After writing about the dreary world of office politics and how it led to a change of gainful employment, I figured what better way to pull it back than to write about something a little bit more fun. Don't fret though peeps - I'll be getting back to gaming ASAP.
Yes - I recently went on holiday to Disneyworld in Florida. My wife and I have no children but that probably made the whole experience more enjoyable, as I cannot imagine having to hustle a couple of little 'uns through the saccharine sweet wilderness of a theme park.
We also paid a visit to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Busch Gardens and Seaworld, because.......well, why wouldn't you?
I have to say that despite the over the top reliance on merchandise and inflated food prices, we had a pretty good time practically everywhere. It probably helped that we went out of season as it kept all of our queueing to a minimum, in fact the longest we waited for any ride was probably about 15 minutes and that was usually in the afternoon. Our policy was to get to the parks early, get on all of the big rides early and then take in the shows and stores as the day wore on. Plus, we avoided going to any of the parks on weekends as we figured it would be fairly busy.
Here is how our two weeks panned out:
Sunday: Bog all. Had a lie in after the long flight the night before, then we got up and wandered all the way down International Drive (where our hotel was) to check out the local amenities.
Monday: Magic Kingdom. The stereotypical Disney park, with all the characters wandering around (and gargantuan queues to have photos with them) plus a range of rides, shows and attractions. We went on Space Mountain first, then followed that up with Thunder Mountain, then Splash Mountain and then Thunder Mountain again. Whole lotta mountains in this vicinity. In between times we also went on the Dumbo ride, Buzz Lightyears Space Adventure, It's a Small World (ha ha, you just have to), the Steamboat and saw the Hall of Presidents. I'm probably forgetting some other bits and bobs, but on the whole it was a fun old day. We've actually been to Tokyo Disney and this was much the same, but good times nonetheless. We also hung around for the parade and got stood next to a family who happened to have a Woody toy - along comes Woody himself and he makes a big deal over the kid and his toy, which was really nice and quite funny to see.
Tuesday: Epcot Centre. We went on the Mission to Mars ride ASAP (just as well as it was out of commission later in the week) plus we had a go on Soarin (God bless Patrick Warburton) and the Living with the Land ride. We then started to head around the World Showcase but were interrupted by a torrential downpour. We tried to wait it out but after half an hour there was no joy, so we caved and bought ponchos (as we had stupidly left ours at the hotel). We legged it back to the buses and then to the hotel, and the rain continued for the next few hours. Thankfully this was pretty much the only day that bad weather would come into play so I guess we were lucky for that.
Wednesday: Islands of Adventure. This was the day I had most trepidation about, as I've never been that fond of big rides, while the wife loves them. I promised her I would do my best though and after some initial trepidation it has to be said that I had a blast. The Dragon Challenge ride and Forbidden Journey in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter were good fun. I shouted "Arch your back like a Dragon" on the Challenge ride in my best Will Ferrell voice - then proceeded to annoy the wife by using it as my catchphrase on every big ride thereafter. We also went on the Spiderman ride, Jurassic Park Adventure, Rip Saw Rapids and the Bilge Rat Barges - we did the latter three back to back and I was soaked to the skin. We had to stop for ten minutes to dry out in the sun which was a welcome relief. We also went on the Hulk, which had been closed earlier on but luckily reopened, and I have to say that was probably the best of the day - just getting blasted into a series of loops and twists. Good times.
Thursday: Disney Hollywood Studios. A bit of a disappointment really. The Tower of Terror ride was fun, and the the Aerosmith roller coaster not too bad as well. Plus, we really loved the Beauty and the Beast show. However, the old Star Wars ride was average at best as was the Muppet 3D affair and other than a fairly fun Indiana Jones themed stunt show there wasn't that much else to see or do. This was easily the smallest park and the one we spent the least amount of time wandering around/
Friday:Disney Animal Kingdom. We went on the Everest ride first, but it was fairly tame and dull if you ask me (listening to the kids shrieking you would think it they were being tortured) and other than a ropey old Dinosaur ride that was pretty much it. We did go on the rapids but they were nowhere near as good, or wet, as Islands of Adventure so that was a shame. The highlight of the day was the mini safari ride where you piled onto a bus/jeep thing and went to have a look at the local wildlife in the par. Seeing rhinos, hippos, lions and the like up close was pretty fun and the tour guide, who was called Valeria, was super knowledgeable and interesting which really sold it. We also saw the Bugs Life show and went on a couple of the nature walks so it was a fairly relaxing and chilled out day all in all.
Saturday/Sunday: We spent the weekend going to the local Mall (rubbish - mainly clothing stores, bah) and then onto Walmart (awesome - we spent a fortune on food and Peanut Butter M&Ms). Then Sunday we wandered down to Wonderworks and tinkered with the hands on exhibits before I got a touch terrified at the rope walking course (clearly heights are my issue, though it never felt as bad on the rides so go figure). We had been getting up at just after 6am most of the week so these days gave us a chance to have a lie in and conserve some energy ready for another assualt the coming Monday.
Monday, October 08, 2012
Friday, October 05, 2012
How I Changed Jobs (Part 2)
So I got suspended. Truly that must make me some kind of villain or something, right?
The reasons given for my suspension (which I actually had to ask for as the so called letter I was given on the day I was suspended was intentionally vague) were thus: Using my work computer to write my blog (how ironic right?), using my work computer to send personal emails, using my mobile in work time, not supporting my work colleagues appropriately and leaving work without authorised permission.
