Suspended from work! Please help!

HappyG1rl

Bruciebonus,

As another poster pointed out, you were informed that you shouldn't send out E Mails without pre-approval and you failed to comply with this instruction.

I would just explain your oversight in the disclipinary meeting and apologise profusely for forgetting and say it won't happen again.
I think that if you just tell it to your employer like you have on here and apologise then you should only get a verbal or a first written warning. In no way does sending one E Mail constitute harrassment and you shouldn't lose your job over this.

Assuming you don't get sacked, I would make sure you are very strict about doing everything by the book in future just in case they are trying to get you out in an underhand way.

Good luck!

bruciebonus_3

Thanks martyp - I did get the alternative number yesterday...but had to give up in the end as was holding for 45 minutes. I think I'm gonna wait for my paperwork so I can cooperate with ACAS as much as poss...still not had that though in this morning's post!

Thanks for your advice also Toots...I actually had a long chat yesterday also with the man who seems to have all life's answers...my dad lol. And he had helped me prepare a sterling case so hopefully...I'll be ok...

Horace

Brucie - if you are not in a union then you could join one but they don't like people joining when they have a problem and they will say that you have to be a member for 3 months before you can receive assistance. Some will, allow you to join and will represent you if you write a backdated cheque but it isnt in their rules to allow this its just that some branch secretaries can be flexible.

ACAS gives good advice on its website too - I think they are currently inundated with calls because so many companies are laying people off.

Good luck at your disciplinary hearing.

bruciebonus_3

Well I have some news...

I received my hearing date this afternoon - hand delivered at about 4pm! It's on Monday at 2pm. I finally spoke to ACAS as well and the general conclusion there is beg and pray...

Anyway - I have put together mitigating circumstances which I am going to read out at the meeting and then leave them with them whilst they make their verdict. I just wanted you guys to let me know if I have missed anything or if any of this is bad? I have took out all company names and people's names.

Here goes...

"I fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation as not only does it look like I could have potentially lost the company a customer but it also makes the company look bad as a whole. This could also cause problems such as the customer in question telling other people about his dissatisfaction with MY COMPANY.
The first thing I’d like to point out is that I promise you this is genuine human error. Yes – I did receive the e-mail from MY MANAGER on December 19th stating that any mass communications need to be pre-approved by the senior management team before I send them out. Then I finished work for Christmas on December 24th and didn’t return until mid-January. To my memory, the e-mail in question that I sent last Tuesday to my customers is the first time I have sent out a mass communication asking for business in this manner this year – therefore the first time since we received the e-mail on December 19th. I genuinely forgot about this e-mail. Not just because of the time I was off work but because I have used a similar e-mail before with great success. The last time I used it which I believe was in December 2008 (w/c 15/12), I sent the e-mail out to the entire department so they could use it if they wanted to with their customers and hopefully share the success I’ve had with it. Quite a few people have benefitted from this e-mail before including COLLEAGUE ONE, COLLEAGUE TWO and most recently, COLLEAGUE 3. In the last sales week of December 2008, I sent the e-mail out to the department. This was before the e-mail from MY MANAGER on December 19th. COLLEAGUE 3 sent the e-mail to her customers and got so many sales from it that she actually hit target that month when it looked like she wasn’t going to before. She publicly praised my e-mail to the entire department and I also received “well-dones” at the time from her manager –MANAGER 2 – and my own manager MY MANAGER. I believe that the whole reason that the initial e-mail from MY MANAGER came about is because a customer commented on that particular e-mail saying that my use of the word “desperate” as in “desperate for sales” made the company look like it was struggling in current economic times. Although I did hit target from the e-mail that month, I did take note not to use the word ”desperate” in these e-mails again – although as far as I was aware, that was the only thing wrong with the e-mail. This is the reason that I believe alarm bells didn’t ring in my head when I sent this latest e-mail – I made sure not to use the word “desperate” but the fact that I was supposed to show the e-mail first completely left my head – my own fault totally I know. I think it was just because I had it in my head that this e-mail was ok as long as I didn’t use the word “desperate” that I forgot to show it to MY MANAGER first. I am fully aware of the company procedure now and I can guarantee that I will not be sending e-mails out as a mass communication without permission from a manager first.
The circumstances surrounding this e-mail are as follows. I have been speaking to COMPANY IN QUESTION for the past few weeks trying to win back business as they used to use us but stopped buying from us sometime ago. I have been in regular contact with a lady called CUSTOMER at the company who does the ordering. A week or 2 ago, I went over an entire list of items over the phone with her so I could create some fixed prices for her. I created a list of fixed prices and sent them over for her to view. When I followed this up with a call, she hadn’t received the previous e-mail so I confirmed her e-mail address and resent. When I followed this up again on Tuesday morning, she still hadn’t received so she offered to send me a test e-mail to reply to with the prices. I received the test whilst still on the phone to her and resent the prices again. Then about 15-30 mins later, I sent the e-mail in question to all my customers in my address book. It was within 30 minutes that I received an e-mail back from FINANCIAL DIRECTOR at COMPANY IN QUESTION which was the complaint. He had also cc’ed in OUR UK MANAGER, OUR EUROPEAN MANAGER and OUR FINANCIAL MANAGER. When I saw the complaint, my first action was to make MY MANAGER aware and she immediately went to see if there was any was to recover the e-mail. When she found out there wasn’t, I wanted to limit damage so asked MY MANAGER if it was ok for me to e-mail FINANCIAL DIRECTOR back and apologise. She said I could so I sent an e-mail back apologising for the e-mail and that I would take him off my address list immediately as requested. However, when I went to look for the e-mail address in my address book, his e-mail wasn’t there – only CUSTOMER'S. So I sent another e-mail to him apologising for bothering him again and just to check it wasn’t sent to another address and this is how he got hold of the e-mail. I only did this so I could make sure I could remove the other address if necessary – but FINANCIAL DIRECTOR never replied. I have never spoken to FINANCIAL DIRECTOR though to my knowledge and recently have only spoken to CUSTOMER – and since we have had a good relationship to that point, I assumed all was ok. Now as I had sent the e-mail to CUSTOMER earlier in the morning with the prices, I checked that it would be still ok to call CUSTOMER with MY MANAGER and I called her. She told me that she still hadn’t received the e-mail, that FINANCIAL DIRECTOR had instructed her not to use us and that they were happy with their current supplier – which is the opposite of what she had told me in previous conversations – she had told me that if we could provide better prices, she’d be happy to come back. I am still confused as to how none of my fixed price e-mails made it through but the offers one that all this relates to did and how FINANCIALDIRECTOR received the e-mail in the first place. If CUSTOMER had made it clear to me she didn’t want me to contact her, I would have stopped immediately. But all that aside – it has lost COMPANY IN QUESTION as a potential customer – and one customer lost is too many. But I promise I never spoke to FINANCIAL DIRECTOR or harassed him in any way.
To summarise, I can’t explain in words how sorry I am for all of this. It is all down to me forgetting. My only intentions in all of this were to do the best I could to win the company as much business as possible. I am now fully aware of the serious implications this has caused. I love my job here at MY COMPANY and I love the people here and I promise I won’t be making any mistakes of this nature again. Please give me another chance and I swear I won’t let you down.
Thank you for taking the time to hear me out."

