Jan
Of Many Heads
Most people who read the old Nordic myths miss an important point because of a nuance of culture. The myths mention several many-headed giants. Some folks assume this is a way to make them appear more bizarre on monstrous. A few think it implies some sore of extra intelligence, despite the fact that giants are depicted as stupid brutes. Neither is correct. Many-headed is a synonym for chaos. It is like the old adage, “Too many cooks spoil the broth.” More heads means more minds, and at least some of those minds will be contrary to the others.
I had an object lesson in this very thing.
Back in the 1980s, I had been told of a small bakery-supply company that needed a dispatcher. The fellow who told me of it mentioned that there were two owners, and they were very different individuals. I went to apply for the job. The partner I met was a middle-aged man who happened to know a couple of my references personally. He wanted to hire me, but he said he had to discuss it with his partner. The partner waffled for a week. I called again and asked if I was being hired, or if I should look elsewhere. The partner I met wanted to hire me, and he prevailed.
The job was a matter of preparing orders, seeing the trucks were loaded, and making sure nobody stole any of the product. There were two crews: the truck & delivery staff and the office staff. My job bridged both sides of the company.
I worked for two weeks. One thing I noticed is that the two partners did not get along. The man who hired me had bought his share of the company. His partner, a younger man, had inherited his half. I also learned that most of the people who had my job previously had been hired by the younger partner. He had a tendency to hire addicts, thieves and individuals who did not have the company’s interests at heart.
I have never seen a company like that one! Every day, the owners were arguing. It would have been funny if it had been about petty things. Not a chance! The owners would invariably throw something larger into the mix. An argument over paper towels would escalate into a spat over delivery routes and inventory. Because of the arguments, things did not get done. The result was a company that could not move forward because it could not stop fighting itself.
Unbeknownst to me, I became a pawn in one of their squabbles. The younger partner wanted to fire me just because the older one hired me. The fight escalated until the day I learned of it. That was the day the older partner told me I was dismissed. He was quite apologetic, and explained it was to keep peace in the company. All of the staff knew why it happened, and some felt quite bad about it. They had no cause to fire me, so I was considered “laid off.”
I picked up my few things, said goodbye to the staff, and walked out. As I left, I heard the two partners arguing again. The company was like a mythical multi-headed thurs giant that lumbered along, unable to choose a direction. Two heads were bad enough. What if there had been three or more?
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The day I left the supply company, I overheard one of the office women say, “I’m sorry he’s leaving. I didn’t have to guard my pocketbook when he was here.” That always makes me wonder: was I that good, or were the people who had my job before me that bad?
