Biting the Hand That Feeds You

We have a new salesperson. This person was hired on shaky ground due to the overpowering arrogance that emitted from his very being, but having many skills that other, older salespeople did not have allowed him to pass through the gates of employment where he now resides.

Trying to give him a fair chance, I allowed the odd comments and bizarre behavior that only one of an arrogant nature can fathom, pass as newbie jitters.

As this is his first week and this office is full of the scared, self defending types, his reception was somewhat cold and lacking in substance. He didn't seem to notice, which was good because many others would have been offended out of their minds and this would have set the tone for a very unpleasant acclamation period.

According to newbie schedule he has been in training for the past two days and this has gone, er, awkwardly. For some reason, he seems to think that he is in charge of his training and that the people who are training him are to work within his schedule and he is allowed to be demanding and pushy as he is obviously top dog and therefore does not consider the rest of us peons as people.

During a meeting, that in my mind he should not have been apart of due to the fact that this was a follow-up meeting from long before he had arrived, he decided that his voice mattered. Nothing wrong with that, right? Um, not so much.

He began to act as though he were in charge of the meeting and placing his opinion in on every comment and keeping us past the scheduled end time up to a half an hour because he was sure to let everyone know that he had vast experience within companies undergoing change and that he was to be revered as the ultimate guide to the ins and outs of company progress.

This did not go over well with those who shared his job title and they were quick to grumble loudly as his personal experience and knowledge flowed like a river from his mouth and into the ears of the unwillingly seated co-workers.

This was on his first day. In the morning. Before anyone had managed to have a real conversation with the man.

His reception became colder.

A little history: his resume was so long that I was amazed he was able to get past the initial preview and into the interview phase. This "brief" work history allowed us to see that he has not held down a job in the past decade for more than one or two years. The shortest stint being around six months.... YIKES!

We are unsure of what he believes his schedule to be at this point, but when the people training him have a small gap between sessions he seems to disappear and is up to an hour late to his next session without so much as an explanation or apology. Apparently, we aren't worth the consideration.

I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this has become harder and harder over the few days that he has been here because of his lack of selflessness.

I wonder, do companies run into this a lot? Is this common? Is this acceptable?

I know being the newbie is never fun and the faster you can become acquainted with your new surroundings the easier it is for people to forget your brief time line within the office, but I fear that this is not what he feels. I believe that he is ready to plunder the inner-office competition to become the new king of the mountain.

He thinks that the intention of those who hired him was to create a new leader amongst the failures.

Oh how I fear the tension that will plague us until he has either claimed his intended place at the top or has been driven away by angry colleagues and unhappy customers.