I can't believe it! People just stoop lower and lower!

[Mr Mister1]

Just to recap, I was previously put on higher duties where I work about 9 months ago. When offered the position I was told that if I performed well enough. Then despite the fact that my supervisor (the assistant director) said I had performed well and wanted me to stay the Director decided to forget about the initial agreement so that she could give one of her friends a position.

 

So I ended up applying for another promotion round and recently found out I was successful. However I also heard that the Director tried to get my favorable rating changed by talking to the chairperson of the panel and saying all sorts of bad things about me. The chairperson then went back to my supervisor (who initially provided a very strong referees report) and she pretty much said that the Director was talking rubbish.

 

In the end the chair decided to disgregard and I ended up getting a promotion to an area that I'm better suited in. But still it really gets to me that someone would go so far out of their way just to mess me around. It was bad enough that she went against her original agreement to satisfy her own agenda but to then go and continue to try sabotage my career. Why would anyone feel the need to do that?

 

And just incase anyone is questioning whether she just didn't think I was good enough, I'll recap on the feedback I'd received up until then.

 

* I received consistant positive feedback from my immediate supervisor who is the one I dealt with on a regular basis.

* In the performance review for the last year I got rated as "highly effective," the only rating higher than that is "outstanding" which is almost never given out.

* When I went for a job in another area, which my supervisor provided a referee report for, the Director had no problems with me beaing rated as suitable for a promotion. (I ended up being rated suitable for the job but other people were rated higher so I didn't get it).

* When I went for a promotion round in the area I was working in which the Director was chairing I was rated suitable (although this didn't stop her from forgetting about the original agreement or that she decided to give my position to one of her friends).

 

So if there were any problems with my performance she certanly never made them known to me.

 

I've often been accused of being cynical but really I find it hard not to be when I see things like this happen. I can't even comprehend why someone would want to stoop this low!

[NJRon]

Yes... you are experiencing corporate politics. I've had numerous run-ins with them. Were it not for the politics, it would be a much more enjoyable job.

 

Hang in there

[jurupa]

Sounds like company politics to me. My guess is that the director feels theatend by you and wants to stop you before he/she gets replaced. The thing you have to remember is that the higher you go the more greedy and games people play becuase of the power they have and a lot of people think they have the right to do so.

[Mr Mister1]

Hmm I guess, only I'm now in a totally different section and the promotion was to a totally different situation. So really she didn't have to have anything to do with me ever again. And really I can't think of anything I've ever done to make her so nasty to me. I know that I did my best when working there and I had the respect of a lot of people. I barely had anything to do with her infact.

[volution]

Something I have learned in my experiences in a handful of jobs is this:

 

* It's not what you know, or do... But who you know

the Director decided to forget about the initial agreement so that she could give one of her friends a position

Unfortunately, even if you are more qualified, more moral, more reliable, more trustworthy, more good-looking (well sometimes this goes out the window), more everything than another person, sometimes that person can get the job, solely because they know someone (ie: the director).

 

* Money is king in virtually all jobs

Since most companies are accountable to shareholders, they have to legally do everything in their power to make sure they can make lots and lots of money, even if it means cutting corners, treating employees like dirt, and the like.

 

* Most companies will do immoral (and illegal) acts if the fines/cost of those acts is less then their proceeds from them

This is something that the vast majority of people in the world don't realise. Check out a documentary on DVD called The Corporation - you will be shocked and in disbelief by the end of it.

 

* In most companies, the higher up you are, the less intelligent you should be (or pretend to be) - most companies want people that follow orders blindly, not work on their own initative (even though they claim the opposite).

I have personally seen this in most of my companies, either indirectly or directly. My sister has also observed this at her company too. This ties in with the previous point - if you are a moral/compassionate person and intelligent, companies will see you as a threat in the upper echelons - because they are thinking "Would YOU take part in their immoral acts and practices... Or would YOU blow the whistle?".

 

It's all why a lot of people prefer to work for themselves - since they can work by their rules, and morals. You don't have to put up with the nonsense and backside-licking that most jobs entail.

Personally, I hate those companies which make you watch these 'Confidence Building' videos which say "You are so important to the success of your company... Your toilet cleaning position is crucial to the multi-national infiltration of global markets and corporation synergetics of our world-beating company, and we couldn't do it without you... We will be providing a multi-facet team-oriented goal-based retraining schedule taking place over the next 6 months which will decide on completion with a panel of experts the most effective toilet brush for improving effective productivity under the Faraday quotient.." Lol... Corporate bull is something I like to have fun with!

 

The most important thing I have learned is DO SOMETHING YOU LOVE... Even if it doesn't pay much money... You won't get these years back... Because, by Job, most companies don't care about you at all... Put in 45 years of work, and then get a clock to show at the end of it all? What about all those days you could have spent with your wife and family? Instead spent at the office, giving all your love to the company...

 

Sorry for the rant... Hope it opens some people's eyes though

[NJRon]

Two reasons off the top of my head for her doing this spring to mind...

 

1. You were an asset to her group and she didn't want to lose you. By lowering your perceived value, others would be hesitant to take you on. This could be due to multiple reasons... one such is the ability to hire someone else into the position.

 

2. You applying to a different area can be construed as you not wanting to work in her area. That is losing face. Her efforts to sabotage the move are her exerting control.

 

If the first, she is shrewd. If the second, she isn't.

[kellbell]

Hey there!

 

Yup, what you described is coorperate politics at its best.

 

I went though something very similar at a large hospital in the state I lived in. It was awlful. But these things happen unfortunately.

