Advice Needed

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It started before I got there.

She was a new supervisor with zero leadership qualities or experience, and the upper management made the decision to put her in charge over a team of individuals that she loathed and despised.

Her first task was to get rid of the “dead weight”, as she so boldly proclaimed, and it didn’t take long for her to run off the first victim of her brutal reign. He lasted all of three weeks before moving to another team.

The second one took a bit longer because he was older and didn’t want to leave, so she put him on a six-month probation and had human resources put him on a performance improvement plan.

However, she didn’t even make the full six months….she fired him after four months because she just couldn’t stand him being on her “team” any longer.

Exit victims one and two . . . enter third victim — She hired a programmer.

And him being new, she never assigned him the duties he was responsible for, instead, she had him do other tasks to “help the agency” (her words), but when his new-employee probation was about to end, she extended it because she said that he was…”not focused enough and needed direction”.

She then proceeded to give him a project that she withheld from him for his first 4 months on the job…even though she knew about the project all those months prior.

Now the deadline was fast approaching for the project to be complete, but she hadn’t started on it, and she never told the new programmer about it…so she put him on a performance improvement plan with an extended probationary period.

Now the new guy has only three months to get a project complete, building it from the ground up, and if he doesn’t get it done on time, she threatened to fire him.

There’s way more to that saga, but for now I’ll just tell you that he got the project done just out of spite, then he quit and took a job that pays more.

Exit third victim . . . enter fourth and current victim.

He’s been written up three or four times for random offenses, if you want to call them that.

One write-up was for not being at his desk when she stopped by to talk with him about something. Another was for browsing the internet while he was on lunch (which everyone on her “team” has done numerous times, I know, because I was on that “team” and we all did it). A third writeup was for some minor infraction that he wouldn’t divulge, and recently, a fourth write-up for what she deemed…”excessive tardiness”.

As a side note, according to her made-up policy of arriving on time, her employees are allowed a 15-minute grace period either side of the hour they are supposed to be in the office. If they aren’t at their desk in that time frame and haven’t alerted her to their lateness, then they are subject to disciplinary action.

I might add…no other supervisor in the office has this policy, not even the level of management above her.

So, going back to why the fourth victim was written up for excessive tardiness. . . he was at a meeting with the program he supports directly. According to victim #4, his meeting was on his outlook calendar and he made mention of it in the prior day’s team meeting, of which, she directly oversees.

Lest I also forget to mention that he wasn’t late multiple days in a row. This was one – single – occurrence.

As long as I’ve known him, he’s always been early to work and spends a lot of extra hours assisting the program he directly supports, so why she’s going after him as victim #4 is anybody’s guess.

Therefore, she really has no reason to write him up, but she has, and seems to be using these different opportunities to accuse him of wrongful behavior, even though none of the infractions are worthy of a writeup.

To make matters worse, she’s got the support of not only the manager above her. but human resources as well.

He’s kind of stuck in a really bad spot where he doesn’t even want to work there anymore, and who could blame him?

All three victims before him have left the agency, and what’s very disappointing is that all three were very good workers and had incredible skills that would have been useful to the agency. Victim #4 is no different.

I don’t know how to help him…so I’m asking for advice.

He can’t go higher up, and he can’t go to HR. . .so . . . does he file a grievance against her and all those who support her for creating a hostile work environment? Does he hire an attorney? Does he just go find another job and hope it’s not as bad as this one?

Any advice would be helpful.

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Since when did Doctors get so much authority?

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When I was a kid my pediatrician was the best in the business.  That man could just look at me and know what my illness was.  I think he looked down my throat and checked my ears just to ease my mom’s anxiety.  He would prescribe some medication…make a recommendation to my mom about what steps to take next…then send me packing with a lollipop.

In a couple days I was a healthy kid.  I think the lollipop had more to do with my recovery than the medication…but that’s just my opinion.

Back then…some 40 years ago…doctors weren’t about instilling paranoia and fear into people.  If they did, they were considered bad doctors and word got around pretty quickly and they didn’t have patients to treat.  No one would go to them.  But today, it’s like the cattle in the herd desire to have doctors give them bad news so they have something to worry and fret over.  It’s really pathetic.

It’s also pathetic that a few of the cattle who decided to attend medical school get to call themselves “doctors”.  Most of them don’t have a bed-side manner so they leave private practice only to get careers in government offices where they are referred to as “chief” and/or “expert” health officials.

They work in large, cushy offices.  They get paid a very handsome salary.  Their benefits are through the roof.  They don’t actually see patients.  They don’t have any field experience, and what’s worst of all is that they get to advise the general public without ever being held accountable for their stupid recommendations.  No one ever challenges them, and 99% of the herd will follow every word they speak because after all…they are “experts” in their fields.

Ironically, those “experts” don’t normally last more than 5 years in their respective positions before moving on to take another cushy, high-paying office job with a different company or government agency.  Normally it’s in hospital administration or taking a CEO job with a major insurance company.

Having said that, I’m brought back to the question proposed in the title of this blog:  “Since when did doctors get so much authority?” 

It’s astonishing how the doctors today have way more power than they did 40 years ago.  Back in the 1980’s if someone in the healthcare field mandated that the majority of the general population stay home because they might spread a disease to the masses, they would have been scoffed at and people would have ignored their mandate and continued living their lives.  Had a pandemic happened back then, people might have been concerned, but there’s no way on God’s green earth people would have stayed home.

But today…today is different.  We’re worried and afraid of everything, especially dying and death and that’s what’s caused so much panic among the herd.  That fear of death has caused a lot of pathetic and unnecessary anxiety.  It’s also caused a lot of confusion about who we should listen to or what information we should trust.

