[quote]I don't generally like to consider[/quote]

At work, I don't generally like to consider myself the guy with a fancy golden name tag and a spiffy button-down shirt whose sole purpose in the building is to make every else work harder and faster to accomplish the same goal they would normally all for the purpose of making them look busy on one of our thirty-six cameras. I don't like to enforce the "if you have time to lean, you have time to clean" policy. I can try and be gentle about it. I can try and be polite. I can explain or assist in every possible way I can to make the work experience better while also doing my job. And, you're right. Normally, being positive and gentle in those situation reaps better results.

That doesn't change the fact I'm still management. Likewise, that doesn't change the fact that, by definition, that scenario still has elitist aspects in it. It's not a bad thing. You did what most good GM's would have done or said.