Oh, The Jerks That Will Lead

Always up to things.

Over the years I have worked for some of the toughest people. It was as if God was giving me a test of fortitude and tenacity. Nonetheless, I buckled up and gave each career situation my best shot.

My very first boss, was a woman who was very lovely and understanding. I think that was due to the fact that she had a child with a disability. She was very patient and kind.

My next boss was a shrewd, Jewish woman who was all about business and money. She wanted you to shine just as long as you did not overshadow her. I was young and had big dreams. As soon as I got a keen understanding of the business, I was looking to spread my wings.

She had made promises of upward mobility and also commission income. However, when I left her employ, she owed me quite a bit of change.

The next job I worked at was considerably more professional as it was a corporate law firm. The managing director was stern and didactic. Beneath his strict exterior was a fair person. Although he did hassle me a bit to be nicer to the gossiping clique in the office. This was due to the fact that they made his life unbearable with tattle tales about me. Since all I would do was work and not break for idle gossip.

I eventually left the firm to begin my illustrious career in the financial industry. There is where the sparks really flew. Money was the only virtue they respected. So many of the commodity and stockbrokers spoke to their assistants like dirt.

If you were not good at quick retorts, they would annihilate you on the boardroom floor. There I learned to give back as good as I got. The interesting part was that I worked for four brokers. Two were stockbrokers and the other two were cracker-Jack commodity traders who brought in tons of money.

The stockbrokers I worked for were older gentlemen. They were very respectful and would guide me along in the work they wanted me to do. Mostly, it was maintaining their clients’ portfolios.

The other two were nice fellers when in a good mood. When they were in trading mode, they yelled, screamed and were not above throwing things. It was like living in hell and heaven at the same time.

A fair percentage of personnel were sure I would not have lasted a day. I stuck it out though until I got another job in the industry. It was like going into the frying pan. My next boss had a reputation for being sexist, brash and loving to get all the accolades.

At first it did not bother me because I was there to learn as much as I could from him. He was a typical Irish man who knew the industry inside and out. He knew all the main players and would tell me stories about them. He loved his ale every once in a while. When he did have a liquid lunch, he would return to the office in rare form at times cussing up a storm.

He was the first person I had come in contact with that had no filter. He would say however he felt regardless of how you perceived it. His peers in the industry respected him for his manner because many others were full of shite.

After leaving this brokerage firm, my bosses thereafter did not follow regulatory rules not from a financial perspective or human resources perspective. In their world, anything went. You decided to be a warrior hanging in there as long as you could. My days were riddled with sexual harassment and all sorts of other unprofessional nonsense.

I stuck it out because I had bills to pay. I eventually moved on to greener pastures. The reason why I am getting into such details about the characters I have dealt with in business is leading up to my most challenging business interaction ever in my life.

The relationship with my boss at Nestle’ was the most dehumanizing and stressful relationship I had encountered outside of my family and other professional scenarios. In the beginning, he pretended to be the mentor I needed at that point of my career.

I also noticed that he would prompt me to talk faster and that was because secretly he wanted me to be Hispanic. When I interviewed with the job I met with the Knights of the round table. Meaning, the six managers who ran all the zones within New York. They mostly comprised of Caucasian men.

The boss that had the most say, appreciated my experience and what I brought to the table. His number one concern was my ability to be tough when the situation called for it. Since he had the utmost clout, he made the decision for me to be hired immediately.

I was nervous because this was my first time running a ship all by myself. He had instructed my direct manager to make sure I was brought up to speed on everything and wanted me to receive all the training I needed to get up to par.

I took advantage of every course and study opportunity I could. I took the tests necessary and got all A’s to take on my job like a champion. He was always concerned about employees getting the right training and being kept in the loop.

Quite frankly, he was the epitome of an ideal person a company would want to run things. He had a good rapport with all levels of personnel since he started off his career in the company as a fleet driver.

He did not come off as being better than any of the employees. My direct supervisor on the other hand was a whole different story. I read him up as the type of Hispanic (Cuban) that came to America and had made himself better through education.

