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Two people said theyre unavailable and i didnt push further.
Thats beside the point thpugh. The people have already volunteered to work....hence the thank you email i sent them and cced the boss.
its the boss' response that is a bit f%&ked up imo.
There are certain phrases that are "social lubricant". Examples are "Would you mind..." "Please" "Thank you" "Looks great, thanks" and so on.
I managed people directly for about 25 years. Although I no longer have direct reports, I still constantly direct the work of others. It is absolutely asinine to say that thanking someone for doing work that they are required to do, either implies that it was optional, or gives some other kind of wrong impression.
I don't know how I would react to your particular situation, but I would be sorely tempted to say something like:
"You know boss, my parents raised me to say "please" and "thank you" and to show appreciation when someone does something out of the ordinary (like coming to work over the holidays). I have never yet had any person misinterpret it when I use the phrases of common courtesy, so I am going to carry on being mannerly. I am confident that no one interpreted my saying "thank you for a job well done at a time when you would rather have been with your families" as meaning that from now on they can ignore my managerial instructions."
He is probably worried they will think it is optional. Especially since you said "volunteering your time." You aren't really supposed to be thanked for working weekends if you are salaried. It was a little rude though.
If you want to be perceived as a jerk boss, order people to work on holidays and weekends and never thank them. If applied over a period of time, this will also ensure that your people put out only the bare minimum of effort, because they will realize that no one gives a rip whether they bust their behinds or not.
If you want to be perceived as a normal person who happens to be the boss, and if you want to motivate your team to put forth extra effort at times when it's not convenient, you cannot avoid sometimes having people do things like work late, or on the crummy job, or on holidays. So the least you can do is to use words like "please" "thank you" "job well done" and so on, so that people realize the reason they are working on NYE is not because you are a lousy cruel jerk that has no life and therefore doesn't believe anyone else should, but rather because the requirements of the business dictate it.
Remarkably enough, treating people like they are people, worthy of respect and consideration, generally results in better results in the workplace than the opposite. Of course some people will take advantage or fail to respond, and that's the way it is. But that's not license to behave like a jerk.
If you want to be perceived as a jerk boss, order people to work on holidays and weekends and never thank them. If applied over a period of time, this will also ensure that your people put out only the bare minimum of effort, because they will realize that no one gives a rip whether they bust their behinds or not.
If everything is optional then the word required wouldn't exist. It is not optional if you have to quit or get fired. By your logic eating is optional. Well no ****, but you will die if you don't eat.
That's why I love being an hourly worker. It is cut and dry when it comes to when you work and when you don't. Salaried work in this day and age has too much of a "gray area."
I've known quite a few good electricians that did the office/management stuff for a little just to go back to being in the field. They didn't like being salaried and made more money and spent less time working being hourly.
Boss is lacking civility and diplomacy. Order him some as a Christmas gift.
Salary at my former company meant,show up for 15-20 hours get paid big bucks! Our company had a yearly business closed calendar. And no one was ever paid or told to working non business hours. Heck they didn't really work when they showed up!
You are really something else with your responses. As if just up and leaving a job when you have bills and sh-t to take care of is really an option.
Yea just let me quit my job out of nowhere, this car payment and rent will somehow just magically take care of itself. Get real mslfan lol.
exactly! and if you DID, well then you'd be an "irresponsible, lazy loser who expects everyone else to take care of you"
I also get a chuckle out of the "Just start your own business" replies, by the pro-Corporate crew- I laugh because one of those types also started a thread about how hard it is to ....drum roll........ start your own business!!!
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