Backstabbers, Scalawags, and Work Credit Thieves

Contrary to popular belief, I was once a person who worked for a living. My ex-wife may argue differently. She thought I disappeared each day for 8 or 9 hours to have fun. She also assumed that, when I worked the midnight shift, that I just slept. After all, that's what she was doing.

It is true, however, that I was not only employed but I did put in several hours a week doing actual work. I started my career (I hesitate to call it that) back in 1970 with Southern Bell That company was later called BellSouth and is now a part of ATT which is really not ATT but a company called SBC (formerly a subsidiary of ATT) which bought ATT and decided to use the name. I could write an entire series of blog posts about the recent history of the phone company known as Ma Bell. But that would be boring. For me. And, I am sure, for you.

One of the first things I learned in the phone company was that someone else will steal credit for work you did. This is somewhat different than "stealing your thunder."

There were two main types of work credit thieves. The first would work with you, usually as a "hanger on" who accomplished nothing of import, and then claim "I repaired that" when the boss showed up. The other was more clever. He would get you to do the work he was assigned and then simply omit your part on the completion report.

I tolerated these folks. You see, I never cared who got the credit so long as the work got done right. And most of the bosses knew who really did the work anyway. These thieves never really fooled anyone. Besides, the more work you got credit for doing, the more work you were expected to do.

On occasion, I would suggest one of the thieves for a project or a needed repair. This meant I did not have to do it and that they would show just how poor their actual work was. Yeah, it was a form of revenge. There was a little danger in this since I could be tapped to clean up any mess left behind. Still, it was often a way of getting a chuckle out of otherwise boring work.

And any chuckle was well worth any possible blowback.

One of my most pleasant memories is of when a notorious work credit thief got promoted and found himself in a staff assignment. He called in one day to complain about how none of his new peers seemed willing to share their ideas or help him on projects.

Needless to say, I was very sympathetic. It was, however, a good thing we did not have a video link in those days.