A Letter to Managers, All Managers, Concerning Threats (warning: some words used are not profanity)

Abandon All Hope
Chiggie Von Richthofen's picture

This was supposed to be funny, but I got to writing it, and it's not. It's a vent, a big one. So, if you're looking for a laugh (and who isn't) maybe give this one a pass and I'll try to get another one in the works that isn't so close to home. I think most of you get that these letters are a goof, but this one kind of got away from me.

If you're fed up and are wondering if there's anyone a little more pissed off than you in the world. Here you go. I give you an actual rant.

Dear Fat Idiot That Has Wasted His Life And Now Thinks I'm Going To Let Him Waste Mine,

I've noticed lately in our meetings and our phone calls, and just in general conversation, that, well, you don't seem to know what the f*ck you're talking about. Ever. It took me a while to pick up on this because, when you first arrived here as our Director, we didn't really talk much. Therefore, it wasn't until our first conversation that I realized that you were a big ol' useless sack stuffed with about as much bullsh*t that I've ever seen in one place at one time. Still, you were a manager with absolutely no background in what our department does, and then were put in charge of it, so I wasn't really expecting more than you. You meaning a dumb sack of sh*t.

Anyway, I've notice that you and I haven't really been seeing eye-to-eye lately so I decided to make you a list of "No-No's" for you. Just things to avoid in our professional discourse.

1) Don't ever think I owe you a f*cking thing in this lifetime or the next you arrogant, numb-nuts, asshole. Did you save me from a rushing river? Did you help me with my rent one month? Did you lie to the principal to keep me out of trouble when I was 12? No.

You are just my manager. And, what does that mean to me? f*ck. All.

2) Don't condescendingly describe parts of my job I've been doing for three and a half years when you've only been here nine months. "Do you know what the after hours number is for? It's so people can get in touch with us after hours." Really? Do you know what keeping you goddamned mouth shut is for? Because you're about to find out.

Don't come over to me when you see me busting my ass for hours and then ask some asinine rhetorical question. You don't have to prove to me that you're a total douche bag. I figured that out a while ago so let's just cut out this wooing sh*t you seem to be doing and get down to what the f*ck you want or get the f*ck out of my face.

3) Don't send errand boys to threaten my job. If you want to tell me to clean out my desk you do it to my face or I'm going to assume that every single threat that comes out of their mouths is void. In fact. Don't threaten me period. If you have a problem with the way I do things then tell me or give me a pink slip.

I know why you don't do that. It's because you can't figure out half the sh*t we do without me, because everyone else quit when YOU showed up. So how's about you just back the hell off and admit you wouldn't even know what questions to ask if you were trying to figure out what it is that I do for a living.

4) And while we're on the subject, don't act like you are part of some happy family when you won't even take the time to familiarize yourself with our work. You're supposed to be the one selling this sh*t out on the open market and you don't even know what it does.

You have a little booklet we made for you and if the question isn't answered in your book, then you pretty much just stand there like a jackass caught in headlights. So don't come down to me and try to tell me why we're losing money. I'm looking at the reason, and it smells like Wild Turkey, Marlboro Lights, and sweat.

5) This one is important, because this one is the reason I almost dump hot coffee in your face on a daily basis. Don't say our CTO's name like it means anything. My name doesn't mean anything. I can't say my name downstairs and expect people to work harder. So why should his?

What you're telling me is that this guy; this beady eyed, greedy, leech that pretends to run this company is more important than I am. I'm sorry but he's not. I'm not a f*cking indentured servant. I'm not a serf on some inbred lord's plot of land. I work because I want to feed my family and because I want them to be as comfortable as possible, which means, I work for money. If that evil bastard is hit by a truck tomorrow my paycheck still gets here on time so don't drop his name and expect me to jump. It makes me sick with hate when I see in your eyes that you think his, or your name means a damn thing, to anyone.

That's all I've got for right now, but I think this will be a good base for future conversations.

