I’ve talked a lot about my general manager, but I realized something very interesting about him the other day: the fact that he is so cold and distant makes it so much easier to make him the scapegoat for everything wrong that goes
on around here.

It’s not just that he’s “not a people person”, its more than that. He’s not even good at the small talk or just normal politeness. He rarely says “Good morning” or “How are you?”. When he does have to speak to us, its almost always a bad thing. I don’t remember the word “Thank you” ever coming out of his mouth. I don’t expect him to hug us every day, or have in depth discussions about our feelings, that’s stupid. We’re all big boys and girls, still, a little kindness goes a long way to making work not suck.

I know there is probably more going on than meets the eye. I’ve figured he either really does not like his job either and really does not have a plan and he wants to appear like he knows what he’s doing (from the results around here, this plan isn’t working). Maybe he really does not like us and shows his contempt for us any way he can. Then again, he may just be not good at social things.

Whatever his problem is, he’s the coldest boss I have ever had. It’s a real shame too, because he’s shooting himself in the foot with the workers. Its not just me that feels this way, so many of the agents on the floor have went into his office for a meeting and they all come out pissed and in some cases crying.

He’s not the sum total of all of the problems with the call center. The multi-national corporation that owns us has frozen wages and keeps a very close eye on the money. His managers and administrators aren’t all winners either. None of that matters though, because he won’t give us enough of a glimpse of his humanity, so we can give him the benefit of a doubt. We can’t put anything on that mental list of good traits that we all keep on everyone we know. We can’t say “Sure he’s an asshole, but he tells a great joke”, or “Sure he’s not the best boss, but he always says good morning like he means it.” His coldness and distance converts him into the symbol of all that is bad with our company. The flesh and blood representation of everything that causes us misery and pain.

I know that’s totally wrong. There are very few “super villains” that are 100% Grade A evil in the world. So many times in this world we have to define something as either black or white, and very little grey in between. I hear he’s got a family and some kids. He has to have another side, a softer kinder side. But unfortunately all we ever see is the icy, unfriendly, profit at any cost side.

Thanks for reading,

AC