Dan 9: Dan's Lost It

[Notes from The Cube: Look back to December 4th for the most recent status on Dan.]

We had our last all-department meeting of the year. Dan the Hyper-Active Boss Man led it; our new VP wasn't there: he's on two-week vacation.

Dan lost it.

In a series of unprovoked tirades, Dan jumped on about a third of the people in the department, ripping apart their work.

He wasn't incorrect about some of the work, by the way, but but some of his attacks were simple head-butts from an alpha male on someone coming up with a different idea than his own. More that than, though it was so public - and strongly worded - and, and... C'mon, Dan, it's almost Christmas! "Ye of good cheere" and all that.

And it was mean. Mean in that way that says "I am hurting, you will hurt, too." Almost cliche, really, how Dan transferred his own insecurity into a drive-away-any-sympathy outlashing. Not that anyone was offering Dan any sympathy. And they won't now. But once upon a time they could have....

The Cube is going to have to get out of this situation. It's too painful to watch. Yeah, Dan's been screwed pretty badly this past half year, but he's not holding his head high: he's got flop sweat beading up on his brow and he seems to have forgotten all of the good things he knew how to do.