I say “dudes,” dudes, because I have noticed that, far from fading away, the use of surfer lingo in middle-aged business executives is flourishing. You haven’t really lived until you’ve seen a guy in a $2000 pinstripe, $500 wing tips and one hair artfully arranged on his shiny head say, “Dude, awesome weekend.”
My favorite comment of the day comes from M. Smith of Colber, Georgia (unless she’s M. Smith Colber, of Georgia), who reminds us that, behind all the headlines, all the business manuals, all the economic analyses of this supposedly rational sub-strata of society, organizational life continues in its eternal dance of madness and complaint. She writes:
Wow, are you sure you’re not in Georgia? My boss takes the cake on bullying. I have gone home crying so many times that it is pityful. My boss can take you into her office and make you feel like dirt and then come out smiling and telling everyone that you are the best thing ever. She is insane. She picks on people for stupid little things that don’t even matter. She is a principal and she has 3 spies or like I call them (pawns) that run around and get all the dirt they can on people and run back and tell her just to get things started. There noses are so brown they look chocolate covered. She would never believe anyone over them, even people who have worked there for 30 years. She has a new lil spy now who she is treating like gold for this year. Just wait till next year and she will be in the same boat as everyone else. I’m just glad I found the articles on corporate psychopaths and now I know how to deal with her.
I’d be interested to know how M. plans to “deal with her.” And I’m hoping that our ongoing discussion of Crazy Bosses, and the requisite purchase of my book on the subject, helps smooth her way.
Beyond that, I’ll just say so long for now. I’ve got a lot on tap today. A subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary of ours has a product coming out of China that may have a few wrinkles to iron out. I can’t be more revealing than that, except to say that I have every confidence that our Chinese suppliers have operated with nothing but the most rigorous integrity in the matter.
Have a good day, dudes!
