When I worked for the State of Texas, we got an new Associate Commissioner for IT. He called an all-hands meeting where he blathered on for a bit and then popped off with "I like to think of my self as the Big Cog and it always amuses me how much the little cogs spin when the Big Cog twitches."

Ran into a friend walking out of that meeting and we both had the same response to that statement "Ya know, it's amazing how many teeth the Big Cog loses when the little cogs refuse to move."

Less than a year later, he and his "BIGCAHUNA" license plates were gone.

I think at a certain level Higher Management forgets that words mean things, especially to technical people. And we tend to take them at face value - particularly if we don't know the person saying them very well.

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>We all have some great stories, which include the position of management vs the employee. Here is but one more:
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>I applied for a job, and was hired as a senior programmer. We got a new Manager in IT, and we would have weekly meetings each Tuesday, at 0800. He was a good guy and tried to make things pleasant for the people around him.
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>One day, the CEO and CFO (who had been with the company since it started years earlier) were fired. That was a Friday. The next Tuesday we found out what had transpired, but there was no reason given. We were told that the President had hired a close friend to take over the CFO position, and he would address the 14 programmers at our Tuesday meeting.
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>At about 0810, in walked an old man who addressed himself as a “personal friend of the president”. He stated: “I was retired from Mission Bell in Los Angeles (they make chips), and came here to straighten out this place! I am going to fire all of you and hire 40 typists and buy 40 typewriters”! He then walked out.
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>I had been there for about 6 months and resolved many serious problems, as well as writing an accounting program for them. The meeting was dismissed and I went back to my area and made a telephone call. I had arranged an interview for a new position during lunch.
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>I had the interview, got the job, and asked for one week before starting the new position, to give notice to my then employer. At 1 PM I returned to work, gave my notice and a few minutes later was called into the CFO’s office.
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>“Why are you quitting”, I was asked? I reminded him of his tactics at the morning meeting. “Oh no Tom, we really need you”! I refused every offer he made to retain me. One week later I began my new position. Guess what?
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>Three weeks later the IT Manager and the remaining 13 programmers were fired! I tend to believe what people tell me. Too often programmers are treated like trash. I have no interest in anything anyone has to say after they have stated something that I dislike that diminishes the position of the individual.