T.A. Wilson & Associates

By now many have read or seen on the news the story about the Russian spies who have been here for decades. What is fascinating about this story is how in plain site they were. In the city of Cambridge neighbors were completely baffled when told they had two Russian spies among their mist. But that’s to be expected of Cambridge.

I suspect what surprises people the most is these alleged spies didn’t behave as we think spies should. They weren’t the suave debonair James Bond type we have imprinted in our consciousness. They looked and acted like everyday people. So when we read about their being captured and their supposedly spy activity it’s surprising to say the least.

As I follow this story, I find a similarity when workers come across a real manager. I mean most people have become so accustom to people who hold the title of manager but are anything but, when they meet or work for someone who is truly a manager it comes as complete surprise to them.

For many they work for managers who only know how to bark orders, take credit for other people’s work, complain about their superiors, and give their subordinates a hard time about everything. When approached with ideas on possible improvements, instead of embracing them, they respond with “that’s not how we do things here” or “you’re paid to perform not think.” Or they talk about accountability only when something goes wrong and are looking for someone to throw under the bus for their lack of oversight. When it comes time for doing people’s performance reviews, they are always late, remember only the mistakes, or can’t remember what the person did for the year.

Again it’s comes as a complete surprise when you work for someone who is completely opposite of the conventional manager many have come to work for. The type of managers I’m speaking of see their people as part of an overall team and it’s through them is that things get done.

They aren’t worried about who gets the credit because it’s truly a team effort. They take time to meet with all members of their staff, and listen to what they have to say and empower them to make reasonable changes of the work processes as long as they don’t impact performance negatively. Performance reviews are not only on time, but scheduled well in advance to allow for meaningful discussion. During this time there are no surprises it’s an honest and open dialogue about things you did well and the areas that require improvement along with straightforward suggestions on how you can improve.

When managers of this type suddenly appear on the scene it’s a complete surprise to everyone, it catches people completely off guard, conventional they’re not.

What’s even more amazing is the fact they are in our midst and people don’t know it.  What a shame.

Well it appears that the doormen of New York have won. According to DNAinfo.com an agreement has been reached that will grant a 10% wage increase along with a 20% increase to their benefits. It seems those who live in buildings that have doormen won’t have to sort through mail, screen guests, or take out their own trash. For those of us who don’t live in buildings that have doormen we might find this entire situation amusing. I admit that I do. But let me shed a different light on the subject.

Perhaps if we looked at it from viewpoint of employees losing the services of a group of people they depended on and they now have to do the work of that group. It may be that they can do the work but is it a good use of their time? Is it cost effective to have them take on this additional responsibility? If you have a group that is highly productive, what happens to that productivity by adding a set of disjointed responsibilities to the mix?

Ok am I reaching here? Yes I am I just find this story downright funny. Regardless of what these people are used to or that having a doorman is included in their rent or condo fees, it’s just downright funny to me to think this people are worried about having to take out their own trash, sort their mail, or hail their own cab. But as I’ve already said in an earlier post, only in New York.

© Timothy A. Wilson. All Rights Reserved

My wife left me a note this morning that simply said, “Coffee maker died???”  I’m guessing the question marks at the end are intended for me to provide an explanation, of which I have none. Perhaps it might have been more reflective of her mood, since she was deprived of her morning cup of coffee. Something I learned a long time ago never to get in the way of, but I’m more inclined to believe it has to do with the relative newness of this coffee maker.  We’ve had this one less than six months.

I honestly don’t know what it is about the short lives of coffee makers in our house. We seem to be on the path of having to purchase one every six months. It’s not that we’re making coffee for throngs of people, we’re empty nesters. I will admit that I drink my fair share of the magic elixir.  I’m reminded of a boss I had who admitted he had a coffee addiction. He once told me that he when he couldn’t sleep, he would make a pot of coffee and drink it all himself.  Seem to be a bit counter productive, if your objective was to get to sleep, but I found myself understanding what he was going through.

However, I still don’t understand why we go through so many coffee makers. After all they are a relatively simple machine. You put your drip coffee in a filter place the filter in a basket, fill it with water and turn it on and wait for the magic to start, and the kitchen to be filled with the aroma of a freshly brewed pot of the elixir of the gods. To have a coffee maker die in less than six months only tells me that it was shoddy workmanship. For us it doesn’t matter what model of coffee maker we purchase, they all seem to punk out after a short period of use. There was this time when our first coffee maker crapped out, I told my wife we were having the problem because we were buying cheap coffee makers. So I took upon myself to find the one coffee maker that would be right for us and I wasn’t going to let price get in my way.

I came home with a coffee maker that not only brewed coffee it would grow and grind the beans, tell the time in five countries and whistle Dixie when the coffee was done. It was my pride and joy. I fussed and preened over this machine even though I was never able to figure out how to get it to do half the things it was capable of and was thoroughly disappointed to see it replaced by a much simpler machine. When I asked my wife why, she simply said, it sprung a leak. I didn’t believe her after all I paid good money for my top of the line coffee maker.  She was prepared for my protest, she handed me a pot of water, and pointed to the machine on the counter and said pour.  Knowing to argue with her never boded well for me, I meekly acquiesced and began pouring water into my coffee maker, only to see it come out at the base. My machine was relegated to the basement and subsequently the junk pile.  Like the ban on my having tools, my coffee maker purchasing privileges have been revoked.

What bothers me is the short life of this recent purchase. There was a time when things would last. I remember when I was growing my mother had a Pyrex coffee percolator. She and other people claimed it made great coffee. You can find them on eBay as collector items. There is a company called Modelco that makes glass percolators, and I found a place that sells them. I know my purchasing privileges have been revoked, but I think I still can advise and recommend. I think I’ll give it a try.

© Timothy A. Wilson 2009. All Rights Reserved.