Quality Management...the New Joke

When you see a typical ad for a manager position, you see words like:

Oversee operations

Mentor team members

Implement efficient and effective practices

Supervise employees

Facilitate customer relations

All of these carry with them a certain amount of importance, give off the ambiance of professionalism. Some of these words are used for any type of management position, whether you are a manager at a prestigious accounting firm or you are just trying to get your foot in the door at the local Wal-Mart or McDonald’s.

Of course, how a job is presented on paper and the way it really is can be two different things.

Just like, the initial person applying for said job and the way this person acts once he has the job can be different as well.

It’s like a first date. A person wants to put his best foot forward. Of course, he’s not going to admit that he thinks recreational use of marijuana is not only okay but should be permitted at work. He’s not going to admit he only likes the title of manager, not the responsibility that goes with it.

Living in New Jersey has been such an eye opener for me.

Not just because of being in between PA and NY. Not just because of having someone pump your gas for you or having to worry about fines if your grass is slightly too high on the property.

It’s just because of the sense of entitlement that some people have, particularly the younger age group. I’m not saying other places do not experience this; I can only speak on what I’ve experienced here.

I can understand parents wanting to give their children the things they did without.

However, I think a lot of these kids are so spoiled. They pitch a hizzy fit when they can’t get the latest video game when it comes out. Or the updated version of a video console. And don’t let them not get the car they wanted; they wanted a BMW but got a Toyota instead; believe me, WWIII is about to go down!

No, it’s not Jersey Shore. It’s reality (and not via TV, either).

Some of these kids work not because they necessarily have to. In some cases, the parents are starting to tighten the hold on the wallet. In other cases, they are just looking for something to do. So they treat work like it’s another extracurricular activity (like drama club, math club, band).

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I don’t find anything wrong with that if you’re not given a whole lot of responsibility. If you’re the low person on the totem pole.

However, in way too many cases, I have seen well qualified people get turned down by the person who just wants to have fun and make spending money.

There are people out there with strong managerial experience. People who have run their own stores and businesses. However, because of the economy and their unemployment running out, they have to apply for jobs in which they are overqualified for or they know the organization won’t be able to pay them what they are truly worth.

Some get rejected (they get the whole “overqualified” or found someone “who better fits the mold of the company”) for the guy who not too long ago graduated from high school...
It can be a bit disheartening.

This is not about a critical eye on the younger generation, even though this may be what it feels like.

This is about young people who are put in positions of power who either abuse power or don’t know what they are doing. I have a problem with people getting put in charge of other people, finances, day-to-day operations of a place when they lack common sense and people sense.

I’m not taking anything away from book sense. I am the first one that will say get your education. I’m a first generation college student. I take pride in the knowledge I’ve obtained.

But once has to have common sense, too. One has to ascertain how to interact with people. You can’t read about all that in books because I guarantee, there will always be at least one scenario the book did not cover. Then, you have to use your own resources as back up.

There’s this one guy in particular. I am not sure how he got his job as a manager. I can’t pretend to know how that place works. However, my interactions with him lead me to believe he is the village idiot. I don’t care whether he does those things for entertainment purposes, shock value….whatever, I still find the stuff annoying.

He is one of those guys who wants to joke and be friends with the crew. He says off the collar stuff that only he and some guy he went to school with or his roommates would understand. In his ideal world, every employee would want that type of interaction.

But I’m not every employee.

I’m not one to mix the two worlds. I don’t want to interact with every person I work with outside the workplace. There are some people’s personalities that clash with mine so I don’t even try to force it.

He has one of those personalities that just rubs me the wrong way. His whole demeanor makes me uneasy. He talks too much and asks entirely too many questions of me that has nothing to do with my job. I don’t want to get personal with him; I don’t see the need, and I definitely don’t have the desire.

He doesn’t take hints too well, either.

Unless it’s something related to the job, when he starts talking, I walk away or busy myself with things I need to do (even something as mundane as reorganizing the book and magazine rack).

When he asks me a stupid question, I offer no comment. I give the silent treatment to bumfoolery. Yet, even in the awkward silence, he is still talking.

Knowing I’m not a party animal (after his probing of what I do when I leave work…when I finally told him, “I just sleep”), he still randomly asks me if I want to hang out with him; every time I refuse.

And it’s not just his personality, either. It’s his overall work ethic.

There have been times when I have finished my other work, but it takes him anywhere from 10-30 minutes to collect my money. If he would have collected my money earlier, I would have been leaving 10-30 minutes earlier. It would be different if I didn’t have my day assignment, but I could have been back at the apartment trying to get some sleep. He’s the only manager I have this problem with during closing.

I just don’t like him.

The sad part is that he’s one of these guys that’s been with the company for a few years, so they will deal with his stupidity rather than go through the cost and aggravation of getting someone else.

I don’t want his job; I just want him to do it better.

And if he can’t do it better, at least stop trying to be big buddies with me. I’m not interested and if his social skills and common sense radars weren’t jacked up or non-existent, he would have already picked up on that by now. Just leave me alone, let me do my thing so I can go. Don’t interrupt a simple flow with all of your mindless yapping and stupid shenanigans.

I just want to be stuck closing with him a LOT LESS.

I’d rather take the main boss, even though the main boss can be overbearing (a bit too overzealous if overseeing), at least he gets me out at a decent hour. He can talk and do his work at the same time efficiently.

It has been a challenge since my schedule was changed. Normally I would do this job Friday-Sunday. But a couple of weeks ago, one of the other guys started school, so two days he would normally work, I’m now covering. So now, I’m doing Mondays and Wednesdays consistently.

Advantage is I’m not doing Saturdays, but the disadvantage is that on Mondays and Wednesdays, I’m not getting home until after 11pm and having to come to the day assignment the following day. At least Friday going into Saturday, I didn’t have this problem.

I’m feeling more exhausted now than before. I’ve been taking vitamins but it doesn’t seem to be helping a whole lot. I guess they are keeping me from falling asleep at the day assignment and the night assignment.

I am already starting the process of getting my resume revamped to send back out. The day assignment ends first week of December. I will let the temp agency know I will need more work to do, but I can’t hold my breath waiting on them. With the economy being as tough as it is now, there’s a lot of demand but lack of supply with assignments, particularly with longer term assignments.

That is what I need. This is the longest assignment I’ve been on. There was another one I was on for two weeks, and the one before that was supposed to be a month and a half. However that one was cut short when my grandfather passed away.

Each day is a juggling act. I just have to keep finding ways to avoid dropping the ball.

Peace.