bad day, part 4

[low_delta]

There's a kid in our boy scout troop who is so stubborn, he won't learn. He refuses to learn, if he's made up his mind that he already knows otherwise.

I tried to teach him about responsibility. His responsibility was to get me the meeting plans for last night's meeting. I didn't get them. He had given them to his dad to e-mail to me. His dad did not do so (for complicated reasons, so I can't completely blame the man, but for the sake of argument with his son, I agreed that the dad did not do his job).

I told the boy, "it was your responsibility to get that agenda to me, and I did not get it."
"But it was my dad's fault! He was supposed to e-mail it to you."
"You did not check to see that he e-mailed them to me."
"But he didn't do it. That's not *my* fault."
"Look, I'm not saying this to blame you for not doing it. I'm telling this to you, so it doesn't happen again."
"No, you're blaming me. You're saying it's my fault. But it's not my responsibility - I did my part."
"All it takes is two seconds to make sure that another person actually did *his* part."
"That's not my job."
"It was your job to make sure I got the meeting plans. If you're saying that you won't do that, we can't have you as a leader in this troop. Are you willing to trade your Eagle badge [which he is trying to earn] for two seconds of work?"
"Yes, if I have to put up with this crap."


If it were up to me, I'd remove him from his leadership position, and then see if he comes around. If he doesn't, then I'd ask him to leave the troop. Unfortunately, it's not solely my decision. And his dad is our Scoutmaster.

I feel sorry for his dad, who knows he raised him that way.

Comments

[beadge.livejournal.com]

It was his responsibility to get you the product. He decided to delegate authority and pass the job unto someone else, therefore it was his responisibility to follow up to assure the job was completed - plain and simple. And what ever happened to "No Sir, Yes Sir and I'm Sorry Sir, it'll never happen again!"

That "crap"

[beadge.livejournal.com]

That "crap" is what he is going to face in the real world on a DAILY basis,so he better be a good boy scout and be prepared for what's coming.

Re: That

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

That's what Boy Scouting is all about. Learning that.