primitives discuss primitive supervisor

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3787805

I suspect the primitive's supervisor's a primitive; all the signs are there.  Also the General Manager.

The bold areas below are described by Sigmund Freud as being classic primitivism.

inanna  (448 posts) Wed Aug-13-08 07:40 AM
Original message

The Sociopathic Supervisor
   
I'd like to glean some opinions about this which I've never seen discussed on DU before.

(*Mods, this may need to be moved to another forum, I'm not sure.)

I've been doing a lot of research on the subject of sociopathy/psychopathy lately. To be blunt, this comes after months of sheer torment and suffering in my workplace and it is not just myself, but many of my co-workers who are dealing with this situation. It may have even gone so far as to be directly impacting our department manager now.

I believe we are dealing with a man who is sociopath. Obviously I cannot prove this as I'm not a psychologist (and really, I'm still just learning about these matters, which is why I seek feedback so desperately).

I will...openly acknowledge that I detest this man, so feel free to factor that in as you read this.

A bit of background: this individual was hired nearly a year ago as a supervisor in our department. After a few months it became readily apparent that this man was an alcoholic, prone to drinking on the job. Complaints were filed and an investigation by upper management led to exactly zero consequences for this man's behaviour. It was decided instead that those of us who'd filed the complaints were "malicious gossips."

As time wore on, more complaints about this man and some of his behaviour were filed by individuals in other departments as well as customers of the organization were I work. All of them yielded no disciplinary action towards this man. Suffice it to say, we may not just be dealing with a sociopathic supervisor but also a General Manager who appears to be protecting this guy at all costs in order to save her own job (she was the one who hired him).

Realizing he was being targeted for his alcohol abuse on the job only made this individual that much more difficult to deal with. And this is where the situation now stands: three of my long time co-workers have quit their jobs because of this man. I have recently made the decision to cut my own position from full-time to part time, strictly to avoid having to work any shifts with this supervisor. Everybody fears working with this guy.

I want to be clear about something here. Initially, I assumed many of this man's character flaws stemmed from his obvious alcoholism, and still believe that might explain some of his behavior. But not all of it. In my research I have found several websites that detail the characteristics of the sociopathic personality. They are as follows:

*Glibness and Superficial Charm

*Manipulative and Conning: They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims.

*Grandiose Sense of Self : feels entitled to certain things as "their right."

*Pathological Lying: Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests.

*Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt: A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way.

*Shallow Emotions: When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises.

*Incapacity for Love

*Need for Stimulation: Living on the edge. Verbal outbursts and physical punishments are normal. Promiscuity and gambling are common.

*Callousness/Lack of Empathy : Unable to empathize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others' feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them.

*Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature: Rage and abuse, alternating with small expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for abuser and abused, as well as creating hopelessness in the victim. Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others.

*Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency: Usually has a history of behavioral and academic difficulties, yet "gets by" by conning others. Problems in making and keeping friends; aberrant behaviors such as cruelty to people or animals, stealing, etc.

*Irresponsibility/Unreliability: Not concerned about wrecking others' lives and dreams. Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause. Does not accept blame themselves, but blames others, even for acts they obviously committed.

*Promiscuous Sexual Behavior/Infidelity: Promiscuity, child sexual abuse, rape and sexual acting out of all sorts.

There is no way for me to gauge whether or not my supervisor possesses all of these traits. He does however, possess many of them. Further, this man displays a real "authoritarian" complex and has, from his earliest days on the job, employed a "divide and conquer" strategy in order to ostensibly drive a wedge between my fellow co-workers and myself.

He developed an odd fascination with me personally right from the beginning. He attempted to isolate me from my co-workers in a way that was obvious to everybody, and got visibly upset if I decided to take breaks with them instead of him. He gave me a raise and then announced he'd done this a staff meeting (more of that 'divide and conquer' stuff) and he was constantly promising me the sun, the moon and the stars.

Though he treated me like gold, I simply did not like him, sensing a very bad "vibe" about him right off the bat. However, it was his treatment of my co-workers that led me to despise him.

The last complaint we filed against this man dealt with a situation where he'd become physically violent one evening in our facility, smashing a bunch of fluorescent light bulbs in our back room and even going so far as to lock two of us out of the building while we were on a break. This led to some swift action by my department manager (who we called in at 4:30 in the morning): the supervisor was immediately sent home, and after a huge meeting with upper management, it was decided that the guy would be "temporarily" reassigned to a different shift.

However, after a period of four months he is now back on his regular shift, the final investigation by HR stating their findings were about the incident were "inconclusive" and that our complaint was "unsubstantianted."

We have been victimized by this man and his alcohol abuse.
We have been victimized by this man and his verbal abuse.
We have been terrorized by this man due to his violent tendencies.
And we have been further violated by upper management who in this case, refuses to enforce company policies and procedures whenever this supervisor is involved.

This has only served to make the man feel as though he is invincible and can get away with bloody murder.

The fact that I'm even researching sociopathy ought to be a pretty clear sign that something is very wrong with this situation. And I had no idea that there was so much information about these types of people. There are even several books devoted to this topic.

I just don't know what to do. We are considering going to the labour board with this stuff. But the inherent problem with this is that we mainly work on the midnight shift where there are no witnesses to this guys behavior. Since several of my co-workers and I have already been labelled by upper management as "malicious gossips" it makes it that much harder for us to resolve this matter.

Basically, it's us versus them.

Am I just paranoid, or am I possibly dealing with a sociopathic supervisor -- who is also an alcoholic? Has anybody else ever dealt with a situation like this?

