Lissa 3m 828 #business
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
I worked for a short while at a large company. My new job was to manage several projects that were focused on keeping the company financially viable through the implementation of new systems and policy changes. I was a Business Accounting Administrator.
I loved my job despite the ever growing demand for new ideas and the stress related to increasing the company’s bottom line. I had many employees under me that were great people and worked hard. The problem was, besides the regular stress, that the upper management would occasionally send someone to work with the team that was less than capable of doing the job.
Some of the latter were just incapable of grasping the larger picture of this type of work. The larger picture included, trying to think outside the box of the traditional process norms. For example working past quitting time for a few minutes to accomplish certain tasks.
Though this was not something we did often, it was occasionally necessary and always a problem. Another thing that became evident was they lacked the imagination to do things like pick up a phone and call IT themselves. This led to finding that projects would be delayed because “The computer is down.”
When asked if they called the nice people that help us when things break, the answer was most often, “that isn’t in my job description or I don’t get paid enough.” Though I pressed them to explain, they would shy away from any meaningful response.
As you can imagine, the amount of time and money wasted on waiting for someone else to do their job was frustrating to all. Little did I know what I was in for when I walked the 500 or so feet to the company’s IT department. That’s right, I walked and didn’t call, can you imagine the effort it must have taken me. Sarcasm aside, I walked in and sat down by the head IT guru at his desk and asked him if there was a problem such that my people were avoiding calling down there.
The response was, “No, I have no idea what their damned issue is.” Then it hit me. His breath hit me that is. It was fairly obvious that the gentleman had been drinking and heavily. I asked him if he could come with me to talk with my people for a few minutes so they have a face to put with the voice on the phone.
He denied to comply with my request in a manner that was not just rude but included many profane expletives. I really just wanted to see if he could stand up without falling over. He declined, saying that he was too busy.
I immediately went to talk with my superior and ask if they were aware of this situation with the Intoxicated Technology guru. My superior, told me, and I quote, “He’s the best guy we got, I don’t care what his personal issues are and neither should you.”
I was shocked to say the least. I responded, that his “Personal issues” were interrupting the processes deemed vital to keeping the company in profits.”
His response to that was, as long as he wasn’t openly drinking on the job, he didn’t care. I was furious. I spoke with several managers and admin throughout the next week. I asked leading questions and let them tell me what they felt comfortable with. Most had no idea or they knew but didn’t want to talk about it. The Human Resources Director all but kicked me out of her office.
I was hitting brick walls in every direction. Besides the fact that this guy was drinking heavily on the job and driving home after work, he was killing my projects. I tried many times to reach out to this guy on a personal level in hopes that he would get help. I even asked if he would consider a treatment program if someone else paid for it. He refused angrily, time and again.
Apparently the company’s best was not so good after all. I was left with what I do best, I had to think outside the box. I started making sure that after he left there was an empty liquor bottle in his office. First in the trash can and after a couple days without a peep from anyone, it would be on his desk or in his chair. Nothing, no one cared or noticed. I was left with no option.
I notified the authorities and asked if they might be interested in watching this guy stagger to his vehicle after work. Though I felt bad for the guy, he needed help and so did I. The last time I saw him, he was being hauled off. It was likely the best process solution to ever come to that company. I wish I could tell that you he got help but I have no idea. I left the job soon after.
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