Jump to content
  • Sign up for free and receive a month's subscription

    You are viewing this page as a guest. That means you are either a member who has not logged in, or you have not yet registered with us. Signing up for an account only takes a minute and it means you will no longer see this annoying box! It will also allow you to get involved with our friendly(ish!) community and take part in the discussions on our forums. And because we're feeling generous, if you sign up for a free account we will give you a month's free trial access to our subscriber only content with no obligation to commit. Register an account and then send a private message to @dave u and he'll hook you up with a subscription.

Idiots in good jobs


Section_31
 Share

Recommended Posts

How often do you see this?

 

You grow up assuming people in top jobs must have something about them, then when you actually start working you realise how untrue it is. I honestly don't know how a lot of people climb the ranks the way they do. Is it bluster? How you market yourself or what?

 

I've always aimed for the middle, shamelessly so, I kind of like to just keep my head down. If a C was enough to get me onto a college course I'd aim for a C. But then you just marvel at the fact the people calling the shots can be so bad at things. 

 

I deal with a woman for some work at the moment, she's the head of global coms for a huge international firm and the briefs (Matron) she sends me are barely literate. I didn't know who she was at first (she'd put herself down as an interview contact on the brief, which in itself made no sense as she'd written it), so when I emailed her I had to try and paraphrase the instructions to her and very nearly said 'sorry about this, these briefs are shite'. Thankfully I didn't as she then replied saying 'thanks I've already got this I wrote it'. 

 

She always signs her emails off with emojis too and says 'K' instead of okay. 

 

Amazing.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Pistonbroke

A lot of people lack common sense but excel in one area, plus it has always been a case of who you know and not what you know, especially if your face fits and you are good at licking arse. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a self-perpetuating system. Bosses don't like to promote people who are more intelligent than they are, because they're a threat. I actually read that in a recruitment magazine when I was waiting for an interview for my very first job, in the jobcentre where I was signing on, and mentioned it in the interview.

 

It took me forever to get promoted. Every time I was interviewed by managers from my section I was knocked back. Bear in mind I was on temporary promotion for years and outperforming everyone else doing the same job. The first time I was interviewed by managers from a different section, I got the promotion. What a surprise.

 

And yes, I too get emails all the time from higher ups that are riddled with spelling and/or grammar errors. I find it intensely depressing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I work in IT- my last manager but one was a former chef, who treated our calendars like they were Tetris, shoving work in here, there and everywhere without any thought as to whether the dates fitted the projects. He got shoved to one side when he couldn't account for a missing £100K one month to his manager, thank fuck.

 

My current manager is an utter moron. She's barely literate and doesn't know anything about IT, or even managing projects, I have absolutely no idea how she got where she is- our departmental director actually asked her if she'd ever done a project plan before, she's that clueless. Fortunately, she's also a lazy bitch and a coward so rarely gets involved in stuff we do- when she does though, she just causes chaos as she's completely useless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Sixtimes Dog said:

It's a self-perpetuating system. Bosses don't like to promote people who are more intelligent than they are, because they're a threat. I actually read that in a recruitment magazine when I was waiting for an interview for my very first job, in the jobcentre where I was signing on, and mentioned it in the interview.

 

It took me forever to get promoted. Every time I was interviewed by managers from my section I was knocked back. Bear in mind I was on temporary promotion for years and outperforming everyone else doing the same job. The first time I was interviewed by managers from a different section, I got the promotion. What a surprise.

 

And yes, I too get emails all the time from higher ups that are riddled with spelling and/or grammar errors. I find it intensely depressing.

She's a coms director though, a coms director. 

 

It's like having a head of welding with no arms. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree with SD fully there. Big bosses don't want good people pushing them they want yes men/women. The kind who self-promote constantly, suck arse as much as possible and aren't the full package when it comes to delivering results. 

