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> By the time he had cracked the top 20, he was ignoring me completely. Many years ago, I was the global "head of support" for the main trading application at
by alexpotato 2y ago
> By the time he had cracked the top 20, he was ignoring me completely.
Many years ago, I was the global "head of support" for the main trading application at a large bank.
I sat on the trading floor (b/c most of my users were there) and one of my jobs involved training the newly hired junior traders how to use the software.
The training was usually on their first or second day on the floor. At this point in the story, they were INCREDIBLY polite to me. "Thank you so much for showing us this", "Wow! This training is so great! We really appreciate it!"
Within two or three days, they stopped saying hello or even talking to me unless they were having an issue or there was an outage.
Reading about how ranking determines social interactions in the tennis world resonated rather strongly with me given my experiences working in technology at a bank.
- noisy_boy 2y agoThis is reflection of our innate tendency to fit ourselves in an hierarchy and judge others by their perceived position in that hierarchy. The stronger someone attaches their self worth to their place in this hierarchy (ranking for tennis players, job title in corporate setting etc), the stronger their behaviour towards others will be driven by it.
- mgh2 2y agoEgo is a universal human problem, not only at work and sports, but in anything in life.
- sublinear 2y agoThis may be true, but I'd also argue that distinguishing power solely derived from hierarchy (nepotism) and everything else can be difficult. I might be misunderstanding, but it sounds like you're saying meritocratic hierarchy can't exist. The observed behavior of someone in a higher position might simply be because it's their job to detect and correct ignorance and inefficiency.
- brnt 2y ago> This is reflection of our innate tendency to fit ourselves in an hierarchy and judge others by their perceived position in that hierarchy. * some peoples innate tendency. I have always observed this behaviour as typical for one or two of Moltke's quadrants, people I so far have managed to be quite insulated from.
- ldjkfkdsjnv 2y agoSuch a bizarre thing to experience, especially when you first join the work world.
- altdataseller 2y agoMaybe im missing something but what is so strange about that? Once you stopped training them and thanked you, what else are they supposed to thank you for everyday?
- optimalsolver 2y agoAnd yet I'm sure they managed to think up something to say to people higher in status than themselves.
- piuantiderp 2y agoYes, all primates care about status, including humans.
- s1artibartfast 2y agosure, which is pretty normal, given the real world power dynamics that organizational structures represent. Of course people will go out of their way to play nice with the people to set their pay and promotion.
- mensetmanusman 2y agoBeing a non-treadmill human.
- trevor-e 2y ago> what else are they supposed to thank you for everyday OP: > they stopped saying hello or even talking to me The OP said they completely stopped talking, which is weird to not acknowledge someone you previously would talk to. Seems like sociopathic behavior to me, which these professions tend to attract. They got what they wanted/needed out of the relationship and now could care less.
- riku_iki 2y ago> Seems like sociopathic behavior to me, which these professions tend to attract. given how cheap is to say hello, and maybe get some advantage from this in the future, this is not very smart sociopathic behavior. But this maybe be result of culture differences: some people grew up in culture where work is work(with all protocols, like saying hello to coworker), and personal life (interhuman behaviour) is something separate.
- Waterluvian 2y agoIf I ignore you or anyone, please instead assume it’s because interacting with you or anyone is very exhausting. I can and will be polite and full of smiles as you train me, but that’s by far the hardest part of my day.
- tomcam 2y agoIt’s hard to say hello?
- Waterluvian 2y agoVery.
- tomcam 2y agoInteresting! Thanks.
- jahnu 2y agoHah! Same experience with some not even junior traders when I worked in finance in Sydney. As soon as they graduated to junior trader I was shit to them. Only 80% of them but was instructive.
- Stratoscope 2y agoAt a company I worked for years ago, I was the "onboarding buddy" for a new hire. My job was to welcome him and help him learn the ropes. He was very respectful and appreciative of my assistance. After the onboarding period I learned that he was hired to be the manager of our team. Everything changed. Now it was "I am the boss, you are the worker. I will assign you tasks and expect you to complete them. And don't question my decisions!"