Power in the workplace

Let me tell you the story of what happened to me Tuesday morning:

I organized a charity event for 35 people at my company to participate and teach at a city elementary school.  On Tuesday, I had a visitor from the nonprofit organization come in to train our employees.  I signed her in and brought her up to the conference room I had booked a few weeks earlier for training.  We were already 5 minutes late.

When I open the door, there are two men and a woman sitting inside on a conference call.  I ask them, skeptically, if they have the conference room booked.  When they told me yes, I went back to my desk to print a copy of the conference room calendar with my name on it.  We are now running 10 minutes late.

I bring the sheet of paper back and knock on the door before opening.  A short man inside with graying hair storms toward me, yelling "WE ARE IN A MEETING".  The man gets within two inches of my face, pushing me out of the door and slamming it in my face.  Now I don't care how late we are.  Employees halfway down the hall heard the door slamming.

Now here's the twist, this man is a very senior manager at my company, reporting directly to a Vice President of Operations.  

What is it about power that makes people think they live by a different set of rules?  What is it about power that  makes people forget that we are all human?  Even if I was wrong, is there any justification for treating another person this way?

And worse, would he have done it if I was a man?  Would he have done it if I was 10, 15, 20 years older?  I don't think he would have without knowing that he "outranks" me.

I believe that the term "outrank" has no place in a discussion about respect for others.  Everyone deserves the same level of decency especially in the place they are employed.  Clearly, the corporate environment would disagree with me.  What would be the outcome if I did the yelling?  If I did the door slamming?  I suppose I'd be out of a job.

The current outcome?  Neither the manager nor his supervisor were notified of this incident.  It never happened.  And that will change.  Not because I want this particular man in trouble, but because position does not give you a right to be disrespectful.  The environment of entitlement needs to change.