Stare that left me blinking nervous!

YEARS ago, I got a job in the housing department at the local council. I had worked in the private sector and was immediately aware of a very different culture — the management style was more relaxed. After my first year, this changed dramatically with the arrival of a new housing director. His style could be summed up with the old cliché firm, but fair. He was a stickler for smartness and demanded a high standard of dress. We all wore suits, with collar and tie, but I sported an unkempt beard and had fashionably long hair. He had short back and sides and suggested I should get a haircut — an unimaginable demand by a boss by today’s standards, but this was the Seventies. I complied with his ‘suggestion’. Thereafter, I had shorter hair and no beard, but kept a rebellious Zapata moustache. His strict management style worked wonders. He would often send for people via his secretary. Despite their questioning her, she would never say what it was about. This meant we were always wrong-footed if there had been a problem. The new director had one great weapon in his armoury. It was a long, silent stare. I learned to keep quiet and try not to blink first. One of my colleagues wasn’t quite so adept at this. One day, I was summoned to his presence with this colleague. We sat down without a word and the boss began his long, silent stare. I held my nerve, but my colleague couldn’t. He suddenly blurted: ‘If it’s about that burst water pipe, I can explain, it wasn’t our fault!’ The boss said: ‘Actually, it isn’t about that, but tell me more!’ Silence is golden.

Don Townshend, Chelmsford, Essex.