The Backfire
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, sometimes they do backfire
I am a manager of the electrical department where I work. There is a manager of the mechanical department too. I am in my late 30s whereas the mechanical manager is in his mid-60s. There is a supervisor in the mechanical department who has been working under the manager of mechanical and this story is based on this guy.
The mechanical manager and I are enjoying the company-maintained vehicle. The mechanical manager belongs to a well-to-do family. He has not been working for the sake of money whereas he has been working for keeping himself fit. I personally know his background and family status.
The mechanical manager was infected with COVID-19 in 2021 and he was severely ill. We thought that he was not going to survive. Somehow, he managed to survive, and he won the battle after hospitalization for 14 consecutive days in the hospital.
I made the plant manager remember during that period that you are supposed to award the company-maintained vehicle to that supervisor too. If you don’t award him a vehicle, he will leave the company at any time. As you know, the mechanical manager is not a needy guy and he has grown old. He can leave the company at any time because of his health condition.
Though he is super fit at the moment, the age factor does matter. The plant manager let me know that it makes sense. He talked to upper management and the supervisor awarded a company-maintained vehicle. He got the vehicle primarily because of his struggle and secondly, because of my efforts into it.
Whenever we receive any complaint from the plant so most of the time both sides have to be there. I mean to say electrical and mechanical guys. Usually, electrical guys attend to the complaints first and then they troubleshoot the nature of the fault whether it belongs to the electrical or mechanical side.
There was a fault so both sides had to be on the spot. It took time so I went there and asked what was going on. The mechanical manager didn’t come on that day. When I reached the spot, the fault had not been rectified. I had a close eye on the mistake and let the supervisor know how to tackle it.
I told him that I let him know the nature of the fault. Instead of taking my advice seriously, you started to argue with me. He was arguing with me without any base. I lost my control over there. We started to shout at each other.
Later on, I thought, about how he had requested me to get a company-maintained vehicle for a couple of weeks. Once he got it now he is fighting with me on baseless issues. Then I thought it did backfire. I was not supposed to favor him for the car because he was a really humble guy before getting the car.
Sometimes, in our life, things don’t go according to plan. It does backfire. We need to rethink where we made mistakes. Then I made up my mind that I am not going to support anyone out of the box because I will eventually pay for it.
