Thursday, January 18, 2007

Well, this week has been fun at work. Yesterday, I got called into the office of the two Assistant VP's who run our division to get my ass chewed for my "protest" on Saturday. As I walked towards his office I ran through my mind all the possible lines and diversions I could give to this much anticipated disciplinary session.

"I was just trying to bring some humor to a tense situation; whatever do you mean 'protest'?"

"I knew some people weren't happy with being there, I was just turning it into a joke, what do you mean defying your authority?"

But, no; I grabbed my balls and owned up to it. Through the course of our almost 30 minuet session I laid out exactly how I, and many people on the floor, were not happy with having a mandatory meeting as part of a 3-day weekend, how working conditions have eroded over the past year and how those conditions have contributed to the general poor mood on the floor.

As our "conversation" continued I marveled at the shade of crimson in face across from me and kept time by the beating of the vein in his forehead. There was actual conversation through all of this and a sharing of viewpoints; still it was an ass chewing session and that is what happened. I left his office and was later brought into my immediate manager's office for the paperwork; it turned out as no more than a verbal warning about violating company dress code. My manager laughed as I leaned back in relief; I had expected a day off or something, so this was a relief.

Am I sorry I did what I did on Saturday? No. Do I think it made management stop and think about their "management style"? No. Do I think what I did made a difference? To "them.....No. But at least the rest of the grunts on the floor like me know that someone has the nerve to put some voice to their frustration. I'm feeling more and more like Kevin Spacey's character in "American Beauty"; "I'm just a little guy with nothing to lose."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Little guy, huh?

All in all, I'm impressed you had the cajones not to make likght of it and go with what was on your mind.

But don't tell anyone I'm giving you kudos.

It might spread like that rash of yours....

Anonymous said...

Thank you Jack, for all us blue collar workers who take way to much shit for the bigger turds.

And what galls me is that they all use to be the little shits before they really began to stink.

Go Jack!!