A supervisor should not allow the perception (let alone the reality) of favoritism or the opposite.

A supervisor should not discourage open communications from anyone by reacting badly to a question.

A supervisor should not let people think that he has ever lost complete control of a situation like that.

"Straight shooting" is to be admired in corporate America. But it isn't a good excuse for violation of one of my three "rules".

alex,

so do you believe that as a blogger i got NO business writing any email, no matter how polite, to any baseball writer, disagreeing with anything he/she said? that it is disrespectful?

what exactly makes a blogger different from any other reader of the column?

I gotta say, Alex, the supervisor in question doesn't sound mature enough to be in charge of people. That story is indicative of good leadership behavior?

Should she be fired? No. But if perhaps she has a raft of other issues, or even any questions about her work, I would definitely think something like that would be a significant - and justified - mark against her.

Also, you are arguing emotions and insinuations vs. explicit behavior. The employee in question may have really thought they was kidding about her age, maybe they were referring to a conversation that was heard some other time, maybe they were simply clueless about how they sounded, and maybe they were definitely being being a weaaselly asshat. Doesn't really matter, it is open to interpretation as you implied. If they WERE being a jerk, is it how they should have acted? Are they good people? Hell no, two times.

There's NO QUESTION, however, no interpretation to a "#### YOU!" tantrum from a person in a position of authority. It's childish, churlish, jerkish, and betrays a lack of leadership in my opinion.

BCC -- you have the right to email anyone you please, disagree with anyone you please, write it however you please.

They have the same rights in response.

Ultimately, Conlin is outnumbered and outgunned, no matter how many readers he has or how few the blogger has.

Would we all be better off if Conlin routinely hits "delete" on blogger emails?

erik --

1. No favoritism, for or against -- she doesn't pull punches for anyone.

2. Supervisors should be allowed to be human. And there's a difference between an honest question and a barb. She expressed herself. The more professional, "nice" supervisors wouldn't have responded, but put a black mark in their mental notebook and saboutaged you when you weren't looking.

3. Supervisors should be allowed a human response to an insult. Ideally, you don't cuss someone out, but in this case, it was an effective way to deliver the message.

She doesn't routinely jump down people's throats. She'll help you when you need help, she'll do the same job you're doing. She gets the job done, and gets it done effectively. She will stand up for employees against senior management. There's a reason she was the one who received the apology, a reason she's got the respect of the people who make a difference at work. They may not all like her, but they respect her.

Give me all those things and occasional abrasiveness and "unprofessionalism" over smilin' faces, backstabbing, and blatant favoritism towards those who toe the company line while doing little or nothing to aid in getting the job done.

alex,

to answer your question - yes. he SHOULD hit delete, as he considers all of us scum who have no right to write in the first place.

would you feel different if he had used the word "spick" or "nigga" or "hebrew" instead of "blogger"