The Student Room Group

What was my bosses problem?

What does it mean when a woman boss one day holds a meeting with the guy formally with another man manager and asks him why he’s not happy and he seems to reserved and seems strange and looking away here and there but calm and finding it almost funny maybe then saying you see this is the first time I’ve seen you smile and if he really wants to stay and she wants to see him open up more and then seems annoyed that he missed a staff meeting, other workers see him as quiet also, she then got annoyed one day when he was late, then one day he gets into an argument with men customers and calmly says you are not the type in a calm but dismissive way, he then goes out to fight them and she follows him to make sure he’s ok and phones him later to check, then later when she one day fired him she seemed interested in studying the man’s hands when firing him and nothing else not even eye contact and seems to want to know something from his hands? It seemed to him anyway What’s all about?
This all seems quite self explanatory aside from the stream of consciousness section at the end.

Reply 2

Original post
by Admit-One
This all seems quite self explanatory aside from the stream of consciousness section at the end.

Stream of consciousness??

Reply 3

Original post
by Anonymous
What does it mean when a woman boss one day holds a meeting with the guy formally with another man manager and asks him why he’s not happy and he seems to reserved and seems strange and looking away here and there but calm and finding it almost funny maybe then saying you see this is the first time I’ve seen you smile and if he really wants to stay and she wants to see him open up more and then seems annoyed that he missed a staff meeting, other workers see him as quiet also, she then got annoyed one day when he was late, then one day he gets into an argument with men customers and calmly says you are not the type in a calm but dismissive way, he then goes out to fight them and she follows him to make sure he’s ok and phones him later to check, then later when she one day fired him she seemed interested in studying the man’s hands when firing him and nothing else not even eye contact and seems to want to know something from his hands? It seemed to him anyway What’s all about?

I do t think your boss has a problem. The employee who wants to fight customers definitely has a problem.

Reply 4

Original post
by Anonymous
What does it mean when a woman boss one day holds a meeting with the guy formally with another man manager and asks him why he’s not happy and he seems to reserved and seems strange and looking away here and there but calm and finding it almost funny maybe then saying you see this is the first time I’ve seen you smile and if he really wants to stay and she wants to see him open up more and then seems annoyed that he missed a staff meeting, other workers see him as quiet also, she then got annoyed one day when he was late, then one day he gets into an argument with men customers and calmly says you are not the type in a calm but dismissive way, he then goes out to fight them and she follows him to make sure he’s ok and phones him later to check, then later when she one day fired him she seemed interested in studying the man’s hands when firing him and nothing else not even eye contact and seems to want to know something from his hands? It seemed to him anyway What’s all about?

Wow... that's a SCARILY long sentence :eek3::eek::eek4:

On to the matter now, the manager has a duty of care to ensure their staff are working in a pleasant and functioning environment. If they are unhappy with the work conditions or the attitude / conduct of one person... and it's causing problems with the other staff or customers, then they have to deal with that (hence the term "manage" lol). Also, considering one's employment is potentially at steak, any formal meeting with managers should be taken seriously by all participants; especially if there's more than one manager present (was HR there?). The fact that "he" was looking away and "finding it almost funny" would be considered rude by a lot of people, or at best, "he" doesn't take the job seriously, and doesn't respect the other colleagues... as does "him" turning up late without a decent explanation.

Getting into verbal arguments with customers is bad enough, but I would consider staff going out to fight a customer as gross-misconduct, so if I was the boss, I'd look to sack "him", or at best, issue a written warning (if there were exceptional circumstances such as a shoplifter or someone harassing people.) Even so, that's why most places have dedicated (licensed) security staff..
Original post
by ageshallnot
I do t think your boss has a problem. The employee who wants to fight customers definitely has a problem.

Original post
by Old Skool Freak
Getting into verbal arguments with customers is bad enough, but I would consider staff going out to fight a customer as gross-misconduct, so if I was the boss, I'd look to sack "him", or at best, issue a written warning (if there were exceptional circumstances such as a shoplifter or someone harassing people.) Even so, that's why most places have dedicated (licensed) security staff..


