Aug 12, 2006

The Devil's Advocate

Tags: Workplace Survival Strategies,

My old buddy Greg was always good for a laugh and advice. He had a law degree and was fluent in the use of the internet long before most. Greg had also worked for a short while at the same radio station as I, and was familiar with some of the issues there.

After he moved closer to the city, Greg and I would still hang out every now and again, our wives bravely tolerating our late nights and off-key singing. It was during one of these visits when Greg unexpectedly asked me how things were going at the radio station. We usually made it a rule to not "talk shop", but recent events where I worked and the lateness of the hour had me in a mood to vent.

I told him how sick I was of our sleazy secretary and her games. She had the owner of the station wrapped around her finger, and would frequently wear cocktail dresses to work. After disappearing with the owner for an extended "lunch", she would return and begin criticizing everyone, and intimating that she was now somehow in charge. All this despite no formal education,or on-air/sales experience. If someone protested or told her to leave them alone, the owner would tell me they had to be disciplined, which I was wont to do. I spouted that I felt I was working in a bordello and not a broadcast facility.

"Well," Greg calmly stated, "maybe sex is part of your business. After all, some of the sales reps have hooked up with clients. Maybe they do need a head sleazebag in charge!"

I was flabbergasted. I launched into a long diatribe about how we were very much in the public spotlight, and that such activities were noticed and had hurt us.

"Part of the cost of doing business" Greg said crisply.

"THE COST OF THIS IS TOO MUCH- WE'RE LOSING TALENTED STAFF LEFT AND RIGHT!!!" I was really fuming and couldn't believe my friend was saying these things. No doubt the tequila had amplified my rage, but his stance was disturbing.

After a while, I calmed down, and Greg laughed as he told me that I had convinced him. Now all I had to do was convince the owner.

While all of this seems obvious in hindsight, my old old friend was right. If the guy who owned the place couldn't see or be shown how much he stood to lose, why continue to be upset?

I did leave the station about nine months later, and the broadcast group I joined eventually took over the station. The secretary quit to work at a bank, where I learned she was as much trouble as ever.

It's ok to stew about a work situation, but the hard lesson I learned was that if the powers that be don't understand that they're getting hurt, the crap will just continue. Worse, your continuing presence there may even be enabling the dysfunction to go on.

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