(164/366) Wall-E Stirs the Pot

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June 12, 2012 – Sometimes you have to stand up for what you know is right, even if it means stirring the pot more than you really want to. In the push of principles vs fear of standing in front of the proverbial bus, principles should win out. If you forgo your principles and ethics, who are you?

So yes, I sat on that letter overnight, and then tackled it again this morning. I ended up doing an academic, page by page, review of the report, pulling out flagrantly unjustifiable statements and rebutting them with literature and examples to back up the rebuttals. I walked way from it and came back to it several times. And I finally sent it.

And caused quite a stir.

My co-worker came to me around coffee time and asked if I’d sent my response, when I said yes he asked if he could read it and provide me feedback. I printed a copy of the 8 page review/rebuttal of the report that had been written and when he finished reading it he came back to me and said “That was awesome! You wrote a rebuttal that can’t be rebutted. Well done!” I’m not sure if that was necessarily a good thing, but I suppose I’ll find out in the coming days.

My manager wasn’t upset with me, so I guess that’s a good thing, since I didn’t vet it with him first. And he said that he supported me on it. I’m still not sure I won’t be tossed under the bus in the coming days though.

I had a meeting in the early afternoon and when I came back to my desk I could hear my manager speaking with the person to whom the rebuttal had been directed. Shortly after he said goodbye he materialized at my desk and said “…so-and-so..feels sick about the situation, you should call him in a couple of days, if you feel ok with it.” I hold no grudge. I don’t like what he did, and I made that plenty clear to anyone who ends up reading my review, but I’ve also said my peace and the final decision doesn’t lie with me. I’ve made my point, and I don’t really feel any need to further belabour the issue. I have too many other things on my plate. So yes, I’ll call him and chat. It would actually be nice if he was in the same city so we could go for a beer.

I wonder if I’ve lost some significant level of support, or if I’ve gained some respect. Could go either way, or maybe both. But I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve stirred the pot. I’m just not sure what’s going to land on the plate at the end of the cooking time. Or if I’m going to like it.

Oh well, principles come first.

I keep telling myself that.