Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

It seems like every job I've ever worked at, save for perhaps two, the management and supervisors have been so spineless its sickening.

They can't directly tell you if somethings wrong, oh no, they have to go through this bizarre chain so you find out something is wrong days or weeks after thier complaint about it. Hell, it seems that way even if everythings going right and you're doing a good job even.

I've been temping at this one place for the last four months. If anything about the job screamed "dead end" about it, it would be the woman from the same temp agency being a temp there for three years. She actually seems proud of that fact and it kinda scares me more than the fact this temp is 45 and still living with her mother.

After three months of faithfully coming in and working there, I'm left with the impression this job is going no where. I still work there for now, but take time off here and there to look for other opportunities.

Of course now word gets around - not from the boss of course - that they're unhappy I go missing and that they would have hired me full-time if I were more dilligent about attendance (bullshit). Of course, this is all from third-parties, they're probably worried I'd quit or blow up at them if they actually told me. I'd quit when I was good and ready to, this job isn't worth blowing up over.

I really do miss managers, supervisors and bosses that were straight with you and gave you shit about stuff if they felt they needed to. One of my previous jobs was a business that passed from father-to-son and the father would come right up to you and tell you what his problems with what you were doing were. I have to say I respected that, no matter how harsh it sometimes was. Only other guy like that I had was a McDonald's manager way back when I was in high school. But the son that took on this business? Chain-of-command all the way. Can't just walk up and tell you what you're doing wrong, gotta go through a dozen other people.

I get so these spineless, touchy-feely ninnies who are scared anything would end up in a confrontation. And they don't come off less mean for doing it, but actually an even larger assholes for not confronting you in the first place. How people get jobs like these and keep them is beyond me.

[Clever Ninja]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

I haven't had that issue really, but I'm only 22 and have held 2 jobs for a long time between now and high school. First place was working as a Secretary at my dad's Taxi base, and it was pretty chill atmosphere. If I actually made a mistake they talked to me about it, told me how to do it right, and that was that. I sometimes miss that job, but then I remember my Dad became President and working for that man was the equivalent of wanting to stab kittens.

I am currently working as a Math Tutor at the community college I used to go to, and while its a pretty pleasant atmosphere, but did I get REAMED for ditching last Wed. without calling. Like literally, the talk of termination came up. For one day. Working there for almost 2 years and over 1 day all that. Did get the point across though.

I have some friends who finished college that are going through something similar that you mentioned. Buddy from High School works somewhere at Wall Street and I probably would have punched his boss in the face for all the sneaky shit he does. Not only does he go through the whole chain of command thing, but he'll go even further to add lots of lies on top of it that'll hurt your long term chances are getting anywhere in there if he doesn't like you. Everyone is afraid of breathing because the upper level trusts this guy so much for his past work.

[assumedvigilance]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

i have lots of experience with spineless idots being my "manager". i happen to work in the hotel industry as a night auditor, which means i don't actually see my manager(s) all that often and have the added weight of being a manager myself
without actually having the title. so i am not only responsible for running the place at night i am also in charge of reprimanding the other employee's for any error they make... not fun but i'm not affraid to take them aside and let them know that what they did was wrong, why it was wrong, and how they can keep from making the same mistake in the future. it's really sad when some of those employee's i reprimand happen to be my managers... anyway, i have been doing this kind of work for 10 years and have yet to have a single manager willing to stand up to me. this includes the General manager who is the highest in command at the actual establishment. part of the deal is i just happen to be very good at what i do. the rest is im a scary looking guy who ppl dont easily get close to out of thier own misguided fears... another sad fact is these ppl have these college deplomas, while i dropped out of school in the 10th grade. granted it was due to large doses of drugs in me at the time and i did go and get my GED, but i have never been to a college class. you'd think with all the schooling they forked money over for, that they would be better trained at dealing with ppl. but i remain unchastized from them all... bunch of wimps!

[Mhurron]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

Hi, welcome to the US. The horde of lawyers that made the country the way it is is sitting over there.

Yes, any place that has more then 15 people, and isn't run by clueless people is scared of the possibility of a lawsuit.

Now, no that doesn't cover everyone. There are also those dickless assholes who avoid direct confrontation at all costs. Then of course there is the old fall back of they're just idiots. Actually, we can just lump these two together and call them MBA's.

Between those two reasons, that's pretty much everything covered.

