Hi,
Sorry if this drags out - or if I ramble and it doesn't make any sense. I will try to make things as clear as possible.
I've worked for the gov't for nearly 15 years now, and the entity I work for allows employees to move from job to job internally. The job I'm currently in I've been in nearly 5 years. I've got no real problems with the work itself, but the people leave much to be desired. I could probably roll with that except the supervisor is a lazy bag of crap that's found a place to hide. He plays favorites and has not nearly enough to fill his day, so he can focus on tiny stuff and run it into the ground. Around summer of 2007, his workload got even lighter because they added a figure of management above him, so now he's got nothing to do, and is pulling an incredible salary to do it.
My leave has always been low. I get annual and sick increments every 2 weeks, and occasionally we can work for comp. Over the past years there have been circumstances that have contributed to my leave being low - my father has had heart problems, and now cancer, my Mom is sick with diabetes and an enlarged heart, my younger sister has a chemical dependency problem, my own daughter has had some depressive issues that have manifested in her cutting herself, not to mention that I went for my bachelor's AND master's degrees from 2001 to 2006. On January 14th, I was counseled for having low leave balances. My supervisor was very cruel. I think he did this specifically because I proved to him that I could basically switch hours for a day I missed that I didn't have leave to cover, by working our comp project on a Saturday. He acted like he didnt know what this meant, but I know he's let another team member work evenings when they didn't have daycare for dayshift - which in essence is the same thing I asked for (favoritism in action). I think because I proved I knew what I was talking about it set him off. He likes stirring the pot and yet he is a coward. He can't handle conflict from a confident woman at all. In the counseling session, he had "ammo" that was BS. He was trying to back up his stance on my leave use by using things that everyone was guilty of. I calmly defended myself, but he basically told me I'd face AWOL charges if I used anymore leave. I thought about this for a while and then drafted a response. I stated the issues that have caused me to use my leave, noted that I thought leave was an important issue, and ended my response with my productivity numbers for 2007. I did 20 more cases than the next team member in line, and the most for the entire year.
I haven't used ANY leave for the past 3 weeks, but about a week or so ago, the supervisor above my direct one canceled our comp project temporarily. I had a brief conversation with this supervisor on the phone and asked if I could forward my "response" (to the counseling statement) to him so he'd know where I was coming from. I never heard back from him.
Friday, 2/8/08, he called me and my immediate supervisor in for a meeting. I tried emailing him and calling him 3 times and he would not respond to me so I'd know in advance what was going on. It was totally off the cuff, as they have done to me multiple times. In this meeting, my immediate supervisor was pretty much silent, but the supervisor over him - (I'LL CALL HIM JOE) - had a detailed report of my internet use, phone use, and IM use for a 2-3 month period. The numbers were much higher than I would have ever expected them to be, but I was honest with how much of them related to work. Plus, I've always gotten my work done.
In this meeting, Joe asked how thorough I was doing my work research, told me I'd face major investigative action if the numbers didn't go down, and that even though they were restarting the comp project, I could not participate until my numbers were rechecked. I asked him specifically if this was a random thing the system hit on and he said "yes, probably because your volume was so high" (because security watches internet use closely, and if someone say - hits on porn, it will kick out a notice to security). I started thinking about it, and decided to go to security myself. I asked them to research how these stats made it back to Joe and my supervisor, if it indeed was random, or if it had been requested. I won't know until some time tomorrow or later in the week. However, the individual I spoke with said he didn't think the stats would kick out for such a thing, and definitely not for all 3 at one time. In his opinion, the stats were requested.
Thing is, I'm totally locked down now. I think Joe requested the stats to counter my response to the counseling statement I was given about my leave (if he shows multiple hours are used in these three things [phone, internet, IM] in counters what I said about productivity). Which means, he lied in our meeting about how the stats came to him. I also think that he is discriminating against me by excluding me from the comp project based on these stats, if he has not pulled EVERYONE's stats. (There's other things that boil my blood too - for instance, an older guy on our team SLEEPS at his desk practically every day. Multiple people have caught him and this person will be allowed to work for comp, but I cant!)
In my opinion, I have an excellent case to take to EEO, but I don't have the emotional energy with everything else I'm dealing with. My big questions are, am I crazy? Or is it obvious this is a witch hunt? My other question is this - there's an option for another job internally but it's a big grade cut. I'd go from an 11 to an 8, altho they'd "step me out" to pretty much the same pay I have now. I can't say the job is one I would love to have, but right now I'm seriously considering it because I want the hell out of where I am. I just want to say "fine, shove it - I'm not staying around for more abuse." No matter what I've done to help the team it's been cast aside because I've rubbed my supervisor wrong at one time or another. This makes the 5th meeting they've pulled me into for negative things, where I'm not represented by anyone else, and I'm given no notice about what's going on. I never hear anything positive specifically for me.
I am starting to relate strongly to that Monster.com commercial where everyone starts tossing stuff out of their windows and carries it to the hill to try and stop the sun from rising on Monday morning! I just hate my job and now I feel like I can't take leave, I can't make a personal call, I can't go on the internet even on my breaks and lunch, and I am being watched at every turn for the next slip up! Joe even went so far as to tell me not to shift my personal calls to my cell phone. They probably have cameras in the light fixtures watching if I pick my nose!
Do you guys think my concerns are legit? Would you look for another job?
