Need Opinions

[joeylittle]

Gimmick has a negative connotation, generally.

I think it's best to never get too familiar with an employer you are new to - however she got there, she read your behavior as critical of the business and she didn't feel comfortable with how you were going to represent the product.

Also - if she's in the middle of the chain of command - it's on her if you do anything to cause complaint or lose prospects. I think she could have given you a clear reprimand and things would have been fine - but as you were a temp, she doesn't need to be invested in you, just needs people to do the job how she wants it done.

 

[Justmehere]

Joking around with a new boss about their business can be very precarious in general.

It's not the use of the word gimmick alone but joking about the business itself.

An exception - if the manager was joking about the company themselves and the employee and manager had long term rapport. In that case, joking about the business would be a very different thing. Trust would have already been built.

She had a pretty strong reaction, and probably figured it wasn't worth trying to build trust back up with an employee who would have been gone in a few days anyhow.

Nothing to beat yourself up over, chalk it up to personalities being different and lesson learned.

 

[Ed Norton]

There's a lot of gas in business, best never to strike a match, lest the eye blinking starts.

 

[Rosewater]

That boss sounds like an arse. She said you you weren't respecting HER, because of a comment made about a product she didn't create, sold by a company that isn't hers. She's an employee, just like you were (for a short time).

It sounds like all that happened was you said something light hearted to someone who had no perspective on her job, the product, or being a human being. It's unfair on you, but that's how people are. I suppose it shows the vulnerabilities of being a temp - but you didn't behave badly. Another boss might have agreed and liked you for it.