I'm not asking for legal advice here. Basically I'm just fishing around to see if anybody else has experienced this before: in the workplace or elsewhere?

One final note: my department manager despises this guy just as much as we do. But bound by professionalism, he cannot come out and openly tell us that. In one rare moment of candor, he did indicate to me that our supervisor "might be the type to sue" if he was fired. So that may serve as some kind of explanation as to why upper management is not acting on this matter as they should. I think they've been threatened by this guy.

MrModerate  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Wed Aug-13-08 07:55 AM
Response to Original message

1. Your problem is much larger than one individual . . .
   
If half of what you've said is true, then your organization is dysfunctional. You referred to "complaints filed." Any organization having an employee who accumulates multiple formal complaints -- whether investigation fully validates the complaints or not -- and can't resolve the issue so other employees don't have to bear the weight of one person's misbehavior, has a broken HR process and should not be trusted with your career or even day-to-day wellbeing.

Who knows why they're still protecting this guy rather than building up the formal records often necessary to terminate someone. Your employer is a codependent enabler of a disruptive misanthrope and doesn't seem to care about the cost of keeping such a person around.

Get another employer.

inanna  (448 posts) Wed Aug-13-08 08:00 AM
Response to Reply #1

4. Oh...
   
>>Get another employer.<<

Believe me, I'm trying. Not always easy to do though

Thanks for your reply

conscious evolution  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Wed Aug-13-08 07:56 AM
Response to Original message

2. Buy a tape recorder and a log book.Document everything he does.

And consult with a lawyer.

There is no reason you guys have to put of with this behavior.

Loudmxr  (99 posts) Wed Aug-13-08 08:00 AM
Response to Original message

3. Or you can do a variant of the Sam Kinison treatment.
   
Go to the local big box store and buy him gifts of ALCOHOL. Yes big huge bottles of it. So that he won't have the strength to come in in morning, or afternoon, or whenever he wakes up.

He'll go away eventually.

I think there's at least a 50-50 chance the I am a banana primitive works as a "security technician" in an insane asylum.  They're the same all over.

[Lord Undies]

Drum roll, please......

What's his DU handle?

 

[JohnnyReb]

So DUmmie workers can't get along with DUmmie bosses.....what's so surprising about that. They can't get along with anybody.

They might be like some employees I've had, they confuse 'employment' with 'adoption'.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Works for Bill Clinton, eh?  I've always thought he fulfilled the sociopath archetype.

 

[delilahmused]

Translation: My supervisor reprimanded me for being late multiple times and told me if it keeps happening it could affect my next review. And I can't wear my Che t-shirt anymore, except on casual Fridays! What a fascist! He said a couple customers complained. Oh, and I'm not allowed to keep my fellow employees informed about the latest crimes of the Chimp. I guess he's never heard of the first amendment! I whined to every single one of my fellow employees about what a cruel rat bastard the supervisor is but none of them had suffered his wrath. A couple actually had the gall to suggest I might want to set my alarm a little bit earlier. What the hell! I only get up late because I'm busy posting on DU so I can be informed about what's going on in the world. I happen to believe an informed person makes a better employee. Oh, and I had to do all that research on sociopaths. I needed ammunition when I went to the GM. And I also smelled alcohol on his breath (at least I think I did...it may have just been Listerine). So, I go to the GM, she SAID she'd look into it but the asshole is still here so it's obvious I'm being ignored. I even went to HR...they know me there...this isn't the FIRST supervisor I've had to report. I think they're in Bushco's pocket too cuz it's been 2 weeks and nothings happened. I think the other employees have been threatened because none of them are talking to me anymore. Well, I won't stop fighting for workers' rights even if everyone else is scared. I'm going to the mayor and the BBB next! If I have to, I'll give the Secret Sauce recipe to Wendy's.

Cindie

[BlueStateSaint]

Translation: My supervisor reprimanded me for being late multiple times and told me if it keeps happening it could affect my next review. And I can't wear my Che t-shirt anymore, except on casual Fridays! What a fascist! He said a couple customers complained. Oh, and I'm not allowed to keep my fellow employees informed about the latest crimes of the Chimp. I guess he's never heard of the first amendment! I whined to every single one of my fellow employees about what a cruel rat bastard the supervisor is but none of them had suffered his wrath. A couple actually had the gall to suggest I might want to set my alarm a little bit earlier. What the hell! I only get up late because I'm busy posting on DU so I can be informed about what's going on in the world. I happen to believe an informed person makes a better employee. Oh, and I had to do all that research on sociopaths. I needed ammunition when I went to the GM. And I also smelled alcohol on his breath (at least I think I did...it may have just been Listerine). So, I go to the GM, she SAID she'd look into it but the asshole is still here so it's obvious I'm being ignored. I even went to HR...they know me there...this isn't the FIRST supervisor I've had to report. I think they're in Bushco's pocket too cuz it's been 2 weeks and nothings happened. I think the other employees have been threatened because none of them are talking to me anymore. Well, I won't stop fighting for workers' rights even if everyone else is scared. I'm going to the mayor and the BBB next! If I have to, I'll give the Secret Sauce recipe to Wendy's.

Cindie

You wrote the "DUmb**** bouncy course" with Coach, didn't you?
 
H5!

[PatriotGame]

The fact that I'm even researching sociopathy ought to be a pretty clear sign that something is very wrong with this situation. And I had no idea that there was so much information about these types of people. There are even several books devoted to this topic.

No shit?!
Several books on psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychological diagnosis? Whoda thunk it!

The veil of darkness is slightly pulled back for the DUmmy then slammed shut due to their ignorance.