My a-hole boss informally fired me...or gave me a good reason to quit...

[erikiksaz]

Yes, i understand that i failed to physically hand over the camera. But, I think he had to consider the reasons why I wasn't able to do so. First and foremost, the boss should have looked at the situation. I was responsible for overseeing my inflatable. Now, water inflatables can potentially be very dangerous. First, you have the blowers which are only ~3 feet away from the base of the inflatable. Second, those blowers are run off generators, which had to be placed near the "runway" of my particular inflatable--there was no way around this, the DJ at the site needed our power. Electrical devices + wet children = potential lawsuit.

Secondly, the late supervisor wasn't doing a damn thing. He came in, set up 2 dressing rooms, and left. He had the ability to roam around and pick up the camera, whereas I did not.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: Megadeth
It is your supervisors job to make sure that you do your job...

It's the other way around actually. Just look at the numbers. How many supervisors do you have? How many sub-ordinants do supervisor's have?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: erikiksaz
Yes, i understand that i failed to physically hand over the camera. But, I think he had to consider the reasons why I wasn't able to do so. First and foremost, the boss should have looked at the situation. I was responsible for overseeing my inflatable. Now, water inflatables can potentially be very dangerous. First, you have the blowers which are only ~3 feet away from the base of the inflatable. Second, those blowers are run off generators, which had to be placed near the "runway" of my particular inflatable--there was no way around this, the DJ at the site needed our power. Electrical devices + wet children = potential lawsuit.

Secondly, the late supervisor wasn't doing a damn thing. He came in, set up 2 dressing rooms, and left. He had the ability to roam around and pick up the camera, whereas I did not.

i can see you won't ever be in managment.

you had a job from a someone pretty high on the totem pole. YOU had to give the camera to your superviser. YOU FAILED that job.

you made the superviser and boss look bad. then you have an attitude about it.
It is not the supervisers job to walk over and get the camera. it was your job to hand it over. again you failed in that job.

yes you had a conflict of duties. BUT you needed to make sure the supervisor got the camera. any job a high level manager tells you do do you do.

 

[erikiksaz]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax

Originally posted by: Megadeth
It is your supervisors job to make sure that you do your job...

It's the other way around actually. Just look at the numbers. How many supervisors do you have? How many sub-ordinants do supervisor's have?

So you're saying we're supposed to make sure the supervisor is doing his job? 😕

 

[Wuffsunie]

What's with all the people saying the supervisor needs to be babied?

If he's in a position higher up than the OP, it SHOULD be a safe assumption that he's at least as smart as the OP. Since the OP was in the middle of doing his job, something he was tasked for specifically, he could not leave it to go get the camera. He supervisor was given all the information he needed, and I think it's a fair assumption to make that he would follow what his boss had said and do what was required. Really, the OP was doing his job, the super was not.

Edit: This whole thing is a textbook example of sh!t rolling down hill :disgust:

 

[sygyzy]

Drama queen? "Informally fired me..." Give me a break.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Garet Jax

Originally posted by: erikiksaz
I'm not to blame, am I? Hell, taking pictures wasn't even my job, and i don't get paid enough to be a gddamn photographer.

This is probably a good lesson to learn (especially if the job doesn't mean that much to you). I believe that you are to blame in this situation.

You were asked to give the camera to the supervisor at the event. You saw the supervisor and did not give it to him. Even if he did leave early and arrive late, it doesn't change the fact that you didn't achieve what you were asked to.

Your job is to make your boss look good. If you can do this, then you will be successful. Your boss may have been given crap because he didn't achieve what was asked of him (which he subsequently delegated to you). If your boss can't count on you to get simple things done, then how is he/she going to count on you for challenging things.

yeap i have to agree. While the supervisor should have went and got the camera you were in charge of makeing sure he GOT the camera. you didnt.

But i doubt he is going to fire you. hanging up on you does not mean he is going ot fire you. but if you are going to quit then screw them.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Oustanding, see how important details can be to a story? If you made this argument to your boss, then he should have given you some leeway.

Even still, you came off pretty spineless when talking to your supervisor at the event. Either shut the inflatable down or have somebody cover for you for a minute while you run out to your car. Your boss is going to see the situation from a single perspective: did you get the camera to your supervisor? If not, did you make an adequate attempt to get him the camera?

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
Edit: This whole thing is a textbook example of sh!t rolling down hill :disgust:

Completely agree.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: erikiksaz
Yes, i understand that i failed to physically hand over the camera. But, I think he had to consider the reasons why I wasn't able to do so. First and foremost, the boss should have looked at the situation. I was responsible for overseeing my inflatable. Now, water inflatables can potentially be very dangerous. First, you have the blowers which are only ~3 feet away from the base of the inflatable. Second, those blowers are run off generators, which had to be placed near the "runway" of my particular inflatable--there was no way around this, the DJ at the site needed our power. Electrical devices + wet children = potential lawsuit.

