In all my years of working, I can honestly say I have never been yelled at by a boss. Until March 24, 2015 that is. That date is emblazoned on my brain. It is an experience that I will never forget, although apologies have been made and accepted, and even a little monetary compensation changed hands after the whole thing was over.
Let me start by saying that I do not believe I have ever been yelled at, truly yelled at, since I was in high school. We had a Math teacher named Sr. Catherine who literally yelled at us while we were at the blackboard working out problems. Once one becomes an adult, however, one does not expect someone to yell at one. That all changed for me last year. I accepted a job as an accountant at a company, well, actually three companies, owned by one man and his son. I'll tell that story another time, the one about how I got this job. I think I'll entitle it Listening to You Gut. Anyway...
Not long into this job, my boss, whose office is right next to mine, had a knock-down-drag-out with one of his employees, an event planner. They're both pretty vocal and vociferous, and boy, did they get into it. He was yelling at her and she was yelling back and it was just one big messy meltdown. Sometime after it ended, he came in and apologized to me. Since I was still new, I figure he was embarrassed by the impression I now had of him. He need not have apologized. Once I witness someone doing something like that, it's hard to erase the memory. She (the employee) also came by later and apologized. Those apologies made me squirm.
Months went by and little by little I began to see what kind of hothead this guy is. He fusses at the drop of a hat. He jumps the gun. He blames people. He is always trying to find someone to blame for something. He seems to thrive on that. But again, more on that later. The result of his behavior was to make me wonder when the other shoe would drop; when would it be my turn?
Back in March he came up with some convoluted, serpentine plan to get paid by a contract worker who owed him some money, before paying the worker for something he owed. The plan involved my participation. Long story short, other people were involved as well, involved in some dealings that should have just been between the two men. Each person involved (except for the two principals) messed up in some way, including me. Well, Boss Man realizes this when he's on a little morning business trip to a city about ninety minutes away, and he calls me. He is royally pissed and he lets me know that when he gets back to the office after lunch, he will let us all have it. I took some consolation in the fact that I was not alone in this.
He did get back and he called us into his office and left the door wide open. He started asking questions and he really did lose it. He yelled, louder than I have ever heard anyone else yell in my life. He yelled at his son. He yelled at me. He yelled at a couple other people. And all over some trivial matter that, as I said, should have been handled by him and his contract worker. Later, that same afternoon, he was all smiles and he came in to apologize to me. He apologized to everyone. The next morning he apologized again. A few days later he and his son came in and presented me with a nice little check in appreciation for all my hard work. That meant something, but I will never forget the verbal abuse I received earlier that week.
Have you ever been yelled at by a boss or coworker? Three months have passed since that incident, but it is never far from my mind. This job has many advantages: a four-minute commute from home, health insurance that is paid for 100% by my employer, and I get to be around pretty things. But it all comes with a price.
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