This person is serious???
I’d like you to see an email that I received this past Thursday. I’m removing the name and company to protect the ‘not-so-innocent’……I’m really not even sure what to say except…I hope you were able to leave work early, hit a patio and ‘cheers’ your friends for NOT having this person as a manager. If you do, I invite you to listen on your own time. We understand. Please feel free to post a comment…maybe your friends work for this person?? send’em the link.
Have a lovely, safe long weekend!
Use ‘grinch’ as an extra bonus code.
Hello,
As a listener, who also is in a management position at work, I for one would appreciate it if perhaps you didn’t encourage people to take time off during good weather, or play hookie from work for personal pleasurable reasons. etc. Many employees seem to need no reason whatsoever to do as little as possible as it is and need no encouragement in that area. This past winter every time it snowed, and it did often, people couldn’t make it out of their driveways or there was a blizzard on their street, and planned ahead of time, based on weather forecasts not to come to work, to call in sick when not sick. This is taking a salary under false pretenses.
All businesses need at least a minimum staff to keep operating, at a profit, in order to succeed. If staff doesn’t show up, business is lost, profits are down, or non-existent, the business could fail, and the employees would have no jobs. A job is a commitment on both sides. Employees are given their rightful legal holidays, as well as paid holidays during the year, and take time as well.
If you continue to encourage playing hookie, we’ll have to disallow your station to be played in the office in favour of another station that does not practice this, which would be a shame because we do enjoy the music you play.
Thanks for listening.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Clearly this person has no friends that they could go to a patio with and enjoy a beer (sounds a bit jealous to me)……..someone is in dire need of being laid and lightening the hell up! Life is too short - enjoy it to the fullest!! You never know when your chain’s gonna be yanked back and then what was all the hard work for in the first place?
May 16th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Contact all the other radio stations in the area , cpy them the email, and see what happens, I’ll bet the office goes quiet. I don’t think even CBC Radio would suport that position. This anager has ZERO commitment to anyone but THEMSELF. I believe Senior management would Strongly Discourage this persons actions if they knew about it!!!
SCROOGE doesn’t even start to cover this person’s description.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:01 am
What a loser with no life, feel sorry for thier employees………..Samantha rocks….how bout you play some hungerstrike by temple of the dog if possible..
May 16th, 2008 at 9:02 am
This person talks about staff needing no excuses to do “nothing”
I can bet the farm that this email was sent during regular business hours, from a company email… now I am not a manager but the last time that I checked writing an email to a radio station doesn’t fall into the daily duties of any staff member!
Hopefully this person is able to get the chip off of their shoulder long enough to turn their head and take a look around, no one thinks that you are cool because you vented and played the blame game for your staffs lack of respecting you… your worker’s are grown ups, maybe they don’t want to be there for reason’s other then the messages of a radio dj.
Have a wonderful long weekend everyone!!!
K.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Hi Samantha;
Two words come to mind, anal retentive. If the “lemmings” at work can be so easily influenced by your sultry voice to play hookie, he might try whining less to regain their respect. As responsible adults we are all accountable for our decisions, which includes a decision to work for a corporate putz. Funny, people will work twice as hard to sabotage than they ever will work for these kind of “managers”. You cannot coerce productivity or creativity nor can you demand respect. I kind of feel sorry for him; his style is akin to autocraticism. Maybe he should move to Myanmar and join the other insensitive dictators. I took the liberty of assuming the writer was a male.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I wonder if this manager ever stopped to think that mabie his/her employees are playing “hookie” because they don’t like working for them, or the buisness because their such hard asses. People today are definitely working longer hours for less pay and if getting out and enjoying life is making work more bearable then more power to them. Making business owners rich is not my goal in life and nor should it be, being a father and a husband is and I plan to take advantage of it. I guess I prefer to work to live and not work to live. On that note, I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, enjoy.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:07 am
correction on my last comment: should read “work to live and not live to work”
May 16th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I half agree with the letter. I worked for a company that had some really bad employees. They would call in sick (on their company paid cell phones) and in the background, you could hear the sound of an air gun at a gas station and I’m assuming that the employee was having their snow tires changed to summer tires. Some employees couldn’t figure out which end of a pencil to sharpen without holding a 20 person meeting first. As for the last paragraph, who ever wrote that letter was issuing a threat. Stop it or else (we’ll switch to another station)….what an idiot.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Hi Sam,
I’m in management myself, but this guy/girl needs to chill out. Quoting Ferris Buller if you used a lump of coal as a suppository you could make a diamond. Even though I agree with the fact that most employees tend to do the least amount of work possible, you can’t say that a reasonable, intelligent adult would take joking around on the radio as serious encouragement not to go in to work. If it’s happening to them, than you need to hire smarter people.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:12 am
oh, by the way….great show….have a great long weekend and thanks so much for the points.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Yeah, I’ve seen my share of these boses, always watching and making sure that no one leaves 5 minutes early… Then they wonder why people don’t like working there and they always have a hard time with turn over and productivity.
