Pie Man's Work Lexicon #2 - Jealous manager

A Jealous manager is a manager who is hit by massive pangs of jealousy every time he sees any member of staff of equal or low standing with something that he doesn't have. Employee X has a company Laptop, Manager must have a laptop, Blackberry, same, branded tie, got to have one of those.

Where does this come from. Well, its usually stems from a manager who is deeply insecure in his or her ability and indeed may feel like they're in over their head. However, this is normal in starting a promoted position, and most people will admit this and ask for help. Not the jealous Manager, no. Instead to them they must disguise their lack of experience with the trappings of position, as if owning all the paraphernalia of a manager will somehow stop people questioning their suitability for the job. effectively "I look like a manager therefore..." The ultimate nightmare of this sort is for someone below them to be mistaken for the guy in charge through something silly like speaking authoritatively or better knowledge.

This sort of manager is mostly harmless, provided you're not too bothered about how much of your budget goes onto their stuff, and then its more of an annoyance as they e-mail you from a blackberry to tell you that you can't have any stationary due to budget constraints. Down side is that if you have something that really helps, and they can't get hold of one, you will stand to loose said item.

Best way of dealing with this sort is to keep anything useful you have hidden, or better yet, claim its actually yours. They don't know the requisition system that well and you should be able to get away with that. You also look good because you're buying your own kit.