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By Founding Ranter · · Work
Every week the same cycle. You just started to enjoy the weekend and then Monday hits you like a brick.
Getting up early, coffee empty, traffic jam and then your computer decides it's a great time to reset your password. What is your single best "It's a typical Monday" story?
I found out I had a new manager when a calendar invite arrived from someone I'd never spoken to. My previous manager didn't mention it. The announcement came a week later.
Prompt: What is the worst version you have seen?
I'm not even bitter about the credit. I'm bitter about what it tells you about what's actually valued here.
Four years of proven results in this company. I still had to do a panel, a case study, and a presentation to people I work with weekly. Trust is apparently decorative.
Prompt: What would actually fix this?
The task was scoped for a week. They called it a "skills exercise." I did it. The rejection was a two-line template. No feedback, no explanation, no acknowledgment that I'd given them actual work.
It's in the calendar as 15 minutes. It runs 45. Every single week. And somehow everyone acts surprised — including the person who called it.
A case study, a panel, a cultural fit call, a final round. Then a form rejection email. The role was filled by an internal candidate before my first interview. They just didn't bother to close the pipeline.
The results were shared in an all-hands. The slide said "we hear you." Then the same managers did the same things. The survey returns like a season.
I said the exact same thing. Silence. Then a louder voice said it with slightly different wording. That's the idea everyone built on. I watched it happen in real time.
The actual meeting is for updating people who didn't read the pre-read. The pre-meeting is for people who won't prepare for the actual meeting. Nobody questions this.
Prompt: What is the worst version you have seen?
The actual meeting is for updating people who didn't read the pre-read. The pre-meeting is for people who won't prepare for the actual meeting. Nobody questions this.
Prompt: Name the system that causes this most often.
We flagged the problem. We were told it was more complex than we understood. An external firm spent eight weeks producing a report. It said what we said. They thanked the firm.
Prompt: What is the worst version you have seen?
