I didn’t want to quibble with him, so I said nothing.
I had the shock of my life last week when an email I replied, an email solicited by my boss, was rudely answered without so much as a “by-your-leave”. If he wanted to assfuck me, he should’ve had the decency to ask nicely. But he didn’t, and I was left feeling raw and enraged. My fingers twitched and I was dying to reply, but I held back.
It was a matter of simple, practical logic. Let’s put it in more concrete terms: the warranty for the contents of your safe deposit box will take effect if 1) the safe box was guarded at all times, and 2) if the safe box was properly locked and secured.
Now, the situation is: the safe box got stolen. The whole thing. It was then recovered and the safe box was found cracked open and the contents stolen. My boss insists that the focus should be on whether the safe box was properly secured with a padlock or not.
I’m saying, why focus on the fricking padlock when we should focus on whether the safe box itself was secured against thieves? And the very fact it was stolen means the situation is in violation of condition (1), which must be the case simultaneously with condition (2) if the warranty on the contents is to kick in.
Secondly, he’s ignoring the fact that the safe box was stolen, and not cracked open in situ. To then say, after the safe box was recovered, that the warranty depended on whether the safe box was secured or not is just plain stupid, idiotic and moronic: it would mean that he is forced, logically, to hold that if the whole safe box was stolen and not recovered, he doesn’t know if the contents were stolen, because he will have to know if the safe box was locked properly or not. It’s a fucking safe box for chrissakes, even a pair of pliers are enough to cut it open!
See the stupidity?
A day after his scathing email, a senior manager replied to his email outlining the same damn argument I had set forth, which was then accepted as the final say in the matter. My boss’s opening line to me was “You clearly do not grasp or understand the issues at hand”.
Hah?
I wish Ed were here, he’d have fun reducing my boss’s stupid position to absurdity. I was made to look stupid to the whole office, but thankfully that ignominy lasted only a day. Before that senior manager had his say, I went up to him, explaining my position and he had an expression of disinterest. When I finished explaining, I asked him if he say my point, and he put on his Made In China smile and said “No”.
A clear WTF moment.
OK, so I hated the way he replied, but after 4 years of taking abuse in uni in the harshest department where they train you to argue, I could take it. Fuck, I could even take it if he called me an asshat midget with shit for brains to my face. What I couldn’t take was stupidity, and dismissing what you have to say.
Which just goes to show how much I hate “experienced” guys and “grand-daddies” who don’t give your ideas or thoughts the time of day because, according to them, you aren’t old enough to think things through. Eh? Since when were the validity of arguments based on how much white you have in your hair?
I have much respect for experience, but I have even more respect for experienced what-nots who take the time to discuss rather than dismiss.
Dammit!