Terrible stuff indeed, but let's go through these things one at a time so we can see just how much of a joke these charges actually were.
Using my work computer to write my blog - well I have been guilty of that, but only during my lunchbreaks when we do have permission to use the internet. What made this charge more interesting was the fact that my manager and ALL of my colleagues provided written statements saying they had seen me updating my blog through out the month of April this year. Interesting considering my last post on here, as anyone who visits regularly can attest, was done in 2011. Yes, my manager convinced my whole team to lie in order to get rid of me. Classy.
But it gets better. She also provided specific times and dates when she was supposed to have witnessed me doing said activity first hand. Interestingly our company has a signing in/out sheet for fire safety requirements. Guess what? On every single occasion and time she listed either I was out of the office (on work business) or she was. Thus the companies own policies prove me innocent. Neat huh? The fact she just made up a bunch of times and dates without even thinking to check whether I was actually present or not pretty much sums up how things were going to go.
She also produced some of my old appraisal notes (as we have a one to one with the manager every so often) to back up her claim that she had warned me about this before. You know what the problem is with old notes? If you are going to doctor them then do not go outside the lefthand margin and use a different pen. Yes - she ADDED extra lines to my old appraisal notes which were not there before. I called her on it and she said that was 'my opinion' but despite five requests for copies of the original notes (one a formal written one from my solicitor) they still failed to turn up. What a shocker.
Using my computer to send personal emails - this is the only one I would hold my hands up to, but again it was done (in the main) on my lunch. Plus, if I sent one or two personal emails a week then that would probably be a rush. The thing here is that we were actually allowed to send personal emails and my former manager was the one who had set up a separate folder on my computer for storing the bloody things. Everyone on the team has done this a fact my manager actually admitted to in my consequent meeting with her, and yet I'm the only one punished. If we are going to be picky then I would also point out that my former company had no specific legal policy about staff not using the work computer. I suspect they do now.......
Using my mobile in work time - Another good one that the majority of the team is far more guilty of than I am. My manager herself would take calls from her sons, family and partner almost every other day, most notably while just sitting at her desk and ignoring the work phone. Likewise other team members were constantly allowed to use their phone at their desks to call family and friends. Or to make urgent gym appointments and hairdressers bookings - you know, the stuff that absolutely could not wait. For my part my mobile usage was confined to my lunch break and I almost never received calls except for when I moved house earlier in the year - at which point I informed my manager I would receive some calls during work hours and specifically asked if that would be ok. I was told yes at the time but obviously that opinion changed when they wanted rid of me.
Not supporting my work colleagues - this is the best one really. As my supposed colleagues all wrote statements about how I would check their work and tell them what mistakes they had made, which would in turn make them feel uncomfortable. My job was to act as their supervisor, and part of that role was (shockingly) to check their work. If I did find mistakes then, yeah, I would tell them and let them know how it might be done. I'd never do this in a mean way and would often just make a joke out of it. The sad part is that the same mistakes would come up over and over again, and because my boss would never punish the perpetrators it was left to me to let them know what they'd done wrong. Guess what - if you stop making mistakes then I'll stop finding them while doing MY job.
Leaving work without authorisation - This one was just flat out petty. My manager had gone out to a meeting, so I was left in the office with three other people. Then my wife called, practically in tears, and said she was unwell. She could barely concentrate and had trouble just walking around at work. I offered to go and collect her and take her to the doctors. I let the other three members of the team know what was happening and they promised to let my boss know. I also tried to track down the senior manager and let him know, but he was out of the office too. So I went and got her anyway. On my way home my boss texted me and asked if anything was ok as the team had told her what happened. I apologised and explained the situation. However, in her so called witness statement my manager claimed she had no idea where I had gone, neither did ANY of the team. Luckily I kept the text as proof and she later admitted (on tape) that she had known where I went to boot. Stay classy.
So this was the supposed case against me, none of which amounts to anything worthy of a suspension especially considering my flawless disciplinary and attendance record prior to this. After this point it was really a chain of errors from my company resulting in the suspension being lifted, but here are some highlights.
Firstly, as soon as I was suspended I was invited to a disciplinary hearing which was going to be chaired by my manager. Both of which went against our own company policy as I was entitled to give my side of the story in an investigation meeting first, not to mention that. as the person bringing the complaint AND my direct line manager she should not have been anywhere near the meeting. I raised both points and the meeting was changed to an investigation, but she was still running it. More on that fubar later.
As the meeting I basically made them look like idiots. I provided evidence in my favour for every single accusation, not to mention the fact I actually recorded the whole thing using a dictaphone. I asked permission to do so (very important) and that made it all the sweeter when they provided me with their heavily doctored version of events. Seriously, why would you change what was said when I HAVE THE WHOLE CONVERSATION ON TAPE? It blows my mind. I remember my mother offered to type out the recording and spent the whole evening laughing at my managers statements and saying that it may as well have been me running the interview.
Knowing they didn't have a leg to stand on they actually went out of the meeting and tried to dig up more evidence to use against me. They broke into my desk drawer and computer, finding a cheque from a client and a small amount of cash that I had yet to pay into the bank. Please note that said items were locked securely in my drawer. This cheque/cash combo then became the main part of their case against me - yes, they changed the allegations AFTER my investigation meeting. Despite the fact that I have my manager on tape admitting she leaves cash/cheques in her desk for long periods of time which 'is not the point Lee' or so she claims. They also went back and acquired even more anonymous witness statements against my behaviour - meaning there were now nine witness statements from a team of five (not including me). Somehow that maths doesn't work out - oh, you got the same people to give statements twice. Of course that makes sense and is fair.
