"But"

"But" - conjunction - on the contrary, yet

The word "but" is a very small word that packs a HUGE punch. As stated in my previous post, my manager (we will call him Mr. M) decided that the appropriate course of inspiring his team would be to call us all failures. Well Mr. M did not fully realize how badly this hurt all of us. I will admit that the past 2 weeks at work have not been fun. I have actually NOT looked forward to going in to the office because of Mr. M. I, and several other team members, have had several conversations with our supervisor (we will call him J) about what happened. J has had several conversations with Mr. M to relay how we all felt. But, yesterday Mr. M decided to have a meeting to discuss how other teams in our building felt about us. The meeting was quiet confusing and a lot of the things that Mr. M said were contradictory. On one slide it had things like we are curt and not very welcoming and on the next slide it said that we were a pleasure to work with....????? Yeah, I didn't get it either. I think that Mr. M noticed the frustration and finally at the end of his hour he asked if there was anything we all needed to talk about. One of my teammates spoke up and ended up getting emotional. Andrea, my right hand man...err gal... spoke next while Regina recovered and explained that coming out of that meeting made her feel worthless and like crap. I spoke next and flat out said that I did not appreciate being called a failure, that I was not a failure, and that I did a damn good job at what I do. And yes, those were my exact words. I will admit my voice broke on the last part and I almost lost it completely. Finally Regina spoke back up and a few others did as well. A couple of those that did not speak had tears in their eyes. Finally, Mr. M gave an apology. He said that he was sorry "but" he was serious about what he was speaking about.

While I appreciate the apology there is a level that does not feel sincere. The word but has a lot of impact, especially when you are giving an apology. The word but negates everything that came before it. And Mr. M felt the need to use that small little word. I hope he was sincere. He still has a lot to prove. But, I guess I can be thankful that he apologized?