The bully

One of the first things my wife’s new boss did when coming on board was have a private meeting with each non-management employee. The new boss asked each, “What do you like and dislike about your supervisor?”

Right off the bat, you know the woman has no management and leadership experience. By asking an employee what she does not like about her supervisor, the new boss was asking for behind-the-back accusations as well as disloyalty.

The only time an employee tells her dislikes to a supervisor’s supervisor is when she (the employee) has attempted to resolve a problem, but has been denied by her supervisor. Those little dislikes that have nothing to do with mission accomplishment, you keep to yourself or talk about, quietly, with others of your pay grade, if someone else brings up the subject.

After worker-to-bigboss interviews, the new boss told my wife the younger employees “felt bullied” by my wife.

A fact gleaned after some consideration: People less likely than my wife to bully someone: (1) Shirley Temple.

That’s it. List finished.

And, definition of “Bullying” by some Twenty-Somethings: “She said I was not meeting my goals. She said I was not working to standards.”

The new boss wants approval from younger workers. Experience does not matter, because, in the case of this boss, experience means you have been doing the job for some time and know more than the new, just-hired woman.

The new boss also said my wife failed to understand leader-servant management style. As explained by the new boss, if an employee cannot perform a part of the job, the leader must do the task for her. Now, that’s kind of dumb. If someone you supervise cannot perform a task, you train her.

My wife says she is pleased not to have to worry about things getting done, because all that work is someone else’s responsibility now, someone the new boss hopes to mold into a representation of “How great thou art, oh bringer of knowledge.”