At least in that case I wouldn't mind if a superior was honestly and truly checking with Legal Departments, and others of authority, to verify whether some action I was considering taking was going to cost me my job... Could any of us here really be upset about a Manager that does that?
I'm fairly certain the implication here is that he was not, in fact, checking with Legal or anyone, but simply holding off to make it seem as if he was and it was too late to question.
Jim is known for retaliating against his employees. That's why we got rid of him at MSFT and then Google... He is happy enjoying his millions in stock units and 100% bonus target. What did you expect? SOP.
No, I don't think so, assuming the manager also said something along the lines of "The check might run right up before your talk. Please make sure to check your phones before walking on stage so that if something happens last minute you'll know. I'll promise to text you either way."
