I'm so depressed I can't even cry anymore.......

Gingernutty

So, I bunked off Maths and sat in the office two nights running with the books instead of taking them home.

Sod that. I'm not taking a shopping trolley full of heavy books on the bus in this weather!

I took the exam. It was a practical paper.

There may be a theory paper at some stage.

Or there may not be.

We (the candidates) don't know. No one's told us anything.

I found out where and when the two hour exam was going to be a little over an hour before the start time.

Fabulous when we have work to do and we have to plan our day etc.

I still don't know the score as the Team Manager is on annual leave.

And has left us all hanging.

The Occupational Health meeting went OK. He referred me for counselling and......they sent me a letter acknowledging the referral and explaining that as they had a large increase in demand for their services, there wouldn't be an appointment any time soon.

The guy I met was the same fella who spoke to me after I'd gassed myself with the fire. So we were able to catch up.

Workwise.....well, I've never been so miserable.

Something's happened which has put pressure on my section and due to a variety of different leaves we had a third of our team off today.

So I bunked Maths again tonight to finish two peoples' work.

No pressure.

We have been getting weird passive aggressive emails from line managers about the 'negativity' in the office, people are too scared to talk to one another in case what's said gets back to the Team Manager and one of the senior members of the team (but not a team leader) has offered to write references for us should we want to find alternative employment.

Apparently, that time the Team Manager failed to provide a reference for me after I applied for a job wasn't a one off. Two people left when she arrived a couple of years ago and their new manager is still waiting for a reference from her - two years after they were hired.

We've got Christmas leave/rush/end of month and quarter targets coming up and the prospect of new software to be introduced.

This is going to be so bad it's untrue.

Gingernutty

I wrote the email. THAT email. I worked on it on the weekend and sent it yesterday lunch time.

I thought Boss Lady was in but it turns out she isn't. After receiving an out of office reply on Saturday (yes, I work one Saturday in four) that said she'd be in on Monday, she's changed her plans and she's now in Friday.

I Bcc'd half the office.

You know you're out of your comfort zone when people come up to hold your shoulder and say "I think you're so brave." :eek:

After a brief discussion with a few colleagues, I forwarded it to Boss Lady's boss, a couple of union reps and occupational health.

Roll on Friday. :eek:

sk00bie1

I really hope it works out for you Gingernutty, good on you for doing something to try and change your situation.

Gingernutty

I learned something this week.

Aside from I actually work with some lovely people.

I already knew that at the very beginning of the month, the time sheets are sent to pay roll for the next months wages to be paid.

All the leave (sick, maternity, lieu, annual and so on) has to be accounted for and highlighted. This job is given to an Admin lady.

This is the bit I learned - she puts on all the sick leave for everybody apart from the team management. They do their own.

She has recently been told that this is incorrect and that she has to put on all sick leave.

This means that the TLs and TM, who have all had recent sick leave, haven't had it seen to be accounted for. That's not fair :mad:

Also, there's a job going in the section I want to work in.

Grade C in Maths required.

Band 2 position.

That's a significant pay drop but it's in the field I want to work in.

I've got until the 17th to apply.

I'll think about it.

Savvy_Sue

Gingernutty wrote: »

I already knew that at the very beginning of the month, the time sheets are sent to pay roll for the next months wages to be paid.

All the leave (sick, maternity, lieu, annual and so on) has to be accounted for and highlighted. This job is given to an Admin lady.

This is the bit I learned - she puts on all the sick leave for everybody apart from the team management. They do their own.

She has recently been told that this is incorrect and that she has to put on all sick leave.

This means that the TLs and TM, who have all had recent sick leave, haven't had it seen to be accounted for. That's not fair :mad:

Work doesn't have to be fair. And actually, I'm not sure what you're upset about here: a mistake's been made, no doubt it will now be rectified and that previous sick leave will be recorded properly. Plus you don't know they weren't recording it properly themselves.

Gingernutty wrote: »

Also, there's a job going in the section I want to work in.

Grade C in Maths required.

Band 2 position.

That's a significant pay drop but it's in the field I want to work in.

I've got until the 17th to apply.

I'll think about it.

I don't see that you have anything to lose, go for it!

SarEl

I am not entirely sure that "THAT email" is but I have a horrible feeling that I can guess. I presume some form of grievance or complaint? Are you aware that bcc'ing your colleagues into this was misconduct and possibly may constitute gross misconduct? If you were subject to criticism from your manager or disciplinary action, then you would not expect the employer to bcc your colleagues in to the correspondence, or hold a staff meeting with them to brief them on it. The same "courtesy" is required of you.

Some of the most common disciplinary actions are the ones arising from (a) what a "trusted colleague" told management and (b) what the IT department found, and bcc copies are part of the IT record.