One thing I feel I should clarify, though, is that I don't hate you just because you're my boss. Everyone "hates" their boss. No one likes being told what to do. But, with you it's different, you see, because I don't hate you just because you're my boss.

I hate you, because of you. I just hate you. I hate the way you smile when you know you are swindling people who work hard and don't know any better. I hate the way you act all offended when you think something bad has happened but you aren't smart enough to understand if it did or not. I hate your bullsh*t excuses for not doing your job right before you accuse me of not doing mine. I hate how you brought in an old employee so you could force me out because you thought he knew more than me, and he didn't. I hate how you try to convince me that comp days are more valuable than overtime because you assume I can't multiply even though my job requires it.

I could go on but what's the point? Listing your faults is like trying to describe each blade of grass in my front lawn. After a while you just write "Green, Long, Ants" and move on to something else.

I do want to plant this little seed of thought in your head, though. You like to throw your weight around and snap of threats like it's no big deal, but when you threaten my job, you aren't threatening my job. You're threatening me. You're threatening my wife and my dog and my house and my car and my entire livelihood.

Pretend you are in my house, and it's dark, and you threaten my wife. What happens?

They say a better man turns the other cheek, let's bygones be bygones, and has the integrity to walk away. Well it takes two men for that to work. That better man has to walk away from someone. Someone who has a temper, who holds a grudge, who makes quick judgments and jumps to rash conclusions. Someone who doesn't like it when he's shoved and sure as hell doesn't like taking sh*t off some middle aged walking heart attack.

Look at me. Do I look like someone who loves the idea of turning either of my cheeks anywhere?

Maybe the next time you feel like threatening someone because it makes you feel big, think about who you're talking to. Think about whether that person is the new girl, or someone who knows how every f*cking piece of our product works and exactly which pins to pull out to watch it disintegrate.

Maybe that someone doesn't just quit when he's finally had it. Maybe he takes something with him. Something from you. Compensation for stresses rendered.

After that, I guarantee my name will mean something to you. Asshole.

Sincerely,
Chiggie Von Richthofen
Not available between the hours of 5 P.M. and 8 A.M.

Setting Fire to Reason
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LilCodger's picture
Location: Bah!!!

Chiggie wrote:
I could go on but what's the point? Listing your faults is like trying to describe each blade of grass in my front lawn. After a while you just write "Green, Long, Ants" and move on to something else.

Don't kid yourself Chiggie, this is still very entertaining and humorous.

Despite the obviously personal nature of the situation, I think plenty of us have our parallel "my boss is a d-bag" tales to tell. Empathy comes easily here.

Best wishes. Don't let his heart attack become yours.

Grenn wrote:

I like dissenting opinions. I'm trying to save money by keeping the thermostat low and righteous indignation keeps me warm at night.

Optimus Primate
Gorilla.800.lbs's picture
Location: New York, NY

We haven't had one of this for a long time!! Job well done!

P.S. Allow me to ask you just this one question, BTW: are you working at... Wal-Mart?

Xbox Live tag Gorilla800lbs

Throat Specialist
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Dr.Ghastly's picture

Well said sir.

Unfortunately, if I slash my wrist with my lightsaber it cauterizes instantly. - PurEvil on emo Star Wars plots.

Executive
t0W's picture
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

"...And this button-down, Oxford-cloth psycho might just snap, and then stalk from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic weapon, pumping round after round into colleagues and co-workers. This might be someone you've known for years. Someone very, very close to you...."

Your friendly neighbourhood hair splitting singularity.
Aperture scientist is my alter ego.

Abandon All Hope
Chiggie Von Richthofen's picture

Gorilla.800.lbs wrote:
We haven't had one of this for a long time!! Job well done!

P.S. Allow me to ask you just this one question, BTW: are you working at... Wal-Mart?

No, and I'm almost sad since now that you bring it up the appropriateness of that would be poetry.

Not Without Incident
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Quintin_Stone's picture
Location: Cary, NC

You've got your resume up to date, right Chiggie?

