Grrr.
Boss.
Grrr.
Ok. Background:
Boss has access to everyone's email accounts, and reviews them occasionally.
This is bad.
English is not Boss' first language, but Paranoia is; so Boss is apt ~ nay, inevitably bound ~ to misinterpret information in the worst possible way... I'd say, the worst possible way conceiveable, but in fact it is inconceiveable. Of course we always try to anticipate & prevent trouble by making sure that the wording we use in our email is non-inflammatory; but Boss still comes up with the most inane accusations that broadside you from out of nowhere.
It boggles the mind and beggars belief, it truly does.
So.
There was an email which initiated a chain of discussion. It focused on steps to be taken in the future regarding a customer issue; thus, the subject heading of the email began with the word Future.
This email got forwarded back and forth, & it eventually got to me when the time came for the issue to be dealt with, whereupon the issue was resolved. Two months later (i.e., now} another related issue came up, and the email was recirculated. And all through both email chains, the heading remained the same:
Re: Future blah blah blah.
This morning I got a phone call asking me why I was doing paperwork for problems that hadn't happened yet.
"You're pretty smart, to know when things are going to go wrong before they happen, eh?"
Boss claimed to have six {and, oddly, was quite adamant about that number, too} emails from me to other people with the incriminating word "Future" in the subject heading.
Boss was convinced that each email indicated six separate incidents of me doing paperwork before the problems occured; thus I was accused on six separate counts of willfully & wastefully providing a client with services which they neither required nor deserved ~~ the implication being, this amounted to insurrection and blatant theft on my part.
This is a classic example of how Boss gets a paranoid impulse, and then all incoming information becomes distorted in Boss' perception to support that paranoia.
In fact, I only sent four emails with that subject heading: two recently, when the second issue came up ~~ and a couple others two months ago, one of which was addressed to Boss who at the time did not see fit to reply.
Evidently, the word "future" did not set off alarm bells two months ago; but for some inexplicable reason, this week it did.
That, and the fact that the most recent email chain contains six emails altogether, inclines me to think that Boss is actually referring only to the most recent chain.
How Boss jumps to such conclusions yet evades me; and that makes it difficult to explain the obvious.
I did make an effort to point out & explain the concept of the prefix "Re:".
Didn't bother to attempt to explain the concept of time passing, as I thought that was beyond my skills.
I think I got through, as I am still currently employed {fingers crossed}
However, the person who originated the second email chain ~~ not the same person who started the original chain ~~ has since been sacked.
Don't know if the word "future" had anything to do with it.
Side gripe: Boss obsessively checks emails for incriminating evidence of malfeasance by employees; yet ignores urgent emails addressed to Boss directly!
Grrr.
Boss.
Grrr.
Posted by edgar at August 13, 2003 03:19 PM