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Work update
Feb. 27th, 2007 06:09 pmSince I pretend to be a mature adult, I sometimes ask myself why I so seldom get on with my bosses, and especially the female ones. I mean, it <i>could<i> be me, couldn't it? (At least that's what a mature adult would think).
So, I'm having problems with my current ambassador. Not anything dramatic, in the sense that it could harm me or my career - well let's call that professional life, for honesty's sake. The fact that I'm not the only one somehow makes me believe that it's not just me. It is, and has been virtually every time there were frictions with various male or female bosses, the fact that in the Moste Holy Republicke of Austria the more important leading positions are seldom awarded on the grounds of merit, but of political connections, seniority and general spine- and mindlessness.
This means that you're working under somebody who is authorized to give you orders in every possible field of work without knowing the least bit about it.
That's one aspect of the problem. Another one is that consular work (meaning what we do for Austrians abroad as well as the wide and mine-heavy field of visas etc) is the first thing the media will get their teeth into if anything goes wrong. And by wrong I don't mean myself making a mistake, but some nobody from Austria complaining that his aunt wasn't granted a visa (for which there are, of course, good reasons, none of which interest the press, of course). It seems that the worst thing that can happen is 'being in the papers'. As if the worst thing that <i>can<i> happen isn't to commit a fatal error or break the law. This means that every time Mr. Nobody threatens to tell it all to the media, the ambassador is in my office 5 minutes later, tearing out her hair and trying to persuade me to grant that damned visa. Ambassadors are really, really afraid that somebody might remember, a few years later, 'their' (and the possessive is totally uncalled for, really) embassy was cited in the papers. Which is stupid, really, since we all know exactly how quickly even the biggest tragedies are forgotten only a few weeks after they happened, because they aren't being covered by the media anymore.
And the third aspect - a result of the first two combined - is the resulting lack of loyalty, i.e. the ambassador is so scared of the press and so ignorant of the matter that he or she will always assume everybody else is right and his or her staff in the wrong.
Only that doesn't go too well with constant assertions of us all being a large family (no thanks, I already have a dysfunctional family, don't need another one) and a team (oh really, is that what you do as part of a team? Write reports pointing your finger, saying 'It was the consul who did it? Rather not, I'd say.)
So yes, I do have a problem with this particular boss. And of course it's also because of me. Because when she starts yet another sentence with the words 'Ismail the driver told me that XY did this or that' I just can't prevent myself from telling her that Ismail the driver is a disgusting, backstabbing little man to whose slanderous drivel one really shouldn't listen.
In the end it all comes down to Why can't I keep my mouth shut? As it always has.
So, I'm having problems with my current ambassador. Not anything dramatic, in the sense that it could harm me or my career - well let's call that professional life, for honesty's sake. The fact that I'm not the only one somehow makes me believe that it's not just me. It is, and has been virtually every time there were frictions with various male or female bosses, the fact that in the Moste Holy Republicke of Austria the more important leading positions are seldom awarded on the grounds of merit, but of political connections, seniority and general spine- and mindlessness.
This means that you're working under somebody who is authorized to give you orders in every possible field of work without knowing the least bit about it.
That's one aspect of the problem. Another one is that consular work (meaning what we do for Austrians abroad as well as the wide and mine-heavy field of visas etc) is the first thing the media will get their teeth into if anything goes wrong. And by wrong I don't mean myself making a mistake, but some nobody from Austria complaining that his aunt wasn't granted a visa (for which there are, of course, good reasons, none of which interest the press, of course). It seems that the worst thing that can happen is 'being in the papers'. As if the worst thing that <i>can<i> happen isn't to commit a fatal error or break the law. This means that every time Mr. Nobody threatens to tell it all to the media, the ambassador is in my office 5 minutes later, tearing out her hair and trying to persuade me to grant that damned visa. Ambassadors are really, really afraid that somebody might remember, a few years later, 'their' (and the possessive is totally uncalled for, really) embassy was cited in the papers. Which is stupid, really, since we all know exactly how quickly even the biggest tragedies are forgotten only a few weeks after they happened, because they aren't being covered by the media anymore.
And the third aspect - a result of the first two combined - is the resulting lack of loyalty, i.e. the ambassador is so scared of the press and so ignorant of the matter that he or she will always assume everybody else is right and his or her staff in the wrong.
Only that doesn't go too well with constant assertions of us all being a large family (no thanks, I already have a dysfunctional family, don't need another one) and a team (oh really, is that what you do as part of a team? Write reports pointing your finger, saying 'It was the consul who did it? Rather not, I'd say.)
So yes, I do have a problem with this particular boss. And of course it's also because of me. Because when she starts yet another sentence with the words 'Ismail the driver told me that XY did this or that' I just can't prevent myself from telling her that Ismail the driver is a disgusting, backstabbing little man to whose slanderous drivel one really shouldn't listen.
In the end it all comes down to Why can't I keep my mouth shut? As it always has.
