We’ve probably all had, at various times, good and bad bosses. I certainly have. When they’re good, you totally appreciate them. If they’re bad, you usually just have to suffer.
A critical Comment on a post in this blog a few weeks ago, which accused me of making the post a ‘vehicle for having a pop’ at an ex-boss, got me thinking.
What if I’d actually wanted to take a virtual pop at a boss I’d had in the past, rather than what I’d written in the post, which was merely to explain the context of certain things that had happened? Would ‘taking a pop’ be unethical? Would it be unprofessional (like the person who commented said I was being)? Would it not be the ‘done thing’ – not jolly hockey sticks? Would it be slander? With slander, it is usually a requirement that the claim be false. So, presumably it wouldn’t be slander if the pop were true. Is there an old-boy network you’re not supposed to ‘let down’? Should we all simply forget the past? And if we forget the past, how can we learn from it?
The other thing would be – where on earth would I start? Almost certainly with the massive expense claims for taxi rides to Glasgow airport that I saw a boss make, at a time when we had the lowest book spend per student of any UK university library. That really riled me. Several hundred £s on taxi rides to an airport, at a time when we couldn’t buy enough books for the students! That surely justifies a ‘pop’?
A conversation I once had with a boss went something like this.
Me: “I hear that XXXX [a university librarian at another institution] is retiring. He’s been incredibly conscientious and hard-working. They will certainly miss him.”
Boss: “Yes. He’s rather spoilt it for whoever comes next.”
I was shocked. I thought – what an incredible to-the-manor-born attitude. Is that how it’s all supposed to work? You don’t let the side down by working hard? And everyone has to keep quiet if things go wrong? When there’s a problem, you just keep a stiff upper lip?
And there are many other stories – for example, the boss I once had who was supposedly caught flogging scholarly journals down at Zomba market, for use as fish wrapping.
I decided to ask an unusual source what he thought about taking a pop at the expense of the boss. I asked Fat Mac.
Fat Mac doesn’t often say anything sensible. Sometimes he says things which are amusing, such as “Rodz, when Scotland declares UDI anyone found in the country who understands the rules of cricket will be given a last fag, lined up against the wa’ and shot!” And sometimes he says things which are totally incomprehensible due to the fact that he’s saying them whilst most of his brain cells are fully employed in the difficult task of remaining standing whilst propped up against the bar after ten pints of Guinness.
But if you can catch him when he’s sober…
So, I asked him what he thought, on a rare occurrence before the pubs had opened, when he also didn’t have enough money to go to the offie, and his home brew kit had only been brewing for three days (usually, he manages to wait at least four days before devouring it).
Anyway, his advice was this, “Let it waft away like flatulence in the wind. That’s something you obviously have a lot of experience of, Rodz. By the way, do you think three days is enough for the brew?”
And I thought at the time, what excellent advice.
But then when I got home I thought – wait a minute – that can be interpreted in two ways. 1. ‘Pop’ away and let it it take it’s course. 2. Let it go. Move on.
What do you think? And what do you think, about taking a virtual pop at a boss?
Those times when something really bad has happened at work, and you may have thought about the person responsible: “You useless, overpaid, complete and utter waste of space, incompetent shite.” Do you just forget them?
I line-managed more than a hundred people over the years. What if one of them wanted to take a pop at me? I hope I’d think “If it’s definitely true and accurate, then go for it!”
And what about personal failures and embarrassments? What about the time when I was beginning to come down with malaria, and so wasn’t thinking particularly straight, and I spent half an hour talking to an important visitor about ‘the library suppository’ rather than ‘the library repository’.
I think I’ve just taken a pop at myself 
Why would anyone go into such a loser profession as librarianship if it wasn’t to get their snouts stuck right in the trough? It’s not the priesthood! You are of course naturally jealous, and I’m not surprised. Your boss sounds like quite a wag to me. And of course you shouldn’t have a “pop” at your ex-boss! I wouldn’t dream of such a thing, but then again I’ve always known my place.
Hi there. It sounds like you’re the sort of person who knows his place, and while the wheels of the boss’ Rolls Royce drive over your feet, you merely doff your hat and wish him “Good day, Sir”
I don’t know, Roddy. The very phrase “taking a pop” (let alone a cheap pop) suggests an unhealthy motive. What purpose would such a pop serve, other than momentarily making you feel better by relieving some old, un-resolved tension. But in my experience, it probably wouldn’t achieve that, anyway.
Remembering that your blog is public, would you be happy being in the same room with the ex-boss as he or she read it for the first time? Would you really be able to justify your comments?
Would a “pop” be objective or subjective? Could it be backed up if mis-interpreted and resulting in a law-suit? Would it be fair, considering there are always circumstances about another person’s position in the past that we don’t know?
Sometimes when I’ve been angry about someone, I’ve written letters to them or their manager. But I have rarely sent those letters. The very exercise of getting my feelings down in a non-emotive way, backing them up with evidence that would stand up for someone else, tends to be enough.
As a manager, I’ve dealt with a number of grievance cases (for other readers, formal processes where a complaint against some has been made in writing). These cases are a nightmare to deal with fairly. First, it’s usually clear that the complainer has suffered. Second, it’s usually clear that the complained-against deosn’t see they have done enything wrong. Third, the evidence is usually mixed and contradictory. Fourth, neither party knows all the facts, nor understands all the positions. Finally, the resolution is rarely satisfactory.
What is the potential resolution in any potential “grivance” against your ex-boss? Nothing substantive, that I can see. Objective comments relevant to an issue you are discussing, that’s one thing. Cheap pops, quite another! I wouldn’t go there!
Hi Chris,
Your Comment is thoughtful, as usual.
I’d be quite happy to be in the same room as any of the bosses who’s actions/attitudes are mentioned in the above post, as they read it for the first time.
As for any purpose of taking a pop – I’m interested in what anyone might think – that was one reason for writing the post, so thank you for your opinion. Another reason was to investigate attitudes towards management.
With respect to grievances, it sounds as if you dealt with things much better than what happened when someone made a complaint against me, which I wrote about here: http://roddymacleod.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/complaint-against-me/ In that post, I tried to explain various better outcomes than what happened (which was that nothing happened). That post actually still gets a number of hits (from search engines finding it as a result of searches for ‘complaint against me’), and perhaps some folk may have benefitted from reading it.
Thanks Roddy. To be fair, I’m not sure EITHER of the parties concerned were happy with the outcome, although at least something happened. My point really was, nothing’s clearcut!
these guru types, even one as ecumenical as Big Mac, offer only the most inscrutable, ambiguous advice. You mightas well have tossed a coin.
I’ve just read the complaints against your long suffering ex-boss once again. So he took taxis. Well, he is a boss and as such his time is far too valuable to be spent driving hither and yon. Also, he could have worked in the back of the taxi. Taking hours long taxi journeys just shows how hard working he was. You were lucky to have a boss like that. None of the bosses I ever had in libraries ever did a stroke!! That’s why they got into the profession. The top jobs are for chaps who play with a straight bat and don’t rock the boat. No work really apart from holding meeting with the other useless ones and a big fat expense account. Why else would the right sort go in for such a job?