kitten
12-28-11, 2:11pm
I wanted to run this by y'all -
I'm in a narrow specialized field, and I'm lucky to have my current job. My entire industry is shrinking to a pinpoint. Against the odds, I lucked into my current position without having had a whole heck of a lot of experience, just perceived talent. I'm good at what I do, and I beat out some equally qualified folks for my position. So you could say that there are some people who'd cut my throat as soon as look at me because they think I don't deserve the job. (Paranoid much? lol)
Anyway, I was fortunate that my boss liked my previous work enough to install me in a cherry position in a pretty prestige-y outfit, at least in terms of the particular world that I'm in. There's no other option for me professionally in this city, so if I were to switch jobs, I would be switching cities, and probably careers. No guarantee I could pick up and leave, expecting to get the same kind of job elsewhere. The odds are against it, which is why my co-workers, who are as disenchanted with management as I am, are clinging to their jobs with white knuckles.
My boss has a bizarre management style, such that he feels his role is to withdraw from the details. Things go wrong because nobody gets any information, and people yell at each other instead of at the boss.
So everyone kicks the can, full of contempt for everyone else. They all see the leadership vacuum, so they're constantly asserting themselves in a mad scrabble for the moral upper hand - mostly by backstabbing, gossiping, beating up on each other in meetings and in email, and currying favor with the boss/emperor with no clothes.
Recently I told Gareth I was taking Monday (the official Christmas holiday) off. He said, "Okay, fine." I did my work ahead and left it in the system. There is usually a tech in the control room (it's a radio station), called a board op, during any automated shift, but it's not on me to arrange that. I figured Gareth would make arrangements for that day, since he knew I wasn't going to be out.
Come Monday and all hell breaks loose, because Kitten didn't tell anyone she wasn't going to be at work! This is of course not true - I told my boss, Gareth.
The production guy pointed his finger in my face in our meeting yesterday, and accused me of leaving him in the lurch. He had to rush into the station on a holiday to cover for me. Gareth listened to this, didn't meet my eye, and said he'd "take care of it."
Meanwhile, the production guy scurries up to me after the meeting, still complaining about my behavior. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't going to be here?"
I said,"I told our manager about my day off. It was cleared at the highest level. My tracks were in the system. I did my job. It's not on me that Gareth didn't tell you my schedule."
Then, that's not enough for the little twerp. He and another co-worker of mine, who is our union shop steward, both gang up on me in an email a few minutes later, chastising me over: "This is what the contract says, please let Gareth know two weeks ahead what your schedule will be."
The thing is, I DID tell Gareth my schedule. Gareth just didn't tell anyone else, which is typical. Knowing this is his pattern, I should have made sure someone else knew. So sue me.
I emailed the guys back and told them I wasn't an idiot and didn't need to be rapped on the wrist for something I didn't do.
A co-worker later said to me, "Look, just between you and me - Gareth apologized to me and said you were completely in the right." And I'm like, what friggin' good does that do me, that he apologized to YOU?
I'm afraid the production twerp is building his case against me, trying to create a story in which I'm the rogue or the non-communicator or the screw-up, and he's the guy who comes galloping to the rescue to save the station every time.
More evidence of this, is that he does pieces of my job for me ahead of time, and then raps me on the knuckles because I didn't do it sooner. For instance, he rips the Emergency Alert System tapes out of the server, which is something I'm supposed to be doing each day, and sticks them on the back side of my log, where I can't see them. One day I walked by the server a few times - I had heard the emergency alert, but no tape came out of the machine. I thought I was going crazy. Then it turns out he's taking them before I can see them and hiding them from me. So then he gets to accuse me of not removing them and signing them myself. This guy has a pattern of doing stuff like this, which is an elaborate manipulation of the story of Kitten and what kind of employee she is. In reality I'm smart, quick and efficient, but he seems to be doing his best to rewrite my identity - to make it seem like I'm messing up all the time.
So the boss' inaction is creates an environment where the last person in the chain gets the brunt of the $hit cascade. I could use your help on this.
Shall I:
- start documenting what's happening in detail?
- go to HR proactively and show them my docs?
- make a stink about this before I've been accused of something major that my boss won't back me up on?
- look for another job?