She unsurprisingly recommended that the investigation by turned into a full blown disciplinary proceeding, and sent me a letter saying how the decision had been reached. A letter dating two days BEFORE my investigation hearing. So she had decided to discipline me before hearing my side of the story effectively - seems unbiased and reasonable.
At this point it was clear that the whole thing was a witch hunt so I got a solicitor involved and proceeded to formally take apart their case one step at a time. I remained suspended for the better part of a month while my company tried to figure out what to do and then, all of a sudden, the suspension was lifted and I went back to work as if nothing had happened. I was still invited to a sham of a disciplinary meeting, where a different manager just sat there and listened to my side of the story. They presented no evidence against me (which they should), gave me no timescale for a decision (which they should) and would not answer any of my questions.
A couple of weeks later the manager from the disciplinary meeting said the decision letter was almost ready, but she didn't understand some of the details in it so was not prepared to sign it off just yet.
That's right......
She basically admitted that someone else had made the decision and she was just signing her name on the paperwork. Do ho ho!
Unsurprisingly, I was given a final written warning which was the worst they could do in the circumstances as they had botched the disciplinary to such an extent that sacking me would have led straight to a lawsuit. I appealed against said warning and cited all of the policies that they had broken along the way that led to my appeal. The letter I handed to my senior manager was over 14 pages long.........
Interestingly, the company policies stated that if the disciplinary procedure had been broken to a significant extent then my appeal should be upheld automatically. They had no way to duck that argument so instead the senior manager in question basically avoided me for the better part of a month until I finally found a new job and got the hell out of there. I sent him a final letter stating that I considered my disciplinary case still open as he should have found the time in a whole month to hear my appeal.
He then called me and said a couple of interesting things......
'Lee I've kept out of this since the start, as I knew it would go to appeal.'
YES - HE JUST ADMITTED THAT HE HAD MADE, OR KNOWN, THE DECISION FROM THE GET GO. Otherwise how would you 'know' it was going to appeal, the charges could have been dropped for all he knew - assuming he was actually neutral. His statement was a lie regardless, as multiple members of staff that had been involved had mentioned his involvement by name in terms of writing letters, getting a solicitor for the company etc. No one else could have signed these things off.
'Following written policies is not the be all and end all'
This was in response to the fact I had proven that I'd broken no company policies and done nothing illegal in any way, coupled with the countless admissions of similar acts from other staff (mobile use, personal emails etc). He basically just said that even though I'd done nothing wrong he FELT they should punish me anyway - what a true and just system, eh?
Through it all I kept a good sense of humour, as I'd been stagnating in the same place for years so this gave me the impetus to go out and find a good job that offered far more chance of advancement. Plus, my new role has way less aggravation and a far higher salary, so what's not to like. The real issue I had was with just how readily some people I'd thought of as friends had turned on me - one of them actually admitted that she hadn't written her 'witness' statement but it was more than her job was worth to say anything.
Quite why my manager would choose an underperforming, incompetent friend over someone that had been doing their best for years on end is beyond me, but such is the state of the world. The most satisfying thing was when I came back from suspension and checked on the online banking.
The company used to basically loan money to clients every day, track those loans on a spreadsheet and then transfer back the money owed at the end of the week from each individuals account. Pretty easy and a task I had been in charge of for a while. In my absence my manager had fucked up nearly a hundred transactions resulting in £15,000.00 of underpayments (clients that owed us money) and £12,000.00 of overpayment's (clients that hadn't owed anything but she'd taken money from anyway). Neither of these lists crossed over in terms of the same people either so the whole thing was a complete mess and no one but me knew it. I could have left it I suppose, but instead I spent three weeks correcting everything and saving spreadsheets, lists etc then on my final day I emailed it all to the senior manager with an explanation of what had happened. A bit of last minute proof that he had backed the lame horse.
After all of that I feel in a better place. I could have sued their asses, but it would have taken 10-12 months to get to court with me paying solicitors fees all the while. Frankly I would have probably just got back the money I put in and it didn't seem worth the effort. Justice may well be only for the rich it seems. I was already down £2k in solicitors fees as it was, but I still felt as though I had 'won' for want of a better word. I'd forced them to take me back to work when they had been trying for all the world to sack me, and I still have all the recordings, letters and evidence on file that makes then look like the spiteful idiots they were. I may have lost out financially, but I felt in a pretty good place.
So onwards and upwards - just don't let the bastards get you down.
Oh - I should also point out that I've barely scratched the surface of all the mistakes, lies and issues that came up as part of this process but figured people might start drooling a little at some point. Didn't want you to share my suffering literally, ha!
The reasons given for my suspension (which I actually had to ask for as the so called letter I was given on the day I was suspended was intentionally vague) were thus: Using my work computer to write my blog (how ironic right?), using my work computer to send personal emails, using my mobile in work time, not supporting my work colleagues appropriately and leaving work without authorised permission.
Terrible stuff indeed, but let's go through these things one at a time so we can see just how much of a joke these charges actually were.
Using my work computer to write my blog - well I have been guilty of that, but only during my lunchbreaks when we do have permission to use the internet. What made this charge more interesting was the fact that my manager and ALL of my colleagues provided written statements saying they had seen me updating my blog through out the month of April this year. Interesting considering my last post on here, as anyone who visits regularly can attest, was done in 2011. Yes, my manager convinced my whole team to lie in order to get rid of me. Classy.
