lack of social skills
Feb. 21st, 2002 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanSo, this afternoon the Activities Committee put on what they called a Happy Hour here at the office. In the cafeteria, beer and chips and popcorn for all us worker drones. So there I am sittin' with some of my buds, hangin' out, drinkin' and eatin', talking about our weekend plans or whatever like that.
Along comes the VP of Engineering (also the founder of the company, and former president/CEO before he decided he was sick of doing the business shit and wanted to stick with coding). Sits down at our table, looks at one of the developers there, and launches right into "So this is how I envision [software component] functioning in our next release design."
The astute reader will notice that I didn't mention him a) saying hi, b) making any form of pleasantry, or c) even acknowledging the existence of anyone else at the table. Hell no. Nor was there any of this pesky "Mind if I butt in?" Let alone "Mind if I butt in to your non-work-related discussion, which is taking place during an explicitly social occasion, with a work-related topic?" No. Just sits down, makes eye contact to make sure the person he's addressing is listening, and launches into his spiel.
Well, I don't have to take that shit from anyone, even the founder of the damn company, so I just got up and walked off. I have enough sense of self-preservation to refrain from *actually* biting his head off. Instead I'm just going to steam about it, post about it here in lj, and probably bitch to coworkers about it later.
I mean, I know that "everyone knows" software engineers don't have social skills. And I certainly know that some people think being the founder or being an executive at the company gives you the right to be rude to your underlings. But there are limits, dammit.
Along comes the VP of Engineering (also the founder of the company, and former president/CEO before he decided he was sick of doing the business shit and wanted to stick with coding). Sits down at our table, looks at one of the developers there, and launches right into "So this is how I envision [software component] functioning in our next release design."
The astute reader will notice that I didn't mention him a) saying hi, b) making any form of pleasantry, or c) even acknowledging the existence of anyone else at the table. Hell no. Nor was there any of this pesky "Mind if I butt in?" Let alone "Mind if I butt in to your non-work-related discussion, which is taking place during an explicitly social occasion, with a work-related topic?" No. Just sits down, makes eye contact to make sure the person he's addressing is listening, and launches into his spiel.
Well, I don't have to take that shit from anyone, even the founder of the damn company, so I just got up and walked off. I have enough sense of self-preservation to refrain from *actually* biting his head off. Instead I'm just going to steam about it, post about it here in lj, and probably bitch to coworkers about it later.
I mean, I know that "everyone knows" software engineers don't have social skills. And I certainly know that some people think being the founder or being an executive at the company gives you the right to be rude to your underlings. But there are limits, dammit.
