(no subject)
And finally, the post everyone's been waiting for in the ScaryWackyCoworker series:
This was a state job, so it's extra-hard to fire someone who's made it past the first 6 months. You have tow rite them up and confer with them twice, and the third offense is the firing offense. I didn't have the power to do it, but my boss did, and since she didn't work with The Evil Assistant (TEA) on a regular basis, she wasn't driven as far up the wall as the rest of us were.
Now, I'd quit by then to go to gradschool, and instead of promoting from within as they usually did, TEA was skipped over and they hired outside. No one who's read my other entries is too surprised about that. Anyway, a year later I got to go back and talk with teh guy who replaced me (this was before she was fired - more on that in a moment) and be reassurd that no, I wasn't handling her badly, because there was truly NO WAY one could handle her. I know that I ended up behaving in petty ways towards her, or giving in to or ignoring outrageous behavior because it was easier than the alternative. And the guy who replaced me told me that ys, she brought out the child in him, too, and wondered how I stood three years of that. So I felt vindicated.
Anyway, at that point she'd been moved out of the library into the administrative office. The college decided to crack down on flex time, and while you were still allowed to take flex time and arrange it with your supervisor, you had to now arrange it in advance and write it down. TEA refused to do this at first, with one of her favorite complaints, that "This place is like a PRISON!!" and eventually they managed to get her to write down the hours she actually worked. Which of COURSE didn't add up to 40 - wandering in 8:30-8:45ish and leaving 4ish, even with only a 15-minute lunch (and her 20-minute coffee breaks twice a day), doesn't add up.
And then she refused to sign off on it. Eventually the assistant dean got hacked off and said something to the effect of: "You think you're in a prison now? You're being transferred to the business office. You will arrive at 8, sit at this desk and work on travel expenses until 12, you will go to lunch at return at 1, you will sit at this desk until 5, and you will NOT TALK TO ANYONE."
So that got her out of the library. But that's not what got her fired. I'd elft by this time, so this is what I was told by another former coworker that I met a few months later.
She likes popcorn. And before she was kicked out of the library, she would go down to the coffee bar in the basement, at the bottom of the big atrium in the building that extended up trhough all 4 floors, and use teh microwaves there to pop it. She wasn't allowed to pop it in the library break room ebcause popcorm smell gets out and permeates the library and Does. Not. Leave. But of COURSE this had NOTHING to do with it and the reason that sh wasn't allowed to make popcorn was that the boss was PERSECUTING HER. She refused to acknowledge that none of the rest of us were allowed to make popcorn, either.
Offence #1: One day she went down to make popcorn and got distracted by something shiny, and the popcorn caught on fire. Flames and everything. She managed to extinguish the flames somehow, and then decided that this was a really funny joke that she should share with teh rest of the building. She went to the administrative office and started waving around this reeking bag of charcoal, saying "Does anyone want some popcorn? Look waht I did, ha ha ha!" They told her in no uncertain terms to leave, but she wouldn't. They had to frogmarch her out of the office, from what I understand. By this time, the burnt-popcorn fumes had percolated trhough the building and people on the fourth floor were calling the building fire marshall down in the admin office asking if there was a fire and if they should evacuate. She was Not Happy and wrote TEA up. So TEA had to go trhough the whole consultation-with-the-boss thing and the first black mark was placed on her record.
Offense #2: TEA, not understanding why in the hell anyone would want to write her up unless they were Out To Get Her, corners the fire marshall in the women's room and badgers her about why she wrote her up. Fire marshall is again Not Happy and writes her up for the second time. This calms TEA down for a little bit, even though she swears up and down that she was NOT badgering her, that she was simply asking her why she wrote her up.
Shortly after this is when TEA's moved to the admin office. She manages to keep her head down and grumble quietly for a few months.
Now, I'm not sure I've mentioned that thie woman had a mouth like a sailor, and absolutely no clue as to when it was appropriate and when it wasn't. Those of you who know me know that I"m not opposed to swearing and indulge in it myself when feeling the need for it, but I happen to know when one should and should not use it, and one should not use it in the workplace. This was one of the thigns I let slide with TEA because the resulting shitfit would have been incredibly stressful, and the net result would have been nil, because she wouldn't have stopped.
Anyway. Offense #3 She swears in front of the wrong person one too many times. The assistant dean hears her, decides this is not appropriate behavior, and fires her ass.
And after that, she slides ungratefully and ungracefully the hell out of my life forever.
This was a state job, so it's extra-hard to fire someone who's made it past the first 6 months. You have tow rite them up and confer with them twice, and the third offense is the firing offense. I didn't have the power to do it, but my boss did, and since she didn't work with The Evil Assistant (TEA) on a regular basis, she wasn't driven as far up the wall as the rest of us were.