I don't think this is about a colleague. Our thread starter is just writing in the third person which makes it hard to parse.

Original post
by Anonymous
Stream of consciousness??

This is where your first sentence should naturally end, everything after this is just one run-along train of thought which is very hard to make clear what has happened, and more importantly, to who.

Original post
by Anonymous
What does it mean when a woman boss one day holds a meeting with the guy formally with another man manager and asks him why he’s not happy.


So before we go go any further, could you confirm that this is all about you, and that you were the person in meeting?

Reply 6

Original post
by Admit-One
I don't think this is about a colleague. Our thread starter is just writing in the third person which makes it hard to parse.
This is where your first sentence should naturally end, everything after this is just one run-along train of thought which is very hard to make clear what has happened, and more importantly, to who.
So before we go go any further, could you confirm that this is all about you, and that you were the person in meeting?

Oh, I know, I know! 😆

Reply 7

Original post
by Old Skool Freak
Wow... that's a SCARILY long sentence :eek3::eek::eek4:
On to the matter now, the manager has a duty of care to ensure their staff are working in a pleasant and functioning environment. If they are unhappy with the work conditions or the attitude / conduct of one person... and it's causing problems with the other staff or customers, then they have to deal with that (hence the term "manage" lol). Also, considering one's employment is potentially at steak, any formal meeting with managers should be taken seriously by all participants; especially if there's more than one manager present (was HR there?). The fact that "he" was looking away and "finding it almost funny" would be considered rude by a lot of people, or at best, "he" doesn't take the job seriously, and doesn't respect the other colleagues... as does "him" turning up late without a decent explanation.
Getting into verbal arguments with customers is bad enough, but I would consider staff going out to fight a customer as gross-misconduct, so if I was the boss, I'd look to sack "him", or at best, issue a written warning (if there were exceptional circumstances such as a shoplifter or someone harassing people.) Even so, that's why most places have dedicated (licensed) security staff..

I was thinking the same. It's the longest sentence I've ever read

Reply 8

Original post
by Admit-One
I don't think this is about a colleague. Our thread starter is just writing in the third person which makes it hard to parse.
This is where your first sentence should naturally end, everything after this is just one run-along train of thought which is very hard to make clear what has happened, and more importantly, to who.
So before we go go any further, could you confirm that this is all about you, and that you were the person in meeting?

I also suspect that... hence why all my references to "he" and "him" were in quotation marks :biggrin:

Original post
by MarkyMcLilla
I was thinking the same. It's the longest sentence I've ever read

Glad it's not just me and not another trend I'm missing out on :p:

Reply 9

Original post
by Admit-One
I don't think this is about a colleague. Our thread starter is just writing in the third person which makes it hard to parse.
This is where your first sentence should naturally end, everything after this is just one run-along train of thought which is very hard to make clear what has happened, and more importantly, to who.
So before we go go any further, could you confirm that this is all about you, and that you were the person in meeting?

Yes it’s me
Original post
by Anonymous
Yes it’s me


In that case you've said that you were dismissed for gross misconduct, so I am not sure analysing your bosses comments about your demeanour at work is super relevant. IE. Conflict with a customer is more problematic than you being a bit stoic.

Reply 11

Original post
by Admit-One
In that case you've said that you were dismissed for gross misconduct, so I am not sure analysing your bosses comments about your demeanour at work is super relevant. IE. Conflict with a customer is more problematic than you being a bit stoic.

I didn't realise that the OP was dismissed until you pointed out in this post; however re-reading the original post, I can see that he was fired. However, that appeared to be some time after the incident when he went outside to fight a customer. So, I think it was a collection of incidents that led to his dismissal, rather than the fight itself (I was the one who mentioned Gross Misconduct, not the OP... although how the managers didn't consider it as such, I'll never know).

