June 15th, 2009
Video: Sid Citrus, Bully-Asshole Boss
ATTENTION ASSHOLE BOSSES!
Sid Citrus launches campaign to be crowned your King.
Sid Citrus: Asshole Boss can be viewed at: www.youtube.com/sidcitrus
and at www.SidCitrus.Com.
Orange Rebel Productions announces the launch of a new comedy web series, Sid Citrus: Asshole Boss, in partnership with inaugural corporate sponsor, The People Group.
“Sid’s goal in life is to be universally acclaimed by his peers as the King of all corporate assholes. Sid Citrus already stands head and shoulders above every other jerk boss out there,” laughs writer-director Fred Emmer. “Or rather I should say, he floats.”
Sid Citrus is an orange. A floating, philandering orange to be exact, who wears a tie, including Saturdays. And he’s not very nice.
“I laughed my head off when Fred gave me the script. I immediately knew we had to get this made,” recalls workplace consultant Kevin Kennemer, principal of The People Group. “That Sid Citrus, what an absolutely amazing jerk!”
The first three webisodes tell story of how rookie cube dweller Brett comes to realize that his floating orange boss is a bully and an asshole and that standing up to him can lead to lethal consequences, literally. “Of course Sid as a character and the story events are beyond farcical.” says Emmer. “But we actually are trying to say something.”
“The issues are real and I deal with them every day,” adds Kennemer, whose consulting practice specializes in helping corporations put people friendly practices in place. “Incivility in the workplace creates huge costs no company can afford to ignore. The effects of psychological mistreatment on the workforce is brutal and allowing it to go on is immoral. I think Sid Citrus makes the point with humor.”
Fred explains Sid Citrus’s origin. “A friend of mine had recommended Kevin’s blog to me and after reading a few posts I couldn’t believe how candid he was in condemning asshole behavior in the workplace,” said Emmer. “It hit me viscerally and I was thinking about his post as I strolled to the fruit bowl in the break room. Someone had left a sharpe marker by the bowl. Two minutes later, Sid Citrus was born,” stated the writer-director from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
One school of thought is that every organization should have one asshole. That might be okay if the asshole is kept around so their behavior can be used as a bad example, and if they are not too high in the organization. Kind of like an object lesson in assholeology. But most organizations aren’t that sophisticated. Inevitably corporate assholes wind up breeding like rabbits, eventually poisoning the entire organization.
“I’ve already heard it from my wife, don’t be a Sid,” says Emmer. “He’s not even real and he’s already helping me put a check on my own behavior. I hope we can spread this around,” states Emmer. “Don’t be a Sid.”
Sid Citrus: Asshole Boss can be viewed at: www.youtube.com/sidcitrus
and at www.SidCitrus.Com.
Orange Rebel Productions is a Tulsa based media production company specializing in viral video production for the web. Fred Emmer, Writer-Producer, Orange Rebel Productions, 918.519.6206, sidcitrus@gmail.com
Inaugural Corporate Sponsor
The People Group is a Tulsa based consulting firm committed to improving employee lives, business performance and society through positive people practices consulting. The company was founded on the premise that positive people practices result in better organizations. The People Group proved that a leadership team that adopts, models and promotes positive people practices benefits business, for people, for customers and society. Kevin Kennemer, President, The People Group, Office 888.797.9992, kevin@thepeoplegroupllc.com
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I had the privilege of speaking to the Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium at Kevin Kennemer’s invitation.
These are good people. And many bullies ARE fruitheads!
Gary Namie
Support Sid Citrus!
Tags: asshole, bully, Kevin Kennemer, Orange Rebel Productions, Sid Citrus, The People Group
This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 8:46 am and is filed under Bullying Tutorials, Employer Action/Inaction, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Dr. Namie, thank you spreading the word about Sid Citrus: A**hole Boss, a creation of Orange Rebel Productions and sponsored by my company, The People Group. Many people can identify with the behavior portrayed by this crafty orange from south Florida. You know they grow a**holes on trees down there.
Sid Citrus is a bully boss and we are trying to do our part in shedding a bright comedic light on these “fruitheads” who like to work under the protection of darkness. Too many people have suffered. I found that information was key to my liberation from the bully-a**hole’s grip.
Thank you for leading the charge against the Sid’s of the world. When I had my horrific encounter with a bully boss, I turned to your book, The Bully at Work, and consumed the information. Before I read your book I simply thought all the toxic, psychopathic, demeaning encounters were somehow my fault. Bully bosses and corporate a**holes all have the same DNA, regardless of the company they work for. It’s like the true-to-life Sid Citrus’ come from the same place.
Don’t be a Sid!
My first thought when I saw Sid Citrus is that he kind of reminds me of the “Dementors” in the Harry Potter series (the ghastly creatures that flew around, darkened every place they reared their ugly faceless shapes and literally sucked the life and soul right out of people. At least minor damages inflicted by them could be remedied and reversed with a dose of chocolate. In real life, the Sid Citrus type bosses can also figuratively suck the life and soul out of specific Targets–and entire departments–and sadly it takes a lot more than just a few squares of chocolate to repair the damage! I’d like to see a female version of the Sid Citrus character.
Brilliant! There should be more videos-documentaries made about evil bosses and toxic workplaces, they need to be exposed.