So, this is an insignificant situation at work. I just recommend you to read if you really have spare time to lose.
This is how it goes: I work for a bank in the caribbean and got promoted last year after almost ten years of being stuck in the same position due to being essential in my team. Regardless, I was more experienced or academically more prepared, this stopped my former boss from considering me for the manager position. I got the promotion just after having an interview with another department in the same company. It was a lateral move, but yearly bonus payment would be added to my monthly payment so I wouldn't need a project to close to receive that money and I would work 8 AM to 5PM instead of being a slave 8 AM to Forever(That's how we say in spanish). So, after I got the interview, I was promoted like 2 weeks later. In the same week I was promoted, the boss I interviewed with was trying to reach me as I was selected to move laterally. I'm pretty sure this is not the reason I was promoted(cough cough).
Anyway, once in the new position I was in charge of an Agile Team Table(I was formerly working for Watefall Projects). This new area of the Bank is where the bank is betting on new technology and automation. This is the division(division is a level from department), where all the toys ares. Toys are gadgets that are necessary for testing the most important bank channel which is the App which process the 70% of the entire bank daily on an average basis. So gadgets like macbook pro, android phones, iPhones, apple watches are purchased for the different teams for testing purposes using the company budget. It's worth mentioning that the bank uses Windows as the official company issued computer. However, we have several limitations(not related to the Windows OS), which goes from
proxy blocking almost every site(bye maven, gradle, skype, etc), antivirus which go nuts if you pressed some keyboard key differently(joking).
Our job requires the following tasks which are not possible on the Windows issued machines due to Domain Policies applied to all PCs(Again not Windows fault):
- Compile iOS Code
- Compile Android Code(Android studio is not an allowed App for Install)
- To reach the External Team(Usually Mexico and India Devs) once they disconnect from VPN(External Teams does not work without them connected to VPN)
- Microsoft Teams Meetings due to the computer having this issues:
- Not recognizing microphone on computer or 3.5mm headphones just bluetooth works
- As meeting need to pass thru VPN->Proxy->Microsoft? the audio have issues falf the time.
It is normal for any new manager to have at least a macbook, an iPhone and an android which serves those purposes. So as was expected, I request my boss's permission to ask for those and his answer was to wait a little, since I was new. Then the moment arrived when my team needed to convert all the Monolithic IBM Broker Flows being used by our dear App to Microservice so it was obvious the gadgets were necessary, so I asked again and my dear boss replied: “to ask for macs you have to show results”. In my opinion, it was a meaningless answer since it was needed(I guess) and the alternative would be to request another team for help integrating the App to the new microservice. Although this sounds reasonable(it is), every team sprint based on their own priorities and it is to be expected they won't have the same urge to complete those integrations.
We chose to go that way and request the App team for those integrations since job shouldn't be stopped because of this and my boss seems like he wouldn't approve this purchase. In his defence, in the caribbean we need to pay between 30% to 50% taxes for new items(of course, in addition to USA tax) so that's why I take advantage of my travels there when I want something new, but this is another story. I settle and make myself clear the idea of not having the toys.
An co-worker(also manager) was fired due to low performance and her job position was assigned like months away to another guy(promoted to manager also). This woman didn't have toys and my boss immediately ask the replacement manager to request his macbook without him even asking for it. He of course said he didn't need it(something inside me died). Having heard(read actually) I asked again and boss replied with the same answer: “to ask for macs you have to show results”. This time I got upset since I needed one and was rejected, but the new guy didn't request it and was granted one. This is of course a trivial situation, but I being a enthusiast of gadgets, it would be nice to have them.
This is why I changed my mind and won't ever again ask for gadgets. If for some reason, my boss decides to assign one, I plan to re-assign them to my subordinates. This way, the job gets done and I keep some dignity or pride. Of course I plan to mention him that I asked 3 times and was denied one even though I needed it. I have the luck(is this luck?) that my boss and I join the company in the same date and have some familiarity and don't rely on the usual boss-subordinate formal talking. So I plan to be pretty honest about that.
I managed to get a workaround by asking the warehouse for a used windows laptop(the don't have macs there or phones) previously assigned to another employee. I format this laptop and installed a non-company windows 10. This way I can use Skype and Android Studio at least. This was possible because used gadgets in the warehouse are no longer in use and don't require budget approval. “One man's trash is another man's treasure”, I guess.
So, I just needed to write this to get it out of my chest and continue my life. What do you think about this?