This is me when I found out my minions had been allowing a former problem employee, Olga, who "resigned to pursue other opportunities," to check out at a neighboring large urban library with one of our library's cards. Essentially, she is avoiding a $100 non-resident fee.
HAD BEEN being the appropriate word. This problem employee was our library's workplace asshole for many years.
Why do so many people embody the "Peter Principle," or strive to be the workplaces asshole? The Peter Principle states that in every hierarchy, each employee tends to rise to their own level of incompetence. By this theory, as long as you are competent at what you do, you will continue to be promoted. It is when you have reached your own personal level of incompetence, that you will no longer continue to move up in the hierarchy. By this line of thinking, most people in the highest positions of management are incompetent to carry out their duties, and the work continues to get done by employees who have yet to achieve their highest level of incompetence.
Many times these managers who have achieved their highest level of incompetence are also the workplaces biggest assholes. According to Robert I. Sutton, in his book, "The No-Asshole Rule," every workplace has at lease one asshole, and many have numerous assholes. Bertha was just such a manager. When Bertha left, Olga happily took the reigns as the workplace asshole.
How did Bertha embody the "Peter Principle" and the coveted spot as the library's A #1 asshole? Practice, practice, practice. Bertha would brag that she purposefully didn't learn any of the job functions of the library's minions because then she couldn't be expected to do work that was beneath her high station in life. This means Bertha - literally - did nothing. And the one or two things she did attempt, she would dick up completely. Case in point, Bertha put herself in charge of ordering materials, but then simply refused to push the send button when we, her peons, had lists of materials ready to order. Out of frustration, a coworker would create an order list every month, and as that month passed, she would create another list for the next month and add the items that had been on the previous months' lists. You can probably see where this is headed - after 6 months of ignoring the orders, Bertha inexplicably pushes send on 6 order lists, ensuring that we had at least 6 copies of everything on the order list. Of course, I went ballistic. Bertha was undaunted and proud that she had made such a contribution to the library's daily workings.
Hence Bertha as the living embodiment of the Peter Principle. She also worked tirelessly to maintain her status as the world's biggest asshole. She targeted two minions that she knew she could bully mercilessly, and was universally hated by colleagues in management and in area institutions. I know of a city leader who would RUN the other way when Bertha was spotted. Of course, she was oblivious up to the day she was canned.
Olga stepped up to the plate as the workplace asshole when Bertha exited the scene. She targeted a young, attractive coworker, and systematically set out to ostracize her from others and to torment her through passive/aggressive behavior. To make matters worse, Olga was old enough to be a grandmother. Example of her being an asshole - Olga would throw away disliked coworkers lunch from the refrigerator. Olga would purposefully sabotage the coworkers work, making it harder to keep up with her job duties. Finally, Olga actively attempted to get other library workers to shun this coworker. Of course, when confronted with this behavior, Olga feigned ignorance. Several months later, Olga had to leave for "stressed-related" issues.
Good riddance, Olga! Did someone else attempt to grab the coveted role as the library's newest asshole? Of course, but I nipped that in the bud quickly. If anyone is going to be the asshole, that person will be me. For as you have probably ascertained, I have reached the highest level of my incompetence, and really, how else will I spend my time?
