(Attention lawyers and previous employers: the following information does not specifically identify a particular entity. 
You have nothing to worry about unless you think this represents you or your company and you know there is some truth to it.)

As I have worked with a few different kinds of managers/supervisors throughout the years, I have encountered one or two that had various red flags that I ignored but should have paid attention to.  Here, I share some of these red flags with you in the hopes that you do not end up getting screwed.  Not saying I got screwed (well, much), but you may!

Red Flag # 1 – People tell you to watch out for her/him.
That should be obvious, but sometimes your first impression (which was good, in my case) clouds your better judgement.  Pay attention to what other people are saying about this person.  Even if you treat it as rumor, keep it in the back of your mind.

Red Flag # 2 – She/he has a long history of dismissing or demoting employees with excuses of “no confidence.”
When this manager joined us, it was because of a merger with another company.  My current manager was demoted in short order because of “no confidence.”  Note that he had been with the original company from the start and had been supervising/managing developers (quite successfully, I might add), up to that point.  Other people in the company (the new one in the merger) often mentioned her/his tendency to do this.

(As an aside, I strongly believe that one of the things that would greatly benefit the business world in general is a process for employees to call for no confidence in their manager/supervisor.  Once managers/supervisors realize that they can be called to task for the otherwise unknown shit they pull on their subordinates, things may change for the better.  Companies need to realize that most of the real work is done by those that have not yet reached their level of incompetence.  It is time to move out the ones that are not just incompetent, but possibly abusive and reduce the productivity of their subordinates.)

Red Flag # 3 – She/he exhibits bipolar behavior.
Not in the clinical sense, but you notice that she/he can run hot and cold at the drop of a hat.  Be more caution if this flipping between states is a result of perceiving you as a threat.  For example, she/he once asked if I wanted to be a manager “because I was good at it,” referring to how I worked with developers.  But when I put on my yearly review form that I wanted to become a lead/manager of the team, I was informed that she/he did not think that I would be good at it.  WTF?

Red Flag # 4 – She/he takes credit for things that she/he has nothing (or very little) to do with.  These types may exaggerate their involvement in the conception and implementation of (novel) solutions, or have their name placed on things that were conceived and implemented long before they were even around.

Red Flag # 5 – She/he is personal friends with one or more people in upper management.  By “personal friends,” I do not mean taking the occasional plane ride together, I mean things like frequently getting together on weekends, crashing at each other’s place, etc.  In some (less professional) companies, this can end up being Carte Blanche to do just about anything.  People in this position can become assholes to their subordinates, just because they can, and they have in the past without being called on it.  As as you may find out, the human resources department is sometimes just upper management’s bitches, so people like this are never correctly identified by their pattern of behavior and removed from the company.

Red Flag # 6 – She/he will undermine your authority over, or the respect you receive from, other developers. 
One specific case I can recall is with a problem one of our plug-ins had with another plug-in from another group.  Both worked fine separately, but when loaded into the same application, the other plug-in would sometimes not cleanup its interface correctly and would leave a window on screen that was broken, and would raise exceptions whenever it was touched.
Now, we had access to that other plug-in’s source code, so I wanted to load it up in the debugger to see what was causing the crash.  My manager at the time effectively berated me for this idea, that it was not the way to do things, and saying that “in her/his time,” we never blamed stuff on other developers.  (I never said it was the other group’s fault, I just wanted to get more details on what was happening.)  And then she/he had me make (random) changes to our code to see if we could get the exception to go away.
After a couple of days(!) if no results, she/he then stated in an open conference call “I guess we will have to find someone that thinks outside the box, then,” with other members of my development team present.

Well, I hope that helps… someone…

While looking for additional backup hardware, I came across an item that displayed an image that had some red text across it stating “YOU STOLE THIS IMAGE FROM XXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX” (company name changed to protect the stupid). Now, anyone that has been on eBay for at least a few years has seen images that have been switched or show a hotlink warning because the seller was pointing to someone else’s image instead of their own copy.

