What would be reason y’all would to deny someone’s request to teach them Go?
(I’ll probably get some serious answers, but honestly I’m going for pettiness)
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The only reason I can think of is if they are not sincere about their request and they are just going to waste your time. Like that money-hungry dude that wanted us to teach him D&D, insisted on playing a Paladin “because they are the best” and his first sentence as a lawful good character in-game was “when do I get to steal gold?” 
Generally, if they have an ulterior motive, but have no real interest in learning the game (any game).
Apart from that, I cannot think of any other reasons.
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Time. People who are far too busy already with other things.
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We have a new junior low-level manager at work. He is very obviously threatened by his peers and subordinates to the point he threatens them with insubordination, telling them they are a bad influence on others, etc. It has gotten to the point where pretty much everyone has stopped putting in effort, and taking on responsibilities, and are only showing up for a paycheck. There used to be a lot of creative freedom and flexibility, but that is all gone now.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to approach higher management? There are about 6 of us who all have similar stories of “being taken aside and threatened”, but none of us have had to deal with this. Our upper management is very reasonable but is very detached from the everyday workings.
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Has anyone confronted them? I’m not saying it’s the best way to go about it, but usually when someone on the same level as me, or below me, is showing that behavior I call them out first, privately or in front of anyone, depends.
Sometimes it’s enough without bringing upper floors into it. Otherwise, I mean if it’s not the type of culture to check a coworker like that to balance situations, my guess is it’s better to file an official complaint. Coordinated, if possible.
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Yeah he’s been talked to. He doesn’t take any kind of feedback well, and has escalated things because of it. He thinks everyone is against him, so… it’s gotten to the point where it’s kind of pointless to confront him.
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If you can take the risk to lose your job, talk to upper management. It may work, but of course it can fail entirely, so be ready to quit.
I had a situation like that once (I was at the fringes of upper management) and my management colleagues fired that local manager within days.
If you do need the job, much trickier …
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It’s the military. So on one hand, you can’t really get fired. On the other hand you just get chargedfor insubordination, (or sent to jail for mutiny if he thinks we are planning to work against him)
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(Just from experience, keep at the back of your mind that they might have some internal support and that’s why they think they can behave that way. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s not.)
I think it will be better to go as a group and file a complaint. Do your homework first (who, when, where, what exactly) and decide who will be calm enough to represent. I haven’t done this, though.
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That’s a good point. It makes sense since he keeps bringing up the organization he works for at times that don’t make sense to do so. As if he’s saying “yeah remember I work there and those guys know me”…
Thanks.
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Yes. Practical advice out of similar experience:
AVOID: Confronting that low-level manager again. If they are insecure or bad at their job, the worst thing you can do is point it out.
FIND: Previous year/trimester results. Objective data that can verify your claim that “once we were creative, free and productive, but with X running the show we are in a slump”.
AVOID: Shouldering the representation of your peers. If the others are winding you up to do something about it, remind them that it is ALSO their problem, not only yours. There is nothing more cowardly than military peons thinking that they’ve been caught in the crossfire of a power-struggle.
AVOID: Taking any action verbally. Military respects only one thing. Written stuff.
AIM: Agree to a cohesive, data/fact based report signed by everyone involved. If even one of them refuses to participate or sign, then abandon the issue (and look after that dude because he’ll be the one to leak what the rest of you are doing in exchange for gaining favour).
NEVER FORGET (1): At the end of the day, since it is the military, feel free to just “show up for a paycheck” and do the bare minimum. If that is what they want, that’s what you do. That is the upside of having a strict hierarchy.
NEVER FORGET (2): Career officers fear only one thing. A trail of paper that could harm their future promotion. If you send your written report to the correct people in the hierarchy, they are oblidged by law and military rules/process to actually do something about it or shoulder the burden of supporting their bad choice in staffing or leading their squadron. When faced with such “brave actions” they always prefer to go safe, unless they really cannot do anything and someone above them is supporting the existence of the problem (thus they themselves are in the clear, ergo they do not care anymore - see the point above).
It makes sense since he keeps bringing up the organization he works for at times that don’t make sense to do so.
That is usually a bluff. People who have real connections in the military rarely brag about them. They weild that power like a club and you will know if it is true or not within a few days. If they have to keep reminding you, then this means they are saying that to bolster their own low-self esteem on how real that connection actually is.
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Honestly, this sounds like something you’d want to bring to HR (in addition to upper management).
Edit: oh just saw this is military. Do yall even have HR? 
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Amazing information. Thank you so much!
I don’t have anything to add to the foregoing, except an experience I learned from my father just a few years before he died. A long-out-of-touch Army friend of his died in about 2016. They had served together in the Occupation of Japan. Dad contacted the widow, a local resident, who was grateful to hear recollections of her late husband, and that prompted dad to tell me this story.
Their unit—where dad, a Tech-4, was the overnight non-com officer in charge—was commanded by an incompetent, green lieutenant, newly minted from West Point. The lieutenant was creating serious problems in day-to-day operations of their very technical unit and was a martinet to boot. My dad, his friend, and a couple others went over the lieutenant’s head, up the chain of command, to the captain. He listened to them, but said nothing. A few days later, the lieutenant was gone, and the captain called them back into his office. He said, “You guys were right, but don’t ever do that again!”
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Thank you all. I’ll post in a week or so with what we did and what the result was.
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Has anyone tried simuls on mobile? I just found myself in two live games (whoops) and it was… an experience
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What was the set-up? Did you use your mobile’s browser, or one of the third-party apps?
Oh good callout. This time it was browser!
Is simuls possible on either app?
I rarely play live games on OGS, but it has happened that two or more of my correspondence opponents were connected and making moves in our games, and with the Android app that was not an awful experience.
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