By Elva Weber
In the early 90's, I was hired by a construction product company to become their representative in the western states.
My immediate supervisor at this new company turned out to be an egotistical, self-centered, demanding individual who enjoyed demeaning the sales force by yelling and screaming their shortcomings in front of other employees during sales meetings. The meeting room door was always left open so other people in the office would hear his ranting. He was not feared. He was not respected.
My first meeting I asked for a copy of the agenda and he just glared at me. He said his meetings required no agenda because it would take too much time and he had better things to do.
My first assignment was to mirror him during sales calls so I would learn how the company worked, and how to use my time more efficiently. I’m sure he was not happy to be the one who would teach a new recruit how to represent what he considered his products.
One morning he demanded I meet him at a designated address in the city to meet the architects and interior designers at the University. I agreed;we walked through the parking lot to the offices where we were to meet these very important people, who would be happy to invite us into their midst to talk about product.
A receptionist met us in the lobby and asked to identify ourselves for security reasons because they were not amenable to receiving solicitors. After a few minutes of back and forth questions and answers, front the back room, we hear a loud voice announcing, “Is she here?” “Hey, come on back, we haven’t seen you since you changed companies.”
The supervisor was not happy I had just foiled his attempts of looking important. The architects and designers at this University had been my contacts for several years and had followed my advice frequently by specifying products I represented. He was unhappy to learn he was not as well known as I, at the time.
We had a fruitful meeting, where they offered us coffee and cakes and I was able to reacquaint myself with them. All their questions were directed at me instead of the supervisor and that didn’t make him happy.
After the meeting, on our way back to our vehicles, he was very quiet as his face became redder by the minute. I’m sure he was at the verge of cardiac failure and accused me of planning this meeting to make him look bad in front of his clients. I reminded him I had nothing to do with arranging the meeting. I didn’t agree or disagree with him, just got in my car and left him there seething.
After returning to the office I was told his day had not gone well; after our meeting, he had found a flat tire and could not get help from the automobile club because his wife had not paid the current dues; he was forced to change the tire himself. Later, he missed a lunch appointment, his credit card was maxed out and he was not as presentable because of the tire change. How the world turns.
Life at this company became a bit difficult for many people because of this supervisor frequent outburst and tyrannical modes of managing people. The upper management refused to re-assign him to another branch or another position because of the longevity he enjoyed with the company, and eventually most of the good employees moved on to competing firms, including me.
I was most happy to hear he retired to Arizona to play golf; another tyrannical, loud mouthed individual bites the dust.
The end