she couldn't read through what you were saying and draw a smart conclusion
however, her stupidity is not her fault--we all can only work with what we've got
maybe next time you'll have to be blunt
just say
"This is a bad idea and when it blows up in your face and you're on everybody's shit list don't call my name"
Posted by: GC | October 23, 2008 at 03:25 PM
LOL, GC.
You're right about "working with what we've got."
Posted by: Hawa | October 24, 2008 at 03:38 PM
It sounds like she needs a casual friend who will agree with her on everything, and not someone who is able to give her valuable input.
Suggestion: Tell her to stop calling you for every little thing and blog about it on her own time!
Posted by: Believer 1964 | October 26, 2008 at 02:09 PM
@Believer: LOL
Posted by: Hawa | October 26, 2008 at 09:06 PM