Do your managers have tantrums?

We all get angry and frustrated sometimes, but how do you handle managers who constantly throw their toys out of the pram? John Pope offers some advice.

A long time ago I was working in an oil refinery and ran a plant where we had to take samples of some very heavy oils, almost tar, called 'vacuum bottoms'. Rather than use the standard sample cans, we used empty oil cans from the local filling stations. They were just as good, but free and we didn't have to waste time cleaning them out afterwards, which took ages.

We had an important visit to my plant one day – a senior VP who had flown in from the US. He saw cans from other oil companies, threw a 'wobbler' immediately, and sent an assistant to kick over the stack, who then proceeded to stamp on the 'enemy' cans. We thought it was funny but waited until he had moved on before laughing otherwise he would have stamped on us.