Avoiding a Huge Mistake

A colleague was offered the opportunity to become a supervisor. He has worked eleven years and observing him early in the game set the standard I try maintaining to this day. He has worked longer and makes more than most.

He would have been paid Supervisor's Rate. That is more than starting salary. For him it would have been a cut in pay. Why couldn't they have matched his salary which they are already paying? No one would think he received special treatment.

Remember the song Mo Money, Mo Problems? This would be Less Money Mo Problems. Taking drugs would make more sense. I joked that becoming a supervisor would be a cut in pay since I almost work that many hours anyway. He would have to work long hours to make what he earns with early exits.

He leaves when dismissed. The quality of the work justifies exiting a little earlier than others. They are supposed to dismiss the longest tenured employees first. In my first year I was always cut loose early.

In the short run management saved money when I made a whopping eleven dollars per hour. The way I was treated early impacts the way I work now and forever more. When the work is done I go.

The supervisor who made this suggestion is good at killing the goose that laid the golden egg. She might have broken up The Beatles. Whenever she moves a good colleague from me there are reminders of what was good.

Luckily for everyone this man decided against the lateral move to management. Usually new employees who are halfway decent are moved up. Some don't want to be supervisors and they end up finding other work. What did I say about the golden goose? I would not want them derailing a long, illustrious career.

Before the year is out I shall describe the good people around me in the beginning who set a better standard than the bad ones a little further down. He can still mentor and set a standard from where he is. Oddly enough, a promotion is a step down.