Does it mean anything when an employee with whom you’re having a serious discussion sits with his arms crossed?You guessed it: the employee in question is the guy from the previous post who is under the mistaken impression that he’s invaluable. I refrained from talking with him about it till I had calmed down, which took several days. However, when we finally did meet, I was under the distinct impression that my concerns were being met with skepticism as to their truth.
I made two points: first, what little heirarchy we have around here needs to be acknowledged, i.e. when you leave the front of the store communicate why to an assistant manager; and second, regardless how we see ourselves, what counts is the perception others have of us. In this case, the perception is that he walks off and hangs out off the floor repeatedly, that he pays lip service to wanting to work lots of hours and then endeavors to get out of most of them, and that critiques of his performance are met with disdain.
Whether any of those is true, the perception is undermining his ability to succeed here. Now it’s down to him, and whether he’ll make the effort to overturn that perception. I hope for his sake that he does.
Filed under: Coffee