Now, I'd quit by then to go to gradschool, and instead of promoting from within as they usually did, TEA was skipped over and they hired outside. No one who's read my other entries is too surprised about that. Anyway, a year later I got to go back and talk with teh guy who replaced me (this was before she was fired - more on that in a moment) and be reassurd that no, I wasn't handling her badly, because there was truly NO WAY one could handle her. I know that I ended up behaving in petty ways towards her, or giving in to or ignoring outrageous behavior because it was easier than the alternative. And the guy who replaced me told me that ys, she brought out the child in him, too, and wondered how I stood three years of that. So I felt vindicated.
Anyway, at that point she'd been moved out of the library into the administrative office. The college decided to crack down on flex time, and while you were still allowed to take flex time and arrange it with your supervisor, you had to now arrange it in advance and write it down. TEA refused to do this at first, with one of her favorite complaints, that "This place is like a PRISON!!" and eventually they managed to get her to write down the hours she actually worked. Which of COURSE didn't add up to 40 - wandering in 8:30-8:45ish and leaving 4ish, even with only a 15-minute lunch (and her 20-minute coffee breaks twice a day), doesn't add up.
And then she refused to sign off on it. Eventually the assistant dean got hacked off and said something to the effect of: "You think you're in a prison now? You're being transferred to the business office. You will arrive at 8, sit at this desk and work on travel expenses until 12, you will go to lunch at return at 1, you will sit at this desk until 5, and you will NOT TALK TO ANYONE."
So that got her out of the library. But that's not what got her fired. I'd elft by this time, so this is what I was told by another former coworker that I met a few months later.
She likes popcorn. And before she was kicked out of the library, she would go down to the coffee bar in the basement, at the bottom of the big atrium in the building that extended up trhough all 4 floors, and use teh microwaves there to pop it. She wasn't allowed to pop it in the library break room ebcause popcorm smell gets out and permeates the library and Does. Not. Leave. But of COURSE this had NOTHING to do with it and the reason that sh wasn't allowed to make popcorn was that the boss was PERSECUTING HER. She refused to acknowledge that none of the rest of us were allowed to make popcorn, either.
Offence #1: One day she went down to make popcorn and got distracted by something shiny, and the popcorn caught on fire. Flames and everything. She managed to extinguish the flames somehow, and then decided that this was a really funny joke that she should share with teh rest of the building. She went to the administrative office and started waving around this reeking bag of charcoal, saying "Does anyone want some popcorn? Look waht I did, ha ha ha!" They told her in no uncertain terms to leave, but she wouldn't. They had to frogmarch her out of the office, from what I understand. By this time, the burnt-popcorn fumes had percolated trhough the building and people on the fourth floor were calling the building fire marshall down in the admin office asking if there was a fire and if they should evacuate. She was Not Happy and wrote TEA up. So TEA had to go trhough the whole consultation-with-the-boss thing and the first black mark was placed on her record.
Offense #2: TEA, not understanding why in the hell anyone would want to write her up unless they were Out To Get Her, corners the fire marshall in the women's room and badgers her about why she wrote her up. Fire marshall is again Not Happy and writes her up for the second time. This calms TEA down for a little bit, even though she swears up and down that she was NOT badgering her, that she was simply asking her why she wrote her up.
Shortly after this is when TEA's moved to the admin office. She manages to keep her head down and grumble quietly for a few months.
Now, I'm not sure I've mentioned that thie woman had a mouth like a sailor, and absolutely no clue as to when it was appropriate and when it wasn't. Those of you who know me know that I"m not opposed to swearing and indulge in it myself when feeling the need for it, but I happen to know when one should and should not use it, and one should not use it in the workplace. This was one of the thigns I let slide with TEA because the resulting shitfit would have been incredibly stressful, and the net result would have been nil, because she wouldn't have stopped.
Anyway. Offense #3 She swears in front of the wrong person one too many times. The assistant dean hears her, decides this is not appropriate behavior, and fires her ass.
And after that, she slides ungratefully and ungracefully the hell out of my life forever.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
And to think I somehow put up with THREE YEARS of that before running screaming off to grad school! (She's the reason I started in the summer of 2002 instead of waiting until fall.)
no subject
What a wonderful day. She was a complete nutcase. Should have been fired two years before, but I work for a bunch of gutless wonders who don't like confrontation.
No one I work with has any idea that I was associated with pushing her over that edge. Shhhh!
no subject
I think the sad thing is, is that there's SO MANY people like this out there.
no subject
My mother was like that, too. I fight it in myself as much as I can. If I blurt it onto your comments too much, feel free to bonk me.
(I I I it feels like all I post about is me ... sorry)
no subject
no subject