geoffhanna wrote on Jun 15
th, 2015 at 8:09pm:
Regarding Jerry, you all are way too hard on him. He's a good guy doing a harsh job under crazy time constraints. You are hating the messenger. No one remembers Quarion?
But whatever, I didn't expect to change any minds.
TL: DR - I'm not paying Jerry to be nice. I'm paying him to be effective and professional. I hold him to the same standards as I hold myself and my team.
The difference is that I can draw a distinction between personal and professional.
Jerry by all accounts sounds like a nice guy, who does nice things for the community and those he likes. I don't hate that guy at all, nor do I make fun at his body shape or gender or anything else that is irrelevant to his job.
My critique is about a remunerated role at an orgn that I fund through my subscription and seeing it run like a 2nd rate high school fete.
The "he has a tough role" doesn't wash for me sorry. Lots of people have tough Customer Service roles. I started my career in CS and I know it sucks (it can also be rewarding) - but it is no excuse to be unprofessional at it.
Arkat wrote on Jun 15
th, 2015 at 8:24pm:
The thing is, Jerry could be impartial and still toe the company line. He either hasn't figured out the two aren't necessarily incompatible or he's just not interested in doing a better job.
This. Obeying his corporate masters and being a good moderator/PR guy are not mutually exclusive.
But having an obvious and observable bias in his role is not professional.
Being embarrassingly ill prepared for PR is unprofessional.
Isolating and attacking a segment of your customer base is not professional (even if they do piss you off).
All businesses cop criticism (some deserved, some not) - deal with it.
I can only imagine if I turned up to a client presentation unprepared and dressed like I just got out of bed and said, "but my job is tough and I had time constraints sorry....." Security would removed me from the premises with a boot up my ass.
Yes, he's human as are the majority of us here.
I am able to run a business and separate my professional expectations of my employees from my personal like/dislike of them.
They can be the nicest people in the world, but if they're not professional, insightful, intelligent and effective they can't be part of my team as those traits are prerequisites to our business surviving.
If you want to be nice, but unprofessional, find a role that is suitable for that.
I get really annoyed at people who think the gaming industry should be held to a different standard because of a plethora of excuses (it's only games, the industry is tough, the work is hard and unappreciated etc etc).
It is a business, it needs to be run like a business, and the employees not to be accountable as employees.
Niceness is not a KPI. Effectiveness should be, and being nice is a trait to help with that, not the end game.