 

I used to have a boss who was ok but had no people skills and used to shit himself with big clients. The company expanded and he needed someone alongside him. I was easily his best performing Sales Manager and light years ahead of the rest in terms of delivery and client facing scenarios but some fucking dickhead woman got it. The reasons given were a) I was too valuable in my role and b) she had more experience. Yeah ok she was 5/6 years older than me but she was badly lacking in her delivery. In-fact her team fucking hated her. 

 

The real reason of-course was that I would have outshone the fella who was my boss and made his role redundant because the fucking idiot was shite. 

 

Also, decent people don't put their foot on others to get to the top. I'll help anyone and will always promote others above if they have done well. I also never ever mention if someone has done something shit and if anything will try and help them through. It rarely goes both ways an when you see the snivelling little cunts on works nights out costing up to the bigger bosses you know full well they are planting false seeds to further their own career. I wish i was more ruthless but just don't have it in me to see someone else off for my own benefit. 

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm the head of my department (materials buyer for a house builder).

Fuck knows how. Just plain hard work and waiting for the right moment to come along.

 

That said, been with this company 20 years, this year. Been head of the department for just over 4 years. Was a number 2 for the rest.

 

Job keeps me up at night. Not the worrying anymore, but just constantly thinking over things.

I've no idea how those in the real big jobs live with it.

 

I suppose giving a toss is part of it.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Pistonbroke
5 minutes ago, Mudface said:

I work in IT- my last manager but one was a former chef, who treated our calendars like they were Tetris, shoving work in here, there and everywhere without any thought as to whether the dates fitted the projects. He got shoved to one side when he couldn't account for a missing £100K one month to his manager, thank fuck.

 

My current manager is an utter moron. She's barely literate and doesn't know anything about IT, or even managing projects, I have absolutely no idea how she got where she is- our departmental director actually asked her if she'd ever done a project plan before, she's that clueless. Fortunately, she's also a lazy bitch and a coward so rarely gets involved in stuff we do- when she does though, she just causes chaos as she's completely useless.

 

I used to work in CNC engineering and at the time I was making these intricate clutch parts for the Ariane space program. I was basically left to myself and things were running smoothly. The boss had a Stroke and his Daughter took over the running of the company, she was basically a glorified Clerk before hand and didn't have a clue about engineering as such. She started sticking her nose in and saying that I (and others) had to up the output by increasing the feed rate of the cutting tools. These tools were expensive as fuck as we were milling VA stainless steel and other difficult metals. After explaining to her that we had worked out the optimal speeds for said tools she insisted we upped the feed rate. After first contact the tool basically fell apart and ruined not only itself but the best part of a days work. She then just walked off shaking her head as if it wasn't her idea. I left the firm shortly afterwards due to having a Hip replacement and it was no surprise that the firm went bankrupt within a few years, a Firm that her father had built from scratch in the 60's and employed about 60 engineers and a total workforce of over a hundred. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Pistonbroke said:

 

I used to work in CNC engineering and at the time I was making these intricate clutch parts for the Ariane space program. I was basically left to myself and things were running smoothly. The boss had a Stroke and his Daughter took over the running of the company, she was basically a glorified Clerk before hand and didn't have a clue about engineering as such. She started sticking her nose in and saying that I (and others) had to up the output by increasing the feed rate of the cutting tools. These tools were expensive as fuck as we were milling VA stainless steel and other difficult metals. After explaining to her that we had worked out the optimal speeds for said tools she insisted we upped the feed rate. After first contact the tool basically fell apart and ruined not only itself but the best part of a days work. She then just walked off shaking her head as if it wasn't her idea. I left the firm shortly afterwards due to having a Hip replacement and it was no surprise that the firm went bankrupt within a few years, a Firm that her father had built from scratch in the 60's and employed about 60 engineers and a total workforce of over a hundred. 

In a limited way, that's similar to what the two I mentioned have done. Rather than just running the department as previous managers have done very successfully, they've tried to cut costs and increase 'efficiency' so they can 'make their mark'.

 

Experienced staff- some of whom have left in exasperation at their actions- have been replaced with people who've required 18-24 months to bring up to speed, projects continually overrun because we're short on project managers and they've been saddled with ridiculous bureaucracy, quality has gone out the window as development are forced to continually release builds without sufficient time for testing, and service delivery staff get pulled into first line support as there's no buffer between them and clients any more.

