Taming of the Silverback

My old man (He hates that title, hehe) had a break-through moment this week at work. First, let me give you the low down on my pops (He hates that title too). He is a straight-shootin' proud self-employed contractor. Well, most of that is true except for the self-employed contractor part. He recently hung up his tool belt after DECADES of being a jack of all trades. Haha, if he ever reads this, I am getting a beating. I probably deserve it.

His change in work presented some advantages along with the disadvantages. Let's get the advantages out of the way, because let's face it, they are not the juicy part of my story. He has steady hours, pay, benefits, and an array of tools at his disposal that would even make the Knights Templar jealous. After all the years of hard work, he has decided to transition his knowledge from contracting work to operations and maintenance of an ISO 9001 certified medical firm that produces biomedical/pharmaceutical grade silicon tubing (aka tubes that can be used to fix your heart). They do some pretty cool stuff. His job is to make sure that all equipment and the facility are in top-notch condition.

Needless to say his all-around knowledge of his trade has allowed him to adapt very quickly. This is an advantage that leads us into the disadvantages. Our disadvantage for the day is....working under people that are stupid. That's right, we are all familiar with this scenario. Who has had a boss that is clueless and has no staff management ability. This is my father's boss. I will spare you the day-in-day out details, but essentially this guy is a moron.

What most of you don't know is that my dad never took orders or tasks from someone for DECADES! hehe, old man. So imagine a straight-shootin' proud independent man adjusting to the jaded corporate world. It's a completely different game and it's a hard one to learn very quickly, especially for my dad. I don't say this to be mean, but you must understand there is a reason why we call him the Silverback.

Let's see if an image helps.



Imagine saying something stupid to King Kong that would make him thump you into the ground. Now imagine King Kong with a tie and a pocket protector in the corporate world knowing that he has to behave himself (DISCLAIMER: My dad wears a cool pocket protector for cool tools). Now you get the full picture. Along with a moron of a boss, my dad recently dealt with an incident that could have been career-altering. Let's move on to the "incident."

My dad works with job tickets frequently, so it's in black and white what his task is. This shouldn't be confusing for anyone that is involved with the task. The most recent job ticket was to reconstruct a shelving unit for a custom-fit of a printer in an Account Manager's office. This manager gave approval before the Memorial Day weekend. So, my dad and his moron of a boss came in Tuesday morning to begin the install. The manager started cursing at my dad, because he didn't remember providing approval (Another moron in the making, since the job ticket has his approval). The manager thought it was ok to say "F You!" because he was upset for the job being handled at that time. In all honesty, he probably had problems with the wife over Memorial day weekend, because she got some notion from Desperate Housewives that rocking the cradle with the model-esque gardener would do her some good. Apparently it did. However, the hubbie isn't doing so well with the new knowledge that the gardener has a big...rake.

Ok, so back to what happens when you say "F You!" to my dad.

Think King Kong again.

My dad's blood was boiling. He was ready to give this guy an appropriate introduction to etiquette...old school style. However, the clouds parted and he managed to walk away from the situation knowing that there is a corporate game to be played and he's going to start playing it too. This is some serious stuff folks! Do you realize what is going on here?! The fat lady is singing, pigs can fly, and old dogs can learn new tricks. Being verbally accosted by some piss-off is a hard thing for my dad to calmly deal with. He gets mad props for controlling himself.

He gets the Cool Hand Luke Award



He spoke with HR about his concerns regarding the vulgar behavior of this employee and how it negatively impacted him, his boss, and the people in the surrounding area. The HR person already had dirt on this dick head, so apparently my dad wasn't the first one that dealt with this guy's hot temper.

In the end, the manager was "requested" to apologize to my dad for his inappropriate behavior. He did so with sincerity, but he's on my dad's shit list now. The manager tried to brush the incident off the following hour at lunch by saying, "Hi" to my dad. Nothing was returned, but a stare that could freeze you in your tracks.

My dad has eyes like this:



I was very impressed with how he was able to play it cool and in the end earned additional respect from senior management for his manner in handling the situation.

On a side note, this company was recently acquired and will be merging this month. If karma has its way, the merger will not have room for one particular account manager.

Here's to keeping it cool!