…but that would require actually doing some planning, which was something that this supervisor was not very good at.
Want more evidence? Each year, despite many notices throughout the year from upper management about the absolute deadline for ordering office supplies under the present year’s budget, he would put off compiling an order until the last possible day. He would then sit, scrutinizing catalogs, jotting down orders for books, supplies, and various items that were usually outdated, unneeded, or just plain ridiculous–thus wasting money on things that would never be used, and ignoring written supply requests that we had submitted throughout the year.
When we first entered the computer age in our office with one TRS-80, he vaguely knew that purchasing new software for different tasks was a good thing–but his understanding was VERY vague. The result was that, on “deadline day”, he would repeatedly barge into my office, shove a catalog under my nose, and ask…“will this work in our computer?”. And, in every case, I had to respond…“No, Jerry, that is a VHS videotape, not a disc with a computer program”.
No, I am not making this up.
And, yes, he made a whole lot more money than I did.