...and they wonder why I have no respect for managers!

[Baz94]

My firm really is the pits and the management are useless.
Sadly, it seems to be common everywhere! Which is why I have a big problem when it comes to hierarchy.

A couple of examples.
I work in a printers, I am ahead of everything and all paperwork, reels, machines etc are running perfectly.
I am working 7 1/2 hours and am on my feet the whole time and when moving 1/2 reels every 20 mins, SO, 3 hrs into ther shift, I sit on a chair watching my machine to ensure there are no breakdowns.

30 mins later... My mgr tells me that the big boss saw me sitting and has told him to tell me that this is basically not permitted!
So the goon has essensially gone to his office , SAT DOWN and called my mgr to tell him to tell me I cant sit down!!!

So I obviously go mad about it.

The other day was a corker!

I am a 1st aider and a guy in the other warehouse had split his head open. I dealt with it and sorted an accident form out for him and moaned at him as he should have gone to the hsp (he went after work and got 4 stitches!)
Anyway, it was an industrial accident and I was doing the 1st aider job.
When I finished, I returned to my machine... only to find out that my manager had been looking for me because the big boss wants to know why I was walking around aimlessly and NOT working by on machine!

These are just 2 of countless things that make me hot headed at work.
The annoying thing is, it happens in many firms.

And people wonder why I dont have any respect for management!

OK... breeeeath.

[Paddysnapper]

Sounds like a real plonker!

Don't do anything silly!..... Remember it is easier to get a job when you're in a job... if you get my drift.

[TH-Photos]

sorted an accident form out for him

That's a management responsibility. Mind you finding a manager that can: 1. find an accident form and 2. fill one in, is a task in itself.

[Dorset_Mike]

The phrase most often drummed into management trainees is

"Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is made up"

[Smudger79]

Sounds like some managers I've worked with in the past.

If he has a go at you for "leaving your post" I would say to him something along the lines of, "In that case I resign my duties as First Aider of this company/office. If I am going to get in trouble for doing first aider duties, you can find and train someone else to do it as I no longer wish to."

It is my understanding that you get no additional pay for being the first aider and so by you resigning your commission you lose nothing and they will need to replace you as per H&S regs in the work place. This will mean that someone will need to be trained which will cost them money.

In my last job I had similar sort of stupidity from my managers, and I found the best therapy for it is to make their lives as difficult as they make yours. It can be done with some innovative thinking.
Never refuse to work but you can work to rule. If they are being a stickler for the rules, you can just as easily do the same and they will soon find that sticking to the rules will not earn them as much money. e.g. Any time saving shortcuts you might take, don't do them, do it the long winded "correct" way, as "this is the way I was trained to do it!"
Of course the best therapy was when I left after getting another job!

There is unfortunately not too much you can do with managers that love the sound of their own voice.

Good Luck

[Terrywoodenpic]

I suspect the senior manager in question is under pressure from... his wife... the board... or he has been banned from his favourite pub...or put down by his mistress.

Managers get petty for a reason... they can't find answers to the real pressures and problems of the day.

Not all managers are bad, only the ones that have lost the plot.

[ermintrude]

Not all managers are bad, only the ones that have lost the plot.

Did someone mention a plot? Where can I find it?!

[Bettina]

It is my understanding that you get no additional pay for being the first aider and so by you resigning your commission you lose nothing and they will need to replace you as per H&S regs in the work place. This will mean that someone will need to be trained which will cost them money.

When I worked in Canary Wharf I got paid to be a fire warden (about 16 quid per month) - and I think the first aiders got paid, too.

[Smudger79]

It is my understanding that you get no additional pay for being the first aider and so by you resigning your commission you lose nothing and they will need to replace you as per H&S regs in the work place. This will mean that someone will need to be trained which will cost them money.

When I worked in Canary Wharf I got paid to be a fire warden (about 16 quid per month) - and I think the first aiders got paid, too.

Sweet!

I was Fire Marshall at my old job and got paid naff all for it. All i got was extra hassle

[Nod]

SWMBO is a first aider at her work and gets paid extra for being so. As an extra bonus, they keep her certificate up to date with regular (? biannual) courses and the certificate also covers her obligation to have one for her Yoga teaching.

[john_g]

In my last job I had similar sort of stupidity from my managers, and I found the best therapy for it is to make their lives as difficult as they make yours. It can be done with some innovative thinking.
Never refuse to work but you can work to rule. If they are being a stickler for the rules, you can just as easily do the same and they will soon find that sticking to the rules will not earn them as much money. e.g. Any time saving shortcuts you might take, don't do them, do it the long winded "correct" way, as "this is the way I was trained to do it!"

