I had an incident at work a few weeks ago and it’s totally opened my eyes. I’m a manager at a cell phone store so customer interactions are my all-day everyday reality. I try to keep things light and have fun so I occasionally jest with my employees and customers.
A few weeks ago, I made a joke that my supervisor jumped in on. The customers laughed and our employee laughed. Our employee approached me a few minutes after and said they didn’t appreciate the joke and it made them feel belittled. I just felt awful. I immediately apologized, promised them it wouldn’t happen again, and asked to make sure this was the first time I had made them feel that way. He assured me it was and that he always felt comfortable coming to me if they had a problem.
Apparently they also went to our supervisor and let them know the same thing, since our supervisor also jumped in on the joke a little. His reaction was much different. He told the employee to stop being so sensitive and that he, as the manager, decided what was appropriate at work. Our supervisor also approached me and said I had handled the situation inappropriately because the employees will think they can correct us. He kinda blew up when I told him that I hope that they feel they can correct us.
Now, every single story I see on this sub seems to be a variation of this story. It all comes down to, “I’m the boss, if I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.” The really disappointing part is that this seems to be an American problem. Everyone that posts from other countries don’t seem to have this problem, at least not on a systemic level. I just thought this would be a thought/story people on this sub might find interesting.