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Good lord, I wouldn't have expected brilliance like that from that nemeslut Quintin Stone!

wordsmythe wrote:
I know I'm not terribly cool

Your Favorite Game is Dumb
SommerMatt's picture
Location: Racine, WI

Man, life really IS like DILBERT!

I'm in for $5 if you actually send this

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Abandon All Hope
Chiggie Von Richthofen's picture

Quintin_Stone wrote:
You've got your resume up to date, right Chiggie?

I've got to add "endured blood sucking mother f*cker" to it, but yeah.

Citrus Casanova
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zeroKFE's picture
Location: In your fruit bowl terrorizing the oranges

Danjo, please make sure that Chiggie doesn't have easy access to firearms until about a month or so after he finally leaves his current job. He's a great guy and I like him a lot, so I don't want our next conversation to be 25 years from now (because let's be honest, there won't be time off for good behavior ).

Keep fighting the good fight, Chiggie.

This tag has been moved to P&C
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Paleocon's picture
Location: Cabin John, MD

t0W wrote:
"...And this button-down, Oxford-cloth psycho might just snap, and then stalk from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic weapon, pumping round after round into colleagues and co-workers. This might be someone you've known for years. Someone very, very close to you...."

I think I much prefer the DS Arms STG-58 for that sort of work, but whatever floats your boat.

There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism,... those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

1 Perk Every 1000th Post
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shihonage's picture
Location: Bleak yet entirely fictional future.

Nice article

Shelter 1-minute atmospheric teaser.

Abandon All Hope
Chiggie Von Richthofen's picture

zeroKFE wrote:
Danjo, please make sure that Chiggie doesn't have easy access to firearms until about a month or so after he finally leaves his current job. He's a great guy and I like him a lot, so I don't want our next conversation to be 25 years from now (because let's be honest, there won't be time off for good behavior ).

Keep fighting the good fight, Chiggie.

Oh this guy's getting pushed down the stairs if anything.

Citrus Casanova
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zeroKFE's picture
Location: In your fruit bowl terrorizing the oranges

Well, I did my due diligence, you know?

Have fun!

From A Certain Point of View
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Parallax Abstraction's picture
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Well done as always Chiggie. Seriously, I could almost copy that verbatim and sum up exactly the feelings I have for the Geek Squad manager who came in and a couple of months later closed down the store I was running. He sounds almost exactly like this guy, except he was skinny and I think a vegan. The only reason I didn't go off on him like that at the time was because Best Buy offered to keep me employed and I needed a job.

I feel for you dude. I hope you can find another place to work soon.

"We're taught from a young age how to dodge rock hard objects moving at incredible rates of speed while simultaneously beating folks half to death with sticks. We do this for fun." -kung fu grip
http://blog.digital-lifeline.ca

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Q's picture

I think we all have a time like this in our lives and it f*cking sucks. Well said and I hope that you can get things on a better track soon.

Office Linebacker
Blackadar's picture

Well, leave this on the guy's desk and let us know how it turns out.

I am so going to quote that out of context.

This is Not a Scary Clown
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Alien13z's picture
Location: Minneapolis

Q wrote:
I think we all have a time like this in our lives and it f*cking sucks. Well said and I hope that you can get things on a better track soon.

This happens far too regularly for there to be any realistic possibility that that will happen.

"All that time you waste dating and having sex could be better spent scouring the web for new game developer press releases." - Quintin_Stone

Cat Herder
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Hemidal's picture
Location: Houston, TX

Aw kwitcherbitchin and get back to work. You do know we're putting covers on the TPS reports now, don't you? I can get you a copy of the memo.

HR Giger Counter
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MaxShrek's picture
Location: Fragville Junction, NY

I'd re-write it with colorful words and delete the expletives. That way even if you do send it, it's not outright hate but thought-out anger. I suppose.

MaxShrek .. looks like Jake.. drives like Elwood.

Population: Tire
Aries's picture
Location: Probably North of you.

Excellent rant, Chiggie.