The fact that the OP seems to be blissfully unaware of the impact his behaviour has on others and that his behaviour is unacceptable in a professional environment suggests (to me, at least), that he may be somewhat narcissistic> While I accept I may be wrong, the whole post sounds almost like he's asking if his bosses behaviour is a sign that she finds him attractive?!? Reality is she probably showing concern for her staffs welfare and ultimately felt uncomfortable with eye contact while delivering the bad news to him.

Reply 12

Original post
by Old Skool Freak
I didn't realise that the OP was dismissed until you pointed out in this post; however re-reading the original post, I can see that he was fired. However, that appeared to be some time after the incident when he went outside to fight a customer. So, I think it was a collection of incidents that led to his dismissal, rather than the fight itself (I was the one who mentioned Gross Misconduct, not the OP... although how the managers didn't consider it as such, I'll never know).
The fact that the OP seems to be blissfully unaware of the impact his behaviour has on others and that his behaviour is unacceptable in a professional environment suggests (to me, at least), that he may be somewhat narcissistic> While I accept I may be wrong, the whole post sounds almost like he's asking if his bosses behaviour is a sign that she finds him attractive?!? Reality is she probably showing concern for her staffs welfare and ultimately felt uncomfortable with eye contact while delivering the bad news to him.

Don’t be rude

Reply 13

Original post
by Anonymous
Don’t be rude

I'm not being rude; I haven't been abusive to you or called you names... I'm giving an honest opinion based on what you've written and how you come across in your posts.

Most people would naturally be worried / concerned that they're called into a meeting with their managers, but you don't seem to care and even said "seems to reserved and seems strange and looking away here and there but calm and finding it almost funny" (your words, not mine). Furthermore, you also said "one day he gets into an argument with men customers and calmly says you are not the type in a calm but dismissive way, he then goes out to fight them" and you don't see anything wrong with that kind of behaviour / attitude in the workplace... and you still seem to think that it's your boss who has the problem and not you.

You're very lucky to have / had such a caring and patient boss, because with the possible exception of dealers, I can't think of any scenario where a manager would put up with someone going to fight their customers.

Reply 14

Original post
by Old Skool Freak
I'm not being rude; I haven't been abusive to you or called you names... I'm giving an honest opinion based on what you've written and how you come across in your posts.
Most people would naturally be worried / concerned that they're called into a meeting with their managers, but you don't seem to care and even said "seems to reserved and seems strange and looking away here and there but calm and finding it almost funny" (your words, not mine). Furthermore, you also said "one day he gets into an argument with men customers and calmly says you are not the type in a calm but dismissive way, he then goes out to fight them" and you don't see anything wrong with that kind of behaviour / attitude in the workplace... and you still seem to think that it's your boss who has the problem and not you.
You're very lucky to have / had such a caring and patient boss, because with the possible exception of dealers, I can't think of any scenario where a manager would put up with someone going to fight their customers.

The customer was insulting a woman worker and getting aggressive
Original post
by Anonymous
The customer was insulting a woman worker and getting aggressive


That doesn't explain why you intended to "fight" them.

Reply 16

Original post
by Anonymous
The customer was insulting a woman worker and getting aggressive

Well don't you think that this is the sort of thing that could've (should've) been included in your original post, so we've got some form of context? You also had another opportunity to clarify the scenario when @ageshallnot called out your behaviour in his post last week. Nevertheless, assuming you're telling the truth, I guess I can't fault you for coming to your colleagues aid... but still, you don't take it on yourself to go out and fight a customer. As I said in an earlier post, that's why most retail stores have dedicated security staff to deal with unruly customers. They are the ones who are trained and paid to maintain order on a shop floor; not you.

If you really wanted to help your colleague, you could have tried to calmly talk to the person, making him aware of his behaviour. If that doesn't work, then call security to deal with it; if there's no security in the shop, then an external security patrol person if it's in something like a shopping mall. If there's no security, then you call the manager to intervene... and they can call the police if they feel the customer is particularly threatening.
(edited 2 weeks ago)

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