Characteristics of a micro-/nano-manager (MNM) - Not from any text book but extracts from experience and observed by naked eye

1. Pretend to know everything starting from what we do at work place to personal life, even we don’t know that something like that exists. Constant focus is to proof s/he is superior to everybody (obviously in absence of her/his boss and other people with good appearances (say GA) even if they are junior colleagues!). In most cases it happens when this person is dealing with junior colleagues of same color/national origin (say SCNO).

2. This MNM has unparallelly one-sided love for SCNO! If MNM is asking to finish one month work in about a week, an SCNO comes to know that MNM is going for one week vacation, confirmed!

3. While on vacation, asking for update every moment as such company is going to die because of MNM’s one week absence!

4. To proof superiority, whatever new idea an SCNO brings, s/he either dumps it or twist a bit to make her or his own. If successful immediate advertisement starts on how great the idea s/he brought. If failed, the some of the common comments SCNO can expect: “I knew this is not going to work”, “You have waste so much time working with a bad idea. Now you have to work extra-time to compensate that (forget about your everyday 2-4 hours extra work with no additional compensation!)”.

5. Some other frequently used phrases by MNM: “Nobody helped me, I learned everything myself in hard way, but you need constant supervision”, “My previous boss used to misbehave with me, he was a racist because of my color/religion etc.”, “You cannot do a simple work without anybody’s help”, “How did you get your PhD/MS etc.?”.

6. If the MNM is a religious person and goes for a 1-2 h prayer on a specific time of a working day, then some of the following phrases one SCNO can expect: “If you are going more than 30 min out of your work place, take that time off from your vacation time.” “Company is giving you/your family, even everybody you are helping, bread and butter. You have to do hard work”. “People of GA don’t work; you have to work hard”. “Don’t go for tea/coffee with GA. They hate colored people”. After prayer, MNM becomes charged and enters into the work place at around 5 pm and ask “You are not going to work on Saturday & Sunday. So, make sure you finish all these work before leaving today”. One can expect it would be minimum 3-4 h work.

7. If there are some work that might be urgent or MNM wants to impress his BOSS by showing how much efficient s/he is, then following phrases can be expected: “There are some extremely important work. You know GA will not come. My children have some programs. You have to come”. If you ask for a day off after 3 or any number of days of extra work, then the expected answer: “HR policy doesn’t allow taking any time off in such kind of situation. Have you seen the recent communication from HR?”.

8. If SCNO is taking time off from her/his vacation time, some of the expected phrases SCNO: “Plan ahead of time. Work in such a way that your absence is not felt! Our big boss is giving us salary, we have to make him happy”. It sounds like a leader is giving a lecture! Imagine what this MNM is saying in her/his language!

9. You thought that you have worked very hard throughout the year, deliver a number of projects successfully and expecting a promotion and/or salary raise, then funniest inhuman annual review happens. One can expect phrases such as “Company didn’t make any money, how can you expect raise?”, “Your performance is so poor, I am thinking you to put under a personal development plan, you might be demoted to a lower level!”.

10. MNM easily converts respect to slavery! They strongly believe that SCNO should do everything that generally a slave used to do during the middle age. Else an SCNO is disrespectful, unproductive, knows nothing, lazy!

11. In a nutshell, this special kind of human species knows everything that rest of the world population is not aware of. This is their belief! They don’t know/care or understand that their greed causes a lot of problems for a person with many responsibilities other than loyalty to employer! They keep their greed aside only when their own people need them! Generally, they are good at that!

12. This write-up is not for MNM but for SCNO. If we are not terrified by the treatment that we receive from an MNM, and can move to a world where everybody helps each other, one can flourish in life!

13. Some personal comments at the end: Based on my experience, most of the people irrespective of their color, origin, religion, nationality, title, financial situation, and education level etc. are very good. So, if anyone of you face the kind of situation that I have discussed above, my suggestion would be to reach as many people as you can. You will find a kind heart waiting for you to guide to the right direction! Happy life ahead!