A happy worker is a productive one. I agree there are some who will push the envelope and take advantage of every oportunity presented to them. But to blame a mass exodus of the office place on some comments you made is rediculous… If someone is prone to play hookey, they will do so on their own accord.
And as far as the snow comment, I don’t know what planet this boss is from but this past winter was a treacherous one on the roads… commute time was 2-3 hours in some cases… Not to mention the dangers of traveling on roads which were not plowed or salted. So the employee arrives an hour late and all day worries about how they will get home. I have had occasion where I spen 3 hours to get to work oinly to have the office close early due to weather.
As a boss they have to figure out how to adjust to differnt situations and adjust accordingly… that’s what they are paid for.
As far as taking salary under false pretenses… Does this boss pay overtime? if not then the company is taking advantage of work effort without compensation…
I believe the greatest asset of any business is the people… mistreat the asset and you have no business.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Oh and thanks for the 500 points…
Have a great weekend…
Working from home today, this way can be productive and avoid the commute… yes my boss is OK with this.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:16 am
This person is correct in their statements in the second paragraph. I for one, am an employee who missed time due to the snow, likes to play “hookie” every now and then (I call them “me” days). However, I also make up that time, work overtime and weekends (when needed).
If you are in an important position, where your services are detrimental to society, then yes, you shouldn’t take time off without just cause (snow is just cause, as if you get into an accident on the way in and die, then what good has that done for society). However, if you are a paper pusher like myself, a day here, a day there, isn’t going to hurt the business.
As far as the holiday statement, Bravo to this manager if the few holidays that we receive is sufficient to them. I for one, think we need longer holidays, four weeks would be nice and at least 1 day every month off.
We have been forced to take on many responsibilities where it used to be 3 people working for a company, it has been downsized to 1 person.
The stress level in today’s society is hard for everyone. Taking a “me” day to enjoy the beautiful weather or maybe just go grocery shopping during the day so it’s not as packed as the weekend, is NEEDED for everyone.
That’s not to say, just because your staff likes to say “play hookie” it’s a great day, we should take every day off!
Nor should you have to stop saying that. Please, is this manager trying to say that your staff corrupts their employees? Isn’t that like saying, playing video games and/or listening to heavy metal music will cause someone to go out and kill another?
You want to keep your employees and have them dedicate themselves 110% to your company, you need to say “hey, it’s gorgeous out, go home early, or hey, it’s Friday of a long weekend, take off and enjoy”.
This small jesture makes a world of difference on the value of work that you will receive from your employees. Life is not all about the all mighty dollar, especially for those of us who bust our butts just to make ends meet.
We are slaves to the big businesses, if they have a problem with letting you go early or taking a day off on salary, then hey, put them on hourly. We’ll see how long they like that when the employee starts to turn in timesheets with overtime on it.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:26 am
I forgot to mention one more point, I’m currently at work (I’m sorry, I didn’t play “hookie” like your staff has been advising), lol, however all the office staff is off today and only a few of our roofers are working. But you know what, our company is surviving, everything is being taken care of, and those employees that are off, appreciate that the Boss let them take this time off!
Because of this, if they get called in for an emergency…they’ll be there for the Boss and our company!
May 16th, 2008 at 9:32 am
OMG! Unbelievable! What is even more unbelievable is that this letter was sent to the radio station/you…………The author of the letter seriously needs some personal time with a psych.. To accuse you of encouraging people to play “hookie”….ridiculous! People will do what people want to do, that’s just the way it is, and the responsibility or lack thereof lies solely with the individuals involved.
What an unfortunate waste of blog space….
