Fire Your Bad Boss!

First of all, I don't know how far this will get anybody, but it will probably make you feel good. Just try not to get fired over it. If you do get fired over it, contact your local media because it'll make a great story! This is only meant for fun.

I propose, if I am elected Prime Minister (because I live in Canada), I shall try to adopt an official policy which will state that an astute employee may recognize and fire a bad boss!

The guidelines are:
a) the boss in question cannot be the business owner
b) the employee must keep accurate records
c) emotion shall be set aside, it's only business, after all (there is no need for workplace violence!)
d) any official documentations shall not be frivolous in nature as frivolity will not be tolerated (say this in an English accent, it sounds more official.....and frivolous)

The Method:
1) after noticing a boss, manager, supervisor, etc, committing a cruel or inappropriate act, an employee shall keep a written record of such an act pending further documentation. This includes, but is not limited to: belittlement, harassment of any kind, raising of the voice in an angry way, any physical contact between boss and employee.

2) after said employee has three 'occurrences' documented, that employee should request a meeting with the offender and said meeting shall be recorded (only 'one occurrence' of lewd behavior need be documented!). Note: company policy guidelines must be thoroughly read through and understood.

2a) if the offender refuses to meet with the employee, a public notice of suspension can be placed in a conspicuous area of the work environment stating: "(name) has committed a wrongful act or wrongful acts in the workplace and refuses to acknowledge and/or meet with with ('documenting employee')."

3) if a company has an HR department and/or upper management/board members, the employee may choose to work around the offender, provided said employee has given the offender due notice to come forward and meet discreetly.

4) upon a formal meeting, the employee may offer suggestions on how the offender may be reprimanded, but ultimately must abide by the recommendations set forth by the HR department/upper management/board members.

5) if the 'documenting employee' is not able to 'go through the proper channels' because nobody takes them seriously, they may approach the offender and fire them on the spot. If they retaliate and say: 'No, you're fired!', you can say: 'I fired you first.' Whoever gets the loudest applause from their fellow co-workers wins! You can get a sound level meter for cheap on eBay.

(actually, there is a more official way of doing the above - the above simply represents common fantasies of good workers with bad bosses. After I wrote the above, I did a search in Google and found some links - just type 'fire your bad boss' into the search engine. I assume no responsibility and shall not be held liable for anything mentioned above. It is suggested that you contact a lawyer or go through the proper channels at work to solve your work-related problems.)

Verbal Vic

Foresight and Karma

From bad bosses to belittled employees, workplace bullies to irate customers, I'm truly surprised that we get as much work done as we do. But, that's all on the negative side of things and not all workplaces are so chock full of negativity. What we have to do is look at our situations from another perspective; one from which we can see things from the outside, as others would see them. Using a combination of what others might see and some rational thinking on our part, we might be able to solve many work-related problems, which are far too common in my opinion.

Forget about work for a moment. Let's look at how people act on a daily basis. Emotionally, we are made up of instinct and influence; a combined influence. We have instincts, which are activated by nerves and fluids, and we have influences, which are tips and tricks we pick up along the way. I know, I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before, but I want to offer a fresh proletarian perspective from an armchair by a fireplace in a hidden netherworld where the keys to get in are often obscured by absurdity. That's about as clear as a definition of the human condition, isn't it? But that's who we are - complex life forms with simple problems.

Philosophical problems aside, on a daily basis, I witness countless acts of selfishness and looking back, I have sometimes acted that way myself. But, because I am so into recognizing acts of selfishness, I try to avoid those acts and that is not an easy task. Rather than blame people for acting selfishly, I need only look at how I have acted in the past and how I wish to act in the future. It took great effort to constantly remind myself that there was no reason to act that way. To correct my selfishness, I began to do one good deed a day, just to spread good karma. I would hold open a door, pick up a piece of trash or take a deep breath when some driver ahead of me hesitated at an advanced green signal. So what if I missed the light? If one minute matters that much to me to get into the grocery store parking lot, then I am not managing my time properly in the first place. On a daily basis, I have to remind myself that I don't want a stressful life. Those daily reminders are the hard part.

The educational part of this, for me, is that I must constantly recognize what is a good act and what is bad. The person who shovels chunks of ice into a freshly plowed roadway is committing a bad act. The person who stops to help someone in need is doing a good act. I could go on, but the line of thought is so obvious and may even be tedious for some to read. The term 'ad naseum' comes to mind. My point is - we can obviously recognize positive acts versus negative acts but we can also forget about them when we get to work, amongst the multi-tasking and endless deadlines, etc. It is this forgetfulness that can ruin our workdays.

With that in mind, I offer the following suggestion: remember to look ahead at how your actions may affect others or, simply put, remember to have some foresight.

We are probably never going to completely change every work experience into a positive one because there are always going to be those who are too cool and savvy to be like the rest and those who get off on having power trips, but that doesn't mean we have to pay attention to them.

All of this comes full circle when we remember to give others the benefit of the doubt, not judge them too quickly and accept that some folks won't likely change. So, as a parting thought, I offer this: just because someone has their blinker on doesn't mean they're changing lanes. Life is short, but don't let that ruin your day.

Please visit www.thinkworknotjob.com for more information on me.

Cheers and happy 2008!!
Buck Moore

thinkWORKnotJOB

We live in the 'here and now'. Nothing ahead of us is certain in a world which is in a constant state of flux, or so I've read. When many of us think about the future, it's almost as if we try not to know the answers but we always ask the questions anyway.

The fact is, we can avoid our work struggles, no matter what we do for a living, by having some foresight and taking the initiative to help reduce negativity in our workplaces. If we reduce that negativity, our productivity will increase because our teamwork will improve and become more efficient. This is not an absurd business model - it actually works, yet is is often forgotten about.

I am constantly seeking current or past examples of both good and bad work environments. I want to hear from the people in the front lines - those who deal with customers or clients on a daily basis and want to work with others to develop solutions for common workplace problems. Much has been said and done on this topic, yet we need to do more.