I hate...

...incompetence and incompetents. There. I said it. It may not be PC, but it's true. Know your job. Learn your job, or at least acknowledge you don't know something until you can find the answer. Too many people sneak through on Peter's coattails or via nepotism.

There are people like this in every organization. From the customer service manager at my otherwise favorite store, to the 85-year-old person trying to accept my appointment today, to many, many people I've worked with over the years. Some are there 'cuz they suck up to who they think is the rising star. Others are there because there was no one else to fill the void. Maybe they are there because no one is brave enough to tell them to get the heck out.

I'm not saying that they were always incompetent. Maybe they just hung around long enough that they were put into that position. Maybe they've reached the point in their careers that they've checked out, but forgot to leave the room when they turned the lights out.

I admit that I've been placed into roles that were not a good fit for my skills. People actually thought, myself included, that I'd be a good manager of people. Guess we all learned something on that one. I'm not a people [managing] person. Sorry guys.

But I learned from that experience. I learned what was not working and molded it into something that worked out much better. They key to that transition was understanding, and admitting, that I was somewhere that I shouldn't be. I thought sure that was where I wanted to be, but I found out otherwise.

So are these incompetents in the wrong position because they can't admit that they're in the wrong position? Are they they because they've checked out and are just going through the motions to collect their paycheck? Are they still there because no one will tell them their time is up? [And what about those people afraid to take responsibility and do their job and get them out of the wrong position?!] Or are they there because they are absolutely so darn clueless that they don't know what time it is? Probably a little of all of it. They take the easy road. Stay the course. Don't rock the boat.

I'm not naming names. I feel like putting a little subliminal Carly Simon reference in here... but I won't.