Horrible…y Good Bosses
It was a rainy morning at Amrita University where I studied Engineering. I was watching a movie named ‘Swimming with Sharks’ in the hostel. It was a story about a bad boss abusing his subordinate, naive writer. I wondered how my future bosses would be! I had got placed in a British company for its Qatar operations. I had a great expectation about my first job. I expected to work in a skyscraper and enjoying a great life there. My friends, Navin and Vishnu (who were also hired by the company) travelled together with lots of hope about our careers. We finally reached Doha on July 7, 2007 (7-7-07). This was the first time I lived away from parents.
My project was called RLOC, the largest Olefins manufacturing plant in the world. My boss’ name was Mr. Shetty, a Project Manager. It was a new project and they had a senior planning engineer named Ajay. The plan was to promote him as a site manager for another project. Therefore, he trained me for about a month and handed over his responsibilities. He introduced me to all our stakeholders, guided me well before he left. I used to work daily from 6 AM to 6 PM at least. My boss would arrive at 10 AM and rush home by 5 PM. Going by his casual conversations with our clients, I thought he was a super cool boss. Later I realised I was not so right! From 10 till noon, he would call “Ganesh…” at least 50 times. He would often forget why he called me. Maybe he would not have called his spouse so many times as he called me. It was so bad that Navin once informed that he shouted “Ganesh..” even when he was in main (Doha) office.
He would ask progress reports after he comes followed by a series of loud “Ganesh…"es for different reports. His favourite dialogue is, "Ganesh, even my three-year-old daughter would do better than you”. If he does not understand a report, his dialogue would be, “Your report is like a headless chicken… Ganesh…”. He had always thought spreadsheets were a magic tool where one click would be enough to pull up a report.
Since I was passionate about estimations, I helped our estimations department dealing with our clients for additional works. I used to interact with clients and made business. He did not like it and asked estimations to do it for themselves. He did not even like me befriending with our clients. I learnt later that two planning engineers resigned their job since they could not bear Shetty-isms.
I came to know that our General Manager had a good opinion about the new engineers. I thought that they considered working under my boss for more than 2 years was an achievement. But the truth was my performance appraisals were positive. He had a good opinion about me within and he even wrote a recommendation letter for my MBA admissions. After about two and a half years in RLOC, our project approached completion and I also planned to resign my job to pursue higher studies. When I gave the resignation letter, Shetty accepted it. However, the next day, he asked me if I would stay if I were placed in Estimations department. I thanked him for the offer but I informed my plans.
In Canada, I was working part-time in a Mexican fast-food restaurant. My boss there was Somen Ghorai. Within a few days, his family members moved to India and he had to stay in my house temporarily. He was the worst boss I have had and imagine if he stayed in the same house. He used to say that he has favoured me by giving a job. I always believe service is worth more than the payment. He never smiled at us, never replies if we ask how he is. Interestingly, he has learnt that he should use “please” to please the guests. So, he goes like this, “Next in line please… your order please… $26 please… thank you please…” and on delivery: “here’s your order please… condiments are here please… enjoy your dinner please.” Team members made good fun of him. Our team once saw a film called ‘Horrible bosses’ and even thought of devising a murder plan as shown in the movie.
On a busy day, he was very tense about a situation. He started blaming me for his shortcomings and abused me in Hindi. He thought I may not understand. Since I have learnt Hindi from Mumbaikars, I knew “those” words. I did not react immediately. The next day, I gave a resignation letter and said I would serve a two week notice period. After I left to Toronto, he called me on my phone and asked if I could come to Niagara falls daily for the job. I gave a befitting reply in his style.
Then it was Mr. Campbell in a debt collection agency. He is a very intense, no-nonsense boss. His words are very strong. He is result-oriented. I hated him when he was harsh at me, liked him for his passion for the job. He is a good cook. During Christmas Potluck, he cooked a three-course meal for everybody in our team.
When I met my present boss, Aravind Kumar Rajendran, for the first time during an interview, I thought, I am heading towards another tough boss episode. He did not smile at me; He looked serious. I thought either I will have a bad boss or will not be hired. Unlike my perception on the first day, he is very compassionate and super cool… He… Hey, wait…. holy macro… What am I doing here? he also would be reading this… so, let me keep the little secret with myself… ;-)