Being the nice guy that I am, I sent a little note to the seller telling them that it appeared as if they were using a “stolen” image. Here is the email exchange (with edited headers and content):


>>>> Question from xxxxxx
>>>>>
>>>>> Item: COMPAQ / HP STORAGE SHELF xxx XXXX / XXX / XXX / XXX XX
>>>>> (xxxxxxxxxx)
>>>>> This message was sent while the listing was active.
>>>>> xxxxxx is a potential buyer.
>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> Might want to check the image you are using (tip: view it
>>>>> from ebay as a buyer would).>>>> From: Jay X. Xxxxxxx [mailto:xxxxxxxx@xxxnet.com]
>>>>
>>>> Yeah, and what is the problem?

>>> From: xxxxxx
>>>
>>> Well, if you actually take a look at it, it has the following text on it: “YOU STOLE
>>> THIS IMAGE FROM MODERN COMPUTER SOLUTIONS”
>>>
>>> -Which does not exactly inspire confidence in a seller…

>> From: Jay X. Xxxxxxx [mailto:xxxxxxxx@xxxnet.com]
>>
>> Well *GENIOUS* My Seller name is *Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx* This is for the idiots
>> who STEAL my images because they are too lazy to take their own pictures! Are you new
>> to eBay? I remember my first time!

> From: xxxxxx
>
> Mind yourself!
>
> Have your hosting provider implement “hotlink prevention” to help deter theft of images.
> A quick view of this eBay account will show how long it has been active (slightly longer
> than yours with this particular ID).
>
> Again, my observation was that it appears that the image used in your listing was stolen,
> not that you are trying to prevent theft. It was the only thing (up to this point, at least) that
> stopped me from taking a serious interest in the item. A semi-transparent watermark
> with “Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx” would be a better way to go, IMHO.
> Take it or leave it – but save the attitude.
>
> Lastly, the word you were looking for is genius, not GENIOUS. First time speller, perhaps? 🙂

From: Jay X. Xxxxxxx [mailto:xxxxxxxx@xxxnet.com]

Well I really do not invest much time in worthless FUCKS, did I spell that right? Like you wasting my time none the less you can not afford the 10 dollar item any way. Not to mention you are blocked from buying any thing from me just on principal. And Genious was a joke; GENE-E-US enunciated you know like moron!

Well folks, that is the kind of talent you can get from Bellbrook, Ohio these days… Tip for the locals – be careful who you work with. Getting involved with amateurs like this guy will only cause problems in the long run.

As I write a post on Code Project Here, I think about how being PC has turned many of us into a bunch of wimps.

These days, you cannot even finish telling a joke without someone interrupting saying that they are offended by what you are saying, and after acknowledging them and then trying to finish the joke, they continue to interrupt you: “I don’t think I am comfortable with the content of this joke.”

Well then… If the problem is that you are not comfortable with the content, then the problem is that you are not comfortable with the content, and you (not everybody else) should maybe do something about it… Like… Oh, I dunno, maybe

-And leave the grown-ups alone so that the joke can be finished and someone can get a laugh from it? It is completely OK if you cannot take the joke. And for the most part, other people will be comfortable with your limitation(s), as well. However, it is inappropriate to steal the enjoyment of the joke just because you cannot take it.

Here is a little fact: it is OK to be offended! Really! If you are walking down the street and see a billboard for a movie that shows a little too much skin for your taste and you get offended, all you have to do is BE OFFENDED, stop looking at the billboard, and just keep walking down the street minding your own business. No need to call a press conference to bitch about it. Something on the radio or TV that you do not like? Fine, STOP LISTENING, WATCHING, or just get off your butt and change the channel/station. You will be OK… The world will go on. Really. Trust me. It is OK if you cannot handle anything, but try not to involve others in your limitations.

IMHO, Political Correctness is based on a flawed assumption: everyone’s feelings matter. Why is this a flawed assumption? Because it fails to take into account one very simple and all-too-true concept: some people are just too sensitive. Sometimes, you just have to learn to deal with it, and not expect the rest of the world to change for you.

Parents of small children understand this. Just because your son took a toy from his big sister is not a reason for her to start screaming and crying. It is not that big of a deal, and it does not require all that drama. So while we correct the son so that he learns not to steal things, we also teach the daughter that some things are just not worth crying about. The old saying about not crying over spilled milk comes to mind. As the daughter grows up, we hope she learns which things are worth crying over and which are not.