But it gets better. She also provided specific times and dates when she was supposed to have witnessed me doing said activity first hand. Interestingly our company has a signing in/out sheet for fire safety requirements. Guess what? On every single occasion and time she listed either I was out of the office (on work business) or she was. Thus the companies own policies prove me innocent. Neat huh? The fact she just made up a bunch of times and dates without even thinking to check whether I was actually present or not pretty much sums up how things were going to go.
She also produced some of my old appraisal notes (as we have a one to one with the manager every so often) to back up her claim that she had warned me about this before. You know what the problem is with old notes? If you are going to doctor them then do not go outside the lefthand margin and use a different pen. Yes - she ADDED extra lines to my old appraisal notes which were not there before. I called her on it and she said that was 'my opinion' but despite five requests for copies of the original notes (one a formal written one from my solicitor) they still failed to turn up. What a shocker.
Using my computer to send personal emails - this is the only one I would hold my hands up to, but again it was done (in the main) on my lunch. Plus, if I sent one or two personal emails a week then that would probably be a rush. The thing here is that we were actually allowed to send personal emails and my former manager was the one who had set up a separate folder on my computer for storing the bloody things. Everyone on the team has done this a fact my manager actually admitted to in my consequent meeting with her, and yet I'm the only one punished. If we are going to be picky then I would also point out that my former company had no specific legal policy about staff not using the work computer. I suspect they do now.......
Using my mobile in work time - Another good one that the majority of the team is far more guilty of than I am. My manager herself would take calls from her sons, family and partner almost every other day, most notably while just sitting at her desk and ignoring the work phone. Likewise other team members were constantly allowed to use their phone at their desks to call family and friends. Or to make urgent gym appointments and hairdressers bookings - you know, the stuff that absolutely could not wait. For my part my mobile usage was confined to my lunch break and I almost never received calls except for when I moved house earlier in the year - at which point I informed my manager I would receive some calls during work hours and specifically asked if that would be ok. I was told yes at the time but obviously that opinion changed when they wanted rid of me.
Not supporting my work colleagues - this is the best one really. As my supposed colleagues all wrote statements about how I would check their work and tell them what mistakes they had made, which would in turn make them feel uncomfortable. My job was to act as their supervisor, and part of that role was (shockingly) to check their work. If I did find mistakes then, yeah, I would tell them and let them know how it might be done. I'd never do this in a mean way and would often just make a joke out of it. The sad part is that the same mistakes would come up over and over again, and because my boss would never punish the perpetrators it was left to me to let them know what they'd done wrong. Guess what - if you stop making mistakes then I'll stop finding them while doing MY job.
Leaving work without authorisation - This one was just flat out petty. My manager had gone out to a meeting, so I was left in the office with three other people. Then my wife called, practically in tears, and said she was unwell. She could barely concentrate and had trouble just walking around at work. I offered to go and collect her and take her to the doctors. I let the other three members of the team know what was happening and they promised to let my boss know. I also tried to track down the senior manager and let him know, but he was out of the office too. So I went and got her anyway. On my way home my boss texted me and asked if anything was ok as the team had told her what happened. I apologised and explained the situation. However, in her so called witness statement my manager claimed she had no idea where I had gone, neither did ANY of the team. Luckily I kept the text as proof and she later admitted (on tape) that she had known where I went to boot. Stay classy.
So this was the supposed case against me, none of which amounts to anything worthy of a suspension especially considering my flawless disciplinary and attendance record prior to this. After this point it was really a chain of errors from my company resulting in the suspension being lifted, but here are some highlights.
Firstly, as soon as I was suspended I was invited to a disciplinary hearing which was going to be chaired by my manager. Both of which went against our own company policy as I was entitled to give my side of the story in an investigation meeting first, not to mention that. as the person bringing the complaint AND my direct line manager she should not have been anywhere near the meeting. I raised both points and the meeting was changed to an investigation, but she was still running it. More on that fubar later.
As the meeting I basically made them look like idiots. I provided evidence in my favour for every single accusation, not to mention the fact I actually recorded the whole thing using a dictaphone. I asked permission to do so (very important) and that made it all the sweeter when they provided me with their heavily doctored version of events. Seriously, why would you change what was said when I HAVE THE WHOLE CONVERSATION ON TAPE? It blows my mind. I remember my mother offered to type out the recording and spent the whole evening laughing at my managers statements and saying that it may as well have been me running the interview.
Knowing they didn't have a leg to stand on they actually went out of the meeting and tried to dig up more evidence to use against me. They broke into my desk drawer and computer, finding a cheque from a client and a small amount of cash that I had yet to pay into the bank. Please note that said items were locked securely in my drawer. This cheque/cash combo then became the main part of their case against me - yes, they changed the allegations AFTER my investigation meeting. Despite the fact that I have my manager on tape admitting she leaves cash/cheques in her desk for long periods of time which 'is not the point Lee' or so she claims. They also went back and acquired even more anonymous witness statements against my behaviour - meaning there were now nine witness statements from a team of five (not including me). Somehow that maths doesn't work out - oh, you got the same people to give statements twice. Of course that makes sense and is fair.
She unsurprisingly recommended that the investigation by turned into a full blown disciplinary proceeding, and sent me a letter saying how the decision had been reached. A letter dating two days BEFORE my investigation hearing. So she had decided to discipline me before hearing my side of the story effectively - seems unbiased and reasonable.