Soooo....any pointers?
Thanks guys

HappyG1rl

Well, the gist of what you are saying is correct but if you have written this down to refer to when you speak, I hope you have put some spaces in as otherwise you won't take a breath and it will probably come across as waffling. I got worn out reading it

Zazen999

I think...that there's something more going on with the lady/company that you don't know about.......you can only accept that someone isn't receiving emails so many times...

Personally I think that you will get either a heavy warning or be fired as they seem out to get you and that you should perhaps in future try to read people a bit better.

From what you say - she definitely did NOT want you to keep emailing her.

I know sales guys are pretty forceful...but please learn from this, and learn better selling techniques.

Lavendyr

bruciebonus wrote: »

"To begin with, I would like to assure you that I fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation.

I can confirm that I received the e-mail from XXX on December 19th, which stated that any mass communication would need to be pre-approved by the senior management team before dissemination. The e-mail in question that I sent last Tuesday to my customers is the first and only occasion in this year that I have sent out such a mass communication. To have done so without obtaining approval from management was clearly an error on my part, for which I offer my unreserved apologies.

I would like to note that I have used a similar e-mail before with great success, and my aim in sending it was purely to win business for the company. However, I do understand that some phrasing within the email may have been viewed by customers as inappropriate in light of the current economic climate, and again must offer my apologies for this, together with my assurance that I will comply with all relevant company requirements in future. I can further assure you that I have made myself fully aware of company procedures and will ensure that they are followed from now on.

That is all I would say. To be quite honest, you have written an incredible amount of waffle which, while showing your your clear passion for your job and your desire to keep it, is also very difficult to follow and not extremely professional. I would suggest you keep it to the bare minimum (as above), straightforwardly acknowledging your error and giving your written word that it will not happen again.

Best of luck.

HappyG1rl

Hope you don't mind but I have made some alterations to what you have said as I found that in some areas you were just saying too much and it became a bit waffly. I have just changed it round a bit. Anyway, it's up to you obviously but, you might want to reconsider some of what you are saying and, if you intend to perhaps leave a copy with them after the meeting to refer back to, then you can do with putting in the lines of space so that it is in more manageable chunks for them to take in.

Hope I haven't offended you.

Here goes:

"I fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation as I have lost the company a potential customer.

The first thing I’d like to point out is that this was a genuine error on my part. Yes – I did receive the e-mail from MY MANAGER on December 19th stating that mass communications need to be pre-approved by the senior management team before being sent out. I then finished work on December 24th and didn’t return until mid-January and totally forgot about it when I sent out the E mail that has caused offence.

As I recall, the mass communication E mail asking for business in this manner was the first I had sent this year – and the first since we received the e-mail on December 19th.

I have used a similar e-mail before with great success. In the last sales week of December 2008, and prior to receiving the Manager’s E Mail of 19 December, I did send the e-mail to the entire department in case any colleagues wished to use it. Quite a few people have benefited from it previously including COLLEAGUE ONE, COLLEAGUE TWO and most recently, COLLEAGUE 3.

