There are eight people at my company who do what I do. According to my boss, and to his boss as well, the two best people who do what I do are myself, and a middle aged guy who looks remarkably like Ned Flanders. (I say this not to toot my own horn, because bragging about being the best at what I do at my job is akin to bragging about having the best football team in the Big East. Actually, I've been doing that all week, so bad example. Nevertheless, it's not exactly a feather in my cap.)
Anyway, back in June, they promoted a couple of guys to my role, and neither one of them is very effective, to put it kindly. One of them doesn't seem to care, which is why his job is probably in jeopardy. The other, to his credit, seems to want to improve. This is why, after a meeting of my group and boss (where, incidentally, the boss named me and Flanders [in that order] the best among the group), that guy decided to pick the brains of the best and the brightest to see what else he can do.
He got Flanders talking, and as he is apt to do, Flanders rambled on and on for several minutes, dispensing little to no usable advice. (In fact, he made several statements and generalizations that I know to be patently wrong or false, but I didn't bother correcting him. I just don't care that much.) Finally, he said, "One more thing...I don't know if you've noticed, but I am usually the first one here in the morning, and the last to leave. That should tell you something."
The guy soliciting the advice then turned to me. "Well, I am usually the last one to get here in the morning, and one of the first to leave, and I'm even better than he is. That should also tell you something."