Although two negatives make a positive in maths, they certainly don't in business. Yes, it might feel "therapeutic" to be stroppy, but it just speeds the spiral into personal unhappiness and commercial failure. (I put the word therapeutic in quotation marks because the word properly relates to curing or healing, not retaliating.)

I've just re-read, for the Nth time, "The One Minute Manager" and, as always, am impressed by its simple, common sense approach. As a manager, I've loaned/given away/had nicked many copies of this book and have made it a cornerstone of how I approach the role of manager. I'd suggest you read it, then let your manager know that you think the two of you aren't working well together, lend him/her the book and ask that you have a meeting after they've read it at which you'll work out a new way of cooperating together more happily and effectively.

[GeoffR]

In my last job I had similar sort of stupidity from my managers, and I found the best therapy for it is to make their lives as difficult as they make yours. It can be done with some innovative thinking.
Never refuse to work but you can work to rule. If they are being a stickler for the rules, you can just as easily do the same and they will soon find that sticking to the rules will not earn them as much money. e.g. Any time saving shortcuts you might take, don't do them, do it the long winded "correct" way, as "this is the way I was trained to do it!"

Although two negatives make a positive in maths, they certainly don't in business. Yes, it might feel "therapeutic" to be stroppy, but it just speeds the spiral into personal unhappiness and commercial failure. (I put the word therapeutic in quotation marks because the word properly relates to curing or healing, not retaliating.)

I've just re-read, for the Nth time, "The One Minute Manager" and, as always, am impressed by its simple, common sense approach. As a manager, I've loaned/given away/had nicked many copies of this book and have made it a cornerstone of how I approach the role of manager. I'd suggest you read it, then let your manager know that you think the two of you aren't working well together, lend him/her the book and ask that you have a meeting after they've read it at which you'll work out a new way of cooperating together more happily and effectively.

I agree, you can't manage people who don't respect you. However, the managers job is to enable you to do yours. You know how to do your job better than he does and he needs to make sure nothing gets in the way of your doing it to the best of your ability.

[mediaman]

Well John, there are four ways to lose your job.
Redundancy
Theft
Industrial Misconduct
and cheek.
How many of us, have bosses/managers, that are so "mentally challenged", that an offer to read a book....then discuss your working situation with them,would consider that request to be "cheek"?.

[RovingMike]

I hold no brief for managers of any kind, but I do wonder why the complainer in these cases, if he / she is so much brighter, isn't doing their job / earning their money?
I think I know which is smarter overall.

[Rhys]

I was always told 'Bosses are like nappies.. Always hanging round your backside and are full of poo'*

*mildly edited..

[Hwntws]

I get just over £8 a month for being a first aider, never had to use it in anger yet, just a sticking plaster on someones finger now and again. I do get retrained every 3 years.
I use a chainsaw in my work, hope I never have to pull the dressing out of my pocket for accident with that.
Regards
Ray

[JJM74]

One employer about fifteen years ago did pay me for first aid cover, none since. Not the kind of thing you do to get rich though.

I'm no longer a first aider, but I am lucky that overall, I have a manger who understands what I do and helps rather than hinders. I suspect I'm in the minority.

[Fire_Monkey]

"The primary function of management is to create the chaos that only management can sort out. A secondary function is the expensive redecoration and refurnishing of offices, especially in times of the utmost financial s tringency".

Theodore Dalrymple, The Spectator. 06 November 1993

I'm not sure about the secondary function, but the primary function does seem to fit the aviation business.

[Baz94]

Thanks for all the replies folks.
Some interesting reads there.

As a 1st aider, I get £10 pm (before tax) so cant complain there.
I have had some nasty dealings as I work in a factory with machinery.
I quite like the job to be honest.
My job as a whole, I love. I love machines, I get on great will the people I work with and the pay is good but the managemen.......

Its such a pain that the place is so full of YES men (and women). no one seems to stand up for themselves because they are so fscared of reprisals.
The guy that split his head open refused to go to the hsp because he thought he would get in trouble!
That is how bad it is.

I like the "Work to rule" idea but can't... simple coz I would go nuts working at such a slow pace.
I carry on doing my job properly but just wont be treated like a schoolboy and WILL shout my mouth off when it is required.

I keep getting the "Calm down or youll get in trouble" but I dont believe in people treating others so crap.
After all, without the workforce, these clowns are out of work.

The way I get my own back is simply by standing up to them. They hate confrontation and want people to run scared of them. I refuse to and that ticks them off but sod em lol

[Rhys]

Do you have a union rep you can go to?