Any input welcome, sorry this was so long :)
I'm in a narrow specialized field, and I'm lucky to have my current job. My entire industry is shrinking to a pinpoint. Against the odds, I lucked into my current position without having had a whole heck of a lot of experience, just perceived talent. I'm good at what I do, and I beat out some equally qualified folks for my position. So you could say that there are some people who'd cut my throat as soon as look at me because they think I don't deserve the job. (Paranoid much? lol)
Anyway, I was fortunate that my boss liked my previous work enough to install me in a cherry position in a pretty prestige-y outfit, at least in terms of the particular world that I'm in. There's no other option for me professionally in this city, so if I were to switch jobs, I would be switching cities, and probably careers. No guarantee I could pick up and leave, expecting to get the same kind of job elsewhere. The odds are against it, which is why my co-workers, who are as disenchanted with management as I am, are clinging to their jobs with white knuckles.
My boss has a bizarre management style, such that he feels his role is to withdraw from the details. Things go wrong because nobody gets any information, and people yell at each other instead of at the boss.
So everyone kicks the can, full of contempt for everyone else. They all see the leadership vacuum, so they're constantly asserting themselves in a mad scrabble for the moral upper hand - mostly by backstabbing, gossiping, beating up on each other in meetings and in email, and currying favor with the boss/emperor with no clothes.
Recently I told Gareth I was taking Monday (the official Christmas holiday) off. He said, "Okay, fine." I did my work ahead and left it in the system. There is usually a tech in the control room (it's a radio station), called a board op, during any automated shift, but it's not on me to arrange that. I figured Gareth would make arrangements for that day, since he knew I wasn't going to be out.
Come Monday and all hell breaks loose, because Kitten didn't tell anyone she wasn't going to be at work! This is of course not true - I told my boss, Gareth.
The production guy pointed his finger in my face in our meeting yesterday, and accused me of leaving him in the lurch. He had to rush into the station on a holiday to cover for me. Gareth listened to this, didn't meet my eye, and said he'd "take care of it."
Meanwhile, the production guy scurries up to me after the meeting, still complaining about my behavior. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't going to be here?"
I said,"I told our manager about my day off. It was cleared at the highest level. My tracks were in the system. I did my job. It's not on me that Gareth didn't tell you my schedule."
Then, that's not enough for the little twerp. He and another co-worker of mine, who is our union shop steward, both gang up on me in an email a few minutes later, chastising me over: "This is what the contract says, please let Gareth know two weeks ahead what your schedule will be."
The thing is, I DID tell Gareth my schedule. Gareth just didn't tell anyone else, which is typical. Knowing this is his pattern, I should have made sure someone else knew. So sue me.
I emailed the guys back and told them I wasn't an idiot and didn't need to be rapped on the wrist for something I didn't do.
A co-worker later said to me, "Look, just between you and me - Gareth apologized to me and said you were completely in the right." And I'm like, what friggin' good does that do me, that he apologized to YOU?
I'm afraid the production twerp is building his case against me, trying to create a story in which I'm the rogue or the non-communicator or the screw-up, and he's the guy who comes galloping to the rescue to save the station every time.
More evidence of this, is that he does pieces of my job for me ahead of time, and then raps me on the knuckles because I didn't do it sooner. For instance, he rips the Emergency Alert System tapes out of the server, which is something I'm supposed to be doing each day, and sticks them on the back side of my log, where I can't see them. One day I walked by the server a few times - I had heard the emergency alert, but no tape came out of the machine. I thought I was going crazy. Then it turns out he's taking them before I can see them and hiding them from me. So then he gets to accuse me of not removing them and signing them myself. This guy has a pattern of doing stuff like this, which is an elaborate manipulation of the story of Kitten and what kind of employee she is. In reality I'm smart, quick and efficient, but he seems to be doing his best to rewrite my identity - to make it seem like I'm messing up all the time.
So the boss' inaction is creates an environment where the last person in the chain gets the brunt of the $hit cascade. I could use your help on this.
Shall I:
- start documenting what's happening in detail?
- go to HR proactively and show them my docs?
- make a stink about this before I've been accused of something major that my boss won't back me up on?
- look for another job?
Any input welcome, sorry this was so long :)