Okay, so I was in a meeting yesterday. Our small company had to decide on the features which should go into our new product.
I made a comment to the effect of “I imagine that our clients would want <this>.” The moment I said that, one of my bosses turned to me and said, “You IMAGINE that they’d want that? You’ve been working at this company for three months now. You should have spent that time THINKING about what the customer wants!”
AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!
Chill out, dude! Saying “I imagine…” does NOT mean that I haven’t put any thought into this issue. It’s just an expression – an innocent turn of phrase. Calm down!
I really hate getting reamed over innocent little things like this.
Fuckin’ A, you asshole, don’t you know that you’re SUPPOSED to telepathically read your customers minds?!? Jumpin’ Jesus on a stoned kangaroo, pal, how do you get by with such INCOMPETENCE?!?
Sadly, you can only think of these things after the moment has passed, but I think the best way to have responded to this would have been to turn to him, pause for a moment as though you couldn’t believe what you’d just heard, and then in a dry tone of voice say, “It’s an expression. You know, a figure of speech?”
What a jerk. Next time he says he “thinks” something, interrupt him by saying, “Wait, you think? Or you know? We’re not paying you to be the boss for your opinions.”
That would have been appropriate. It would have gotten me fired, but it would have been appropriate.
Basically, I designed a sensor system to have both serial and Ethernet communication capabilities – y’know, to give the customer a choice of options. I put plenty of thought into the justification behind both of these protocols.
I was saying that I imagine that most customers would use the Ethernet capabilities instead of serial. That’s hardly and unreasonable statement, and by no means suggests that I hadn’t put thought into this issue.
Actually, I’m already in conversation with my previous employer. I might just switch back.
There are several reasons why I might choose to stay at my current job… but the work atmosphere makes it difficult. I got reamed because I didn’t anticipate that the new chips we need would require an exotic new socket. (Well guess what? Nobody else in the company realized that either – not even the guy who selected this chip!) I got lambasted because I had two wires crossed in my serial connection, and didn’t notice right away. (Well guess what? Everyone makes mistakes that they don’t notice for a while!) Bah, humbug.
transitive and intransitive verb comprehend something: *to imagine or understand something or the possibility of something *
IMAGINE
1.transitive and intransitive verb form an image in the mind: * to form an image or idea of something in the mind *
Buy the peckerwood a dictionary.
To be fair, I can see how some people would think that “imagine” would suggest an idle, off-the-cuff thought. However, it’s unfair to conclude that this MUST be the case – or to chew out an employee for this choice of words.
Do you know what burns me most about this particular issue? It’s that it’s so darned non-negotiable.
Rememer how I complained that lunch-time work can NOT be credited toward our (inflexible) 40-hour requirement? That rule may be idiotic, but at least it’s potentially negotiable. Ditto for the rules wherein employees are not allowed to take creative walks, or to surf the web during times of mental shutdown, and so forth. There’s at least some chance that they can be negotiated.
This issue isn’t, though. How do you negotiate somebody’s interpretation of the phrase, “I imagine”? Heck, how can one even anticipate a reaction like the one that boss of had?