I worked as a small elite unit in a world leading airline, team of about 5 poeple that went down to basically 1 ( after I was finally labelled as "difficult to work with" - ( I actually was always quiet calm friendly used to working in critical teams and worked basically close to 12 hour days.
Eventually a deadline was missed and "someone had to be blamed".
Having worked in countless companies I was ready for this and calm, basically fine with it, just kept working hard.
But I always remember of this one "middle manager" product lead or something, was constantly interrupting people, sitting with them, walking through what they were doing, following them, and eventually made a private accusation that I was "insulting other members of the team". ( I was basically silo'd knew no one, and also knew better than to criticise anyone). Stay with me...
I got chewed out by a seemingly random , mild mannered usually polite manager who never had a problem with me, infront of a few people ( I didnt say anything - instinctively I just knew this mean I was about to be let go, nothing I would say would help, and tensions were high due to deadlines ), accused of being troublesome etc. I calmly said I didnt know what he was stating, he calmed down and left.
Then I was "released from my contract".
As a consultant I don't get upset by these things, I am fine with it, I work as hard as I can and when the contract is over I leave.
However I will never forget how the one man, who never actually did any work, who interrupted everyone, and who made these accusations, was basically doing everything he could do "seem like he had a job".
He was infact, not quite the "hardworking and stupid". My only amendment that perhaps he was a special version of this, the "hardworking and unethical".
Only ever saw that once in nearly 2 decades of working but Im sure there were many more I didnt pick up on,
He stayed on, causing trouble, disrupting etc, and I always realised its because he kept a close profile to his superior, who had no eyes on the ground, and blindly trusted him due to an overload of work.
EDIT > Sorry I want to emphasise the main take away in my rant, is that the polite quiet well meaning, happy, working, well adjusted polite english gentleman behind me who was in management was suddenly shouting at me in front of others because he felt shocked at the accusation that I was a bad person, obviously which mean I deserved a dressing down, stood up and just starting shouting at me. This was a calm, relatively intelligent person, with his things in order, not affiliated with my project. Yet he just assumed an email chain from management around him, possibly with a very accusatory snippet from the trouble maker, was enough to convince him to act unprofessional and give me the dressing down. If anyone would have got into trouble or sued, it would have been this well meaning "smart" individual. That was my other main point.
In the end, there were no moves I could have made, but it was incredibly surprising how many poeple were easily manipulated into being unprofessional etc because of false information coming from their tier / one tier up. Whole narratives painted. It was quite interesting. Eventually that individual must have been let go, but what a desperate, unethical way to live.
> However I will never forget how the one man, who never actually did any work, who interrupted everyone, and who made these accusations, was basically doing everything he could do "seem like he had a job".
Judging from your description, you could actually be a threat to his position. So that might be a preemptive strike.
I had not even thought of that! I did accidentally after a 10 hour day - slip for for half a second and said "what!?!?" it was less than a second and I was half way through leaving - it was after working hours, it was a big, complex question and interrupted my flow brashly, I didnt even realise I had said it in the wrong tone and that other poeple may have heard it. I immediately did my best to answer the question, but that slight slip up must have made him feel embarrased and under threat. I remember it now. To be fair it was after work, the wrong moment and really an interruption, when a calm "can we discuss this at one point" was expected in that env.
A lot of people in management also have imposter syndrome which makes anyone under them that appears competent seem like a danger to them.
While doing a contract and consulting I've ran into this, but nothing like my wife in her career.
First corporate job as webdev/design, had her boss get fired for embezzlement of about quarter of a mil. Bosses after that kinda sucked so she left.
Second job (marketing manager/design) was fine for a while, until her great boss left and they replaced her with a sketchy character. I listened in on a number of her meetings and we came to the conclusion that he wanted to bring in a contracting group that was going to give him kickbacks. This guy seemed highly threatened by her. She found another job and within 6 months that guy was fired and the people that still worked there didn't know the exact details but there were hush hush whispers of fraud.
