So lately I've been having issues with one of my bosses at work. I don't mean to be rude, but his is, in all senses of the word, an egotistical jerk. His overall attitude is like "I am the all-knowing god and you all are my minions, and are here to serve my every whim". I have noticed many of the students, whom he teaches, have also notice the same thing in his classes. Anyway, he plays a large role in my job, since I often put together the kits and equipment for his students' labs. Lately, his attitude has become much worse to the point where it is endangering my job stability. Anyway, that's enough about my troubles.

My question is, are any of you guys/gals having job (or school) problems, and just feel you need to vent? If so, this thread's for you!

 

Not venting. I'm too old to care anymore, but I can tell you my most interesting boss. He was the overbearing type, prone to red-faced emotions. It didn't bother me because I was secure in the knowledge that he didn't have a clue what I did for a living, and I was more emotionally mature than he was. Then...one day...while cleaning out a truck...I found the secret to his problems.

It was a book called, "Winning through intimidation".

Suddenly I realized he was hunting for a way to be successful in business, but he had not found it yet. He was actually trying on a fake personality to see how to use it when needed.

If I previously had moments of discomfort about his behavior, that was all over.

This might have no value to your situation.

 

This might have no value to your situation.

No worries about that--this thread is not only for my situation. Your post is interesting, so thanks for that.

 

Let's just hope none of our bosses visit the site.
I've had some awful bosses in the past and a few good ones. The difference is that the bad ones don't take any interest in what is going on until it all goes wrong (even if you have told them it's about to happen).

 

I decided to quit my job a couple of months ago and go to college in the fall. I informed my boss of my plans, sort of gave him a 6 months notice instead of a 2 weeks notice. I felt this was the right thing to do, considering what's going on here - my company is buying 2 new machines, both of which are the length of a football field, packed full of VFDs & PLCs, with a total price tag of 18 million dollars. For the past year, my boss has been talking about sending me to Austria to spend a few weeks with the technicians & engineers who are building them so I can learn how they work and how to fix them, as we won't be getting any field service unless we want to fly someone in from Austria.
I couldn't in good conscience fly to austria and have a good time & not tell him that I won't even be here when the machines arrive. I figured 6 months is enough time for him to find a replacement for me, and for me to give my replacement a good turnover so he knows what's going on around here instead of the baptism by fire that I recieved when I started here.
Anyway, he took t well, but I didn't. It's like when you're told that a relative is going to die and they only have 6 months. In the dying relative scenario, you involutarily start the grieving process before the person is actually dead - your heart starts severing emotional ties so that by the time the person actually dies, you're already done grieving and you move one. Well, in my scenario, it's like I've lost my drive to be productive, and I can't seem to get it back. I know there's no future for me here and I'm just waiting out the next 5 months. I feel really disgusted with myself because I am not a lazy person - I detest lazy people, but here I am, shirking responsibilities, dragging my feet, not following up, not doing my PMs. I'm weeks behind on my paperwork and people are starting to notice. I really just want to quit so that I can stop detesting myself, but I can't live without the money for now. I have a feeling I'm going to get fired before I quit.
I comfort myself with this fact: Before I was hired, my boss had to call in technicians from Omron to fix his machines because his electricians lacked the technical skill to troubleshoot & upgrade. It costed him about 2000$ a pop, and they were coming out here weekly or bimonthly. If I just sat here at my desk chatting on AAC all day long, responding only when critical machines went down, I would still be saving him thousands of dollar per year despite the fact he paid me the majority of my hours to screw off at work. I hope he realizes that as well.
Anyways, say what you will about me, nothing you can say would make me feel worse about myself, but that's where I'm at in life at the moment.

 

Anyways, say what you will about me, nothing you can say would make me feel worse about myself, but that's where I'm at in life at the moment.

Well, look at this as a learning opportunity. The next time you meet a "lazy" person you may have more understanding. There is a big difference between lazy and uninspired, yet they look almost identical to an outsider. Did you ever read Sherlock Holmes? He had boundless energy and motivation while on a case, but when not on the case he sat lazily around using drugs to fight the boredom.

Anyway this thread seems to be more about telling our own stories, rather than trying to make people feel better, but maybe I can do both with this story from my past.

I used to have many engineers reporting to me at work, and one time my best engineer and worker took another job and gave a couple of months notice. This was a big deal to me and my company because this person was critically important. But, given that she was also my friend, I took it well and quickly began to take over her work, along with my own responsibilities. This was a huge strain on me, but I did not want to stress her out by letting her know that, so I made it look easy and made out that everything was no problem and that we would find a replacement for her in time (this was no easy thing to do at the time given her expertise and the shortage of people with her specialty). Eventually, I noticed that she seemed depressed and unmotivated, and I didn't know why. However, one day she gave me an important clue when she commented that she was easy to replace and that the company would have no problems going forward. At that point the whole problem was crystal clear. She was unmotivated not because she was leaving, but because she now thought that she was no where near as important as she originally thought. Obviously, this was a big mistake on my part and one can never fully repair the damage from such a misstep, but I did make an effort to clarify that she was a critical worker, and among the best I had ever known, and that the company was suffering a major blow, with her loss.