May 16th, 2008 at 9:55 am
See, now that’s a CRANKY email.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Hey Sam - I hope they used personal time, not company time to not only take the time to compose, but send that letter. Otherwise, they would be wasting valuable company time and thus negating the terms of their own damn salary.
I cannot believe they sent that to YOU. You’re a fun girl, and just making a tongue in cheek comment. Certainly not gospel. Not to be cliche, but if Samantha Stevens told listeners to go kick a porcupine, should we? You know I love ya, but I’m not daft. I didn’t hear you say it but I imagine it was something like “what a good day to play hookie”, you didn’t say “you should play hookie”…
Get a sense of humour for goodness sake! What a goon.
Lee Ann
May 16th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Dink with a capital D-I-N-K!
May 16th, 2008 at 11:22 am
For the record I am in Management. Although I agree with the writer, on principle, I firmly believe that loyalty is EARNED not dictated. I like to believe that my staff is dedicated because we provide a healthy work environment. You get more flies with honey than vinegar….
So buddy needs to lighten up. He probably screwed the pooch earlier in his career and feels everybody is of the same cloth.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Wow, and that kind of angry person when Canadians (and Americans) already get less vacation time than any of our European counterparts.
I would like 42 days of vacation a year (Italy); the French get 37; Germans, 35; and the British, 28. I get 20 and thats 5 more than most Canadians and Americans!
May 16th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Hey Sam
I am pretty sure it was my boss that wrote that email!!! It is totally something she would do. Like making you sacrfice holiday days when someone in your family dies instead of letting you have bereavement leave. Anyway you keep encouraging the hell out of us to taking more time off!!!! We love your show!! Hey maybe you could give us some good excuses on the air so when we use them she will know exactly what we are doing
Keep rockin
Samantha
May 16th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Was this message from Steve Carell’s character on The Office (on NBC) or what? This is what it seems like to me. LOL
May 16th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Hmmmmmmm…..sounds like a “Q” listener! Lighten up and start living in the present! If this person is a Manager, WHY are they listening to the radio and counting the number of times playing Hookie is mentioned? Wow sounds like they pay more attention to the radio then their work!!!!! TG I am self-employed! Now, its 3pm and I am going to play hookie! HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL LONG WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!!!
May 16th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I don’t even know where to begin - so I won’t.
I on the other hand am leaving one hour early today (as are the rest of my colleagues) as our boss sent an email advising us to have a safe and happy weekend.
Did I mention I love my workplace??
May 16th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Very true RobL, the same can be said of respect…it is EARNED. I had to remind my Director of that one day. We’ve known each other a looooong time, and we’re good friends too, as well as co-workers. It was the first time we duked it out, so too speak. And he proclaimed “I’m a Directer I deserve respect”…to which I quickly brought him down to earth by saying (through gritted teeth, a-la my mum) “No no sunshine, you have to earn it, in order to get it, you have to give it”. The view can be a tad skewed from the Ivory Tower…sometimes the man doth protest too much…eth…
Have a great long weekend!
Lee Ann
May 16th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I agree with this person because I own a business myself. I remember last
year when I was working at a college, some people kept taking off on their
time. I still paid them, including their breaks. Some of them did not care
about me or the work. It was abestoes that had to be removed. Believe
me it is hard work. I understand how this person feels, but a supervisor
should always have social skills and a strong understanding of people.
May 16th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Sounds like somebody seriously needs to get…..you know….
Anyhow Sam, ignore this ultra-maroon…you rock!
May 16th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Dear Sam,
I don’t know exactly what you said, but this woman sounds like my old boss. A nit picker, looking for any excuse to fire someone. I had a job where I had to take at least 100 calls a day (there was a phone log for all the people on the phones) and we had to resolve major problems, so at times, 100 calls coudn’t be met as the service you give the client COMES FIRST (this I know from being a manager at a top bar/restaurant in Mississauga and Montreal) so the first time in a year that I was sick, I got a very bad flu strain that took weeks to get over, but I had a doctor’s letter, yet she had the nerve to send me a letter, firing me while I was sick and used an excuse that my work had suffered, when she really fired me for being off as I rarely did not exceed the 100 phone calls a day, and firing someone when they are sick is illegal.
