Cedar Chips 2042.7 - An Identity Crisis?

[ca13]

The man sitting in the chair across my desk looks tired. Not sleepy. Just perpetually tired in a lined mouth, permanent five o'clock shadow way. Like he's worked a long day already. You could see him walking in from the fields, or getting off the bus, or returning after work from any one of the thousands of blue collar endeavors that constitute the backbone of society. It's six am.

"Good morning Glenn," I address my bench coach.

"Morning Chuck."

"I heard there's a matter you want to discuss?"

"This one's odd, Chuck. As you know, Mr. Dodson has me in charge of keeping tabs on the clubhouse. I'm sure he thinks he's giving me make work. Bob's well, not exactly the type .. uh .."

"I get it Glenn. Frankly, I'm very impressed you and the rest of the staff can coexist with such an out-sized personality."

"It's really not so bad, Chuck. Bob's got the fans convinced the team lives and dies by his efforts. For whatever reason, they've really latched on to him. But you know, it's not so bad to be able to work quietly in anonymity. There's a lot to keeping a big league team running day to day, and even if Dodson doesn't give us much credit, he doesn't get in the way either."

"Huh. Makes sense I guess. Okay, that thing you wanted to talk about?"

"Yeah Chuck. You see, I run an anonymous survey a handful of times throughout the year. Give the players a chance to say something they might not feel comfortable saying out loud. I tell 'em it's a league requirement, and we don't pay too much attention. No one wants to admit to being a snitch. Clubhouse culture can be pretty backwards at times. But I also tell them to try to answer it honestly. Tell them if they look too generic, the league will come down on us for sabotaging their efforts. Sometimes I even have them fill out a second one in the same week, when it starts to look like no one's bothering to try or I think there's a problem that needs addressing. I say that the league has an algorithm that detects BS responses if too many people blow it off."

"We can't these guys just grow up and get that criticism and feedback is a normal part of a work environment? Wait, don't answer. I know. It's just so frustrating that this never changes. Okay, so what's the deal?"

Glenn looks confused. Genuinely. "I've got a response, Chuck, that I don't know how to handle. I don't know if it's a joke, or if he's calling out his teammates, or if there's something else going on entirely."

"What do you mean," I ask.

"Well, you see, given the contortions I have to go through to get honest responses, it's tough to just ask. But well, it's Ruben Nunez. You see, every survey asks about complaints regarding other players behavior, among many other things. I given them pretty black and white categories. Is anyone selfish, too loud, lazy, or just flat out disruptive. It's pretty rare for most players to single anyone out. Of course, there's the type who always complains about everyone else on the team. And there are the guys that no one can stand that show up each time. It's really about looking for changes in the pattern. But with Ruben, well, this is a change."

"How so?"

"Well, Ruben's never been really popular. He's loud, he's lazy, he's always talking about how much others are getting paid and how he should make more. He thinks everyone should listen to him. You know the type. Kid who never figured out that at this level, they are all big fish. If he wasn't so damn talented, he'd have worn out his welcome long ago. But well, this is just weird."

I continue to look at the man struggling to wrap his mind around his dilemma, "Dammit Pieters. What is it?"

He sighs, "Ruben complained about someone being disruptive to the clubhouse culture. Not a big deal out of context, but well, frankly most of the time people complain about HIM being disruptive. But we've been winning more recently, and most of the complaints have dried up like they always do. And then this shows up. Ruben's complaint."

I'm feeling pretty exasperated at this point, "So??? Glenn, he's clearly a dickwad. Why even care?"

Glenn looks at me, lost. "The data is collected independently, Chuck. Players A,B, and C have complaints about types X, Y, and Z. Players A, B, and C are seen as having traits X,Y, and Z. But no one knows who said what about whom, unless the numbers make it blatantly obvious, and Chuck, there was only one complaint about disruptive influences. Made by Ruben Nunez."

"Okay, Glenn, I'm starting to get it but .."

"The only player listed as a disruptive influence was Ruben Nunez."

[RonCo]

Gives a new meaning to"which Ruben Nunez shows up today, eh?

[usnspecialist]

I guess nunez gets bonus points for being self-aware enough to know there is a problem?