"if it's good news, it must be someone else's"

Friday, December 17, 2010

boss don the communicator

boss don said, the reason i called you into my office crane is to find out why i'm getting a 200 dollar dinner expense report from you to approve.
i said, don't you remember? you told me to take the gang out for christmas.
he said, i meant outside. to get some f'in fresh air. i don't know. look at the company tree all lit up. but not dinner for chrissakes!
i said, well you weren't very clear. "out" usually means for a meal of some sort, and you know what you told me about communication. it's always the responsibility of the sender to make sure the communication is understood by the receiver.
boss don said, yeah! that's right. when the receiver is the boss but not the other way around.
so i said, well how was i suppose to know that?
boss don said, that's exactly why it's your responsibility as receiver of a boss's message to make sure you understand what the hell i'm saying. what do you think? bosses are responsible for everything? you make me sick crane. now get outta here.
so i said, what i heard you say is that i should get out of the office because you got some sort of illness from me and I should go home for the day before i give it to someone else.
and he said, i just meant get out of my office. don't be an a-hole.

i thought, he must be talking about himself, but i pretty much had had my fill of  communication responsibility for one day and didn't feel up to confirming my thought.
so i left his office all communicated up.

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