Needless to say, I got a lawyer through legal aid and he said it was an open and shut case, that I would definitely not lose, took my money and then he called and said that I was stalking him so he would no longer represent me. The day he said he accussed me of this (as he worked out of his home), I was out shoppping for Xmas presents with my hubby all day, so he must have been on drugs and seen the same car, but the wrong person as why the heck would I even want to stalk an old man like him when I was engaged, so I got screwed twice, he took all my money and the company I worked for never got reprimanded or anything at all.
I’ll never forget it as my boss was a woman and I had moved up quickly and she was jealous of my ambition and her job as I got rave reviews from the higher up bosses of my work and work ethics and I never missed a day. SO whether or not you do take a day, this is the type of boss that I had, a rigid, female dog (I bet she’s female) and like RobL said, if you treat your staff properly and make it a great environment to work in, then people tend NOT to take time off for no reason, as I’m a firm believer that you should tell your worker’s when they’re doing a great job, as it pumps up their self esteem and makes it a more enjoyable place to work at when you feel valued, but most of the time, they are only told when they are screwing up AND THAT’S WHERE THE BIG MISTAKES ARE MADE AS WHO WOULD WANT TO WORK AT A PLACE WHERE THEY’VE NEVER HEARD A GOOD WORD COME OUT OF THEIR BOSSES MOUTH ABOUT THEIR JOB PEFORMANCE?
Either way Sam, don’t let it affect you in the least (which I’m sure you’re not) and just keep doing what you’re doing as we all love you and your show (and TV show too.)
Have yourself a stress free long weekend, and ENJOY!!
April
May 16th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I agree with Steve and the other person, but employees should not feel as though they are bullied in the work place. This what we are supposed to
teach children. I think Sam is only joking when she said about taking time off. At work a person should have a sense of humor. Never mind this person Sam. I would not jump Sam, if you said jump. Have a great weekend.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
P.S. You shouldn’t have removed their name as this forum is open to everyone and if she wrote who it was from, then it’s her own fault if she had of received any backlash from it.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I agree with the guy, I’m not management, I’m an average worker, I know the people he’s talking about. And I see some of them have commented here. We need more vacation time? Ask the auto workers who have been given notice that their jobs are going to people that will appreciate more work. I have worked with people who are dumb enough or should I say irresponsible enough that yes, a dj saying take the day off is validation to do so. Their co-workers have to pick up the slack. Loyalty and respect are earned, both ways. Would you promote someone that may or may not show up?
My employer deducts a holiday for each “snow day”. Seems fair to me. They don’t deduct that it took 3 hours to get in, they appreciate the effort. Perfect attendance is rewarded. The best system I worked with involved the loss of profit share. For every sick day you lost 10%of your profit share, which was divided amongst the other employees.
A lot of people don’t seem to realize that they have a vested interest in the profitability of their employer. Yes we should all be happy, and have manageable stress levels, but how we handle our lives is our responsibility not our employers.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
It would be interesting to see how much “extra” these employees do when required. I bet you that they pitch in when it is needed and do overtime and work weekends etc. And I bet they get nothing in return like a day off or time in leu
Lighten up buddy - what goes around comes around. If you treat people like crap, they are more like to treat you back like crap twice as much. Try being nice and you will be surprised at how they respond back.
Alternatively, you can fire them all and your business will go t*ts-up anyways!
May 18th, 2008 at 6:07 am
If you can work smart why not spend an extra half hour on the patio with co-workers. Beer - sunshine - patio and preferrably on an expense report bring bring out the best ideas. Obviously this guy doesn’t know that adding alcohol improves creativity and removes barriers.
I guess we use our patio rendevous code word arond this guy.
FTD, it’s not flower delivery but similar to making puppies.
Favourite patio is the Duchess in Markham. My boss likes it too, probably why I stay at the company is the great people.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I am a true believer if people are happy and challenged at work, they make every effort to come in. Sounds like some people at this company are not. I’ll bet those employees will be even less happy after this person in management stops playing JACK.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Wow this sounds like the “pat ourselves on the back for ridiculously unimportant things” management I work for - but don’t communicate anything to the real working staff/stiff. I mainly work on the weekends so don’t have to deal with them too often thankfully. When I work during the week I don’t dare play the radio! What’s with these boneheads anyway? Studies have actually proven that music is beneficial in a working environment. So you made a comment, obviously just kidding - because the weather was nice. We were all thinking it anyway, but did we act on it - NO. Maybe her/his company should try a “classical” music station to meet with the egghead standards. Perhaps Bach, Beethoven and Mozart are more along their prudish lines - not Bachman, Beatles and Ozzie. Music is a diversion from the daily drudgery everyone feels at work, at home, while driving, in an elevator, at a shopping mall, life in general. You were working when you made the comments, did you play hooky Sam? - I’m sure the answer is NO. SUPER MANAGER needs to lighten up - or fire her/himself. WHAT A WAY TO CAUSE RESENTMENT AMONGST THE STAFF — THAT’S POOR MANAGEMENT!! (I’m guessing female, because although I hate to admit it, in my experience, working for women is much harder than working for men, plus the fact they wrote a letter about it indicates a female pettiness, that kind of stuff doesn’t have men writing radio stations - usually). There seems to be no pleasing power drunk female managers - I’m sorry ladies, I’m female too - but it’s true.