 

Obviously, revenue gets screwed and doesn't match what's expected, so they double down on their idiocy and make it worse and worse.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had an interview last week and it was pretty obvious that the interview panel were the type who are in thrall to people with the gift of the gab. Inane bollocks question after inane bollocks question was starting to annoy me enough that I actually used the line "It depends if you want someone who can take the business where it needs to go, or someone who will tell you what you want to hear." I have another interview elsewhere next week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The higher up you go, the less bogged down you can be in detail and the more reliant you are in having good staff/systems to provide you with accurate information. In my experience, the best high up managers are the ones that can see the big picture and trust the information given to them. A good manager doesnt have to be the best written/verbal communicator nor need to micro manage those around them.

 

The more of a detail person you are the less likely you are to get to the top. Thats my opinion, mind you i make beds and clean bogs so not the most reliable

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, A Red said:

The higher up you go, the less bogged down you can be in detail and the more reliant you are in having good staff/systems to provide you with accurate information. In my experience, the best high up managers are the ones that can see the big picture and trust the information given to them. A good manager doesnt have to be the best written/verbal communicator nor need to micro manage those around them.

 

The more of a detail person you are the less likely you are to get to the top. Thats my opinion, mind you i make beds and clean bogs so not the most reliable

Very true. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don’t think I’ve ever had a boss who was stupid. They may have been arrogant, aggressive, unreasonable or plain weird but they’ve all been bright.  

 

The best ones I’ve had are those that started at the bottom. I’ve worked with 2 who started off mending boilers and ended up in charge of contracts worth billions and my current boss started digging holes for water pipe repairs.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ambition alone can take people a long way. I've never been ambitious or materialistic.  In school I dreamt of the weekend and as an adult I do the same. I know plenty of people with their own business or great career that are thick as pigshit but they knew what they wanted to do. My missus in the space of one year has gone from earning less than what I do to almost double! because she read the fucking secret and it made her think the job adverts where an opportunity from the universe, instead of being jobs that have always been there but she never thought she'd have a chance. Thick as shit! I guess motivation can be found in many places.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

Ambition alone can take people a long way. I've never been ambitious or materialistic.  In school I dreamt of the weekend and as an adult I do the same. I know plenty of people with their own business or great career that are thick as pigshit but they knew what they wanted to do. My missus in the space of one year has gone from earning less than what I do to almost double! because she read the fucking secret and it made her think the job adverts where an opportunity from the universe, instead of being jobs that have always been there but she never thought she'd have a chance. Thick as shit! I guess motivation can be found in many places.

Fair play to her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Mudface said:

I work in IT- my last manager but one was a former chef, who treated our calendars like they were Tetris, shoving work in here, there and everywhere without any thought as to whether the dates fitted the projects. He got shoved to one side when he couldn't account for a missing £100K one month to his manager, thank fuck.

 

My current manager is an utter moron. She's barely literate and doesn't know anything about IT, or even managing projects, I have absolutely no idea how she got where she is- our departmental director actually asked her if she'd ever done a project plan before, she's that clueless. Fortunately, she's also a lazy bitch and a coward so rarely gets involved in stuff we do- when she does though, she just causes chaos as she's completely useless.

Casting couch?? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Tj hooker said:

Casting couch?? 

I seriously doubt it... I can only imagine the person who employed her in the first place is just as clueless, but is susceptible to buzzwords. Which is quite a scary thought, as they'd be at director level.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Mudface said:

My current manager is an utter moron. She's barely literate and doesn't know anything about IT, or even managing projects, I have absolutely no idea how she got where she is- our departmental director actually asked her if she'd ever done a project plan before, she's that clueless. Fortunately, she's also a lazy bitch and a coward so rarely gets involved in stuff we do- when she does though, she just causes chaos as she's completely useless.

 

Did you work alongside a chap going by the name Mook by any chance?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share


×
×
  • Create New...