I have skimmed through your thread and I am sorry that things are so difficult for you at work, but I think you need to be aware of the fact that the unspoken bit of the sentence "I think you are so brave..." is usually "...because I wouldn't have been this stupid / stuck my head up". Sympathy is all very well, but when the chips are down, support generally evaporates and you are on your own. If you "put reasons out there" for disciplinary action, like breaching confidentiality by copying people in who have no right or reason to know, it can come back and bite you.

Gingernutty

SarEl wrote: »

I am not entirely sure that "THAT email" is but I have a horrible feeling that I can guess. I presume some form of grievance or complaint? Are you aware that bcc'ing your colleagues into this was misconduct and possibly may constitute gross misconduct? If you were subject to criticism from your manager or disciplinary action, then you would not expect the employer to bcc your colleagues in to the correspondence, or hold a staff meeting with them to brief them on it. The same "courtesy" is required of you.

Some of the most common disciplinary actions are the ones arising from (a) what a "trusted colleague" told management and (b) what the IT department found, and bcc copies are part of the IT record.

I have skimmed through your thread and I am sorry that things are so difficult for you at work, but I think you need to be aware of the fact that the unspoken bit of the sentence "I think you are so brave..." is usually "...because I wouldn't have been this stupid / stuck my head up". Sympathy is all very well, but when the chips are down, support generally evaporates and you are on your own. If you "put reasons out there" for disciplinary action, like breaching confidentiality by copying people in who have no right or reason to know, it can come back and bite you.

Thanks. Good to see you back, by the way.

I forwarded it to the union rep who sees no problem with it. :undecided

I cc'd the team leaders and bcc'd others who were also affected by the issue - I believe that they had a right to see what's being said about it - they are under no obligation to do or say anything.

Oh yeah, I know I'm alone.

The team meeting was awkwardly passive aggressive. Apparently "someone" sent the TM an "inappropriate" email. When "people" send emails like that......etc, etc.

Roll on Monday.

SarEl

Gingernutty wrote: »

Thanks. Good to see you back, by the way.

I forwarded it to the union rep who sees no problem with it. :undecided

I cc'd the team leaders and bcc'd others who were also affected by the issue - I believe that they had a right to see what's being said about it - they are under no obligation to do or say anything.

Oh yeah, I know I'm alone.

The team meeting was awkwardly passive aggressive. Apparently "someone" sent the TM an "inappropriate" email. When "people" send emails like that......etc, etc.

Roll on Monday.

Then your union rep is an idiot! Sorry, but there are appropriate ways of dealing with collective issues and that is through collective action. If the others "affected by it" care that much then they take their own action. It is taking risks that are not justified to copy in people that are not party to the matter - and actually you knew that when you did it because you would not have "blind copied" them into it if you thought there was any legitimate reason to send it to them. So some part of you was telling you it wasn't the done thing. You need to be more careful. These things really do have a way of creeping out of "secret" and into the public domain, and you cannot afford to be handing your management ammunition.

You know that you are in a vulnerable position - don't make it more so.

And thank you for the welcome back - I wish it wasn't the case that you are still struggling with this all this time later.

Gingernutty

SarEl wrote: »

Then your union rep is an idiot! Sorry, but there are appropriate ways of dealing with collective issues and that is through collective action. If the others "affected by it" care that much then they take their own action. It is taking risks that are not justified to copy in people that are not party to the matter - and actually you knew that when you did it because you would not have "blind copied" them into it if you thought there was any legitimate reason to send it to them. So some part of you was telling you it wasn't the done thing. You need to be more careful. These things really do have a way of creeping out of "secret" and into the public domain, and you cannot afford to be handing your management ammunition.

You know that you are in a vulnerable position - don't make it more so.

And thank you for the welcome back - I wish it wasn't the case that you are still struggling with this all this time later.

Funnily enough, the union rep said the same thing. We all need to sit down and discuss this rationally.

Like that's going to happen.

The main problem has been that the 'divide and conquer' management strategy adopted by TM has worked.

Everyone has an issue with her, sees what's happening to people around them, hopes that she doesn't pick on them and does nothing so as to reduce the possibility of her picking on them.

TM rarely does anything in writing - it's all face to face with no one else present who's isn't prepared to say anything against her.

The only thing going for me is that she can't afford to have another member of staff leaving. We have a certain reputation, she has a certain reputation and money's tight.

There's no guarantee that when someone leaves they will be replaced. Getting funding for a replacement for someone who's retiring has been a right palaver.

[STRIKE]I'll apply for that other job. [/STRIKE]

Edit : I've applied for that other job.

patman99

I know how you feel about your job. I am now looking to move-on from mine due to another person being taken-on in my department. The new guy who is doing the same job as me seams to be flavour of the year so far. He gets to do all the complex stuff (that I am qualified to do) whilst I get stuck doing simple stuff. The one good thing is that the other guy has plenty of contacts from his previous job who keep him up to date regarding vacancies elsewhere. So hopefully he will soon be on his way and I will go back to being the 'respected one'.