Sometimes on Fridays after our briefing meeting before we turn the phones on, the management may try to boost morale by giving out little awards or plaques to certain employees. Since this seems to be in lieu of getting rid of the wage freeze, its only slightly morale boosting, but mostly its just sort of insulting.

This week was a more than just a little insulting...

"Ok people, before we hit the floor we need to acknowledge one of our own for an incredible feat. Danny, come on up to the front." Larry said.

Danny slid out from the table and walked to the front of the conference room. He's about 45, slightly gray around the temples, and is just a little overweight. He's extremely knowledgeable about our business. He has also become the most-hated coworker here. He had that sideways grin on his face I so wanted to remove permanently.

Larry put his arm around Danny and began, "During the last quarter, Danny has made a new record in the number of trades completed. Never in the history of this company has anyone wrote up this many trades! I'd like to present you with this plaque for your hard work and dedication. Thanks again! Let's give him a hand everybody!"

Larry shook Danny's hand enthusiastically and waited for the hearty wave of applause that never materialized. Several of the H.R. and Sales people clapped hard, the rest of us either barely put our hands together or just folded our hands and stared.

Danny either didn't realize we weren't impressed or didn't care. His smirk had transformed into a big giant toothy grin. The GM was also in the room, he didn't share Larry's enthusiasm, but shook Danny's hand and said, "Good job." and then left rather quickly. He seems to be less involved with the workers on the call floor lately, and even more curt than usual.

"Ok everybody, lets turn on the phones and get to work.", Larry said. We had about 5 minutes before the phones had to be on. I stopped by the coffee maker and filled my mug before heading to my cubicle.

While I stirred in the creamer I just got madder and madder about Danny's award. Most of us work together here, we look out for each other and try not to pass calls off to others, or make people wait on hold to let someone else handle their problems. Most of us pitch in and try to help the other agent out because we expect the same from them. "I got your back." is a common saying on the floor.

None of this describes Danny. Not only does he not help out, he makes more work for everyone around him. He fails to fill in all of the fields and just hopes everything will work out. He makes trades go totally wrong. More times than I care to remember, people call and complain about how he treats them, or how he took the trade, but was so late in processing it they lost money.

Its just not right! Why, why,why would you, for the love of all things holy, good and honorable, tell me why its a good idea to reward half-ass shitty work? Did they not teach you in business school that if you make 500 widgets and they are all crap, that is not as profitable as 300 widgets that were perfect and sold without any returns or complaints? Do we want people to buy widgets from us again, or do we just want to get their money once and make them so mad they never call us again?

Ok, I'm done ranting.

Thanks for reading.

AC