At this point it was clear that the whole thing was a witch hunt so I got a solicitor involved and proceeded to formally take apart their case one step at a time. I remained suspended for the better part of a month while my company tried to figure out what to do and then, all of a sudden, the suspension was lifted and I went back to work as if nothing had happened. I was still invited to a sham of a disciplinary meeting, where a different manager just sat there and listened to my side of the story. They presented no evidence against me (which they should), gave me no timescale for a decision (which they should) and would not answer any of my questions.
A couple of weeks later the manager from the disciplinary meeting said the decision letter was almost ready, but she didn't understand some of the details in it so was not prepared to sign it off just yet.
That's right......
She basically admitted that someone else had made the decision and she was just signing her name on the paperwork. Do ho ho!
Unsurprisingly, I was given a final written warning which was the worst they could do in the circumstances as they had botched the disciplinary to such an extent that sacking me would have led straight to a lawsuit. I appealed against said warning and cited all of the policies that they had broken along the way that led to my appeal. The letter I handed to my senior manager was over 14 pages long.........
Interestingly, the company policies stated that if the disciplinary procedure had been broken to a significant extent then my appeal should be upheld automatically. They had no way to duck that argument so instead the senior manager in question basically avoided me for the better part of a month until I finally found a new job and got the hell out of there. I sent him a final letter stating that I considered my disciplinary case still open as he should have found the time in a whole month to hear my appeal.
He then called me and said a couple of interesting things......
'Lee I've kept out of this since the start, as I knew it would go to appeal.'
YES - HE JUST ADMITTED THAT HE HAD MADE, OR KNOWN, THE DECISION FROM THE GET GO. Otherwise how would you 'know' it was going to appeal, the charges could have been dropped for all he knew - assuming he was actually neutral. His statement was a lie regardless, as multiple members of staff that had been involved had mentioned his involvement by name in terms of writing letters, getting a solicitor for the company etc. No one else could have signed these things off.
'Following written policies is not the be all and end all'
This was in response to the fact I had proven that I'd broken no company policies and done nothing illegal in any way, coupled with the countless admissions of similar acts from other staff (mobile use, personal emails etc). He basically just said that even though I'd done nothing wrong he FELT they should punish me anyway - what a true and just system, eh?
Through it all I kept a good sense of humour, as I'd been stagnating in the same place for years so this gave me the impetus to go out and find a good job that offered far more chance of advancement. Plus, my new role has way less aggravation and a far higher salary, so what's not to like. The real issue I had was with just how readily some people I'd thought of as friends had turned on me - one of them actually admitted that she hadn't written her 'witness' statement but it was more than her job was worth to say anything.
Quite why my manager would choose an underperforming, incompetent friend over someone that had been doing their best for years on end is beyond me, but such is the state of the world. The most satisfying thing was when I came back from suspension and checked on the online banking.
The company used to basically loan money to clients every day, track those loans on a spreadsheet and then transfer back the money owed at the end of the week from each individuals account. Pretty easy and a task I had been in charge of for a while. In my absence my manager had fucked up nearly a hundred transactions resulting in £15,000.00 of underpayments (clients that owed us money) and £12,000.00 of overpayment's (clients that hadn't owed anything but she'd taken money from anyway). Neither of these lists crossed over in terms of the same people either so the whole thing was a complete mess and no one but me knew it. I could have left it I suppose, but instead I spent three weeks correcting everything and saving spreadsheets, lists etc then on my final day I emailed it all to the senior manager with an explanation of what had happened. A bit of last minute proof that he had backed the lame horse.
After all of that I feel in a better place. I could have sued their asses, but it would have taken 10-12 months to get to court with me paying solicitors fees all the while. Frankly I would have probably just got back the money I put in and it didn't seem worth the effort. Justice may well be only for the rich it seems. I was already down £2k in solicitors fees as it was, but I still felt as though I had 'won' for want of a better word. I'd forced them to take me back to work when they had been trying for all the world to sack me, and I still have all the recordings, letters and evidence on file that makes then look like the spiteful idiots they were. I may have lost out financially, but I felt in a pretty good place.
So onwards and upwards - just don't let the bastards get you down.
Oh - I should also point out that I've barely scratched the surface of all the mistakes, lies and issues that came up as part of this process but figured people might start drooling a little at some point. Didn't want you to share my suffering literally, ha!
Thursday, October 04, 2012
How I changed jobs (Part 1)
I've been meaning to chronicle my career shift, if only for my own satisfaction and due to the fact that the way it occurred was so mind bogglingly infuriating that I cannot quite believe it to this day. So I figured I'd jot down what happened and leave people free to make up their own minds about what happened.
Bit of back story I suppose. My last role was that of an Appointee Officer for a company that shall remain nameless. What this means in real terms was that I was the second in command of a small team (varying from 5-7 people depending on people leaving etc) that was tasked with managing the personal finances of vulnerable clients. This meant we looked after money for elderly people with no relatives, people with physical injuries and those with learning difficulties. We would look after every aspect of their finances, from receiving their benefit payments, paying bills, providing money for shopping right the way through to booking them holidays and so on. A pretty in depth job but one that was also equal parts interesting and frustrating. You would not believe how many family members are prepared to rip off their own relatives - but I digress.
