One of my coworkers went to Larry to ask about a slight schedule change. Jorge has been here as long as I have, he's very smart, and very devoted to his work. He really cares about his customers.

He has had some problems in the past with attendance. He was sick several times, and came in late a few times, but no more than some of the other people here. He was not wrote up for this. He was given a verbal warning for a trade that went bad, but nothing else. Like the rest of us, he has not had a performance review for some time, at least three years.

So imagine his surprise when this happened...

"Larry, I need to change my schedule a little."
"What for?"
"My wife can't pick up our children at day care on Thursdays, I just need to leave 30 minutes earlier. I can come in 30 minutes earlier in the morning to make up the difference."
"No. We already make so many allowances for you as it is. I'm not changing your schedule, it stays as it is. Get back to work."

Jorge was crushed. The schedule was not that big of a deal, he made other arrangements, but Larry's comments really hurt.

He hasn't written him up about continuing problems, he hasn't reviewed him, he has no quantitative knowledge of what he's done wrong and yet there's some secret knowledge between them of what a bad employee he is.

It's bullshit.

Larry has said things like this to me. It generally happens when I catch him in a bad mood or talk back to him.

He doesn't want to step up and do the real job of managing, so he just keeps track in his head of what we've done to piss him off. That way if we catch him at the wrong time, he can confront us with our faults that he has never taken the time to explain to us. Telling your employees how they can do better in an adult way is not namby-pamby nurturing, its basic good business practice. How can we ever improve if our faults are some deep dark secret that you seem to think we aren't man or woman enough to face?

Thanks for reading,

AC