Nonetheless, he had no tolerance for his fellow Hispanics who had language struggles and were trying to chase the American dream as well. He was not keen on the Zone Manager, partly because he did not hire a Hispanic and partly because there was “office politics” going on.

I did not know it then, but there was a secret coup going on to overthrow him and my direct supervisor was hoping to assume his position as Zone Manager.

Once he had been ejected from his position, the true nature of my direct supervisor shone brighter than a diamond. He began to come off as a womanizer. Although he was married, I got the direct impression that if I laid myself careless that he would have bitten the bait.

As a matter of fact, at one of the holiday parties after too many libations he made a pass at me. I did not figure out the whole time that his dismissive behavior of making training appointments with me and not showing up or canceling at the last minute was all part of his ploy. He wanted to chip away at my confidence an undermine me as a woman in management.

He would set me up by giving me instructions to order certain office items or supplies and when the orders arrived, he would pretend as if I had gone kamikaze all by myself. He did not acknowledge that he gave me step by step instructions of what to do.

He pretended that I was a dumb blonde incapable of following simple instructions when nothing could have been farther from the truth. I now know that behind his mind games was an age-old tactic. He was using gaslighting to make me doubtful in my skills and professional competencies. He unleashed his inhumane behavior in the hopes that I would acquiesce to his subtle forms of sexual harassment and mental abuse.

From the time the original zone manager had left I was slated to be axed. However, he continued to play mind games with me while he was secretly hiring for my position at another zone.

He used all sorts of ruses to build up to the point of me leaving but that was not the whole story. Throughout my employment, I was told how wonderful a job I was doing. Every evaluation was stellar with minor areas that needed improvement.

The day the new zone manager arrived he was working on him like a gnat to oust me. Because I knew this bit of information, every false instruction he gave me I cc’d the new manager. I have often believed creating a paper trail helps you to clarify your position when others play dirty.

He was hardly in the office in New York and would hire persons I had to process without informing me for weeks that they were going to be onboarded by me. At one point, he was hiring fleet drivers with long rap sheets and kept it a big secret. I often wondered why until I realized that it was his way of trying to intimidate me.

To date, this boss was the worst because he tried to set me up for misappropriation of funds, and he would take credit for my work. He would also say it was okay for me to order certain items as long as it pertained to business then pretend, he never said so.

Despite all my misadventures in the financial industry, he gets the award for worst boss ever. He would say one thing and then completely deny ever saying it. He often prided himself on saving the company money.

This is how he gained leverage and was able to keep his job for so long. He would do it at the expense of the fleet drivers and other office personnel. He would rather cut their salaries and perks to appease the Knights.

Some of these workers had hefty mortgages, kids in private school, medical bills and car notes to pay but he did not care. He was not shy expressing his feelings. It was as if he had no margin of compassion for people’s short comings.

He gave the impression he had no debts or any life issues or financial problems. Therefore, I often wondered how he could have his position because he was working with and for persons who were “working class” Long Islanders.

His gripe with me was that I was not Hispanic, and I was not easy with my wares. To further add insult to injury, he miscalculated my tan. He thought he could treat me as badly as he had the past female administrators in the other zones.

For a moment, he had a field day at my expense. Once I became aware of what was going on it was then I held him accountable for every indiscretion. Even towards the end, he tried to save the company money through me by neglecting not to give me my severance pay. I have heard through the grapevine all the libelous things he has said about me. For one, he has gone all over the globe telling people I made a lot of mistakes when I worked for the company.

It was news to me, because one thing I know about the Knights at the round table is that if they had a gripe with me, they let me know immediately. As a manager, I know if my subordinate makes a mistake, it is my job to help him or her correct it. I should use it as a learning opportunity and not a leeway to gloat and rejoice.

The whole time I was at Neste’ I was told I was perfect. There was never any time that the Brinks funds were ever short and as long as I was at work no one got beat up in the warehouse.