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How much brown-nosing do you do at work (if any)?


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I make polite conversation with managers at times.  Not much though beyond talking about generic stuff like Netflix shows. 
 

Some people do this where I work a lot.  While yes I think it helps them get promoted at times, a lot of times these people in their new roles don’t last.

 

I know one friend who works for a public accountant firm said it’s pretty bad at his firm. Pre pandemic hanging out at happy hours was an unwritten expectation.

 

What are others experiences? 

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I am 57 years old....brown nosing for me stopped several years ago....my work does the talking for me.  People know exactly who i am at work and as a result i often show up to find some interesting beer or wine on my desk....and i am not in any way, shape or form in a position of management, so they certainly aren't brown nosing me

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I am kind of the inverse brown nose. I am the one who takes the piss out of my seniors in a way that allows people to laugh at them a bit and see that they are human without being offensive. I am also the guy that is always turned to for a blunt opinion. Especially by Ministers. One Minister who shall remain nameless couldn't remember my name but would frequently ask for "the northern one" when she wanted someone to cut through the BS for her.

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1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

I am kind of the inverse brown nose. I am the one who takes the piss out of my seniors in a way that allows people to laugh at them a bit and see that they are human without being offensive. I am also the guy that is always turned to for a blunt opinion. Especially by Ministers. One Minister who shall remain nameless couldn't remember my name but would frequently ask for "the northern one" when she wanted someone to cut through the BS for her.

 

I’m retired, but you sound a bit like my wife. Everyone is afraid of the CEO, so they just nod and do as they’re told. My wife will call out the BS, in a polite way. She actually just applied to take a semi-demotion from a national role to a regional role. The guy desperately wanted her, but the big boss said “nope, she’s too valuable to the firm in the national role. You can’t have her.” 

 

In effect she said “I’d rather work for him than you”, but she did it in a nice way. “I think I can make more of a difference in that role where I know I can really move the needle. I don’t feel like I’m doing that here.” The CEO might be difficult, but she’s also brilliant! If you are surrounded by “yes people” it’s too easy to get off the right path because nobody will question you or call you out when you don’t make the right call. There is value in being blunt on occasion. 

 

 

.

Edited by Augie
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None. I work in a specialized health care with pretty much no room for upwards advancement.

 

Plus the robber barons that I work for don’t give COLA or performance review based raises. 

 

So I am kind, courteous and compassionate to my patients, and management can go eff themselves.

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None.  My immediate supervisor is a complete dolt, and I am the only person in my organization that can do what I do.  And I am good at my job.  No reason the be a suck up, but at the same time I am nice to most “authority figures” at work.  Those that deserve to be treated with respect, that is...

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When I worked for people, I regularly joked and drank with several of my bosses/coworkers. But I never considered that brown-nosing. I did it because it was fun and wanted to.

 

But when it came to work, I was an anti-brown nose. A couple bosses criticized me for not "managing up" well---but conceded I did an excellent job managing across and down.  

 

I would disagree and criticize my bosses (usually nicely, but not always) when necessary. That usually was fine for a couple years, but when the bosses back is against the wall, they can grow weary of not being "supported" no matter what they did or said. So three years was my typical lifespan in an organization.

 

I think the biggest issue in their eyes was my consistent refusal/failure to document everything I accomplished, give regular reports and updates, etc. I was too busy getting things done, by doing a good job managing the people who did actual work. Few things I despise more than busy work/administrative garbage. Yes, there were times my boss needed to present to his/her boss, and wanted the documentation for a presentation. I did those. But no "weekly" or "monthly" reports. Hated that crap.

 

Even now that I work for myself, I've had a couple of retainer clients request regular reports when I first started with them. I told them they hired the wrong guy for that. Want to discuss the details over a drink? Fine, let's do it!  

 

My new life: No meetings, no reports, no direct bosses. Of course all my clients are I suppose "bosses", but they know better than to think that way.

 

One thing I didn't mention is, I had a couple people work for me who were MAJOR brown noses. I did my best to put a stop to it, but hard to wipe the stain off a lifelong brown noser. 

Edited by The Dean
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I not only dislike brown nosers, I stupidly thought as a young buck fresh out in the world that brown nosers were obvious and couldn’t understand why their leaders didn’t see the transparent sucking up

 

Years letter I realized, oh my, it’s not that the leadership doesn’t realize it, THEY LIKE IT!!!

 

While I still despise the behavior I’m respectful, maybe excessively to some of the bigger egos especially upward, but I also am respectful to my piers and subordinates too. 


 

in the end I’ve absolutely hit my ceiling where I have a solid and growing team of Project and program mgrs, and we get results, raises and rewards and drive and deliver all the initiatives...  but I i guess I’m too dumb to employ the sycophantic tendencies to work into the VP/c suite that those who do will
 

I just can’t bring myself to act that way. My boss told me more than once I’m too honest 

Edited by Over 29 years of fanhood
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None! It's the people who get the job done,  hands dirty and kill their bodies with irregular sleep patterns, ie: "us" (Labor) AND "them" (DeskJockey Management).  I am not sucking up, I will take it to my grave.

 

No quarter asked.  No quarter given. 

 

3 hours ago, Augie said:

 

I’m retired, but you sound a bit like my wife. Everyone is afraid of the CEO, so they just nod and do as they’re told. My wife will call out the BS, in a polite way. She actually just applied to take a semi-demotion from a national role to a regional role. The guy desperately wanted her, but the big boss said “nope, she’s too valuable to the firm in the national role. You can’t have her.” 

 

In effect she said “I’d rather work for him than you”, but she did it in a nice way. “I think I can make more of a difference in that role where I know I can really move the needle. I don’t feel like I’m doing that here.” The CEO might be difficult, but she’s also brilliant! If you are surrounded by “yes people” it’s too easy to get off the right path because nobody will question you or call you out when you don’t make the right call. There is value in being blunt on occasion. 

 

5 hours ago, LeviF91 said:

Kneepads are standard issue here.

Yeah, lots of practice on some civilian's neck.  😉 😜 😘 

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Augie said:

 

I’m retired, but you sound a bit like my wife. Everyone is afraid of the CEO, so they just nod and do as they’re told. My wife will call out the BS, in a polite way. She actually just applied to take a semi-demotion from a national role to a regional role. The guy desperately wanted her, but the big boss said “nope, she’s too valuable to the firm in the national role. You can’t have her.” 

 

In effect she said “I’d rather work for him than you”, but she did it in a nice way. “I think I can make more of a difference in that role where I know I can really move the needle. I don’t feel like I’m doing that here.” The CEO might be difficult, but she’s also brilliant! If you are surrounded by “yes people” it’s too easy to get off the right path because nobody will question you or call you out when you don’t make the right call. There is value in being blunt on occasion. 

 

 

.

 

Did the CEO grant her request? 

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1 minute ago, The Dean said:

 

Did the CEO grant her request? 

 

Nope, CEO wouldn’t let her go. Said she was more important in the current national position.  They have a call set for 6:30 tonight. Should be interesting! 

 

What the CEO doesn’t know is her previous employer of 18 years has reached out to my wife about a position opening up next spring, conveniently after the February bonuses. Having options is nice. 

 

It reminds me of when a team won’t let a coach talk to another team about a lateral (or in this case backward) move they are allowed to block, but it’s frowned upon. Bad form. She likes the bigger job, but they won’t give her the resources to “win”. She could feel like she’s winning more in the regional job. Problem is, nobody can “win” in the national job they way it is now. She’s the best option and has got some leverage they are aware, and an option about which they are unaware. 

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