I Fear The Complex Service Manager
November 6th 2011 05:52
"The Complex Service Manager will work closely with the Senior Complex Service Manager..."
What, is his boss supposed to be even more complex? Wow, a Senior Complex Service Manager. If you're that complex yourself, it must be really hard to work with someone who's senior to you in complexity...
And if that's not enough, this complex manager and his even more complex boss both have to assist a Complex Administrative Manager, too.
If you think I'm making this up, here's the whole ad:
"The Complex Service Manager will work closely with the Senior Complex Service Manager to supervise operations for (company name deleted), manage and control all operations and service functions across their respective platform within the complex and facilitate communication and training for operations staff. Additionally, they will assist the Complex Administrative Managers in ensuring compliance standards are met with regards to the training and managing of all non-sales staff. The Complex Service Manager will report directly to the Senior Complex Service Manager."
Why, the levels of complexity here just boggle the mind. No wonder American business is in such trouble.
Why am I making fun of this? Of course I know they're talking about people who manage something called a "complex." And why does this strike me as funny? Well, it has to do with the fact that the same word can sometimes be used as either a noun or an adjective.
A "complex" as a noun describes some physical or organizational thing that has a number of parts, usually buildings or other facilities - like an apartment complex or a government complex. So a "Complex Manager" is someone who manages all that. No big deal, right?
However, the word "complex" can also be used as an adjective. In phrases constructed like the above example, you tend to think the word in the normal adjective-first position is indeed an adjective.
And "complex" as an adjective? It's commonly used to mean "complicated," although that's technically not correct - it really just means "having numerous parts." The adjective "complicated" means that something is both complex and hard to understand.
No matter, though - people still tend to use "complex" to mean "complicated" and the difference is so subtle that you really can't blame them for doing so.
Admit it, now. When you hear someone say their boss, friend, roommate, or whoever is "complex," you tend to think they're talking about a complicated person. Right?
Besides, whether a person is truly complicated or just made up of a lot of parts, they're usually still pretty difficult to deal with.
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