
Minefield - rpledge
http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Minefield.aspx
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pohl
This is a story about a sociopathic middle manager guarding his territory from
someone qualified to take his job, but unfortunate enough to be hired below
him.

When I read it, the first and only comment under this at DailyWTF was
sympathetic towards Peter. I hope that commenter had just skimmed it and
missed the point.

~~~
sp332
The blue comments at the bottom of the page are "Featured Comments" chosen by
a moderator for being really interesting. The full comments list is
<http://thedailywtf.com/Comments/Minefield.aspx>

~~~
pohl
Thank you for pointing that out. I went back and re-read the blue comment and
there is more there than meets the eye.

Although Peter is painted to be a sociopath in the article, not every whiz-kid
is pushed out because of one.

------
bradleyland
I guess this is fair turn about. I've read plenty of stories/articles from
managers and founders about how difficult employees are. Living most of my
professional life in the role of manager has taught me a lot, but for my part,
I'll never forget what is like to sit on the other side of the desk. I'm an
advocate for the people who work for me. The sad thing is, this will probably
hold me back. As happy as the ending of the story is, real life rarely lives
up to the expectations of story plots.

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doki_pen
Am I missing the point? Isn't Peter just an asshole?

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brown9-2
In situations like these, how is it that the rest of management doesn't see
how toxic "Peter" is? Can everyone really be that blind?

~~~
jbooth
Two factors:

1) The overwhelming majority of information they see is information provided
by Peter.

2) They don't really care that much as long as it doesn't screw up their
universe.

~~~
hga
True, but in this case they'd have to be totally brain dead not to realize
something major was up after Peter got caught in a serious lie, one he'd made
a really big deal about (the whole point of the meeting, after all).

Unless he had amazing protection from someone senior and powerful enough, he
would be dead meat.

~~~
Calamitous
> Unless he had amazing protection from someone senior and powerful enough, he
> would be dead meat.

You wish. It would be awesome if incompetence was _that_ easy to cull.

~~~
hga
In this special case, where he called a meeting on the basis of a lie about an
important thing and was caught out on it?

I agree, it would be awesome, but incompetence _plus_ industriousness at this
at this level is seldom found. He wouldn't have been caught out if he hadn't
moved to actively trying to get rid of Bobbie.

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ericb
I can't quite put my finger on why The Daily WTF's writing style reminds me so
much of Reader's Digest. Thoughts?

~~~
wwortiz
It reads quickly and is easily likeable in a third person narrative is my best
guess.

~~~
EliAndrewC
Also, much like Reader's Digest, the user-submitted anecdotes are typically
re-written by the same person to give them all the same, easy-to-digest flow.

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nhnifong
This is not a true story is it?

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badave
Peter was doing her a favor the entire time. It's like an M. Night Shyamalan
movie with the paradigm shift at the end. She was over-qualified, so he didn't
want her to be stuck at a go no-where company. While it does say "She could do
Peter's job in a snap." this doesn't mean that he is afraid she will, but that
she should be working somewhere more challenging.

He wants to get rid of her to save her.

This is what I thought for a minute after reading the featured comment and
justifying his actions. But then I re-read it and realized that Peter is just
an asshole and is 90% of the reason Corporate America is a piece of shit that
deserves to burn in hell.

