Nov 03, 2006

The SAW Effect

Tags: Workplace survival strategies, bad bosses,

I've meant to write about this for some time. In nearly 30 years of being out in the workforce in a variety of roles and positions, I have found what I've come to call the SAW Effect. No, it has nothing to do with the horror film series, though it does describe some pretty horrible people and behaviors. SAW stands for Sickening Amazing Weirdness. Let me give an example.

One radio station where I worked at had a very sleazy secretary and even sleazier owner. It became obvious that the two were involved within two weeks of her sashaying in. The real issue is that she'd sex him up, and then try to act like she was the manager. Unfortunately, she had no advanced education or training, no sales or on-air experience. She did however possess considerable "oral skills" which she openly talked about to anyone who would listen. This occaisionally included listeners who stopped by to drop off a public service announcement about the upcoming church supper! I'm not kidding...

She also frequently referred to the owner (whose last name began with the letter "p") as "Mr. PP". This provided some amusement until one day the manager of the building where the station was housed came to me very upset and stated that if the owner (who was an attorney) insisted that the front desk of the building not have a key to the place, that he would be forced to call the authorities if he felt there was a fire or security breach of the building since the doors to the station would have to be broken down. When I asked why he no longer had keys, he replied that his overnight guy had twice discovered the owner and the secretary getting it on, most recently on top of a desk. Despite the fact that the door was half open and the night guy was merely checking to make sure the station was secure (we used satellite automation overnight), the owner had freaked out, his scrawny naked physique making a funny situation even more humorous.

The weird part was that beginning the next day, we began to get memos stating that gossip and innuendo were unproductive and grounds for termination. As one female co-worked noted, their relationship was so obvious, who needed to gossip about it. The truth was the secretary herself brought up the subject more than anyone, revealing that they went out on secret lunch dates, she had discreet accounts at the lingerie and shoe store, etc. Yet when a couple of us approached the owner on the subject, he vehemently denied anything was going on. Complicating the issue was the secretary's live-in boyfriend who owned guns and had a bad temper...

It was a case of SAW...everybody knew the truth, and knew the situation was getting out of hand. The secretary desperately wanted to be with the owner, but he obviously saw her as an easy piece. One time I saw her boyfriend entering the building, knowing that she was literally laying across the owners desk. I loudly said "Scott's here" around the corner and heard a flurry of activity in the office as the two of them straightened everything out. Later, the owner made a snide comment that he wondered why the boyfriend decided to just show up. I replied that he owed me one...

When your company or corporate culture asks you to deny or ignore situations like this, even to the point of having to make up facts to show you're "playing along", it's Sickening Amazing Weirdness, and like the Twilight Zone, it's not what it appears to be...

Do you have any examples of the SAW Effect you'd like to share? I'd love to read "em!

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