About two months ago or so, I realized that if just three people would leave the company, than my job satisfaction would improve by something like 80%. One of them was Surly Boy, who is now no longer my problem (and is working on being no longer being with the company -- bets are being placed on whether he will leave voluntarily or not. Most people seems to think it will be "not".) One of the others is the Village Idiot. And now it sounds like he will be leaving.
For the first time in over a year, I'm actually feeling hopeful that maybe something will change for the better with my job situation.
The general attitude of folks in my department seems to be that they don't like the new management. Their complaint is that the new people sit around and talk too much, and don't get anything done. People liked the old management, and thought that they had the skills and talent to take us places. I think the old management can't manage their way out of a paper bag even with big, glowing neon signs pointing the way. And I think that they were a lot too prone to rush off to some kind of a solution without getting input from all the people who their solution would impact -- and frequently provided solutions that didn't actually work as a side result. I take it as an encouraging sign that the old school folks don't really seem to like the new people. I'm hoping that makes it more likely that I will like them.
Now, how to get rid of my boss...?