Paleocon wrote:
t0W wrote:
"...And this button-down, Oxford-cloth psycho might just snap, and then stalk from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic weapon, pumping round after round into colleagues and co-workers. This might be someone you've known for years. Someone very, very close to you...."

I think I much prefer the DS Arms STG-58 for that sort of work, but whatever floats your boat.


That's a quote from Fight Club, I believe.

Xbox Live : Aries GWJ PSN : AriesGWJ Spore : Ariesgwj

Executive
t0W's picture
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

That it is. Who's crazy now?

Your friendly neighbourhood hair splitting singularity.
Aperture scientist is my alter ego.

This tag has been moved to P&C
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Paleocon's picture
Location: Cabin John, MD

Aries wrote:
Excellent rant, Chiggie.
Paleocon wrote:
t0W wrote:
"...And this button-down, Oxford-cloth psycho might just snap, and then stalk from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic weapon, pumping round after round into colleagues and co-workers. This might be someone you've known for years. Someone very, very close to you...."

I think I much prefer the DS Arms STG-58 for that sort of work, but whatever floats your boat.


That's a quote from Fight Club, I believe.

I know. I was just saying. I have an AR series rifle and like it fine, but prefer the peace of mind that a gas piston gives you when the crap hits the fan.

There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism,... those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

Abandon All Hope
Chiggie Von Richthofen's picture

MaxShrek wrote:
I'd re-write it with colorful words and delete the expletives. That way even if you do send it, it's not outright hate but thought-out anger. I suppose.

Wouldn't want to set a precedence.

Positronically Delicious
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Danjo Olivaw's picture
Location: Krauser Lab

zeroKFE wrote:
Danjo, please make sure that Chiggie doesn't have easy access to firearms until about a month or so after he finally leaves his current job.

Nuts to that. You check him for guns.

Intern
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PCman's picture
Location: Long Island, NY

Man, that had "bad day" written all over it!!

Good thing the podcast came out today or our boy Chiggie might have made the evening news -- just kidding. There is nothing worse then a manager that doesn't have a clue, even if you buy him a vowel!! Its the classic no win situation. Can't stay 'cause manager is a butt monkey. Can't leave 'cause he'd trash me on any recommendation at the new place.

Chiggie you seem to be a guy that 1) takes pride in his work, 2) cares about the company and "the product" and 3) cares about the effect your leaving would have on the company and the product ... and this reject from the Dilbert School of Idiot Managers knows how to exploit it.

Just realize you have the power to solve the problem. I have 2 words for you ...Kobayashi Maru.

Great post even with the profanity. I have written a few resignation letters like that, which have never been delivered.

"Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda

Abandon All Hope
Chiggie Von Richthofen's picture

Well, you're explanation is as good as any I guess. I honestly don't know why I'm still here.

I've never quit a job because I hated it before. I guess I just feel weird about taking that first step without a solid reason.

Not Without Incident
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Quintin_Stone's picture
Location: Cary, NC

You're still young. There is still time to learn that hating a job is a great reason for quitting it. Provided, of course, you've got something else lined up.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Good lord, I wouldn't have expected brilliance like that from that nemeslut Quintin Stone!

wordsmythe wrote:
I know I'm not terribly cool

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Andy's picture
Location: Germany

If you quit or get fired one day just leave a huge turd on his desk. Or in his drawer. Or on his car's windshield.

"What do you think you're doing?"
"I'd say I was joining the winning team, but that'd imply there existed a time when I wasn't on team evil."

Consultant
Location: South Carolina

Andy wrote:
If you quit or get fired one day just leave a huge turd on his desk. Or in his drawer. Or on his car's windshield.

Better yet, stuff raw shrimp into any small hidden orifice you can find in his office. oh and under or behind his desk drawers.
In a few weeks he'll blow next years budget on new office furniture because he can't figure out why it smells like fish. And hopefully get fired in turn.

Junior Executive
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Kurrelgyre's picture
Location: The disputed territories of Cary, NC

Yikes, I don't hate my boss, and I certainly hope that no one working for or with me hates me.

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