If your child got upset and started crying each time someone spilled something on the table, would you go out to a restaurant and instruct all patrons sitting next to your family not to spill anything while your daughter is around? Of course not! You would teach her that spilling (or having something spilled) it is not a big deal, and not worth crying over. Political Correctness does the opposite – it not only requests, but REQUIRES that no one spill anything while your daughter is around! Does that not sound a little stupid to you?

Here is a little-known fact – I am generally offended by organized religion. Actually, I find most forms of religion greatly offensive. But I do not go around work demanding that people stop wearing crosses and/or remove pictures of Jesus from their workspaces. Trust me – if I can handle seeing crucifixes and the Jesus Fish everywhere, YOU can handle the crude joke!

The worst thing about the concept of PC is that far too many people are naive enough to believe that bring PC is the same as being professional. This is just plain stupid. Here is a small example – assume you have someone suffers from mental retardation. You can refer to them them in a few different ways:

• As ‘Tard
• As special
• As Mentally Retarded

Calling someone that suffers from this condition “‘Tard” is not professional, nor PC, nor even close to correct. In fact, it is idiotic. That much we can agree on. Moving on.

“Special” is the PC or nice way to put it. But as far trying to provide proper assistance to this person, it does nothing! Why? Because it fails to correctly identify the condition that the person has. And if you do not know exactly what is wrong, you cannot render proper assistance.

“Mentally Retarded” is the professional way to put it. It does not sugar-coat the truth, nor does it obfuscate the underlying problem. As such, it puts the problem right out in the open, where it can then be addressed correctly.

You do nothing for this person by calling them special. If anything, you only do something for yourself by making yourself feel better about how you address that person’s problem. That is a bit selfish, if you ask me. Additionally, you actually might end up hurting them by doing so, because they may not get the assistance they require. Imagine having a school called Foster’s Institute for the Special. If you had one child that suffered from Asperger Syndrome and another that suffered from mental retardation, can you tell if that school is able to help either or both of your children?

Now, some people with limited facilities actually consider it derogatory to identify someone that is mentally retarded as “Mentally Retarded”, or someone that has autism “Autistic”. Where does it end? Does short become “vertically challenged“? Do those that are bullies become “nice challenged“? If you cannot type, are you then “keyboard impaired“?

This is not the fault of the words themselves, it is the fault of those that would use them in a derogatory fashion, and those that are too sensitive to handle it. But as is the case with many things, the solution is education, so that these people better fit into the world. Not trying to change the world to accommodate those people. After all, it is a great big world out there.

Having driven a decent amount of miles for my age, in a variety of vehicles ranging from motorcycles to my mom’s double-cab dually with a six-horse gooseneck trailer, I can truthfully say that one of the most scary things out there are people driving vehicles that are way to big for them.

In general, I have always believed that you should never drive a vehicle that is taller than you are unless you have a real reason for doing so. For example, if you have to haul a fully loaded four-horse trailer, you are likely not going to be pulling it with a Neon! Likewise, if you have to (read: it is your job to) drive a bunch of kids to and from school, a school bus fits the bill. If hauling large amounts of cattle, a semi/tractor-trailer is appropriate. Got three kids? The Dodge Grand Caravan makes for a safer bet than a Navigator, and is easier to park, especially when all you are doing is bringing the kids to and from Chuck-E-Cheese’s.

However, if simply taking your little 5’2″ ass on an all-blacktop 20 minute drive to and from work, you do not need to be driving an Escalade, H2, or Land Rover. If you are driving an SUV that is taller than you, and the most off-roading you have ever done was pull it into the backyard to drop off bags of mulch, or the most camping you do is when you are taking a nap in the backyard, you are likely in the wrong vehicle.

Nothing is scarier than driving at 75+ MPH on the highway and seeing someone closing in on you who can barely see over the steering wheel let alone over the side of their car when doing a lane change. That is real fear. At nighttime, when it is already hard enough to correctly gauge distance, the last thing you need is some dumbass on your tail illuminating your interior due to the height of their headlights.

Have we gotten so stupid that everyone needs to be driving a surrogate penis now? Even when their travel is so limited that nobody of any significance will see it? Oh, and how is that fuel bill treating you these days?

Geeze…