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Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006 - 8:09 a.m. Workplace = Junior High
There is a myth the has been perpetrated
throughout the ages, and that is of there being such a thing as a
"professional work environment." I say this because it just
doesn't exist. It might as well be a subject for crypto zoologists to
study. For many out there who have not entered the work force yet, you may
have the impression that once you go to work for some company, upon your
arrival, a certain decorum will exist. This decorum being everyone in the
workplace is polite, respects each other and works well together. This is
a false misconception because nothing could be further from the truth. I
liken the work place to a bunch of 14 year old girls in that there is factioning,
clique formation, back stabbing, rudeness, hostility, one-up-man-ship and in
many cases, general bad behavior. And depending on where it is you are
employed, those in charge will do something about it to try to make it a less
hostile place to work, or, they will turn the other way. Many times, those
who are guilty of perpetrating the hostility will go unpunished, or you,
as the "victim" or "sufferer" will be the one who is seen
unfavorably and suffer the consequences such as being reprimanded after you
report the bad behavior, or even terminated for being seen as a "problem
employee" for reporting such infractions. I speak from experience. It has
happened to me time and time again where I have been subjected to in-office
hostility, from supervisors and other coworkers. It has ranged from a
manager using abusive language, and at times that manager being drunk on the job
while spewing out his obscenities and threats. I once took a phone call
from a co-worker who threatened to come into the office with a gun and shoot all
of us, only to be sent back to my desk by the company owner, which desk was
right at the front door, while said owner did nothing. (Needless to say
the shooting never occurred, but I did not appreciate the blatant disregard for
my safety as everyone else had offices in the back of our suite.) I have
been subjected to sexual harassment of the hostile environment type, as opposed
to quid pro quo, and fired from said job when I finally told the offender (my
boss) to stop. I have endured a managers who have had such severe anger
management issues that the company sent him to anger management counseling, but
was still forced to endure his outbursts and insults because, well, he was a
manager and I was not. I have been called "stupid", screamed about in
the third person as if I were not standing there, and had false information
perpetrated about me in the work place. I have been subject to post 9/11
hostility by a manager who told me that the vandalizing of my vehicle was due to
my "marrying into the wrong religion." I was once SEVERELY
reprimanded in a 45 minute tirade because a phone message did not reach its
intended recipient in a timely manner, even though that message had very little
urgency. (When I say in a timely manner, I mean it got to the individual 10
minutes after that person was available to receive it.) I was fired from
that position after talking to HR about the repeated abusive language and
behavior by my manager. I have been ostracized by my co-workers on several
occasions despite my attempts to be friendly, cordial and hospitable, and
earnest attempts to connect to them in some way so as to have a positive working
relationship with them. I have endured repeated outbursts of hostility,
rudeness and been the subject of many an unwarranted complaint by co-workers who
seem to have had nothing better to do than to worry about my work and personal
habits, than getting their own work done. In fact, I have taken notice
that these people usually end up staying later at the office than others, in
what I can only assume is an attempt to make up for the time they spent focusing
on others in the office rather than applying themselves to their own work.
The interesting thing about these types of people is that they seem to be the
ones who advance in the workplace while others, who have more integrity and work
ethic, are left in their dust. Some advice to those out there regarding
Human Resources departments... Unfortunately, despite rhetoric stating
that you do not have to endure these types of situations, the opposite is most
likely true. Regarding the manager that presented me with my 45 minute
reprimand, in which I was informed I was "an embarrassment to the
company," human resources informed me that my options were to just live
with his frequent outbursts and insults, or leave and find something else.
When this is the policy of a company, then it emphasizes that it places very
little value on those who it employs and in my case, leads to feelings of
worthlessness. Human resources IS NOT THERE TO PROTECT EMPLOYEES!
They are there to protect the company, and if you are having a problem, it is
best not to report it to them. This raises a red flag and most often YOU
will deemed the problem employee and terminated from your position to prevent further
complaint regarding your situation, and at said termination, could be offered
some sort of compensation or settlement to ensure that no lawsuit follows your
departure. I have experienced this first hand and been advised of this
from family members who are in the HR profession. I
suspect I will be purging quite a bit in the next several weeks in the wake of
my resignation from my current position, and, in a broader sense, my resignation
that is the lion's den of corporate America. Song
Virus du Jour: "Hold On Tight To Your Dreams" ~ Electric
Light Orchestra Useless
Trivia du Jour: While not a big fan of the movie "Xanadu,"
I LOVE the soundtrack. |
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- - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008
More updates on another blog home. - Wednesday, Feb. 06, 2008 Where are my zzzzzz's? - Thursday, Nov. 08, 2007 Halloween '07 - Friday, Nov. 02, 2007 Hallween is All Good! - Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 |
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