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I got a new co-worker (product manager) who seemed like a nice guy, well-spoken, seemed to listen to us techies, fun to have lunch with. The only thing that seemed "off" about him at first was that he unironically referred to people as resources. "We can deploy without a proper review for now since the design resource is on holiday". Like, there was only one "design resource", he was called Andrew and their desks were next to each other! I thought it was weird, but I just brushed it off since other than that he seemed fine.

At first. After a few months, though, he proved himself to be classical politicking a---hole and a horrible bully if you got on his bad side. I take that as a lesson to trust my instincts more.




I think the difference is that at the C-level, executives play checkers, where every piece is the same and you can allocate "resources" (aka people) as commodities. Below that we're playing chess and every person is a distinct individual. It's at the transition in either the hierarchy or in this case you're co-working trying to position himself in the former while working in the latter where it gets unpleasant and weird.


Did everyone knew Andrew and what his role was?

Though I must admit that design resource is hardcore :) I must try that at the office and look at the reactions.


always when i hear someone calls a fellow colleague a ressource (in corporate context) or device (in sport context) it always proved true that these people were manipulative as hell.


What’s an example of the device usage?


in dance sport calling your partner a sport device ;)


I think the R in ERP systems might have contributed to this ghastly habit.




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