Chain of command

Fresh thread for your Thursday flame war. …

This is just a guess. I don’t know what you do for a living or how well you do it, so all I can do is guess.

I’m guessing that your immediate supervisor, your boss, knows what you do and how well you do it. If you have any work-related callouses, then I’d also guess that she knows how to do your job and could do it well herself. If you don’t, then I’d guess that she doesn’t and probably couldn’t.

Her boss — your boss’s boss — probably doesn’t know what you do or how it is done, but he might still be able to tell whether or not it’s being done well. In a pinch, he might even be able to fill in for you, but your customers would notice the difference.

His boss — your boss’s boss’s boss — has no idea what you do and, I’m guessing, wouldn’t be able to do it if you gave him a highlighted and underlined copy of Your Job for Dummies.

If your company is large enough that that guy has a boss — your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss — then not only does he not know what you do or how it’s done, but he cannot see any difference between its being done well and its being done poorly. And since he can’t see that difference, he doubts your customers would be able to tell either. So if he has yet another boss — your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss’s boss — then he is probably right now thinking that he could make that boss happy by saving all of the time and money he figures you must be wasting trying to do whatever it is you do well.

As I said, this is only a guess. Am I close?