Tuesday, May 19, 2009

You are managing what exactly again?

In any company there are different grades of peons and it all depends on the level you look at them from. Even though I might be a small Mr. Big in the Japan organization, I'm but a mere peon on a more global scale. We of course have the local peons as well in our own organization in our own little hierarchy starting with the "Staff" which is the purest form of peon you are, then moving up to "Senior staff" and then after that "Associate Manager" before we start to reach the management positions and getting a bit removed from the local peons.

This post is more specifically about the "Associate Manager", a title which I in principle have no issues with, it shows that the person is on the verge of moving away from peonship to the next level.

What I do find extremely amusing though is how, I quite often, have seen people with this rank refer to themselves as "Ass Manager" or the slightly better "Ass. Manager" to save themselves a few precious seconds in having to write out the full title. For some strange reason, this is mostly seen in subsidiaries which do not have English as their first language.

Maybe it's just me, but seeing someone refer to themselves as "Ass Manager" always makes me giggle a bit, childish as I am, and for some reason I don't get the picture of someone being an assistant Manager in my head... To me, what they are managing is something completely different...

7 comments:

ThePenguin said...

What's wrong with being in charge of a sort of donkey? Livestock management sounds like quite a growth area (I am thinking transport rather than food here).

john turningpin said...

Being of the former colonies, I equate "ass" with what some quaintly refer to as an "arse" rather than a donkey. As such, the title "Ass Manager" gives me some pretty furious giggles.

Excellent post, Salaryman. My recommendation is that you make no comment whatsover regarding this and let the folks in question continue to refer to themselves as Ass Managers. Hell, convince them to get some business cards printed up. And then have them watch this classic video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tujqM2u-BVo

Mr. Salaryman said...

JT, rest assured that I in no way point out the hilarity in anyone calling themselves "Ass Manager"! This is something that should be encouraged.

Penguin, I need to ponder your words of wisdom...

Seth Isenberg said...

Salaryman, you have to see the US show Chuck- towards the end of the second season, a hapless character in the "Buy More" is forced by his evil superior to become his Ass Man. They never clarify what it really means, which makes it all the more funnier.

aimlesswanderer said...

All "Ass managers" clearly need to go to places with more English speaking people for a conference. They all need name tags which have their position on them as well. However, they may be upset that their English speaking colleagues nearly die laughing every time they see them.

Anonymous said...

Didn't the US have an ass manager called Dick until very recently..?

F. said...

how about a manager of vice?

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