Third job (sr marketing manager) was fine with the first boss over her. But as always, that person found an even better paying position and left. Next director had an issue with taking other people's work and calling it her own. Wife did something unintentionally to embarrass the director in a meeting when the director had taken my wife's work and put her name on it and upper level management saw it. A few days later my wife was put on a PIP by her manager the director even though she had got outstanding remarks on the last quarter review that had ended a month before. Needless to say she did the following. Went and got a better job (director level now) but didn't tell them that. Then went to HR and filed a complaint over the PIP and ethics violations. After some back and forth it ended up with her leaving with a severance.
Really everything I've seen in management as you go up higher in the food chain is that it seems everyone is willing to, and expects others to knife them in the back in a lot of companies.
Another wild, unsubstantiated guess... The reason for him interrupting others, might be the stress caused by not understanding what's being said, but having to hold the professional image
...the polite quiet well meaning, happy, working, well adjusted polite English gentleman...
You need to watch out for those, speaking as one myself. We did run an empire once and not by being nice. Have a look at George Orwell's short pieces set in Burmah (now Myanmar).
I've noticed a strong trend that newly hired managers suffer from imposter syndrome more than anyone else. Rocking the boat, lighting fires, picking fights with their reports or people outside the team - these are common symptoms.
I am in my mid forties. I have always walked away the moment I have been yelled at any job. Each time I have done this I had zero dollars in the bank. That is a privilege I give to my family, and they don't even use it. If it is a big organization walk straight to HR or go home and call a lawyer.
I also agree it’s o er the line. However what I do is I leave “on my
Own terms” as a form of victory. I will make that the moment I mentally decide to leave but I let myself choose the timing as much as possible as a form of not letting my environment affect me. Not sure if that makes sense
Eventually a deadline was missed and "someone had to be blamed".
Having worked in countless companies I was ready for this and calm, basically fine with it, just kept working hard.
But I always remember of this one "middle manager" product lead or something, was constantly interrupting people, sitting with them, walking through what they were doing, following them, and eventually made a private accusation that I was "insulting other members of the team". ( I was basically silo'd knew no one, and also knew better than to criticise anyone). Stay with me...
I got chewed out by a seemingly random , mild mannered usually polite manager who never had a problem with me, infront of a few people ( I didnt say anything - instinctively I just knew this mean I was about to be let go, nothing I would say would help, and tensions were high due to deadlines ), accused of being troublesome etc. I calmly said I didnt know what he was stating, he calmed down and left.
Then I was "released from my contract".
As a consultant I don't get upset by these things, I am fine with it, I work as hard as I can and when the contract is over I leave.
However I will never forget how the one man, who never actually did any work, who interrupted everyone, and who made these accusations, was basically doing everything he could do "seem like he had a job".
He was infact, not quite the "hardworking and stupid". My only amendment that perhaps he was a special version of this, the "hardworking and unethical".
Only ever saw that once in nearly 2 decades of working but Im sure there were many more I didnt pick up on,
He stayed on, causing trouble, disrupting etc, and I always realised its because he kept a close profile to his superior, who had no eyes on the ground, and blindly trusted him due to an overload of work.
EDIT > Sorry I want to emphasise the main take away in my rant, is that the polite quiet well meaning, happy, working, well adjusted polite english gentleman behind me who was in management was suddenly shouting at me in front of others because he felt shocked at the accusation that I was a bad person, obviously which mean I deserved a dressing down, stood up and just starting shouting at me. This was a calm, relatively intelligent person, with his things in order, not affiliated with my project. Yet he just assumed an email chain from management around him, possibly with a very accusatory snippet from the trouble maker, was enough to convince him to act unprofessional and give me the dressing down. If anyone would have got into trouble or sued, it would have been this well meaning "smart" individual. That was my other main point.
In the end, there were no moves I could have made, but it was incredibly surprising how many poeple were easily manipulated into being unprofessional etc because of false information coming from their tier / one tier up. Whole narratives painted. It was quite interesting. Eventually that individual must have been let go, but what a desperate, unethical way to live.