I'd been working at said place for six years and doing pretty well at it. My old manager had gone through a bit of a rough patch personally speaking and it was fair to say that I had taken on more and more responsibility, without anything in the way of reward. Eventually a new managing director was put in place and he seemed to take an instant dislike to our team and insisted on putting in place a series of regimented procedures that made our jobs that much harder. Which is not to say that some of them were not necessary as it makes sense for a company dealing with the finances of 400+ vulnerable people to have accountability, however, he basically implemented things in as roughshod a manner as he could while offering the team no chance for new personnel, training or even overtime to battle the workload.
After about a year of his constant questioning of how we did things my manager basically said enough was enough and resigned, without even having another job lined up which should tell you something. I was equal parts worried about the direction of the team and excited about the prospect of finally moving up the ranks (I'd been there four years at this point).
However, at the interviews it became rapidly apparent that I was going to be basically overlooked due to the fact I'd worked closely with the previous manager. How could I improve the team, they said, if I hadn't been able to do so under my old boss? Um, maybe because she was the person in charge and I couldn't force her to change the way the team was run? Anyway, cut a long story short, they hired someone external to the company that had zero experience in terms of being an appointee, interacting with social services, handling benefits etc. I found that especially interesting as part of the interview had been to do a presentation on the state of the appointee department and ways it could be improved - a presentation no one else could surely have delivered if they had no reasonable experience (bearing in mind that, from a legal standpoint, the interviewees should all be treated fairly and the same). She did have some management experience, but the overall message I got was that she was hired for basically NOT being me. Lucky for her.
So instead of being the manager I was now working for a manager who had no clue about anything we currently did or any of the procedures we had in place. The fact she had also been instructed to raise the teams profitability at any cost, seemingly, would come into play too. I can't say I was too upset about not getting the job, at least not at first, more with the way the interviews had been carried out in a completely biased way. Cest la vie!
Our new manager was, at least, the sociable type and made every effort to get on with the team and try to pick up what it was exactly that we did. Due to senior management allowing the former manager a handover period of exactly one day (I kid you not) she basically had no chance of passing everything to the new boss, so it was only a matter of time before things went to pot.
Over the course of the next year or so things gradually began to disintegrate. Tasks that used to be standard fare for the team gradually became more and more overlooked. Filing was not getting done, bank statements were not being checked, bills were going unpaid or being paid from the wrong clients account entirely. The reasons for this were many and various. A team member left to go to a new good and was not adequately replaced, another had a serious long term illness and was absent for a prolonged period and no one who subsequently joined the team was adequately trained.
The main problem was one of the staff, a girl that had become good friends with the new manager. She would constantly make basic errors on a variety of tasks. Including paying cheques from the wrong persons account, not logging payments at all so the company was liable, or agreeing to phone requests for money and purchase etc but then not noting them down anywhere leading to a number of complaints. It didn't help that she would lie about completing work only for unfinished documents to turn up on her desk after we had received a phone call complaining about us not doing this or that. Not only that but she was constantly late to work - arriving late on over 30+ separate occasions in one four month period. Any one of the countless errors she made should have been grounds for some kind of disciplinary procedure. Instead, because of her friendship with the team manager, the issues were overlooked time and time again. I made at least four separate formal complaints about her in the last year of my employment there, and all of them were ignored. It got to the point where other members of the team would not pass her work because they feared it would simply not get done.
Finally, at the start of this year I had simply had enough. I sent a lengthy email, detailing all of the issues caused by this particular colleague, to the current managing director (a different fellow to the one that had done the appointee management interviews - who had himself been made redundant on a technicality). He invited me to a meeting to discuss the problem and go over possible solutions. I discussed the possibility of her being retrained, though raised the issue that such action had been tried before and she refused to change her attitude, he suggested replacing her entirely and I said that may well be the only option. He said he would have to discuss the problem with my manager, as she would have to have a say, and then we could proceed.
Three weeks later, and having heard nothing from the director in the interim, my manager summoned me to the boardroom downstairs (along with another colleague) and promptly said I was suspended.
Then things got really interesting........
Bit of back story I suppose. My last role was that of an Appointee Officer for a company that shall remain nameless. What this means in real terms was that I was the second in command of a small team (varying from 5-7 people depending on people leaving etc) that was tasked with managing the personal finances of vulnerable clients. This meant we looked after money for elderly people with no relatives, people with physical injuries and those with learning difficulties. We would look after every aspect of their finances, from receiving their benefit payments, paying bills, providing money for shopping right the way through to booking them holidays and so on. A pretty in depth job but one that was also equal parts interesting and frustrating. You would not believe how many family members are prepared to rip off their own relatives - but I digress.
I'd been working at said place for six years and doing pretty well at it. My old manager had gone through a bit of a rough patch personally speaking and it was fair to say that I had taken on more and more responsibility, without anything in the way of reward. Eventually a new managing director was put in place and he seemed to take an instant dislike to our team and insisted on putting in place a series of regimented procedures that made our jobs that much harder. Which is not to say that some of them were not necessary as it makes sense for a company dealing with the finances of 400+ vulnerable people to have accountability, however, he basically implemented things in as roughshod a manner as he could while offering the team no chance for new personnel, training or even overtime to battle the workload.
After about a year of his constant questioning of how we did things my manager basically said enough was enough and resigned, without even having another job lined up which should tell you something. I was equal parts worried about the direction of the team and excited about the prospect of finally moving up the ranks (I'd been there four years at this point).
