I know I’ve been MIA lately.  We’re so busy at work that I’ve been putting in way too many hours and completely missing any semblance of a personal life.  We have more than a handful of large projects going on while we’re still trying to solidify a reorganization from January, train staff on a myriad of systems they’ve never seen and never worked with but now have to support, try to support five very different infrastructures while calling ourselves “integrated” and survive a hiring freeze and sudden tightening of the financial belt — all without disrupting business operations, something that really isn’t working too well at the moment.

My boss’ boss held a conference call with all of us a few weeks ago to try and help.  He failed miserably.  His idea of help was to shoot morale right between the eyes.  He provided absolutely no guidance or answers outside of essentially telling us that we’re doing a bad job and that he’d get rid of us if we didn’t shape up (“if it’s bad for the company, it’s bad for the employee” was the way he put it).

For a man who’s so out of touch with what the hell is going on, he sure thinks he’s in charge.  He may have the authority, but he has no clue.

Typical business, I know, as it requires de-learning to move up in management.  It simply amazes me, however, that, knowing the strain we’re under and how ready the employees are to walk, he at no point tried to hide the fact that the phone call was to take us to task and to put his foot down.  Most of the conversation was meaningless gibberish and management double talk.  He tossed out a few complimentary kudos then promptly squelched any joy from that experience by smacking us all around and treating us like insignificant nothings.

Even he said that one complaint can destroy a hundred “atta boys” — and he proved it right there on the call by giving a few compliments before he pulled out the knife and began, one by one, stabbing us all in the front (I’d say back but he did it directly to our faces).

Suffice it to say that at least two people have left the company since then and I know many more are looking to get the hell out of Dodge as soon as they can.

I certainly can’t blame them.