Lori
Sorry if this drags out - or if I ramble and it doesn't make any sense. I will try to make things as clear as possible.
I've worked for the gov't for nearly 15 years now, and the entity I work for allows employees to move from job to job internally. The job I'm currently in I've been in nearly 5 years. I've got no real problems with the work itself, but the people leave much to be desired. I could probably roll with that except the supervisor is a lazy bag of crap that's found a place to hide. He plays favorites and has not nearly enough to fill his day, so he can focus on tiny stuff and run it into the ground. Around summer of 2007, his workload got even lighter because they added a figure of management above him, so now he's got nothing to do, and is pulling an incredible salary to do it.
My leave has always been low. I get annual and sick increments every 2 weeks, and occasionally we can work for comp. Over the past years there have been circumstances that have contributed to my leave being low - my father has had heart problems, and now cancer, my Mom is sick with diabetes and an enlarged heart, my younger sister has a chemical dependency problem, my own daughter has had some depressive issues that have manifested in her cutting herself, not to mention that I went for my bachelor's AND master's degrees from 2001 to 2006. On January 14th, I was counseled for having low leave balances. My supervisor was very cruel. I think he did this specifically because I proved to him that I could basically switch hours for a day I missed that I didn't have leave to cover, by working our comp project on a Saturday. He acted like he didnt know what this meant, but I know he's let another team member work evenings when they didn't have daycare for dayshift - which in essence is the same thing I asked for (favoritism in action). I think because I proved I knew what I was talking about it set him off. He likes stirring the pot and yet he is a coward. He can't handle conflict from a confident woman at all. In the counseling session, he had "ammo" that was BS. He was trying to back up his stance on my leave use by using things that everyone was guilty of. I calmly defended myself, but he basically told me I'd face AWOL charges if I used anymore leave. I thought about this for a while and then drafted a response. I stated the issues that have caused me to use my leave, noted that I thought leave was an important issue, and ended my response with my productivity numbers for 2007. I did 20 more cases than the next team member in line, and the most for the entire year.
I haven't used ANY leave for the past 3 weeks, but about a week or so ago, the supervisor above my direct one canceled our comp project temporarily. I had a brief conversation with this supervisor on the phone and asked if I could forward my "response" (to the counseling statement) to him so he'd know where I was coming from. I never heard back from him.
Friday, 2/8/08, he called me and my immediate supervisor in for a meeting. I tried emailing him and calling him 3 times and he would not respond to me so I'd know in advance what was going on. It was totally off the cuff, as they have done to me multiple times. In this meeting, my immediate supervisor was pretty much silent, but the supervisor over him - (I'LL CALL HIM JOE) - had a detailed report of my internet use, phone use, and IM use for a 2-3 month period. The numbers were much higher than I would have ever expected them to be, but I was honest with how much of them related to work. Plus, I've always gotten my work done.
In this meeting, Joe asked how thorough I was doing my work research, told me I'd face major investigative action if the numbers didn't go down, and that even though they were restarting the comp project, I could not participate until my numbers were rechecked. I asked him specifically if this was a random thing the system hit on and he said "yes, probably because your volume was so high" (because security watches internet use closely, and if someone say - hits on porn, it will kick out a notice to security). I started thinking about it, and decided to go to security myself. I asked them to research how these stats made it back to Joe and my supervisor, if it indeed was random, or if it had been requested. I won't know until some time tomorrow or later in the week. However, the individual I spoke with said he didn't think the stats would kick out for such a thing, and definitely not for all 3 at one time. In his opinion, the stats were requested.
Thing is, I'm totally locked down now. I think Joe requested the stats to counter my response to the counseling statement I was given about my leave (if he shows multiple hours are used in these three things [phone, internet, IM] in counters what I said about productivity). Which means, he lied in our meeting about how the stats came to him. I also think that he is discriminating against me by excluding me from the comp project based on these stats, if he has not pulled EVERYONE's stats. (There's other things that boil my blood too - for instance, an older guy on our team SLEEPS at his desk practically every day. Multiple people have caught him and this person will be allowed to work for comp, but I cant!)
In my opinion, I have an excellent case to take to EEO, but I don't have the emotional energy with everything else I'm dealing with. My big questions are, am I crazy? Or is it obvious this is a witch hunt? My other question is this - there's an option for another job internally but it's a big grade cut. I'd go from an 11 to an 8, altho they'd "step me out" to pretty much the same pay I have now. I can't say the job is one I would love to have, but right now I'm seriously considering it because I want the hell out of where I am. I just want to say "fine, shove it - I'm not staying around for more abuse." No matter what I've done to help the team it's been cast aside because I've rubbed my supervisor wrong at one time or another. This makes the 5th meeting they've pulled me into for negative things, where I'm not represented by anyone else, and I'm given no notice about what's going on. I never hear anything positive specifically for me.
I am starting to relate strongly to that Monster.com commercial where everyone starts tossing stuff out of their windows and carries it to the hill to try and stop the sun from rising on Monday morning! I just hate my job and now I feel like I can't take leave, I can't make a personal call, I can't go on the internet even on my breaks and lunch, and I am being watched at every turn for the next slip up! Joe even went so far as to tell me not to shift my personal calls to my cell phone. They probably have cameras in the light fixtures watching if I pick my nose!
Do you guys think my concerns are legit? Would you look for another job?
Lori
