Paradise Part 12

RB’s manager, Matt, was an ex-Marine.  RB thought he was a fair man.  He was not against having fun at work and even encouraged it as long as the job didn’t suffer.  On this morning, Matt brought in all the ingredients for pancakes.  He was known in the corps as someone who could “whip up a mean batch of chocolate pancakes.”  He also brought blueberries for those who wanted healthier fare. 

As he sat taking notes from a voicemail, RB heard a noise in the break room.  When the voicemail was finished, RB went to the break room to see who it was and what the commotion was about.

Matt looked up from his work and greeted RB with a hearty, “Good morning, RB.  How’s it going so far?”
“No complaints so far.”  Then RB thought a moment and said, “Well, I did have one complaining voicemail already.  So that makes one complaint so far.  What’s the occasion for this?”

“Can’t a guy do something nice without people questioning his motives?”

“I’m not questioning your motives.  Just making sure I didn’t miss a birthday or anniversary or something.”

“Actually, this is a bit of a celebration.  We dropped 4 days off our response time in the last 2 weeks.  I think that deserves pancakes.”

“Well, I’ll take a blueberry one when you get everything up and running.”

“No chocolate?”

“No, I got sick once as a kid eating chocolate pancakes.  It was too sweet.  Glad I didn’t throw up or it may have ruined chocolate for me.  That would have been bad.  You need any help?”

“No, I just need the skillet to warm up and I’ll start cooking in about 30 minutes.  I need to get my office going now.”

“Thanks boss!”

“Don’t mention it.”

As the two went to their offices, RB thought of how much he liked Matt.  Even though he was the one who told RB he had no choice in taking the job working executive correspondence without a pay increase, RB had no hard feelings.  Matt had always been straight with him.  This was a contrast to some other managers or supervisors he had had.

Many years ago, RB had a job in a warehouse.  The supervisor’s office had a window looking over the warehouse.  RB’s supervisor would sit in the office talking with someone on the phone.  He would lean back in the chair and put his feet on the desk.  The man would talk for about an hour (the rumor was it was with his girlfriend, not his wife) while watching the activities in the warehouse.  When his call was finished, he would enter the warehouse and point out things he wanted done.  The man had a superior attitude and it rubbed RB and his coworkers the wrong way. 

Just a few months later, there was a new manager.  Everyone was happy for the change.  How could anyone be worse than the last guy?  The next guy was.  In his own way, he was worse.  He didn’t act superior.  In contrast, he acted sheepishly while on the job.  This wasn’t such a bad thing but he seemed totally ignorant as to what the purpose of his job was.  Also, when he pitched in to help, which was a pleasant change for the previous manager, he made mistakes. 

One company regularly brought shipments for Calgary and Edmonton, Canada.  He knew which truck on which they were to be loaded since there was only one that went that direction.  However, when they also started shipping to Montreal and Toronto, Canada, he continued to consign them to be loaded onto the same truck.  After this was caught the third time, someone asked why he was using the truck going northwest.  He replied they were going to Canada.  When someone explained Montreal and Toronto were east, he asked, “Well, it’s still Canada, isn’t it?”  After a few tries of people correcting the load manifests, it was decided to let one go and see if he would finally understand his mistake.  It didn’t help.

Matt was a pleasant contrast.  While he came from a maintenance background in an area that was mostly men, he adapted to an office that had mostly women.  Also, he made it a point to say he didn’t know the ins and outs of the jobs of people under him and would let them do their job.  He expected them to do their best in their performance and wouldn’t accept anything less. 

RB liked that about him Matt.  It was fair in his mind.  Still, RB knew he would never go to Matt with help about a complaint.  He would bounce thoughts off trusted coworkers.