• One person in the medical field says we should wear a mask.  Another person says not to wear a mask.
• Another person in the medical field says we should all stay home and social distance, yet someone else in the medical field says we shouldn’t social distance but let the disease take its course.
• One “expert” says athletes shouldn’t participate in sports.  While another medical “expert” says athletes should participate in sports.
• Another “expert” says that the virus doesn’t live in warmer climates, but then a different “expert” says that it lives in all climates.

So, who’s right?

Who do we listen to when the majority of the medical/science community doesn’t hold the same consensus?  It almost feels like the “experts” are making recommendations based on what they read from WebMD.com.  Furthermore, since they can’t hold the same consensus, why do we give these people in the medical/science community so much authority?

Is it because of the fears they instill by warning us that we or someone we love could die?  If that’s the reason, it’s a pathetic reason because we could die from a lot of things.

We could die from choking on food, does that mean we should stop eating?  Does that mean we stop feeding our children?

We could die from a car accident, does that mean we should all stop driving cars?  Does it mean auto manufacturers should stop producing vehicles?

Of course, these are only two examples and there are millions of other ways any one of us could die, but we don’t spend a lot of time worrying about these things.  Therefore, using the threat or warning that COVID-19 can kill us is just instilling unnecessary fears in the weak and feeble minded members of the herd.  Quite unfortunately, there are A LOT of cattle in the herd who are weak and feeble-minded.

So, should the medical community really have as much power and authority as we’ve given them to decide or recommend that an entire economy should be shut down or how we can socialize?

In my opinion… No.  Especially when the majority of those in the medical/science field aren’t on the same page.  It’s pathetic that we’ve given the medical “experts” of today so much authority to make mandates on how we live.  It’s even more pathetic how easily the cattle will blindly follow the advice of these people without question.

Again. . . That’s just my opinion, but going forward I don’t plan on living my life in fear of dying from COVID or any other disease, and neither should you.

Let’s stop giving the medical “experts” so much authority.  They just don’t deserve it, and it’s pathetic to think otherwise.

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Authority Figures

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It was a church youth group that I had been invited to when I was about 10 years old.  About 50 or 60 kids of various ages had gathered in a room of the church where a teacher was about to begin a lesson on some topic none of us children would ever remember. 

Since it was a large group of kids, I had chosen to sit in the back of the room near a couple guys I knew, and about mid-way through the lesson one of the guys I was sitting with, for no apparent reason, started to leech saliva on me.

If you’re not familiar with the action of leeching saliva, it’s when someone opens their mouth then presses their tongue on the roof of their mouth to literally shoot a stream of saliva in the direction of an object or person.

It’s disgusting.

Therefore, me being repulsed and not wanting to interrupt the speaker, I tried to be as quiet and nonchalant as possible by telling the kid to stop and then sliding a few feet to the left from the guy who was continuing to leech on my person; but the leecher kid didn’t stop.  Matter of fact, he decided to slide over as well and continued his disgusting onslaught of leeching.

Once more, I quietly slid a few more feet away hoping the kid would get the hint and stop…but the leecher followed.

Yet again…I quietly slid a little further away…but to no avail because once again, the leecher kid followed.

By now I was really frustrated, so I sternly looked at the kid and whispered, “Knock it off!”  Consequently, it was louder than I had expected and after the words left my lips I turned back towards the group only to see that everyone in the room was now staring directly back at me.  Including the pathetic teacher.

I didn’t mean to make a scene, I really didn’t!  And at that moment I had a deep yearning to be someplace else. . . Even better. . .someone else . . . because it was an extremely uncomfortable situation. 

Regrettably, I didn’t have the ability to transform into someone else, nor did I have the ability to teleport someplace else; so I was stuck.  And quite sadly, that wasn’t the most pathetic part of the story.

To this day, I still don’t remember the topic the pseudo teacher was sharing with the group; however, I do remember the conversation that he and I had after I disrupted the lesson he was attempting to convey to the class. . .

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Teacher: “Umm, is there a problem back there?”

Me:  “Yes.  (pointing directly at the leecher)  This kid is spiting on me!”

Teacher:  (with surprised look on his face) “Well. . . You do know it isn’t polite to be a tattletale?  Try to keep it down.”

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At that moment I went through a number of emotions.  Anger, disbelief, confusion, shock, disappointment, frustration, sadness and regret. 

I couldn’t believe that I was reprimanded for trying to stand up for myself and this leecher kid was left unpunished.  More than anything I was left with a lot of disappointment and anger because the teacher called ME out for being a tattletale and didn’t stand up for me when I needed someone to help, protect or stand up for me.

If the the roles had been reversed and this sham of a “leader” were in my spot, would he call out the person for the wrong they were committing towards his person?  

Would he want to get rebuked for standing up for himself?

Would he expect the “authority” of the group to come to his aid?

After all, shouldn’t the authority figure in the room do something to balance the scales and provide some form of protection against those who were causing discomfort towards others? 

Additionally, I sat there for the remainder of the lesson getting leeched on by a horrible kid and wondering how this pseudo “leader” could call me out on being a tattletale and not reprimand the leecher for spitting on me.

In that moment I was hoping for someone to stand up for me.  To provide protection from that kid who was making me uncomfortable.  To balance to the scales….To do SOMETHING to help me. 

At the very least the pseudo leader could have moved me to the front of the room to save me from this torrential downpour of saliva. . .But sadly, he did nothing.

Well…that’s not entirely true.  He did leave me with an empty feeling of dissatisfaction, a label for trying to right a wrong being committed against my person, and a lifetime of regret and distrust towards others. 

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Brav – – – –  

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yeah…not so much… 

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Pseudo leadership is not only frustrating and annoying, but it’s extremely pathetic.  

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