Managers and I-Part I

Do not sweat the small stuff. Focus on positives. This is part of corporate life. Change your job but do not cry over the same stuff again and again. These are the lines I heard from my friends when I cried foul over my experiences with managers. There are a few things that stuck with me and I am not able to let them go. I am starting a new series “Managers and I”; which will give you my side of the story. It’s not easy to share because we get judged. I have gathered some courage from “how bad things can go after 2020" line :).
I know there are people who have their stories with their management; they are welcome to share theirs in the comment section.

(P.S. There are good experiences as well. For those, I would like to create a series “Leaders and I”.)

Here comes the first one in the series;

One time, I had surgery and it was the open one; so I had to take 4 weeks off. After recuperations; I joined the office. I was advised to not lift anything heavy. I was leaving the office after 10 pm because I was keeping the laptop in the office. Senior managers were using Mac Air so I thought if I were to get it for a couple of months; I could go home on time. I appealed to the project’s senior manager; I explained my case and need to him. His response was; “Chitra, do you know how expensive the laptop is?” He shared the price which was above Rs 200,000. I reasoned with him that I could use 1 in corporate’s inventory for 2 months; then I could go back to my old one- Mac Pro. He did not budge; He said I could set up my personal laptop and use it at home. I did not have a personal laptop with me. He said he could give me his personal Dell; He would bring it to me. That was the end of the discussion. He never brought his laptop; I never followed up again.

I was working on Mac for years so I could not shift to Windows and deliver the crucial sprints with the same speed. Imagine solving Mac code issues on Windows; now how successful could that be! Fact is, We developers get stuck in technical issues regularly then we sit for long hours. I was looking to avoid non-stop sitting hours; I was not looking for more headaches. Also, I did not understand why I needed to take personal favor for company work from anyone? This manager did not take my case forward with anyone and he took a decision then and there to not give me the lighter laptop. At that point in time, I was a vulnerable person who was absent for a month and was eager to get back to work. All I needed support and, encouragement. I did not loop in anyone else in the management; I did not need rifts with this senior manager. I suppose he did not like me much; I had seen him supporting a few others with gusto.

There are things that differentiate managers from leaders. One is, to keep personal liking/disliking aside and help people who work for your project. It’s not an easy thing to do but doing easy things does not produce great results. In this scenario, I do not see a reason to give him the benefit of doubt.

This was the short version of “authority” and I — Part 1. There’re more “delightful” experiences on the way.