I'm pretty lucky with immediate supervisors, which is to say, we actually talk about what best practices are, how to handle things professionally when the people around you (above you) do not hold themselves to that same standard. She hadn't realized till I told her that I was classically conditioning him, and that her actions were undermining my conditioning.

(She is still an optimist, and thinks she can incentivize him to change his behavior consciously; I don't think he's that conscious an actor -- or anyway, a leopard does not change his spots that much -- and prefer covert training approaches.)

In my workplace, there are two avenues to power: friendship with the existing power structure, or the ability to do work in a way that involves end-running around that structure. Finding the people who can do a thing right, the first time, systematically, is finding your way into the shadow power structure. We all know who we are, and share around, in a way that partially compensates for the fuckups of the official power structure. One of the reasons I'm still here is that I have a lot of unofficial power in my position, that has accrued over time. My rank is pretty low, but among my colleagues (not among the officials) I feel highly esteemed, because I've proved myself. I don't think the officials will improve their habits, or recognize this shadow power structure any time soon, but there's always hope that some of them will retire.