Strantor, I wonder if you suffer from the same affliction as my friend. Perhaps you don't realize how important you are to your company and the huge loss they will suffer from your absence. It is said that first impressions are very important, and they are, but first impressions can be changed over time. However, last impressions are permanent. Let them remember you for what you truly are. Sprint to that finish line and show them just how fast you can run.

 

So sad,but the grave yard is full of people that can't replaced.

 

There is a play out there that has lines similar to...

I have a little list, of those who won't be missed.

 

Speaking of being missed,how the Sarg. doing.

I won't make the mistake of " asking how am I doing".

Loosewire

P.S. As soon as I typed that,the blue under line

appeared from out of nowhere,twice. Bill you see that blue underline

under your blog number,thats what pops up for no reason that I know of.

 

Well, look at this as a learning opportunity. The next time you meet a "lazy" person you may have more understanding. There is a big difference between lazy and uninspired, yet they look almost identical to an outsider. .

Yes sir, I have gone down that train of thought already. Back when I was in the Navy, I had a guy in my division that seemed to intentionally flub everything he was assigned. After observing him for some time, I came to be of the understanding that he did it on purpose, so that he would not be assigned anything. That's exactly what happened. All of his duties & responsibilities were one-by-one delegated to other members of the division, disproportionately on myself. That person is probably the strongest reason for the way I feel today about "lazy" people. Something my supervisor said to me when I expressed my frustration about the guy comes to mind - "Nobody wakes up in the morning and thinks 'How can I screw up today?" I dismissed it at the time, comfortable in my judgement, but now it's starting to sink in 5 years later. I am thinking now that I might have been wrong about him all along. I'm not intentionally screwing up, but I'm not so sure now that he was intentionally screwing up, and I can identify with him now more than I ever could before.

 

Your in academia and your surprised to find a egotist?

 

Your in academia and your surprised to find a egotist?

Hahaha, you've got a point there

But seriously, most of the professors I work with/for are polite and, overall, friendly. They're not cocky jerks, at least not compared to this guy. He's also a complete control freak, which I think is really where he goes wrong. His wife and 6-year-old granddaughter came to visit a couple of weeks ago. His granddaughter was working on a drawing, and needed to sharpen her pencil. She went over to the sharpener and he followed, and just stood there for ten minutes yelling at her about how to sharpen a pencil! I don't see how any decent guy (much less, a grandfather!) could act that way towards his own granddaughter. Just to give you another idea of his personality....

 

why is egotism so common among the well accomplished? Is egotism the cause of accomplishment or the effect?

 

why is egotism so common among the well accomplished? Is egotism the cause of accomplishment or the effect?

Definitely the effect. People aren't egotistic until they succeed. Then they turn into complete jerks and they let it get to their head--I've seen it happen way too many times....

 

Definitely the effect. People aren't egotistic until they succeed. Then they turn into complete jerks and they let it get to their head--I've seen it happen way too many times....

I concur.... Don't let it happen to you!!!

 

Definitely the effect. People aren't egotistic until they succeed. Then they turn into complete jerks and they let it get to their head--I've seen it happen way too many times....

I've seen it happen to myself!!
fortunately I have enough feedback that it became apparent to me and I cut it out.

Just now I erred the other way, and hurt my girlfriends feelings.
We were talking about standardized tests (she has ACT coming up) and she brought up my scores (34). I was trying to be humble about them and act like they were no big deal, then she told me that she could never do that good and that belittling them was hurtful, especially to "normal people like her".

She knew I was trying to make her feel better, so it was no biggie, but still

 

I concur.... Don't let it happen to you!!!

So far I haven't really done anything worth being that proud of anyway

I've seen it happen to myself!!
fortunately I have enough feedback that it became apparent to me and I cut it out.

Just now I erred the other way, and hurt my girlfriends feelings.
We were talking about standardized tests (she has ACT coming up) and she brought up my scores (34). I was trying to be humble about them and act like they were no big deal, then she told me that she could never do that good and that belittling them was hurtful, especially to "normal people like her".

She knew I was trying to make her feel better, so it was no biggie, but still

That's something I've done before as well. You need to find the happy medium--Be humble, but learn to take a compliment. I generally go towards the too-humble side, myself, but I'm trying to learn to find the balance. I just hope I don't swing the other way, since that is generally the most hurtful....

