Chains of Iniquity Character PROFILE:
Edgar Sewers
Technical Manager - The Forest Ranch Center
Disclaimer: Chains of Iniquity (Copyright 2020 by Coto T. King) is a Work of Fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or conversations is purely coincidental.
Edgar slowly moved up the ranks at the Forest Ranch Center by first being a lowly video operator. Then he studied long and hard to get a certificate in AV Technologies. A test he failed six times before passing by the skin of his teeth. With his certification in hand Olga saw his potential and promoted him to AV Technology Manager.
He spends most of his time playing the puppet of Lady Satan’s politics just to get to his next promotion instead of actually doing the work that his AV group is responsible for. He aligned his values along with Olga’s. The two of them are as thick as fleas on a hound dog.
Over the years, Edgar made sure he hired people that have less knowledge than he does because he is paranoid that the A-players will be smart enough to see that he shouldn’t have gotten the position he is in. But he never tries to better himself as a manager. Who has time for all that self-help crap anyway? He gets results and that is what counts. Period.
In fact, he tolerates bad work, and lets chronic under-performers go unchecked. He never says thank you. He never gives praise, and he consistently plays favorites. He knows that there are a few folks on his team that probably shouldn’t be there, but they’re old friends and they’ve been loyal. Hey, loyalty does count for something these days – right?
Edgar doesn’t see the world in black or white. In his crooked little mind, there is no right and no wrong. There are only shades of gray. He thinks that the gray areas are easier ways to find a practical solution to any problem. But make no mistake, he is never wrong – about anything. He takes all the credit for the hard work of the AV team but when mistakes are made, he quickly blames them.
Being a very vindictive man, he never forgets past wrongs against him and thinks it is healthy to go back and rub his staffs noses in the mud to show them who truly is boss. He lies about anything and everything and that puts him in Olga’s spotlight of praise. He’s the type of person who will beat you senseless and tell God you just fell of the horse. His attitude is “I get paid the same regardless.”
His is very indecisive when it comes to making plans about anything. He requires mountains of information just to decide simple matters. Why does he need to decide now anyway? Let’s wait. Maybe we could do some more research. We could talk to Charles to see what he thinks. We don’t have to rush a plan now. The team doesn’t have to be updated yet. I’ll just keep the information from them. They are on a “need to know” basis anyhow. They just need to keep doing their jobs and I’ll handle the big picture stuff.
Edgar withholds information from the team and the team complains that he just doesn’t listen. He believes that people on his team are always talking or crying about something irrelevant. He’s not really sure where the whole idea that he’s not a good listener comes from, but he doesn’t care because he gets paid the same anyway.
Edgar feels very uncomfortable talking to his team members one on one about the job they’re doing because he really doesn’t know what they’re doing anyway. Technology eludes him, and the AV team continues to outshine him. This alone makes Edgar a sour little man.
Edgar dumps more work on the AV team than he actually gets done himself. At the end of the day, he knows he is the boss. He knows these people work for him. What am I supposed to do? Do the work for them? He needs to be out having dinner and hobnobbing while the worker bees back at the office do stuff. That’s just part of being a leader.
Edgar believes that he can make the AV team work insane hours and not have to inspire them in anyway. Why not? All great teams work hard! So what? He justifies all this in his mind by telling himself that he always inspires them anyway. Edgar backs this up by telling the team that he will write them up if they don’t work hard or if they don’t work the hours.
That’s pretty inspiring right? Why does he need to inspire them at all? It’s not like they all sit around all day singing campfire songs.