Secondly, the late supervisor wasn't doing a damn thing. He came in, set up 2 dressing rooms, and left. He had the ability to roam around and pick up the camera, whereas I did not.

This is very true and provides you a great reason to ask the supervisor to go to your car to get the camera. If they decline, then you need to find someone to take over your station for the elapsed time it takes to go to the car, get the camera and then give it to the supervisor. This person might be the supervisor. If they still decline, then you ask them how they expect you to get them the camera.

The best solution would have been to bring it with you (from the car) in the morning so they it was easily accessible when you did run into the supervisor. You knew when you left it there that it may be difficult to go back to the car when you did happen to run into the supervisor.

 

[Dacalo]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax

Originally posted by: erikiksaz
I'm not to blame, am I? Hell, taking pictures wasn't even my job, and i don't get paid enough to be a gddamn photographer.

This is probably a good lesson to learn (especially if the job doesn't mean that much to you). I believe that you are to blame in this situation.

You were asked to give the camera to the supervisor at the event. You saw the supervisor and did not give it to him. Even if he did leave early and arrive late, it doesn't change the fact that you didn't achieve what you were asked to.

Your job is to make your boss look good. If you can do this, then you will be successful. Your boss may have been given crap because he didn't achieve what was asked of him (which he subsequently delegated to you). If your boss can't count on you to get simple things done, then how is he/she going to count on you for challenging things.

I have to agree with Garet here.

Remember that the supervisor is your superior. You should have made sure that he got the camera. Sure he forgot the camera, but from the organization's point of view, you failed to get it to him.

The job world isn't that simple. Even if it is inconvenient, you have to make sure you get the job done. That's how you get promoted and become recognized.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: erikiksaz

Originally posted by: Garet Jax

Originally posted by: Megadeth
It is your supervisors job to make sure that you do your job...

It's the other way around actually. Just look at the numbers. How many supervisors do you have? How many sub-ordinants do supervisor's have?

So you're saying we're supposed to make sure the supervisor is doing his job? 😕

No, you're supposed to make the supervisor successful at doing his job.

 

[Thraxen]

you had a job from a someone pretty high on the totem pole. YOU had to give the camera to your superviser. YOU FAILED that job

Please, you people are ridiculous. The supervisor was barely there. The OP brought the camera to the event and told the supervisor, when he finally showed up, where he could pick it up. He was apparently supposed to be watching the displays, so how is he supposed to do both at the same time? He can't. So it wasn't unreasonable at all to expect the supervisor to go out to get the camera since (1) he was FOUR hours late to the even himself and the OP was already doing another job and (2) it was the supervisor's job to take the pictures. It's not reasonable to hold the OP responsible for the supervisor's gross negligence. Again, I say job well done for taking the initiative to complete the job the supervisor failed to do.

BTW, I am salaried management at my job.

No, you're supposed to make the supervisor successful at doing his job.

To a degree... yes. But this supervisor was clearly negligent. The attitude you people are taking toward the actions of the supervisor and the OP is everything that is wrong with corporate America today.

 

[Garet Jax]

Looking at the vote ratio, I am amazed how many people see this differently than me.

No doubt both the boss and the supervisor were a little difficult to deal with, but that is their perogative. Hit them hard on a 360 degree review or leave the company. To do anything else is a CLM (career limiting move).

Remember, Eric will probably need references for his next job. Without them he will have some sort of discrepancy to explain. Having interviewed tons of people, I have never heard one satisfactory explanation.

 

[Fingolfin269]

OMG this is stupid. Some of you must be extremely lucky to have never worked with a 'super' who was grossly inept and took extreme advantage of his/her situation by being late all the time and not wanting to take responsibility of duties. You make the assumption that the OP has all kinds of people around him who are qualified to be running his station.

Here's what should have happened :

1) OP tells supervisor that the camera is in the car

2) Supervisor tells OP to go grab it and he'll manage his station while he's gone

3) OP returns with camera, supervisor goes back to bed or wherever he was before he decided to drag himself to the event

You do have a duty to carry out instructions given to you by your boss. However, you have no control over a jackass supervisor who decides to show up late and who probably didn't bother to tell you that he was leaving early.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: Thraxen
The attitude you people are taking toward the actions of the supervisor and the OP is everything that is wrong with corporate America today.

Actually the problem with corporate America today is that employees won't stand up for themselves and their morals. If Eric didn't want to (or felt he couldn't) deliver the camera to the supervisor, then he should have told his boss that when he was asked to do the task.

Instead by agreeing, he was duty bound to achieve it. The only case where he would have been excused is if the supervisor didn't show up at all.