May 18th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
There are essentially two types of people: those who are responsible and those who are not. Having said that, the very occasional “time out” activity is not a crime, provided it does not greatly impact those who depend upon you. As Management, I often arranged for alternating staff to leave early on Fridays during the summer provided work was done (which it always was). And “NEWS FLASH” those fantastic hot, sunny days do not abruptly end at 5:00-so worst case senerio, one can enjoy a little later than sooner!
PS-JACK, as for your encouragement to get out and enjoy life “ROCK ON!
May 20th, 2008 at 9:24 am
WOW! I could very easily believe that this letter was written by my old boss! He was an ass and no one liked/likes working for him. I keep in contact with the people I used to work with and they still hate him.
He is the type of person that will take credit for anything that goes well (whether he had anything to do with it or not) and blame everything that goes wrong on the “lowly” workers (even if it was his fault). He had no problem taking holidays whenever he wanted but wouldn’t let employees even take a day here or they for legitimate reasons. He showed absolutely no respect for anyone (even his wife when she was around) and would talk to you in a way that seemed nice on the surface but really you knew he thought of you as disposable. He was the biggest manipulator of people I ever met, I don’t think he knew other ways to deal with people.
There is no point in me stating his name (would get removed anyway) but it doesn’t really matter since people like that ALWAYS get it back eventually. If you put yourself out into the world as a creep, eventually people are going to treat you as one.
Fortunately where I work now, they are much better, and respect that people have lives outside of work, and understand that people enjoy their time when they’re not in the office.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
What a crock of —-! I think your encouraging words are more of a look forward to and can’t wait till I finish, sure the odd person may take it serious but come on, keep up the great work Samantha as always from somebody that’s been listening to you a long time.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Ohhhh! I hope that wasn’t from Mr. Rogers himself. lol
I too have unresolved issues with my previous employer. It was hard watching the entire office dash out early each friday during the summer months when our department had to stay behind in case of an emergency. First of all it was the HR department. What possible work emergency would require HR admin staff to handle while the VP and Senior Managers headed up to the cottage or to play a round of golf? You would think an emergency of that magnitude would require someone with authority!
Anyhow, my new boss is the total opposite - very easy going - he says “as long as the work gets done”…just makes me realize not all workplaces are run by idots and/or slavedrivers!!
May 21st, 2008 at 6:53 am
Hi Sam,
Yeah i have to say that being in sales & marketing performance and results are more important than hours worked.
I totally agree with all of the listeners about respect having to go both ways.
If you are a loyal worker you will always go the extra mile. If you’re a slacker you’ll always look for the easy way out.
I have taken 4 sick days in 23 years of working full time and am always in the office at 7am even though we don’t officially start until 8:45am so no one hassles me for taking an occasional 2 hour lunch or leaving a bit early if i don’t feel well.
One time i tried to get to work despite a terrible snow storm and had to turn around and go home half way when snow and ice coated my wipers so icould no longer see out my windows. When i called my boss to tell her i would be working from home she was shocked that i would even attempt to make into work that day.
When i told my boss 2 years ago that i was getting divorced she said i could take as much off time off work that i needed to sort things out and get counseling if i needed and not ot worry for one second about my job because i had proved myself for the past several years.
If a person has proven themself over aperiod of time then managment should support the person in their time of need.
I didn’t need any time off but my boss’s support and belief in me made me even more loyal and hard-working than before.
The person who sent you that e-mail has a totally unrealistic view of how to treat people.
Keep playing those great tunes Sam and look forward to seeing you in the warmer months.