How to lose an employee in ten days…

We are all familiar with Conan Doyle’s masterpiece “How to make friends and influence people” and the spin offs that followed. The modern-day business sections of book stores are boasting with books promising to motivate, educate and retain the most effective employees.  No one seems to write books titled “The jerk’s guide to business ethics” or “101 ways to insult your staff”. Well businessmen out there- do not fear! I have put together a rough guide that can be used to piss off and ultimately lose your most productive and valued employees.

(Disclaimer: All quotes and incidents presented below are non-fictional and have actually been used by an employer to drive away hard working and talented staff. )

The following phases must be said in an intimidating and inferior manner:

Late in the evening after hours of overtime:
• “Why are your eyes so blood shot, are you on drugs?”
• “If you leave work right now, you can never come back”
• “Your legs look good in this skirt”

In an official meeting where minutes are taken:
• “That color of nail polish doesn’t match your clothes”
• “Please send me a rough draft of your menstrual cycle”
• “That rash on your face looks like an STD, you should have it checked”
• “I am like a tree, my branches can bend anyway they want”
• “The women in the company can get a day off for PMS every month”
• “Please bring up my cookies and a glass of milk”
• “Make my meetings and travel dates flexible, my mother might pass away next week”

During a moment of truth:
• “If you don’t lose weight your boyfriend will not want to have sex with you”
• “But what are you going to do if your husband dies tomorrow?”
• “Do you know any Russian women I could meet?”
• “If your husband is travelling for business he is probably cheating on you”
• “Why do you look so tired, did you have a lot of fun with your boyfriend last night?”
• “In a company we are one family, sometimes we will need to go to my house to finish work”
• “Do you have any single friends who can come to the concert with me?”
• “You forget everything! It’s probably because you have young children”
• “Your butterfly tattoo is a symbol of prostitution, clearly”

To an Omani employee:
• “I forbid you to wear a black headscarf- its depressing, the orange one is just more cheerful…you know?”
• “You are fined for not showing up to work the day it rained and all the roads in Mawaleh flooded making it impossible to come to Muscat, it doesn’t matter that you actually live in Mawaleh”
• “You are not allowed to lock the door when you are praying in the kitchen, what if I need a glass of water?”
• “You should shape your eyebrows or no one will marry you”

Should the above phrases not provide immediate results, try the following:
• Ask your employees to pick up your lunch during their lunch break
• Ask for apples/cookies/sandwiches to be given to you at a very specific time everyday
• Sneak up on female employees and make animal sounds
• Call your female employees after 10pm and scold them for not picking up the phone fast enough
• Refer to employees in the company as “the black one, the ugly one or the fat one”
• Freak your employees out by googling things like “Single European women travelling alone”
• Rub your enormous stomach and ask in a sexy voice if you have lost weight this week.
• Insist that employees cannot have two days off because you get bored during the weekends
• Lock your female employee out on purpose while she is on her smocking break (out of good intentions of course! Maybe she will quit!)
• Go into the toilet as soon as your employee is done to make sure they put the toilet seat down

Voila. Do you think these are bizarre? They may be but you have my word for it…they actually work!

Now you are ready to verbally assault and consequently drive away even the most resilient team! Go figure!