this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 248 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

The meek "please call me" was after the manager found out from upper management that they were far more replaceable then Caleb was.

[–] [email protected] 151 points 11 months ago

Exactly. If Caleb had it in writing that he was going to be paid regardless then the dude had some serious leverage.

[–] [email protected] 93 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Nah, "call me" always means "let's make this a real-time social hierarchy game, because I'm good at exploiting verbal cues and expectations to shove people toward my desired goal."

[–] [email protected] 52 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And also a way to move something to where there’s no proof of what was said.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago

The #1 reason in my experience. The only bosses who have ever said this to me are ones who were manipulative creeps where i made sure to keep a record (outside the company tools) of everything they ever said. It was never said to me like this, it was just standard operating procedure for that type.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

There's also the "oh shit, I'll get this fixed, but nothing I say can be in writing or I'm definitely getting fired" possibility.

Nah boss, I just apologized for my misunderstanding, I have no idea why $Insubordinate_Contractor is saying that I said he'd better come in or I'm going to blacklist him in the entire industry and ensure he never works again ... I mean, why would I say that?! I don't have that kind of power!

[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yup those of us who are not good at bad faith conversations need to get good at recognizing when one is about to happen and insist on written.

"We need to take this conversation offline" is a near-universal precursor to ethical dispensation.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you want an example, every online "debate" is a bad faith convo.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh so you're calling me a liar??!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

You sound defensive!

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago

No, "call me" means "I'm going to say some things to you I don't want to put in writing that could be used against me later."

[–] [email protected] 79 points 11 months ago (3 children)

In my experience "please call me" is more often business speak for "you've really got a problem now" than a statement of weakness. Like they've got too much shit to say to you to fit in an email, and they maybe don't want what they're about to say to be written down

[–] [email protected] 43 points 11 months ago

Yes. But then the “no” is a full sentence response. I love it.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago

No. It’s a way they try to cover their asses so it’s not in writing so it can’t come back to bite them when they inevitably do or say something illegal and he comes back with a lawsuit.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago

In my experience it means managers want to discuss something without a paper trail.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Or it's the manager seething with rage, wanting to vent that rage, but not being able to do it adequately via text message.