My case here is that Eric agreed to do it (by accepting the camera in the first place) and therefore should have done anything within his power to accomplish it.

 

[HamSupLo]

erikiksaz: Welcome to the real world.

This is the sh!t you will have to deal with in the working world. You'll be scratching your head wondering how these people made it into positions of responsibilty and power. Just shows you that life really is unfair and hard work does not always equal to the results you want and deserve. Sorry to sound so bleak, but that's just life. I assume that you're a student intern and these higher ups like to get themselves off by sh!tting on your poor guys.

 

[JzL]

Originally posted by: Azraele
Get this, my boss said I'd be coached if someone else got overtime again.

You must work at Wal-Mart with a word like "coached" being used.

 

[Thraxen]

Actually the problem with corporate America today is that employees won't stand up for themselves. If Eric didn't want to (or felt he couldn't) deliver the camera to the supervisor, then he should have told his boss that when he was asked to do the task.

Wrong again. He can't do his job properly when the other people involved won't do their part. Businesses are teams. What if the supervisor had never showed up? Still his fault? According to what you just said it would still be his fault. That's utterly ridiculous. He DID try to stand up for himself when he talked to his boss on the phone and you can see where that got him. Expecting him to turn down the task at the time he was asked to do it is complete non-sense. He had no way of knowing the supervisor wouldn't do his job. You are holding that wrong person responsible and THAT is the problem with corporate America today... in fact, that's the problem with just about every issue we have in our society.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: Thraxen
Wrong again. He can't do his job properly when the other people involved won't do their part. Businesses are teams. What if the supervisor had never showed up? Still his fault? According to what you just said it would still be his fault. That's utterly ridiculous.

Read my post entirely. I clearly said that the only case where he would not have been held accountable is if the super didn't show.

He DID try to stand up for himself when he talked to his boss on the phone and you can see where that got him.

When he did try to stand up for himself, it was too late. He had already failed to accomplish the goal that was clearly communicated to him even though there were things that could have been done to succeed.

Expecting him to turn down the task at the time he was asked to do it is complete non-sense. He had no way of knowing the supervisor wouldn't do his job.

Actually not true. Eric said that when he is supervising the inflatable it is very difficult to get away for any amount of time. This was known before hand. He also probably knew that it would be difficult to hold on to electronics for any amount of time while supervising the inflatable (which is why he left the camera in the car).

I am not saying he should have rejected the assignment (or even tried to), but he could have phoned the supervisor beforehand and tried to arrange a time to meet to exchange the camera. There are lots of things that could have been done before hand to make it more likely the could have succeeded.

You are holding that wrong person responsible and THAT is the problem with corporate America today... in fact, that's the problem with just about every issue we have in our society.

I never said the supervisor was blameless. However, in business (except for anonymous 360 degree reviews) there is no easy way to criticize managers without limiting your career. If this is what Eric wants to accomplish, then he needs to tread lightly. I happen to agree with you that this is a problem. I also happen to agree with you that people need to take more responsiblity. This is what I am trying to get Eric to see.

Besides we don't know that the supervisor did arrive late and leave early. His job may have been to make sure that everything was running smoothly. He may have received a call in the morning saying everything was OK so could come later. He may have arrived and realized everything was working well so he left.

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Looking at the vote ratio, I am amazed how many people see this differently than me.

This is because most of us realize the only thing Eric did wrong is fail to paint an accurate picture of what happened when he related the story to his boss. It was his job to watch the inflatables, it was the supervisor's job to take pictures. Eric could not (and should not) neglect his primary job to get the supervisor the camera. This was not a case of laziness, this was a case of having to do his job, a situation that came up because the supervisor was 4 hours late. Furthermore the supervisor did not have any apparant pressing responsibility that would prevent him from walking to the truck and getting the camera. Maybe Eric should have made it a little more obvious to the supervisor that he couldn't get the camera for him, but the supervisor still dropped the ball and dropped it hard. Eric did his job; the supervisor did not.

Here's a good corrolary(sp?): my mother gives me a package she wants delivered to a friend by way of the friend's son, who I work with. I go to work, package in hand, but the son isn't there. He shows up 4 hours late, but by that time I'm elbow-deep in some generic computer crisis. I point out the package and tell him it's for his mother, but the guy leaves an hour later without grabbing the package. When I call my mom and inform her the package wasn't delivered, will she be pissed at me? If I just say, "I couldn't get it to him," probably. But if I take the time to say, "he showed up 4 hours late, I was really busy and I couldn't actually hand it to him, so I told him to grab it but he didn't," she won't be angry. Or at least she shouldn't be.

The boss is clearly being unreasonable. Eric didn't go "above and beyond" in getting it to the supervisor but he sure didn't give it a half-hearted try either.