That’s the opening line of an e-mail I received from a friend.
The message continued:
“On Friday our department went out to celebrate two colleagues’ birthdays. Management thinks that treating people poorly is completely canceled out by occasional lunches — which we each have to pay for. A half-hour before we left for the restaurant, the department head held a staff meeting. We all gathered in the conference room and she began to cry as she told us she had just figured out that she is a terrible manager and that we all hate her! This announcement was met with silent stares until the weakest among us felt compelled to say something comforting. And then we all went to lunch.”
Sometimes poor working conditions are caused by personality problems of bosses, as well as co-workers, despite a decent organizational culture.
As my friend commented about being in this Dilbert-like situation: “Retirement cannot come a moment too soon.”