This note of explicit work intrigue brought to you by the Ghost Writer while Marti wrangles outlaws in the wild, wild west world of retail.
So after months, now I know years, of unconfirmed sitings of two people together with thin business reasons for being in the same place for a week at a time, I asked a colleague, "So what's going on there?" He replies, "The worst kept secret in the business." It's the oh-so-typical man-in-power scenario with the woman two layers below him in the organization. She has a committed partnership. He has a marriage and a child that I'm sure is his noble, yet misguided, impetus for staying married.
While I could really care less how the two of them screw up their personal lives, when he used me as pawn to get her to the same place he was, I got wrinkled about it. Did he not realize that I can see manipulation a mile away? He used every type known to humanity -- praise, criticism, power implication, consequence implication, and personal "give me a break" pleas. It was just pathetic. Now I feel slimy every time I'm near the guy, and I want to tell the woman he's wrecking her career.
However, there are very real implications associated with confronting either of them directly. I'm one of her superiors, and he's my peer. Hello? Rock. Yes. Meet Hard Place. Hard Place. This is Rock. As on HR Leader, not HR Manager, I enjoy the deliberation associated with calling the ethics hotline and reporting them or just letting it go like apparently everyone else does in the company. Does it really hurt performance? No. Is it distracting? Yes. Does it hurt anyone? Yes, her more than him. It doesn't really hurt me, just annoys me. Does it hurt anyone financially? Not really. The company is paying a few more bucks for travel for the two of them to play house, but compared to other places money gets blown, it's minor.
So if any of you HR pros out there have some advice for this Ghost Writer, I'm up for it. Marti says, "Go to a pay phone, block the caller ID, and call the ethics line." I may just do that.
So after months, now I know years, of unconfirmed sitings of two people together with thin business reasons for being in the same place for a week at a time, I asked a colleague, "So what's going on there?" He replies, "The worst kept secret in the business." It's the oh-so-typical man-in-power scenario with the woman two layers below him in the organization. She has a committed partnership. He has a marriage and a child that I'm sure is his noble, yet misguided, impetus for staying married.
While I could really care less how the two of them screw up their personal lives, when he used me as pawn to get her to the same place he was, I got wrinkled about it. Did he not realize that I can see manipulation a mile away? He used every type known to humanity -- praise, criticism, power implication, consequence implication, and personal "give me a break" pleas. It was just pathetic. Now I feel slimy every time I'm near the guy, and I want to tell the woman he's wrecking her career.
However, there are very real implications associated with confronting either of them directly. I'm one of her superiors, and he's my peer. Hello? Rock. Yes. Meet Hard Place. Hard Place. This is Rock. As on HR Leader, not HR Manager, I enjoy the deliberation associated with calling the ethics hotline and reporting them or just letting it go like apparently everyone else does in the company. Does it really hurt performance? No. Is it distracting? Yes. Does it hurt anyone? Yes, her more than him. It doesn't really hurt me, just annoys me. Does it hurt anyone financially? Not really. The company is paying a few more bucks for travel for the two of them to play house, but compared to other places money gets blown, it's minor.
So if any of you HR pros out there have some advice for this Ghost Writer, I'm up for it. Marti says, "Go to a pay phone, block the caller ID, and call the ethics line." I may just do that.
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Ghost Writer, I'm with Marti on this one. Good luck.
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