Office Tyrants in "Critical Positions"
johnnyBravo
57 Posts
I saw an artilce in the WSJ today about people who aren't bosses, but have positions in the company where they can make their co-workers miserable.
The article gave the example of those who are in charge of disseminating office supplies. There was one such employee who basically kept a strict records of the last time any co-worker asked fhim or a pen or paper clips, etc. and wanted proof that co-workers really "needed" the supply.
It also talked about those who approve travel/expense reports--an employee explained how they got on the bad side of a person in charge of approving these, who would red flag everything on his expense reports, such as not having receipts for valet parking tips). The employee called her the "travel baroness" who slowed down his reimbursment as long as possible, while he paid interest on his credit card.
(It reminds me of a Dilbert comic where a co-worker who assigned codes for charging project expenses told Dilbert he refused to assign him a code because he hated Dilbert's project, despite Dilbert's protest that his opinion of the project was besides the point.)
I've been pretty fortunate, but I know of co-workers who have had run-ins with such 'tyrants'. Does anyone else have similar experiences? Does your company have that one employee whom everyone dreads to approach, but who holds a position where co-workers basically inevitabley have to deal with them?
Comments
I do think there are people like this in just about every company and they should be told they are in support positions and, just like a rude waitress, they'll lose their job if it persists. I have no one like that right now, but I think that is because the aforementioned approach is my approach.