However, at the interviews it became rapidly apparent that I was going to be basically overlooked due to the fact I'd worked closely with the previous manager. How could I improve the team, they said, if I hadn't been able to do so under my old boss? Um, maybe because she was the person in charge and I couldn't force her to change the way the team was run? Anyway, cut a long story short, they hired someone external to the company that had zero experience in terms of being an appointee, interacting with social services, handling benefits etc. I found that especially interesting as part of the interview had been to do a presentation on the state of the appointee department and ways it could be improved - a presentation no one else could surely have delivered if they had no reasonable experience (bearing in mind that, from a legal standpoint, the interviewees should all be treated fairly and the same). She did have some management experience, but the overall message I got was that she was hired for basically NOT being me. Lucky for her.
So instead of being the manager I was now working for a manager who had no clue about anything we currently did or any of the procedures we had in place. The fact she had also been instructed to raise the teams profitability at any cost, seemingly, would come into play too. I can't say I was too upset about not getting the job, at least not at first, more with the way the interviews had been carried out in a completely biased way. Cest la vie!
Our new manager was, at least, the sociable type and made every effort to get on with the team and try to pick up what it was exactly that we did. Due to senior management allowing the former manager a handover period of exactly one day (I kid you not) she basically had no chance of passing everything to the new boss, so it was only a matter of time before things went to pot.
Over the course of the next year or so things gradually began to disintegrate. Tasks that used to be standard fare for the team gradually became more and more overlooked. Filing was not getting done, bank statements were not being checked, bills were going unpaid or being paid from the wrong clients account entirely. The reasons for this were many and various. A team member left to go to a new good and was not adequately replaced, another had a serious long term illness and was absent for a prolonged period and no one who subsequently joined the team was adequately trained.
The main problem was one of the staff, a girl that had become good friends with the new manager. She would constantly make basic errors on a variety of tasks. Including paying cheques from the wrong persons account, not logging payments at all so the company was liable, or agreeing to phone requests for money and purchase etc but then not noting them down anywhere leading to a number of complaints. It didn't help that she would lie about completing work only for unfinished documents to turn up on her desk after we had received a phone call complaining about us not doing this or that. Not only that but she was constantly late to work - arriving late on over 30+ separate occasions in one four month period. Any one of the countless errors she made should have been grounds for some kind of disciplinary procedure. Instead, because of her friendship with the team manager, the issues were overlooked time and time again. I made at least four separate formal complaints about her in the last year of my employment there, and all of them were ignored. It got to the point where other members of the team would not pass her work because they feared it would simply not get done.
Finally, at the start of this year I had simply had enough. I sent a lengthy email, detailing all of the issues caused by this particular colleague, to the current managing director (a different fellow to the one that had done the appointee management interviews - who had himself been made redundant on a technicality). He invited me to a meeting to discuss the problem and go over possible solutions. I discussed the possibility of her being retrained, though raised the issue that such action had been tried before and she refused to change her attitude, he suggested replacing her entirely and I said that may well be the only option. He said he would have to discuss the problem with my manager, as she would have to have a say, and then we could proceed.
Three weeks later, and having heard nothing from the director in the interim, my manager summoned me to the boardroom downstairs (along with another colleague) and promptly said I was suspended.
Then things got really interesting........
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Lies, damn lies and statistics
RETAIL - 33 games
Assassins Creed: BH – 270/1000
Battlefield 2: MC - 500/1000
Beatles Rock Band – 130/1000
Bladestorm - 150/1000
Call of Duty: B. Ops - 1200/1700
Call of Duty: WaW - 1000/1500
Catherine - 35/1000
Disney Sing It HSM3 - 330/1000
Fairytale Fights - 380/1000
Fallout New Vegas - 155/1655
FIFA 12 - 1000/1250
Gears of War 3 - 1765/2000
Ghost Recon FS - 1000/1170
GRAW - 752/1000
GRAW 2 - 1000/1250
Guitar Hero 2 - 320/1000
Halo ODST – 900/1000
Kinect Adventures - 85/1000
Lego Harry Potter 2 - 200/1000
Lego Star Wars TCS - 260/1000
Perfect Dark Zero - 150/1000
Risen - 70/1000
Spiderman 3 - 910/1000
Splinter Cell: DA - 670/1000
Star Wars: Republic Heroes - 365/1000
Supreme Commander - 110/1000
Table Tennis - 630/1000
The Sims 3 – 150/1000
Tomb Raider: Legend - 1065/1250
Tropico 4 - 1040/1250
Vampire Rain - 650/1000
WSC 2007 - 550/1000
You’re in the Movies - 140/1000
TOTAL - 17932/37025
ARCADE - 8 games
A World of Keflings - 200/250
Boogie Bunnies - 115/200
Eets: Chowdown - 40/200
Geometry Wars - 40/200
Ilomilo - 100/250
Texas Hold ‘Em - 105/200
Wallace and Gromit - 115/200
Where's Wally - 40/200
TOTAL - 755/1700
Overall - 18687/38725
Here are all the games on my current to do list, which is actually in a bit better shape than the last time I tried this exercise (well over a year ago).
I'm actually hoping I can chalk off a few games in relatively short order as I only need to polish off DLC on games like Tomb Raider, Tropico 4, FIFA 12 and two of the Ghost Recon games. Not to mention a couple of the Arcade titles should be fairly simple too. We shall see. There are also at least three/four retail titles on there that could be sorted in relatively short order if I can get my other half to sit down and play some Lego games with me. Would be nice to just get a few more games out of the way so I can concentrate solely on newer titles and games I've been putting off for too long now.
At the moment my main goal is just to polish off as many games as I can, as well as hopefully starting a few of the easier titles that have been sat on my shelves for years. The next generation is probably right around the corner so it really does make sense for me to try and get rid of as many old games as I can while they are still worth something.