[Kurb]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

Damm management most of em just want to sit back boss staff around and want 0 trouble then ruins it when u get a decent hard working manager by overiding his authority errr ><

[Telera]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

I don't like spineless corporations that can't stand up for their employees. When you start a job, they hand you this LotRx2 thickness manual, tell you that you must follow all these rules, or lose your job.

Okay, cool. I can handle that.

Well, cue the day some bitch customer comes in, tries to return something a year and a half old. Say the policy says you aren't allowed to do that, or you will lose your job. So you politely explain this to the customer. Customer gets upset. Wah, wah, /emodrkwrist.

Customer calls corporate, and then instead of sticking up for their employee that faithfully upheld their pile of rules, they bend over, take it up the ass like the new guy on the prison block and then write you up/suspend/fire you for obeying the rules.

If more companies would actually apply their rules and stand up for their employees, more employees might actually give a fuck about their jobs and feel secure in them.

As it is: I couldn't care less about either of my jobs. Because of situations along this line.

[Malacite]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

Well at least there are more opportunities in the U.S.


Here in Canada (at least in Ottawa anyway) to get anywhere you have to work for the Government, which means someone has to die first for the next person in line to get in - _ -

[Neomage]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

Doing things right is management. Doing the right thing is leadership. I this case, I would indeed say they are doing the former.

[Mhurron]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

Doing things right is management. Doing the right thing is leadership. I this case, I would indeed say they are doing the former.

Hiding criticism is never the correct thing to do.

Management is doing nothing and getting paid more for it.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

Hiding criticism is never the correct thing to do.

Management is doing nothing and getting paid more for it.

My current supervisor is like this. Really, he doesn't do shit and finds ways to scare up more hours for himself, it really gets to one of my older coworkers. Three weeks he had us working overtime to "catch up" when there was really nothing that we needed to catch up on. Not that I mind a little more pay, but if you're having me work 10 hour days for three weeks there had better be a reason for it.

I think his reason was to make his department look like we were doing more than we actually were.

And maybe I'm just picky, but I like the 40 hour week. Nice and balanced, enough free time to have an actual social life. If I'm gonna work 10 hour days, I might as well just take a 2nd shift job and obliterate my social life that way.

[MrMageo]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

I agree (twice in one night crazy). I find a majority of my managers/hr reps/ or any white collar staff are all spineless. That or they are just ignorant fucks. My last manager would deliberately schedule me for start times I could not meet, even though we had discussed upon hiring I could not make them.

Needless to say he was also spineless, when I confronted him with this issue he crumbled like a baby at my threat of quiting, Offered me full time evenings and a 10 cent raise. I kindly said thanks but no thanks, I am going to work for less money at a place that can work around my schedule.

I hate idiotic and cowardly managers.

[Kurb]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

I was working there saturday night and a pair of travelers snuck in the side door and tried to sneak into the 007 movie.There were caught tried to make a runner manager told me there were barred.He ot about 30 ft. saw the traveller threaten me and the security gaurd changed his mind real fast.Not sure but this was ~ the 20th time with the same person.What's worse is another supervisor banned them, but he keeps letting them in .... another reason y Kurb hates his job :D for more mad stories PM me :D

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

Had a good chuckle at work this morning.

So I'm doing this order in which 10k of 100k parts from the order need to get out soon. This after about three months of the job sitting in our faces and us being set on other orders that took priority over it. This is a sorting job, just to clarify.

When I initially started this order, I was throwing out well over 50% of the parts because they didn't meet the quality requirements. Then we started the order over with new criteria to look for. Now were throwing out 90% of the parts, and that's a generous guesstimate, we're not putting out thousands of parts as a result.

When I pulled my supervisor to the side on monday and suggested they might want to start from square one on this order, he gave me that smug "why are you talking ideas to me, lowly temp'" grin. This from a guy who has all the emotional range of Eeyore, mind you.

Ok, fine, I'm thinking to myself. Good Luck getting 5k out of this order though, because most of its crap that needs to be melted back down and reworked from the start.

I take off Tuesday because I have business here and there, on top of voting and all.

I come back today. POOF. The order is gone. Other workers say they didn't work on it the previous day. Heh, seems I was right. He had the order taken over to the quality checkers and they deemed it should tossed out and started over.

[Kurb]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

It's great when that sort of stuff happens and you get to feel all smug and superior over som asswipe gj

[Jarre]

Re: Is there ANY backbone in management these days?

Heh, seems I was right. He had the order taken over to the quality checkers and they deemed it should tossed out and started over.

Of course in reality, it will be him who takes the credit for pointing it out, not you, even though it was you who told him...