Employees accused of having a bad attitude are often responding to poor treatment (work, company)
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At my last job, there was a lady who was fired and the reason was that she "had a bad attitude." I sat across from her and she was always very friendly towards me and would help me when I asked. I thought she was very professional.
Well, there was one manager who was very difficult to work with and had a habit of talking to subordinates like they were children. For some reason, she especially had it out for the lady I'm talking about. The manager was just very nasty to her, and I'm sure the lady was defense as anyone would be who is attacked on a regular basis.
One day, we had a regular meeting, and the nasty manager told us that "we all need to treat each other with respect." The lady who was fired responded with "you need to treat us with respect as well." Of course, the manager then sent it up the flagpole and the lady was fired for "having a bad attitude."
If you ever brought her name up, she was a "bad employee" and "couldn't get along with anybody." Another manager even accused her of stealing people's lunches from the refrigerator, which I kind of doubt. I never had anything but positive interactions with her, but then again I'm a nice guy and I know people tend to react well when you are nice to them.
I just don't think she really had a bad attitude. She was fired for standing up for herself.
It seems to me there are a lot of people at work, including managers, who would rather have an unprofessional, inappropriate relationships with their coworkers in lieu of professional boundaries. The people with the "bad attitude" are the ones who show up to do their jobs. I get in trouble sometimes because I don't socialize at work enough. Especially with this one guy. All the other girls I work with flirt with him and I don't. Guess who has a bad attitude?
There are more effective ways to be honest and stand up for yourself than to backtalk a superior in front of a group. Whether she was in the right or not, she handled it poorly; just about begged to be fired.
Everybody has different way to speak up when s/he sees something is not right. And everybody has different perspective/opinion about someone who speaks up about something.
From the OP, I believe there were employees who would think that lady (who was fired) was brave, daring to speak up about the respect issue, not only for herself but for everyone.
And there were employees just sitting in the meeting being quiet, and when the meeting was over they would talk with each other about that manager behind her back. They were cowards. With such manager, as the OP described, there's no way to talk to her in private. That kind never admits her mistakes or lower herself down. That kind always wants to show her power.
I believe a righteous manager would take the lady's saying "you need to treat us with respect as well" to heart and check and change herself and learn to treat everyone with respect. That's what managers suppose to do - lead by example, or treat others the way they want to be treated.
It's not right the manager can accuse an employee who speaks up straightforwardly as backtalk and think she has a bad attitude and fire her. Only nasty and narcissistic managers would preach or demand the employees to respect them and do the opposite (not to respect the employees). That kind of manager will only build bad and weak teams. And she may not last long either, if she does not change her attitude.
The world needs more leaders/mangers to lead with good examples and more honest and brave employees.
At my last job, there was a lady who was fired and the reason was that she "had a bad attitude." I sat across from her and she was always very friendly towards me and would help me when I asked. I thought she was very professional.
Well, there was one manager who was very difficult to work with and had a habit of talking to subordinates like they were children. For some reason, she especially had it out for the lady I'm talking about. The manager was just very nasty to her, and I'm sure the lady was defense as anyone would be who is attacked on a regular basis.
One day, we had a regular meeting, and the nasty manager told us that "we all need to treat each other with respect." The lady who was fired responded with "you need to treat us with respect as well." Of course, the manager then sent it up the flagpole and the lady was fired for "having a bad attitude."
If you ever brought her name up, she was a "bad employee" and "couldn't get along with anybody." Another manager even accused her of stealing people's lunches from the refrigerator, which I kind of doubt. I never had anything but positive interactions with her, but then again I'm a nice guy and I know people tend to react well when you are nice to them.
I just don't think she really had a bad attitude. She was fired for standing up for herself.
OK, employers.. if you were doing a background check on an applicant and you come up on a former employer who had a bad attitude towards you when you reached out to them and they also claim that person was fired for having a bad attitude, who would you side with?
I had some horrible bosses. Dumb bosses. Bosses who couldn't be trusted as far as you could throw a car.
But I've also had some great bosses. Bosses who never asked the employees to do anything they wouldn't be willing to do themselves. Bosses who stood up for their employees. Bosses who mentored.
