How do you deal with PHs who are not yet PHBs?

[moriah]

Poll question: How do you deal with PHs who are not yet PHBs?

(If you don't get the PHB reference.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointy_Haired_Boss )

Dude isn't my supervisor.

He's not ANYONE's supervisor. Or shift lead. Or project lead. Or senior. Or any of the other creative titles they give to someone who has more authority than the average worker. I've even been with the company longer than he has.

I leave work for my weekend, after leaving copious documentation about a breakfix I did for an issue while they are trying to get root cause. All is reasonably well when I leave the office. Client is happy with us and upset at the people who broke it -- as it should be. Client is demanding that the people who broke it fix it. It's escalated to all levels of management. But our rear is covered, and we are meeting our contracts.

I get in after my weekend to find out that my breakfix was reversed (by a script, not a person -- which is at least understandable), and even though I described in graphic detail exactly how to recognize the issue and how to temporarily fix similar sites, no one figured it out. NO ONE.

Including Dude.

.... and yet, Dude yells at ME when I get in, pretty much saying that I knew absolutely nothing and the fact that it was broken again proved it, and demands a call if the fix he tried didn't fix it. A call at 2 AM. So I make the call, and tell him exactly why it was broken again. He then gets upset at me for calling him.

By the time he got in this morning, I had determined how the other people had broken it in the first place. Which he could have done, too, if he had bothered to look at records. Just like he could have seen that the breakfix was reversed by a script if he had bothered to look at the logs.

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I can accept a certain level of Pointy Hairedness from management. It's their job to get all upset and not know how to fix things -- that's why they hire me, to fix things. I know they have better things to do than look at records and logs -- like take arse-chewings from our client when things are broken.

I can accept my coworkers not being as technically adept as me, too, if they act like my coworker and not my boss. I'm happy to share my knowledge, which I do. Most like to learn and are happy when a new quirk that causes us grief is found, and are very happy to learn ways to make our client happier with us when other people break things. I can tolerate slow learners, as usually if they're slow in one area they know more than I do in another. We learn from each other and cooperate. We respect each other.

So how to handle a person who isn't your boss but acts like one??

[MrCoffee]

1. This poll needs more cockpunch.

[billyoc]

2. Sabotage all of his work until he kills himself.

[moriah]

3. ... I admire the creativity. :)

Why do a dirty job when you can get someone else to do it, and do it for free?

Heheheh...

[billyoc]

4. I wrote software for fifteen years, bailed after Y2K.

I build skyscrapers now. :)

[CBGLuthier]

5. There is a reason I don't work with people any more

Life is too short to spend it with idiots like that.

I would suggest you lean in real close to him and say very softly that you will remove him from the face of this earth if he ever talks to you like that again. And smile when you say it.

[petronius]

6. Whatever you do, don't play a long with him. If manager people see him

playing boss, and they get the impression that other workers are accepting his leadership, then they will assume that he actually is showing 'leadership qualities' and is ripe for a promotion. Make sure that real supervisors know exactly who fixed things and who broke things and who fixed things again. And make sure they know whose behavior is disruptive.

At the very least, when he yells at you, yell back. If he tells you to do something, treat it as an anonymous suggestion, and if it turns out to be a good idea, take credit for it. And when he demands you report to him on a problem, don't bother (even if it is amusing to wake someone up at 2 am)...