Anyone in the hospitality business will know and will understand, but then again this can be understood by just about anyone who is given a task and reaps none of the benefits or maybe a small prize if you're lucky. Maybe an honorable mention? It's tiring working overtime and not getting the recognition you truly deserve. I have this theory. Lets call it “totem pole” theory. You see, where I work there’s the head boss, the direct boss, the head supervising boss and supervising boss, slightly above the workers. So basically the “totem pole” appears like this:
HEAD BOSS
DIRECT BOSS
HEAD SUPERVISING BOSS
SUPERVISING BOSS
WORKERS
Now, this is how it works at my job. The head boss gives a task to the direct boss. The direct boss is too hot headed to feel like he needs to do anything. A pressure to get the task completed is placed upon him and he doesn’t like that so what does he do? He places the pressure on the head supervising boss. This frustrates her to no end, and instead of dealing with it, she decides that this is what the supervising boss is for (notice how I said she decides). This supervising boss has no choice but to deal with the task and make sure it’s executed. How does he do this? He places the pressure on to the workers (Oh, hey! That’s me!). The workers who actually have to deal with the task now has to deal with the pressure that cannot be passed to anyone else.
So the pressure is on. The hard work is put in to execute the task and of course because we are hard workers the task gets completed. So now the supervising boss reports back to the head supervising boss that the task is completed. The head supervising boss reports back to the direct boss who is then pleased that the task originally given to him is completed and he has nothing to worry about. He can breathe again as he reports to his head boss and tells him that the task is completed to his expectations. Congratulations are given and the head boss is thrilled!
Now here’s what is sometimes funny but never really thought of because that would require a thought process that many in the building lack the ability to go through. If you asked the direct boss how he went about executing such a task in that manner of time, how accurate do you think his answer would be? Yeah. Pretty sure the bottom end of the totem pole will receive no recognition (maybe an AMEX gift card for $25 for a job well done if you’re lucky or a WordArt created award that may or may not have your name spelled correctly. But hey, it’s the thought that counts right?) while the top receives a massive bonus to which he can now vacation in the Hamptons when he pleases. How much do you need for a trip to the Hamptons anyway? Way more than $25 I’m sure.
