Characters I have known.

Good Afternoon all.

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of the Peter Principle, which, simply put, is the process of promoting a person to a level above his or her abilities.

Most people have known such a person in their lifetime, and I've had the unhappy experience of knowing more than one, mixed in with the absolutely great people I've worked with over the years.

The person I am making reference to worked at the same facility as I did, and in the same Technical Division. After several years this fellow was promoted to a supervisory position over the area where I worked and things started getting pretty bad pretty fast. This fellow had the ability to take a well functioning department and in short order make everyone in the department either ticked off or disgusted, or both.

It was no secret that this guy had a couple of "Toadies" in the department, who ran to him with tales of people talking badly about him or not doing their work, etc etc etc, almost anything they thought would further their warped cause and improve their status in the eyes of this person.

The crux of the problem, as I saw it, and others voiced the same opinion as me, was that the bespoken supervisor was so insecure that the only way he could tamp down the worrying thoughts in his mind, was to bully every person, every chance he got. He actually hinted to me once, and only once, that if I would come to him when I heard something unfavorable about him, that it would be to my advantage.

I told this chap in no uncertain words that I would do almost any job I was given to the very best of my ability, but that I would not, under any circumstance, become one of his "Lickspittles".

Quite possibly I would have improved my position with the Company if I had done as he asked (furtively) but then how could I have lived with myself?

I have known people in all walks of life, and of all stations, and regardless how menial the job I have noticed that the men who did their job with pride in their work were almost always well thought of by their co-workers and their superiors. And these selfsame men, whatever their station, had no need to run to the "Boss" with lurid tales, mostly of less than whole cloth ,as did the man of whom I spoke earlier.

Folks, at what is probably the tail end of my life, I've found one thing to be ever true: I've found that the good people, the kind of people who you love to work around and with, outnumber the Bastards overwhelmingly.



I guess I have been extremely fortunate, as regards the people I worked with over the years, as the great percentage of them were more than pleasant to be around and to work with.

Stay Well

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