How many of us work for a Bully

[Bulawrench]

I just wanted to get other people's perspective of their boss. I mean Owners' of airlines,to see what type of bullying goes on in the industry. I have 25 years at this and i think i have had enough of bullies. What percentage of the industry is effected by it and do many of us stand up to the bullies in order to do good maintenance.

[Troubleshot]

I have experienced this more than once. The funny thing is the bully who is usually in charge of production to some degree actually shoots himself in the foot by getting his workforce bent outta shape. It is not rocket science, if you are happy with the way your treated and your boss doesn't speak to you like your 10..... chances are you will be a productive employee.

On the flip side I have been very happy on some crews, I would watch their back and they would watch mine. Superviors or owners that try and make an example out of people on a daily basis create a cancerous enviroment.

[aviator_mech]

I have experienced this more than once. The funny thing is the bully who is usually in charge of production to some degree actually shoots himself in the foot by getting his workforce bent outta shape. It is not rocket science, if you are happy with the way your treated and your boss doesn't speak to you like your 10..... chances are you will be a productive employee.

On the flip side I have been very happy on some crews, I would watch their back and they would watch mine. Superviors or owners that try and make an example out of people on a daily basis create a cancerous enviroment.

Here is the main problem i find... is that there is a Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge shortage in companies that send their leaders/ managers, etc... to management/leadership courses.... for crying out loud, i've had directors of maintenance telling me what to do, who have a background in sheet metal, no clue of aircraft maintenance and no management background what soever telling me how to do my job, ok whatever i do my job, but hey!... how in the hell do guys like that end up hangar directors of maintenance?!? beats me, way too many clicks in aviation, and its always been like that... what can you do eh?!? only one thing to do and thats make friends and not enemies the way i see it!

[iflyforpie]

I found that most bullies weren't owners (a la Joe McBryan), but middle-management twerps who were 'yes men' to the high and mighty and would ride and threaten the minions to get their impossible results.

Of course for those who didn't care too much, it could be quite fun. I remember one 'hangar huddle' where the Production Manager was blabbing on about efficiency, and that there would be disciplinary action if somebody was working more than five feet away from their toolbox. Some guy piped up and said 'am I supposed put my roll cab on the scissor lift when I work on the tail?' Everybody laughed. The PM said 'stop making jokes, this isn't funny!' but didn't do anything.

The guy I work for now is really good. Doesn't even tell me what to do, I just do the work when I feel like it and the planes are airworthy when they need to be.

But it is a two way street too...

[palebird]

Geez that sounds like Colonel Sanders outfit in the valley...

[Pat Richard]

It is, and I was also there when it happened.

I can't remember if it was the same time we got shit for having too many lps cans, etc, on our tool boxes. Apparently, to king barry, it made the hangar look like shit. It did'nt bother him that the floor and walls were 4 different shades of overspray, and company junk piled up in corners. It was the mechs who were singled out.

So we all ditched our supplies, and started going back and forth(fairly big hangar) to the consumables cabinet from then on. Productivity was obviously lost to travel time, but hey, we did as he commanded.

I remember a crew chief, after a powwow with el dick, passing on to us minions that he(with the other crew chiefs) had been instructed to treat us like shit. In the words of the big Kuntoona, "If your guys don't hate you, you aren't pushing them hard enough." He was apparently seeing too many smiling expressions, and not enough frightened ones.

KFC all the way baby.

[jsmetalbashers]

When I was a rookie I think it was law to bully the underlings. I was bullied by senior mechs, crew chiefs and my supervisor. Now i don't think anyone cares about there job enough to carry on with such behaviour, with a couple old school exceptions. Barry recently told us at a hangar meeting that if we weren't having fun at work, go work somewhere else, WTF?

[SeptRepair]

I had the misfortune of working for a bully years ago and he makes Buffalo Joe look like an angel. The daily demeaning and never ending derogatory remarks gets on a guys nerve after awhile. Took it for 5 years and abruptly quit when the first thing better came along. I look back and wonder why I never beat the living crap out of the guy for the way he treated myself and the other staff. But I digress, I was 19, just relocated across the country, knew no one and barely knew my rights as an employee. Man I would love to turn back time knowing what I know now.

[aviator_mech]

It is, and I was also there when it happened.

I can't remember if it was the same time we got shit for having too many lps cans, etc, on our tool boxes. Apparently, to king barry, it made the hangar look like shit. It did'nt bother him that the floor and walls were 4 different shades of overspray, and company junk piled up in corners. It was the mechs who were singled out.

So we all ditched our supplies, and started going back and forth(fairly big hangar) to the consumables cabinet from then on. Productivity was obviously lost to travel time, but hey, we did as he commanded.

