Management Job Available

Business has been going well. We have added three people to the staff in the last few months. Two professionals and an engineer. The optimistic side of me says business is growing and with three new people, revenues should increase. The pessimistic side says I hope to g_d we have enough work to keep them busy.

In hiring, I discriminate in favor of women. They work hard, and they tend to stick around. Men are often in the uneviable position of having to support too many family and extended family members. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents,etc. are all on the dole of the more successful male family member, and men will leave you for an extra $15 per month if someone is willing to pay it. My girls finally spoke up: We want a few more men. So I hired one. We'll see how long he stays.

The upside of the Chinese is that they generally don't complain much. This is also the downside. If something is not going well, they will leave rather than bring it up. In our group we have one gal who is willing to lighten her load and everyone elses. It is a good thing to have the opportunity to divert disaster. On the other hand, once you are aware of a problem, you are compelled to act.

With all the new hires, I was a bit behind in taking the newbies out to dinner. Our token male hasn't started yet, so I took the women out. And I got an earful.

Our employees take themselves and their jobs seriously. They signed on to be professionals and other than some fairly flagrant dresscode violations, they are. Accordingly, they expect to be treated professionally.

A colleague has been using the staff for personal arrangements. To some degree, we rely on them for things we cannot do ourselves. Landlords, workmen, repairmen, drivers and the like do not often speak English. We frequently rely upon our employees for survival and convenience, but there are limits and there is a pale, and this colleague has placed himself beyond those limits and outside the pale.

In addition to these infringements, he has managed to isolate the professional staff by firmly planting himself between the professionals and our clients and taking credit for their accomplishments. Our professionals have independently managed their own workloads for years. When they are instructed to refrain from client contact but to continue to do all the work, it doesn't sit well.

I am happy to say I have been completely unaware of these issues for months. Now this is my problem, and I'm pissed.