There’s No Crying in Business!

When did everyone become so incredibly hyper sensitive? It’s gotten to the point where I can’t even give an employee a stern look, let alone raise my voice without the likelihood of their eyes swelling up and a pathetic salty discharge rolling down their little pink cheek. And as if that isn’t bad enough, the more hilarious part is that it’s usually followed up by a written complaint submitted to HR and ultimately ends with being “unfriended’ by them on Facebook. Boo hoo! Did Baby Boomers raise a generation of emotionally handicapped crybabies or has our society produced a workforce of over medicated, unstable pill poppers? This is business… it’s not personal!

Nowadays, everything in business has to be done so politically correct to prevent the possibility of offending someone. Before I address any group of employees, I now have to ask if anyone will be traumatized by the use of a few derogatory words that may be used to emphasize an important point or topic. Apparently, using occasional four letter words as adjectives can cause an employee to experience overwhelming job stress from being subjected to a hostile work environment. That stress can manifest itself into an anxiety disorder that developed from the psychological abuse and cause them to file for disability and be prescribed medication. I’m not ‘old school’, but the amount of necessary documentation to cover your ass has reached epidemic proportions. Verbal warnings, written warnings, performance evaluations, records of disciplinary actions, exit paperwork…what happened to the good ol’ days when you could actually just fire someone for being an idiot or having a bad attitude?

In addition to being extremely careful when speaking to an employee, even further precautions are necessary when you communicate through any type of written correspondence. I am so sick and tired of using multiple exclamation points, typing words in all caps, and inserting smiley face emoticons in every email I send to an employee in an effort to make sure I don’t inadvertently offend them.  There needs to be font attributes that can actually capture the true essence of the emotion and voice inclination that is attempted to be expressed. No one cares about Bold, Italic or Underlined font characteristics, drop them and give me a version of Word, Outlook, BBM and text that incorporates “Happy”, “Pissed off “,and “Sarcastic” font choices. This would eliminate so many misinterpreted emails, texts and instant messages, and the best part is I would never have to insert another “lol” or “ha ha” again!

The boss’ job is to maximize the performance of all personnel. There is a lot time spent on positive motivation and expressions of appreciation, but occasionally it means disciplining someone for failure to do their job correctly. Your boss is not your parent, your spouse, or your best friend, and there’s going to be times when you do things that are inappropriate for which you’re going to be reprimanded. You’re not always going to agree with him and you may not always like his decisions, but try not to be so grossly emotional. Save your tears, moans and whiny little outbursts for the time your girlfriend dumps you, Fluffy get hits by a car, or The Bachelor picks the wrong girl. And when that happens, do your employer a favor and make sure you are fully stocked up on your illegal prescription of Xanax before coming in to work.