With 20,038 points sat on my tag from games I've already started then I really want to try and get that figure down to about 10k if I can. I also have a few other games sat around that I'll never finish (due to closed servers, glitched achievements etc) so this is my target area for now. Hopefully I can get focused on these badboys and blitz through a few things. Good intentions and all that. Though I expect that with Xmas and, more importantly, review season coming up my card may well just get swamped. We shall see.
Assassins Creed: BH – 270/1000
Battlefield 2: MC - 500/1000
Beatles Rock Band – 130/1000
Bladestorm - 150/1000
Call of Duty: B. Ops - 1200/1700
Call of Duty: WaW - 1000/1500
Catherine - 35/1000
Disney Sing It HSM3 - 330/1000
Fairytale Fights - 380/1000
Fallout New Vegas - 155/1655
FIFA 12 - 1000/1250
Gears of War 3 - 1765/2000
Ghost Recon FS - 1000/1170
GRAW - 752/1000
GRAW 2 - 1000/1250
Guitar Hero 2 - 320/1000
Halo ODST – 900/1000
Kinect Adventures - 85/1000
Lego Harry Potter 2 - 200/1000
Lego Star Wars TCS - 260/1000
Perfect Dark Zero - 150/1000
Risen - 70/1000
Spiderman 3 - 910/1000
Splinter Cell: DA - 670/1000
Star Wars: Republic Heroes - 365/1000
Supreme Commander - 110/1000
Table Tennis - 630/1000
The Sims 3 – 150/1000
Tomb Raider: Legend - 1065/1250
Tropico 4 - 1040/1250
Vampire Rain - 650/1000
WSC 2007 - 550/1000
You’re in the Movies - 140/1000
TOTAL - 17932/37025
ARCADE - 8 games
A World of Keflings - 200/250
Boogie Bunnies - 115/200
Eets: Chowdown - 40/200
Geometry Wars - 40/200
Ilomilo - 100/250
Texas Hold ‘Em - 105/200
Wallace and Gromit - 115/200
Where's Wally - 40/200
TOTAL - 755/1700
Overall - 18687/38725
Here are all the games on my current to do list, which is actually in a bit better shape than the last time I tried this exercise (well over a year ago).
I'm actually hoping I can chalk off a few games in relatively short order as I only need to polish off DLC on games like Tomb Raider, Tropico 4, FIFA 12 and two of the Ghost Recon games. Not to mention a couple of the Arcade titles should be fairly simple too. We shall see. There are also at least three/four retail titles on there that could be sorted in relatively short order if I can get my other half to sit down and play some Lego games with me. Would be nice to just get a few more games out of the way so I can concentrate solely on newer titles and games I've been putting off for too long now.
At the moment my main goal is just to polish off as many games as I can, as well as hopefully starting a few of the easier titles that have been sat on my shelves for years. The next generation is probably right around the corner so it really does make sense for me to try and get rid of as many old games as I can while they are still worth something.
With 20,038 points sat on my tag from games I've already started then I really want to try and get that figure down to about 10k if I can. I also have a few other games sat around that I'll never finish (due to closed servers, glitched achievements etc) so this is my target area for now. Hopefully I can get focused on these badboys and blitz through a few things. Good intentions and all that. Though I expect that with Xmas and, more importantly, review season coming up my card may well just get swamped. We shall see.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Been a while
A lot has happened since my last full blog, mainly including me moving jobs which can partially be blamed on my blog itself (though not really) but I shall explain all of that at a later date. Seriously there is nothing better than getting screwed over to freshen the mind and recharge the batteries.
I've also moved house and been fairly busy personally speaking, so the first thing to go by the wayside was my unfortunate blog. Still I should have a bit more time now and hope to get back into the swing of things fairly quickly.
One thing I have started doing, which will hopefully give me plenty of writing fodder, is collecting classic SNES games. As well as trying to put together a collection of every PAL/NTSC game ever released (only one of each mind you) I'm going to be replaying them along the way and seeing if they stand up to modern comparisons. Should be interesting. A chronicle of my collecting and playing. I'd actually considered starting a brand new blog just for that purpose, and still might, but we shall see how we go.
I'll also start rambling on about my achievement progress and general Xbox 360 gaming once again, as I'm still trying to break through to that elusive 95% completion barrier (just shy of 93% at the moment). Though with so many games on my card it makes going up even one percent a mjor crawl. I think I need roughly 100+ achievements to go up one percent though it may well be more.
So expect to hear a little more from me in future. Fingers crossed.
I've also moved house and been fairly busy personally speaking, so the first thing to go by the wayside was my unfortunate blog. Still I should have a bit more time now and hope to get back into the swing of things fairly quickly.
One thing I have started doing, which will hopefully give me plenty of writing fodder, is collecting classic SNES games. As well as trying to put together a collection of every PAL/NTSC game ever released (only one of each mind you) I'm going to be replaying them along the way and seeing if they stand up to modern comparisons. Should be interesting. A chronicle of my collecting and playing. I'd actually considered starting a brand new blog just for that purpose, and still might, but we shall see how we go.
I'll also start rambling on about my achievement progress and general Xbox 360 gaming once again, as I'm still trying to break through to that elusive 95% completion barrier (just shy of 93% at the moment). Though with so many games on my card it makes going up even one percent a mjor crawl. I think I need roughly 100+ achievements to go up one percent though it may well be more.
So expect to hear a little more from me in future. Fingers crossed.
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