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> I would report the situation / leave immediately. [...] I am pretty sure it goes against the Code of Conduct [1] Back in the early 90s, I was young and worki
by asguy 5y ago
> I would report the situation / leave immediately. [...] I am pretty sure it goes against the Code of Conduct [1]
Back in the early 90s, I was young and working for a startup. I had a fiery and seasoned boss, who knew what he was doing and had very little patience for bullshit. One day, I decided I knew better than him, and implemented a solution that was way outside the spec of what he had asked for.
The next day, I came into the office, and he asked me what I had done. I gave him some snarky answer about coming up with a "better" solution. It turns out I had wasted a huge amount of people's time with my "solution" and it had become a giant pain in his ass.
He screamed at me so intensely, that I swear I saw a new vein bulge out of his forehead. He then proceeded to kick a full-height metal filing cabinet so hard that he broke his foot. I went to the bathroom, collected myself, fixed the problem correctly, and we never spoke of it again.
Would I have been better served with a PIP and a bunch of HR meetings to discuss my insubordination/personality problems? Probably not. In hindsight he did me a huge favor straightening me out. We're still friends to this day.
Sure, the new world of kindler/gentler CoCs sounds nice, but sometimes it takes hard people (with thick skin) to get the job done.
Sometimes people just need to be told to shut the fuck up.
- midrus 5y agoWell, nowadays I know (because I worked for) so many SF companies with people that would create an scandal in HR just because the catered food had too much salt or there wasn't a vegan alternative. I can't even imagine anyone doing this nowadays
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jimmyvalmer 5y agoMy foot still smarts to this day. I miss the days office workers could keep a whiskey cabinet and work things out hermano to hermano. Peace brutha.
- WalterGR 5y agoThere is space between breaking your foot while kicking a filing cabinet and formal review processes. I’ve been straightened out, for example, by a reasonable explanation of what I did wrong.
- asguy 5y agoMaybe you didn't screw up as bad as I did? Maybe the stakes weren't as high? Who knows,. it's all about context. Blanket bans on behavior ignore that context.