A paper recently published in the Journal of Zoology says that great white sharks hunt in a highly focused fashion, just like serial killers.
According to a report on ScienceDaily.com, the researchers used geographic profiling—a criminal investigation tool used to find serial killers based on the locations of their crimes—to examine how the hunting patters of great white sharks off the coast of South Africa.
Sharks establish well-defined hunting bases in strategic locations. The researchers noticed that smaller sharks searched further, and had less success, than larger sharks. They surmised that great white sharks refined their search patterns with experience, and concentrated their hunting in locations with the highest probability of success.
For more information on the study, read Geographic profiling works: Great white sharks’ hunting skills as refined as Jack the Ripper’s.
Justabouthealed,
I didn’t even notice any ‘bossy-ness’ so no worries. I just really LOVE my job, my company is consistently on the Fortune Top 100 list and I have great benefits and love my work. I kind of want to cross my fingers and think that maybe she doesn’t have it in for me, maybe I just need to work harder, but after everything, if I’ve learned anything it’s that I should trust my intuition more. It’s very depressing for me to have to accept that I might be forced out of a job that I love. But I guess I wouldn’t want to continue working there anyway if my boss hates me. Bleah. Anyway I’d like to think that my boss’s superiors would look at my response with an open mind, but maybe that is naive of me.
My dad suggested just writing my response, and getting it notarized so that if I do get fired in 6 months I will have some recourse. I don’t think I can afford a lawyer =(
Your company doesn’t offer free legal advise as part of the insurance package? Nonetheless I think your dad’s advice is good. Corporate America rewards narcissists, unfortunately. I would find a few trusted friends OUTSIDE the circle of your business to read your response and make sure it sounds factual, professional, mature, and ends with something like” I’m sure we will be able to have a very productive next 12 months! ” which demonstrates you are a team player, even though you are raising concerns. And I would turn it into your boss. That is the proper channel probably. Good time to get out the employee manual. There I go again! BOSSY! You have to decide for yourself, I don’t know all the background including how much you need the job, how long you’ve been there, how long she’s been there, etc. I thought my friend was doing the right and professional thing and she’s now out of a job.
Justabouthealed,
Thanks for the advice and the warning. I know I need to tread carefully. I have only been there 6 months, it is my first “real” job since I graduated college. I need a job, I’d like to keep this one bc it doesn’t even feel like work bc I love what I do, and it would be awful to be let go, since this is my first relevant job I would hate to not be able to use it on a resume if I have to search for a new job.
I think I am going to document my concerns, have them notarized and keep them to myself for now. I am going to schedule weekly meetings with my boss and keep notes of feedback she does/doesn’t provide. I’ll probably just suck it up and tell her that I really want this job and want to do whatever it takes to secure it. Then in six months if she decides to terminate me I will have documentation showing that it’s not warranted. I already have surveys that we send to clients, all of them I’ve received back so far have given me 5 out of 5 for the score, so I think that should show that I am doing my job well. I’m a graphic designer, so some of my work is subjective but as long as I am pleasing clients and meeting deadlines I don’t see how she would have grounds to fire me without lying/exaggerating on my review (but she has already worded things to make me look bad).
On a side note, I have had dreams about her and my S together in the same dream the last two nights. UG!
All that sounds good, esp. given your history. Keep your documentation at home, including copies of the surveys, because usually if you are fired in a fortune 500 company, you are fired and escorted off the property and they go get your personal belongs and give them to you, you aren’t even allowed to get your stuff, nor access your email or get phone numbers, etc. Keep a copy of the employee manual at home.
You are so very mature, I would have pictured you much older! I am! 🙂
Done:
If you are going to have weekly meetings with her, you may want to consider sending follow-up emails after each one to th effect of “to ensure that we are in accord of my objectives to accomplish as discussed at our meeting on X date, the objectives we agreed on are X, Y and Z”.
The upside of this is you eliminate your boss being able to weasel around and you have actual objectives on the page. The downside is businesses have gotten more and more spooked and may not issue a response. But, te uside still is that you have actual documented emails (and send copies to your personal email).
Good idea Matt, thanks!
justabouthealed,
Good point about being escorted off. I think you’re right, and I was planning on starting to send my work to my personal email anyway so that I can use it in my portfolio, in case I don’t get a chance to access it later.
Also, I’m not that young, I’m 28. I just spent a long time goofing off before I graduated (largely due to the S).
Thanks so much for the advice guys!
Please, advise:
I PIed myself into learning of P’s embezzlement. I also learned that he told someone while we were together, that our relationship was “strictly business”. So, I had this question. One: should I press criminal charges or instigate them? (possible will P$^% him off). The other thing I was thinking, we all know how much of an inconvenience it is for them to work, to do something for the benefit of others, and to be consistently driven by something. If it is business, perhaps, they evaluate it in terms of Cost analysis? so, if causing us grief costs nothing, why not do it? if causing us grief becomes a nuisance, would the cost analysis be done to move on? Many of you are much more experienced with the humanoids, so I was wondering if I was on to something there. Some of my friends said that I’d be putting myself in more danger, but I cannot function, when I live in fear. I’d rather endanger myself for a short while rather than live in fear forever. Thoughts? Matt, if I did this would it be counter productive for the custody battle I am in?
Dear PI,
No one but YOU can answer the question..however, that said, here is my thought.
They love REVENGE and sometimes will “cut their noses off to spite their faces” in order to get revenge on you. sometimes this is as “serious” as murder/suicide.
They don’t see the “cost analysis” like we do—they don’t think like we do.
“Criminal” charges are difficult to get the law to prosecute because it comes down to a “civil suit” rather than a “criminal” action.
Unless it is forged checks in great amounts etc. generally it is an uphill battle. Prosecutors don’t have “time” to prosecute murder and mayhem, so non violent crimes don’t get first shot at their time.
I would vote for leaving it alone, and taking care of YOURself if possible. (((Hugs))))
TY (Sigh)
PI,
I’m with Oxy on this. Unless it directly relates to you, and especially you getting something material out of this, don’t waste the time or attention.
Ultimately what you want is to teach these people is that you’re not fun or easy to deal with, now or in the future, and that it’s more trouble than it’s worth to try to get resources or jollies from you. So they go away.
Vengeance is a way of staying involved with them. For us, it’s the later stages of involvement. Part of the angry phase. And it’s okay and normal to feel that way. But unless you have something that will get him out of your hair for life, I’d think carefully about the Pandora’s box you’re opening up, and what it might mean to you in terms of dealing with him in the future.
What you will want in your post-P life is less drama, less involvement, less seeing him or dealing with him. Those are the objectives to be working on now, the ones you’ll thank yourself for later.
Kathy