 

I decided to quit my job a couple of months ago and go to college in the fall. I informed my boss of my plans, sort of gave him a 6 months notice instead of a 2 weeks notice. I felt this was the right thing to do, considering what's going on here - my company is buying 2 new machines, both of which are the length of a football field, packed full of VFDs & PLCs, with a total price tag of 18 million dollars. For the past year, my boss has been talking about sending me to Austria to spend a few weeks with the technicians & engineers who are building them so I can learn how they work and how to fix them, as we won't be getting any field service unless we want to fly someone in from Austria.
I couldn't in good conscience fly to austria and have a good time & not tell him that I won't even be here when the machines arrive. I figured 6 months is enough time for him to find a replacement for me, and for me to give my replacement a good turnover so he knows what's going on around here instead of the baptism by fire that I recieved when I started here.
Anyway, he took t well, but I didn't. It's like when you're told that a relative is going to die and they only have 6 months. In the dying relative scenario, you involutarily start the grieving process before the person is actually dead - your heart starts severing emotional ties so that by the time the person actually dies, you're already done grieving and you move one. Well, in my scenario, it's like I've lost my drive to be productive, and I can't seem to get it back. I know there's no future for me here and I'm just waiting out the next 5 months. I feel really disgusted with myself because I am not a lazy person - I detest lazy people, but here I am, shirking responsibilities, dragging my feet, not following up, not doing my PMs. I'm weeks behind on my paperwork and people are starting to notice. I really just want to quit so that I can stop detesting myself, but I can't live without the money for now. I have a feeling I'm going to get fired before I quit.
I comfort myself with this fact: Before I was hired, my boss had to call in technicians from Omron to fix his machines because his electricians lacked the technical skill to troubleshoot & upgrade. It costed him about 2000$ a pop, and they were coming out here weekly or bimonthly. If I just sat here at my desk chatting on AAC all day long, responding only when critical machines went down, I would still be saving him thousands of dollar per year despite the fact he paid me the majority of my hours to screw off at work. I hope he realizes that as well.
Anyways, say what you will about me, nothing you can say would make me feel worse about myself, but that's where I'm at in life at the moment.

I had a similar experience years ago. Wife and I decided to relocate to a different province for a life style change. This meant selling the house in a slow market. I gave my employer notice, indicating I was available up until the house sold. Wife and kids did the move and I stayed on as a bachelor. Ended up taking 6 months to sell, but I had a great time. I was able to hand pick and train my replacement. My schedule went from 8-4, to whatever hours I decided. I worked different days, times, projects. After the move they flew me back several times to finish up projects. I'd do it again should the situation arise.

 

I decided to quit my job a couple of months ago and go to college in the fall. I informed my boss of my plans, sort of gave him a 6 months notice instead of a 2 weeks notice.
...
Anyway, he took t well, but I didn't. It's like when you're told that a relative is going to die and they only have 6 months.
...
Well, in my scenario, it's like I've lost my drive to be productive, and I can't seem to get it back. I know there's no future for me here and I'm just waiting out the next 5 months. I feel really disgusted with myself because I am not a lazy person - I detest lazy people, but here I am, shirking responsibilities, dragging my feet, not following up, not doing my PMs.
...

I think up to a certain degree it's normal that people who have announced that they will quit are not as motivated as ones who see their future in the company. No matter what you do, you will not be promoted or get a pay raise. And even if you should have a very bright idea to make work easier or productive or whatever for everyone you would probably not be there long enough to see the results. So your boss and co-workers might already have expected a (small) drop in your motivation, just try not to let it drop too much and don't feel bad about yourself.

What I find a bit more worrisome is, that you seem to feel kind of depressed despite the fact that you have made this very important decision to go to college - shouldn't you feel some mood of heading for new horizons instead ? Until fall you have plenty of opportunity to prepare for college. I think I saw a thread from you where you already posted the class schedule ? And even if you shouldn't know exactly what is waiting for you, much of the material of the first months is pretty much standard (math is probably the thing most students fear most) and people here will be able to give you lots of advice. Don't waste your time feeling bad about yourself, instead try to think about the success you may have in college and prepare for it. Anyway, I wish you all the best luck for it.

 

@strantor
The best thing I can tell you about college is that they won't let you enroll in a course you are not qualified to take. It's called, "prerequisits". (If I spelled that right.)

I heard so many grade school and high school teachers whine about how college is so hard and nobody is going to be there to make you do your homework. When I arrived, my thought was, "All this wonderful information and they are trying to give it to me!" It was like throwing a fish in water

The worst part, as I said in another thread, was that the place was loaded with girls just a few months older than high school graduation and they looked like children to me. I suspect you'll see the same thing but you're lucky enough to not need a date.

edit: See me looking ahead? That's where I want your mind. It was a wonderful adventure for me.