[williamsmj]

I have no doubt it is honest, but it's not a good apology. He barely remembers the specific incident (by his own admission). That's not his fault, but it makes the apology pretty much meaningless. He seems to assume he was a bit of a grumpy-puss that day, and that "jaded" their subsequent interactions. This is incredibly glib and diminishes the specific incident.

But more importantly, he never admits to being a bully. The original post gives this incident as an example of a pattern of abusive behavior. He sidesteps that entirely.

[whatshisface]

What's a bully? Someone who loses their temper? Someone who's scary and makes enemies more easily than friends? I think a bully is someone who uses intimidation to get their way, if someone intimidates random bystanders what they have is a need to work on their emotional self-control.

[neolog]

It's more like someone who habitually uses power in a mean way.

[whatshisface]

There's a difference between someone who is naturally mean and happens to be in power and someone that uses meanness to get power.

[neolog]

The point is if you're in power it's more important to not behave badly than if you're not in power.

It's also easier in some ways, because you can get help from experienced outsiders who have a stake in your success and you can afford to experiment with improvement methods without getting fired. There are ways in which it's harder, such as if employees are too scared to tell you when you're being nasty.

[newbie789]

That’s true. Which of the two examples would you categorize as a “bully”?