COLLEAGUE 3 sent the e-mail to her customers and got so many sales from it that she actually hit target that month when it looked like she wasn’t going to before. She publicly praised my e-mail to the entire department and I also received “well-dones” at the time from her manager –MANAGER 2 – and my own manager MY MANAGER.

I believe the reason the e-mail from MY MANAGER came about on 19 December is because of a customer’s comment on my use of the word “desperate” as in “desperate for sales” in a previous E Mail as it made the company look like it was struggling in current economic times. I took this on board and ensured I did not use that word in my subsequent mail but I completely forgot that I had to seek pre-approval of the mass E mails. I think it was just because I had it in my head that this e-mail was ok as long as I didn’t use the word “desperate” that I forgot to show it to MY MANAGER first.

I am fully aware of the company procedure now and I can guarantee that I will not be sending e-mails out as a mass communication without permission from a manager first.

The circumstances surrounding this e-mail are as follows:
I have been speaking to COMPANY IN QUESTION for the past few weeks trying to win back business as they used to use us but stopped buying from us sometime ago. I have been in regular contact with a lady called CUSTOMER at the company who does the ordering.

A week or 2 ago, I went over an entire list of items over the phone with her and then I created a list of fixed prices for her which I sent over for her to view. When I followed this up with a call, I found she hadn't received it so I confirmed her e-mail address and resent it.
When I followed this up again on Tuesday morning, she still hadn’t received it and offered to send me a test e-mail to reply to with the prices. I received the test whilst still on the phone to her and resent the prices again.

About 15-30 minutes later, I sent the offending mass e-mail in question to all customers in my address book.

Within 30 minutes I received a complaining e-mail back from FINANCIAL DIRECTOR at COMPANY IN QUESTION which he had also cc’ed in OUR UK MANAGER, OUR EUROPEAN MANAGER and OUR FINANCIAL MANAGER.

When I saw the complaint, my first action was to make MY MANAGER aware of it. She immediately went to see if there was any way to recover the e-mail but found there wasn’t. I wanted to limit damage so asked and was granted approval from MY MANAGER to e-mail FINANCIAL DIRECTOR back and apologise.

I wrote an apologetic e-mail and agreed to take him off my address list immediately as requested but when I went to look for his e-mail address in my address book I couldn’t find it – only CUSTOMER'S.

I sent a further E mail apologising for bothering him again to check it wasn’t sent to another address. I did this so I could make sure I removed the other address if necessary – but FINANCIAL DIRECTOR never replied.

I have never spoken to FINANCIAL DIRECTOR to my knowledge and recently have only spoken to CUSTOMER – and since we have had a good relationship to that point, I assumed all was ok.

As I had sent the e-mail to CUSTOMER earlier in the morning with the prices, I checked with MY MANAGER that it would be still ok to call CUSTOMER before calling her.

CUSTOMER told me that she still hadn’t received the e-mail and that FINANCIAL DIRECTOR had instructed her not to use us and that they were happy with their current supplier which is the opposite of what she had told me in previous conversations. She had told me that if we could provide better prices, she’d be happy to come back. If CUSTOMER had made it clear to me she didn’t want me to contact her, I would have stopped immediately.

I must admit to being confused as to how none of my fixed price e-mails made it through but the offers one did. I also don't understand how FINANCIALDIRECTOR received the e-mail in the first place.

But all that aside – it has lost COMPANY IN QUESTION as a potential customer – and one customer lost is too many. But I assure you I never spoke to FINANCIAL DIRECTOR or harassed him in any way.

To summarise, I can’t explain how sorry I am for losing us this potential customer. My only intentions were to do the best I could to win the company as much business as possible. I am fully aware of the serious implications this has caused.

I love my job here at MY COMPANY and I love the people here and I promise I won’t be making mistakes of this nature again. Please give me another chance and I swear I won’t let you down.

Thank you for taking the time to hear me out."

HappyG1rl

Zazen999 wrote: »

I think...that there's something more going on with the lady/company that you don't know about.......you can only accept that someone isn't receiving emails so many times...


From what you say - she definitely did NOT want you to keep emailing her.

Well, she only had to say so. Why should the poster be expected to read between the lines? What if he summised this and someone genuinely wasn't receiving E Mails that they wanted? I think it is better to take people at their word - and anyway why would she send him the test E Mail if she really didn't want any contact with him?

HappyG1rl

I know what brucie has written is fairly long-winded but at the same time it does come across that he wants to make them appreciate the circumstances behind how this all came about.

Whilst lavendyr might be right in that all you need to say is the shortened version which basically says 'yes, I've done wrong, I understand I've lost you a customer, I'm sorry and I won't do it again' you need to take into account what Brucie is like. He wants to explain why it came about. That is why, although I've changed his waffle (sorry brucie) I've left the detail in but hopefully in chunks that are more manageable to digest.

Anyway, what I really want to say is 'Good luck' for Monday Brucie and I hope things go your way. Try not to be awake all night on Sunday worrying about it. Hopefully your Manager has a good idea of what you are like and appreciates that it was done with the best of intentions for your company.