You ask; I write! (Please ask for more. It isn’t easy coming up with a different topic every week. I can use the help! Email me at bh@hsstaffing.com.) Now to the reader’s request:
Another way of saying “younger” is “less qualified” or “less experienced” professionals. So, my first response, which you will not like, is, maybe management is not incompetent or unprofessional. It could be that you simply do not understand or appreciate what they are doing. In other words, and here’s where you are really going to get angry, “You’ll understand when you’re older.”
And since you are “younger,” you can turn this to your advantage. By being polite, asking for an explanation, and not being accusatorial, you are showing maturity that the boss should like. Place the conversation in the context of your professional growth. In other words, this is a learning opportunity. You can even tell the manager, “I’m here to learn.” (For an example, see below, how I asked my boss about firing the bookkeeper.)
I have worked with liars, cheats, and thieves at every level of a company. And, I have worked with just plain ole fools. (For the record, I have also been fortunate to deal with good, decent, ethical, and even brilliant people.) Let me give you my favorite example of former:
I went to the boss, after being totally frustrated with our part-time bookkeeper who simply could not do anything outside of her comfort zone, and was not willing to learn anything new, including how to back up her computer after she had finished the week’s (she came in once a week) entries. The boss had had me show her multiple times how to do it, but she refused. Then one day something happened, and her work was lost. I asked her for the backup drive. She handed it to me. After reviewing it, I asked her why she had not backed anything up for a month. She said, “I don’t do that!” I then explained to the boss that she would have to reenter a month’s worth of data. In front of her I said, “Since she refused to follow your directions, which you had me convey to her, she should have to come in on the weekend and work overtime during the week, and NOT be paid for it.” She did but, of course, he paid her!
One day, I had had enough. I went to his office, shut the door, and said to the boss, “I want to ask you a question. I’m not looking to have an argument with you. I just want to understand something. Why don’t you fire the bookkeeper?”
His response told me all I needed to know. He said, and I’ll never forget it, “She’s great with the IRS!”
And I was certain she was. She had enough dealings with them because of her incompetence. If she had been any good, she would not have even known their phone number! He may have been the boss, but he did not have clue what was happening at his company. I sought employment elsewhere.
The ironic thing is, I learned a great deal from my “incompetent” and “unprofessional” bosses. Dealing with them is not a total negative. I learned, for example, the importance of giving. and not claiming, credit. Whenever I was asked, “Whose idea was this?” and “this” was something that ended up being positive, if it was mine, I would always respond “ours,” “us,” or “we” as required by the rules of English grammar. (Of course, if it was someone else’s idea, I gave them full credit.) If everything had gone wrong, I would take sole responsibility, when appropriate. (You can’t very well take the blame for something with which you were never involved or were publicly against from the start!)
One day I was attending a board subcommittee meeting. I would always bring with me a file labeled “Ideas.” I left to use the restroom and when I came back, the board member who I was sitting beside, was holding one of my “ideas” in his hand, with a smile on his face. (It, the idea, was rather funny, if I do say so myself.) He asked me why I had not tried it. I always recorded on my “idea sheets” when they were submitted and, if rejected, the reason(s). I looked at it and deciphered my scribble. “The boss rejected it on this date for this reason.” Little did I know that he had already asked the boss, and the boss claimed never to have seen it. He got caught in the lie. (After the meeting, the board member apologized to me for going through the file and told me what the boss had said.)
Another time, a different boss took credit for my idea. Her boss, the “big boss,” was in the room. I was fuming but said nothing. When I was leaving the room, he walked up beside me, put his arm around me, and asked, “Isn’t it maddening when people take credit for other people’s work?” He knew. They always know.
All the bad bosses were eventually fired, quit, the companies went out of business, or they left the company and were fired from their new jobs, seeming promotions, because they could not deliver on their promises which were based on the fictitious reputations they had created for themselves.
The lesson, my answer to the reader’s question, is simply this: First, ask the boss why they are doing what they are doing. Maybe you are wrong about them. In any event, learn as much as you can from the bad bosses as you do from the good ones. But, unlike with the good bosses, look for a new job. Sooner or later, the incompetent will always pay for their incompetence. Just make sure you are not around when it happens. In employment, guilt by association is a real thing!
One of my bosses had an ego that could not fit in any known space. When I finally had enough, and quit, I went to a number of recruiters. I had a few first interviews but no second interviews. Finally, one of the recruiters told me the reason: Everyone knows your last boss. The fact that you lasted so long with him makes you undesirable. They simply don’t want to consider you. They have no respect for him and can’t imagine anyone good having worked for him. Not an exact quote, but close enough.
Employment Edification 