posted 19 years ago
This "Tech Lead" of the Company really makes me wonder if it is an indication that something is not quite right or it is simply because I am not used to this kind of personality:
First, my impression of a typical technical team is that everybody is busy with developing codes, solving technical problems. However, this Tech Lead spends hours talking and joking (maybe he is very fast in writing codes and works at home in the evenings to make up the time lost in office) during office hours (the team members must put off work listening to him). His topics of conversation have always very "personal"; for example, he owns four cars and two motorcycles; he has to choose which car to drive each morning; he was at a "certain theatre" or a "certain club" in downtown last weekend; his next door neighbor forgot to turn off the garden faucet last night; he gave one of his computers to his Mom and his Mom opens every single e-mail that possibly contains virus; the amazing reactions of his ex-wife on certain things (he always shows this unusual hostility toward and discontent with the person he once was married to); a team member broke his wrest and cannot drive standard shift for a while( and spent at least half an hour talking this one single event); the company does not observe a certain national holiday (and he can elaborate on that for 15 minutes); etc., etc. His world is never bigger than himself and this small company.
Second, he seems to think that he has lots of "sense of humor". He likes to joke all the time and his jokes include: a person opens a drawer of a desk, he immediately says that all the money in that drawer is his; when the group go to a restaurant for lunch, he says that whoever goes inside the restaurant first pays the bill; he says to certain team members that it would be great if they come to work this weekend (there is no work and no emergency); he says to certain team members that he is not going to sign their timesheets because certain technical problems are not solved; certain team members opt not to go out for lunch, he says that they are going to be in big trouble because he is the one asking; etc., etc.
I have never met a person at work who talks about something trivial and personal for hours and hours. And I have never met person so impressed by his/her own sense of humor while people do not really appreciate his/her jokes.
Please advise if the situation is normal or abnormal. I have lots of homework to do if this "Tech Lead" is normal.