Yet, even with great bosses, I've also seen colleagues who just brought their rotten attitudes with them to work. People who were territorial. People who didn't want to put one additional erg of energy into the job. People who sprinted out the door every day at 5:00:01, regardless of whether or not the work was finished. People who gossipped. People with awful people skills. People who were unwilling to learn new things and bristled at every change in the routine. Or, to your point, people who undercut their bosses in a meeting.
So there are people whose horrible attitudes have nothing to do with the job or their boss. It has everything to do with the fact that they are lazy, self-centered, and all-around horror shows to work with. And I bet there will be one of those who read this post and think, "Nope. Couldn't be talking about me."
Can't add anything to your post. My experiences also.
Praise people publicly, give suggestions privately.
The appropriate way to handle the situation would be to get to know the difficult manager on a more personal level and work to understand why she acts the way she does. 95% of people aren't mean by nature, they think they are correct from their point of view. That's impossible to know if you don't try to put yourself in their shoes and understand how they see things.
Finally, calling someone (especially someone higher up) out in front of others is never a good idea.
Praise people publicly, give suggestions privately.
The appropriate way to handle the situation would be to get to know the difficult manager on a more personal level and work to understand why she acts the way she does. 95% of people aren't mean by nature, they think they are correct from their point of view. That's impossible to know if you don't try to put yourself in their shoes and understand how they see things.
Finally, calling someone (especially someone higher up) out in front of others is never a good idea.
That was what I intended to say...Lekrii did it better (see? see? It feels great! ). I have NO problem with anyone speaking up about something unjust. NONE. I do have a problem with challenging someone (however deserving) in front of a group, especially when there's already an elephant in the room. There are multiple ways to make yourself heard and allowing someone to save face while doing so.
Respect is two-way. The same with saving face. A manager wants to have her face saved; so do the employees. What does the manager think she is? And what does she think the employees are? A manager, after all, is an employee working for the employer too. She may have more abilities to do things for the company because she went to university, college, and got a degree or a diploma, whatever, and she gets higher pay from the boss does not mean she can look down on and insult anyone whenever and wherever she wants and expect everyone has to respect her and listen to her even what she says does not make sense. She needs to keep checking herself and control her emotion also. If she does not respect employees, does not know how to do her job right, just tries to use her power to fire anyone just because of her personal feeling, ego and pride, she does not deserve respect from employees and her position to manage employees for the company. And she would cause a lot of conflicts, sick calls and money to spend on firings, hirings and trainings constantly. That's a big loss for the company. That kind of manager should be fired fast.
Last edited by AnOrdinaryCitizen; 04-15-2018 at 07:33 PM..
The appropriate way to handle the situation would be to get to know the difficult manager on a more personal level and work to understand why she acts the way she does.
There are people who get paid to do this. They're called therapists.
And she would cause a lot of conflicts, sick calls and money to spend on firings, hirings and trainings constantly. That's a big loss for the company. That kind of manager should be fired fast.
They should be, but too often companies retain them. I had an experience with a person exactly like this (all your lurkers out there--listen up!). Using trial periods to terminate people they didn't like for whatever reason. This person was nutty and the type who'd hold something against and you didn't even know you did anything wrong. Then use their "power" to get rid of anyone who didn't fit into their little box. Whether that box was "Person I wish I could have been in high school" or "Person I think is inferior because of [insert characteristic having absolutely nothing to do with ability to do the job]". EVERY firing from this person's team should be thoroughly investigated for patterns, and the person should be out of a job. Payback for all the people they terminated simply because they had the power to do so. Unfortunately, I know neither one will happen. I'm sure this person will continue to collect a nice paycheck and retire with great benefits. Some peon who was just following their asinine orders is more likely to face some type of negative consequence. That's usually how these things turn out.
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). I have NO problem with anyone speaking up about something unjust. NONE. I do have a problem with challenging someone (however deserving) in front of a group, especially when there's already an elephant in the room. There are multiple ways to make yourself heard and allowing someone to save face while doing so.
