Cack yourself silly with this Dilbert cartoon from here.
A heavily pregnant senior Manager calls me to discuss her upcoming maternity leave. She works, on average, a 50-60 hour week and is concerned that no obvious plans have been made by her manager for a maternity leave replacement.
That's no problem, I say, perhaps your manager needs a gentle reminder. I comment that it is unusual that I haven't been consulted on this but I'd be happy to work out a few options to present to her manager.
Later that day the heavily pregnant senior Manager calls me, a little shaken. "I spoke to my manager about a maternity leave replacement and that we had spoken and he is absolutely furious. He said that I am HIS employee and it is nothing to do with HR whether he has organised a maternity leave replacement or not."
Then to show that his maturity has no bounds he doesn't speak to her for more than two weeks.
