The Good Manager

Despite my promotion, the warning signs are already there for just how good my manager is going to be.  We are officially at amber alert.  Although she is likable enough – and I do get on with her – when it comes to doing her actual job of being my manager, I have some very strong doubts.  I think it started when someone else got promoted at the same time and to the same level as me by her.  This person, conveniently, happens to be her best friend – and despite having nothing like the experience and competency that I have, was still somehow deserving of a promotion.  I also don’t have any idea of what exactly I’m going to be working on later this year and beyond – almost like she has already given the best, and highest profile, projects to other people, like the aforementioned best friend, and I’ll be left with just the scraps.  And then we come to today – when we had a “New Hire Welcome & Promotion Lunch”.  Basically, this an all-site meeting where everyone who got promoted has to come to the front of the room with their manager, who then gives a little speech about them before receiving a round of applause.  It’s a tedious and embarrassing tradition.  First of all, my manager wasn’t even in the office today.  And then when it came to my turn, the prepared speech by my manager was reluctantly read out by one of my previous managers and was absolutely awful with clearly little to no time spent on it - and certainly my manager hadn't even bothered to look at my CV.  No mention of my education, my background, the number of years I’ve been working at the company, the fact that I’m a re-hire, the number of different projects and therapeutic areas I’ve worked on in my time here, etc.  It was basically a few short and inaccurate lines about what I’ve been working on over the last year – and then mention of a few “interesting” facts that I had previously supplied to my manager (think ping pong expertise, born and raised in Hertfordshire, support Crystal Palace, etc.).  I know I’m kind of a boring guy, but this made me sound even worse.  Perhaps the only good thing to come out of this was that I was talking to one of the new hires after the meeting, and he said that he was best friends with the Crystal Palace team doctor.  Small world!