I have a Perception

 

Its all about perception. People see you and the gather a perception about how you look, what your doing at the time, and in an instant they make judgement. I truly wish life wasn't like that...but that sad truth is...its true. I have been on both sides of this perception at my work.
I have made judgement on people and have been totally wrong but I based it on a quick glance at a certain moment in time. And I have also heard a few peoples perception of me. So over the years I have learned to get closer before making any type of judgement.

We have new owners at my work and for the first year I thought I was in like Flynn with them. But recently I  had a review. You know how those go right? You sit down with your boss and they tell you how great you are and then you don't get the raise you expected. Well...this one didn't quite go as planned. Our review system rates you on a scale of 0-20 with 20 being the best. There are like seven different categories. In the past my average score was like 16- 17. This review...my average score was 8....yeah....8. I am not perfect but I do know for a fact that I am not an 8.

My boss and both owners were sitting there as my boss read me what he wrote for each category of the review. The owners would then speak even lower of me just to chime in and tell me that I SUCK.
I didn't do anything right. I felt like crying but then I remembered...there is no crying in manufacturing.
After this hell was over I had a chance to speak to my boss about all this.
This is what I said to him:
So...answer me this...am I really this bad? Because if I am...you should have fired me a long time ago.
His reply: No...you are nowhere near that bad...I had you scored here (pointing to the above average category) but the owners wouldn't let me score you that high. We sent your review back and forth like four times, each time they wanted me to change things. My boss and I

It was then that I realised that the owners have a wrong perception of me and what I do.
I also realised that I have to change that perception. They suggested I start at 6 am vs. the 7 am starting time I had been on. And to make a long story short....that is the only thing that I changed in my routine and now all of a sudden I'm the best thing since sliced bread. (maybe not that good but you get the idea) I have heard compliments and the only thing I changed was my starting time. Weird.

But the perception to them is that I am changing to their style of management (which I am still trying to figure out) I call it... "seagull management"...the come in and shit all over the place then they leave. But whatever style it is....its all about perception.
Who knows what the future may bring....I could be fired tomorrow for all I know.
But this experience has taught me a valuable lesson.

Perception is everything.Even though it shouldnt be. Its there and you have to deal with it sometimes.

Oh and just to make the perception clear ...the cat is actually on the stairs but the picture is taken from the upstairs looking down. Pictures arent always worth a thousand words....sometimes they are just a lie. :)