I remember a crew chief, after a powwow with el dick, passing on to us minions that he(with the other crew chiefs) had been instructed to treat us like shit. In the words of the big Kuntoona, "If your guys don't hate you, you aren't pushing them hard enough." He was apparently seeing too many smiling expressions, and not enough frightened ones.

KFC all the way baby.

]




KFC yet another company who doesn't send out their managers out for management courses

[Bulawrench]

Thanks for the impute.SeptRepair we know we worked for the same troll. I stuck it out for about three years. Long enough to get licenced and move on. Where else would $5.00/hour get a licenced guy. The present employer is a complete nut bar...stay tuned for some fun abusive stories...

[ourkid2000]

Here is the thing about management with these places and I'm sure most of you will agree.......

Always remember that 95% of the time at these places, the "crap" rises to the top and here's why. We all know what a dirty game aircraft maintenance is and at the end of the day the people who run the show want people in place who will do what they say. Most times, anyone who is worth their shi* knows that moving into management is the fastest way to get yourself fired (that is, if you don't do what you're told) so what you are left with, over time, is the garbage. Often, the management pay raise doesn't justify the move anyways but this is also another reason why we end up with junk at the top.

Everywhere I've worked, the good supervisors and managers are either shown the door eventually or they come back to work on the gear with everyone else. The garbage stays.

The good ones, who would make great supervisors or managers, just keep their heads down and keep fixing airplanes.

[motox415]

Ourkid: Well said

[billy ray valintine]

the kfc manager is a good example for this topic.
i know of a few that have gone on to spread the cancer they were taught.
it still goes one today.
"capt. reliability "is probably the best example.
this guy will never learn,probably the biggest bully/asshole in this industry!
too much of this garbage goes on in aviation.
well done kfc.....keep up the good work!

brv

[bandaid]

Does the B.C. Liberal government count?

[SeptRepair]

Yes Bula we missed each other by a couple years working there. So since we have shared stories and they are endless we have to ask ourselves what can we do about it. Quiting isn't as easy as some would like to think it is. We all have debt and responsibilities. Do we entrap these arsholes with video and audio and use that against them to bring them to justice? The local government bodies there to protect the worker are for the most part useless. We would most likely have to file a civil suit to bring the issue to light and unless we attach a monetary penalty with it, we would be left jobless and holding mounting legal fees. Do we take them out back and lay a beating on them and when finished shove a resignation in their faces? We know they can lawyer up a lot quicker and better than us and ultimately we are more in the wrong. Inevitably we all end up quiting outfits like this and move on. At what point do we need to put our foots down and make an example out of these guys to protect the future workers who will have the misfortune of working for these creeps. There are different schools of thought on how to approach this. Unless a person has been subjected to the stuff it will be hard to gain any sympathy from our fellow engineers when it seems all they wanna do is trump each others stories of there misfortunes and that in itself dilutes the underlying issue. Its hard to believe we are in the year 2010 when a lot of the issues we witness and are subjected to should have been extinct 30 years ago.

[ALF]

I have worked for a bully. Ex-pilot turned millionaire who had little interest or understanding of what an AME is worth. The guy wanted everything done but then bithched and moaned about the cost involved in doing it. Not because he couldn't afford it, but because he wanted everything done for next to nothing. It got to the point that I would avoid him because I didn't want to scrap with him. I was the QAM and therefore I was a waste of money because "QA is a requirement and nothing else". Instead of allowing me to do my job I was constatly side tracked and kept busy with other things like looking into a new mailbox for our hangar. The guy is bi-polar...one minute he would be tearing me a new a-hole for recycling cardboard from stores, "Just throw it in the garbage bin and quit wasting time", the next minute he would offer up some Canucks tickets. It was like someone pushing you down and then helping you up. I was fortunate and got out after 18 months. Nothing I ever did in that 18 months was pleasing to him...then at my going away party he told me what a great job I had done
Guess what prick...TC is only looking at QA now.

[fel]

My workplace has dickhead bosses.......now we have a union! Union has lawyers! Not trying to start a union debate but, i have worked in a union shop and i have worked for "Alfs" boss or someone just like him in a non-union shop and.........GO UNION!!

[billy ray valintine]

i don't know who to quote because all you guy's have nailed it!
are the asshole owners to blame?...probably.
in order to make THEIR lives cozy,they trained monkey's to reek havoc on the rest of us in this business.
some of those "asshole monkey's" have died or retired(thank god).
but guess what.....plant another shit seed ,and get another shit manager!
a visious circle indeed!
viva la aviation!

brv