Tuesday 4 August 2015

Dealing with Mr F*ckwit!




Anyone who has worked in an office is familiar with self-important people. Such people  want everything but seldom give anything back. In fact, these people are everywhere and not just in an office environment. It is want, want, want with them. They are quick malign a person's credibility and whine and complain about how unfair the system is being to them.

My workplace is no different. It is full of self-important people. There is one, in particular, who brings out the worst in me and others. Let me tell you one thing, I am the most placid person on earth generally looking for the best in any bad situation or person and most times, I try to justify their behaviour. So for me to want to want to slowly and painfully torture someone is huge and Anthony, is one person, who can bring me to the brink of murder within two minutes of talking to him.

Let me tell you a little bit about Anthony. He is of European descent and is egotistical, opinionated, overly critical, never wrong and the biggest gossip in the department. He has to be aware of every little thing. When he doesn't get what he wants, he is sarcastic and rude.

Any conversation with him generally revolves around sports, food and gossip. He has his funny moments too, saying such outrageous things, that you can't help but laugh. But, his mood changes so quickly that you are in danger of getting whiplash! When stressed, you get to see him at his worst. He can't handle pressure making it a challenge to work with him. 

When he is at his worst, his rudeness is off the charts. He is aggressive, in your face and doesn't hesitate to swear at people but only at people who aren't managers or even supervisors. So much for professional conduct at work! 



To make things worse, he is a manager. A senior leader of the company. Isn't a leader meant to inspire and connect with his team and help them fulfil their potential? Does he do all that? Absolutely not! The word on the floor is that he is one arrogant prick who has anger management issues.

Whenever I get together with my friends, they always ask me for Anthony stories. After the first few times, I thought they would get bored hearing about him — same attitude but different scenario — but they proved me wrong. And did I have a beauty for them when we caught up this Saturday! At the moment, it didn't seem like a good story. It felt like a huge rock sitting heavy on my chest.

The whole incident came about when I emailed a request to the team to purchase an item. I used the process I had been following for the last couple of years. Two days later, I got an email response stating that I need to raise the request via the system and that Anthony would show me the new process.

A couple of hours later, Anthony saunters into my office. With his hands shoved deep into his trouser pockets, he stood there and grunted once, twice, in a bid to get my attention. He then walked further into the room till he could see what I was working on. Not bothering to greet me or apologise for barging in, he blurted out, "So you need to do purchase order requests from now on. Not my team. You."

My stunned look of disbelief at his attitude and his non-existent explanation as to why the process had changed, did nothing to detract him from his monologue as he went on to say, "Open up the program and I will show you what you need to do."

"Now wait a minute Anthony, what do you mean I have to do it?" I blurted out. "All other departments have a designated officer so how come I don't get that same support?" I needed to know what I had done wrong or when the process had changed. I didn't recall coming across a memo advising of the change.

He shrugged as if to imply that he didn't care to explain himself, but I waited him out, one eyebrow raised in query.

"You just have to! Now open up the program." He commanded.

"Now what sort of answer is that? What brought about the change of process, a process that has been working for the last few years. And, I was in the middle of something very urgent." I said, making a point of highlighting his rudeness.

As I looked up at him from my seat, I took in his scowl. This whole encounter was going to get unpleasant.

"It is what it is and you just have to follow the new process. Everyone else is, so I don't see what your fucking problem is."

Each word uttered were like bullets, rapidly fired out with loud aggression, shredding holes in me. Great! Now everyone will think that I am being passive aggressive or that I had done something wrong. I did not stop and consider that they were thinking that he was a fuckwit for the way he was presenting himself.

Silently cursing myself for submitting to his wishes, I clicked on the program in question.

"If it's not going to take long, show me what I need to do." I replied in a level and calm voice. I was anything but. My inner boil was on and I could feel myself getting angry at his high-handedness and at his behaviour.

The next ten minutes did nothing to calm me. He was all over the place. Did he even know how to use the system? He clicked on one thing, then went to another as he tried to find the right screen, the right options.

I stopped listening to him and made a mental note, to check with others and with his manager to see what the process actually was. Not only was he wasting my time as he tried to figure out where I needed to go and what I needed to do, he was confusing me with contradicting instructions. I had to put a stop to all this; I couldn't take any more.

"Anthony, stop! You are confusing me. Have you any experience with the system?"

"Of course I fucking have." His demeanour was defensive and very aggressive. "You can't proceed with this anyway as the supplier is not in the fucking system. Get them added in and then we will talk. Fucking waste of time this was."

What the fuck! The nerve of the man. The bid to stay calm was now an uphill battle. And I was losing the battle.

"Okay..." I said stretching the word out, barely hanging onto my calm. "As I am not in accounts or in logistics, I don't know what the process is to add a supplier into the system. In the past, I left it to your team to organise and sort out. But now that the process has changed. I am now meant to be involved in every single step, so don't give me attitude and expect me to grasp things straight away."

"Do I have to fucking hold your hand the whole way through? You have been here long enough to realise that the suppliers have to be in the fucking system before we can purchase anything from them."

"Yes, I am aware of all that, but..."

"But what? You fucking go to accounts and give them the fucking details and they set it up. Once you have done that, send me a meeting request and we will continue this."

With that, he was out the door, storming back to his hole all the while muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'fucking moron' or was it 'fucking bitch'?

No way was I going back for more. Not after that. He could go shove his dick up his arse for all I cared. I would get my training through other means even if it meant that I sacrificed what little precious time I had to teach myself the software.

Thankfully, there was no need for any self-tutoring. Once the accounts team confirmed that the supplier details were in the system, I spoke to the accounts manager to better understand the different codes required to complete my request. He was kind enough to come to my office and talk me through the process. It took barely three minutes of my time now that I understood the process. After I successfully submitted my first request, I had this childish urge to walk by Anthony's office and flip him the bird.

A few hours later, I found out from the department's gossip queens, that his manager had overheard his diatribe and issued a final warning notice. I also found out that the process had changed giving every single person within the company the ability to raise purchase order requests.

I went on holiday two days later, putting Anthony and the whole incident behind me. When I got back a three weeks later, the inter-office gossipers were quick to tell me all about Anthony's transfer to another department. Apparently, the transfer had shaken him and brought him down a peg or two. The rumours circulating, indicated that he was struggling to find another job so for the moment, he was behaving himself and watching his language. 



Copyright Tia J. Lee 2015
All Rights Reserved.

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