 

Congrads on getting your promotion. It is anyone's guess why your supervisor pulled that stunt. Hang in there.

 

P.S. I was just wondering, is this an at-will postion?

[skyjuice]

Hi

 

Yes. I also dislike corporate politics.

 

Does anyone have any reading suggestion to prevent from being back stab?

 

And there is a lot of bullies in the office.

 

One of my supervisor told me, "You can not look more hard working than me. The boss must treat me better than treating you."

 

Every time, I get out of my boss officer, he would ask what did the boss said. He want to know everything. He is a control freak.

 

Besides that, my colleagues who is on the same ranking but senior than me, always want to be little me. She would ask me to help her to do urgent reporting. After I done it half way, she would say I am slow in typing and whatever. Then she would take over the half finished job and present it to the boss.

[now_better]

sometimes these type of situations almost beg the question "how do they sleep at night?" i dunno if it takes years of conditioning or they were born cold-blooded, but the world can be a cruel place sometimes. keep your head up and keep marching to your own tune, and pray that you never become as jaded as them.

[Mr Mister1]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

I work in a Government job so making money isn't one of the objectives here.

 

Also I'd already, in a way, being booted out of her area after she decided to forget about the higher duties agreement, I ended up having to go to the area I worked in before that until I heard the verdict on the following promotion round. So either way, whether I got promoted or not I wouldn't have worked in her section.

 

One thing that might be the case is, when she broke the original agreement I made it clear that I thought it was dishonest and unethical! I was very polite and professional about it but my feelings about it were known. So maybe she was so upset that someone dared to be angry at the way she unfairly treated them that she decided to try cause more trouble.

 

Apparently she tried to pick up on little things and blow them out of proportion but had trouble backing any of them up. She also didn't have any real response when asked why she never raised any of these issues with me, as I'd never received any kind of bad feedback from her while working there.

 

If so all I can say is that she is unbelievably immature and clearly incapable at performing at the level she's meant to be at. I'm certantly not sorry for saying what I said. I know that I acted properly and never said anything inapropriate or offensive, and I still kept working to the best of my ability before moving on.

 

While we're at it I also found out that the friend whom she shafted me for has not been doing too well in the job. So now they have to live with having someone far less able doing the job I did while I ended up getting a job somewhere much better.

 

I'd say that's victory to me!

 

Oh and what's an at-will position? I'm not familiar with that term.

[jurupa]

One thing that might be the case is, when she broke the original agreement I made it clear that I thought it was dishonest and unethical! I was very polite and professional about it but my feelings about it were known. So maybe she was so upset that someone dared to be angry at the way she unfairly treated them that she decided to try cause more trouble.

Actually your wrong, she got upset that someone below her chanllenger her. It was not that someone got angery at her at her actions at all, becuase I bet you that she doesn't give a crap about that. She cared that someone below her setup to her and called her out on it.

[NJRon]

In the future, keep those thoughts to yourself. If you don't, your 'critical honesty' will come back to bite you. If someone isn't looking for your feedback, it's not your place to give it to them... unless you are responsible for them.

[Mr Mister1]

In the future, keep those thoughts to yourself. If you don't, your 'critical honesty' will come back to bite you. If someone isn't looking for your feedback, it's not your place to give it to them... unless you are responsible for them.

 

Normally I'd agree with you and normally I wouldn't make my feelings so clear. However in this case, it was about her trying to do away with an agreement she had with me and basically taking away a position that I was told I would have.

So in this case she was already doing something wrong against me and I had to ask for an explanation. Otherwise it would have been eating at me for a long time after. If someone tries to shaft me like that in such an unethical way I certanly won't sit down and take it, it's the same as if someone gives you a bad performance review which you don't think is fair, you're entitled to ask for an explanation.

 

So I'm not sorry that I did what I did and I don't regret it. All it means is she felt like messing rouind with someone just because they weren't happy about her messing around with them before. So she really is just too immature for words!

[NJRon]

You are right. So, better to just avoid bringing it up. What good does it do to bring up the fact that someone is trying to shaft you to them, when they are of the sort to try an shaft you in the first place?

 

I'm just saying that, it will cause more harm than good. Glad you moved on. Hopefully, you'll have some more thoughtful management.

[Mr Mister1]

Well if there had been anything in writing regarding the initial arrangment I would have been making a formal complaint about her. Also had I not been successful in the promotion because of something she said I also would have been reporting her for misconduct and would be well within my rights too. Just because someone is the sort of person to mess people around when it suiots them doesn't mean everyone else should just let them. The main lesson I've learnt from this is to insist on getting things like this in writing so that if they try be dishonest later on I can call them on it.

 

Anyhow the way I see it, I won in the end!

[RufusDawes]

Wow... I never want to work in a corporate environment.

[jurupa]

Wow... I never want to work in a corporate environment.

There are corporate companies that do not have such things going on, but they tend to be small. But the bigger the corporatation the more of this stuff happens becuase there is more power at the top and every pretty much wants to get a certain amount of power in the company.

[Jane0815]

NJRon is right here ... you might have 'won' the battle for the position you have now, but you 'lost' against her b/c you made an issue out of something she'll never change. Better would have been to figure out what she wanted and if there was a way to help her get it. Yes, get everything in writing from now on!

 

I make the same mistakes in airing too much critical honesty. Less and less, but still too often. Heh, I should hire NJRon as my shut-up-and-smile coach.

[Mr Mister1]

I'm going to have to agree to disagree here because really, I deserved some sort of explanation for why she did what she did in the first place. Whenever anyone does something like that you should be able to ask for an explanation without worrying that they're going to try backstab you again. And that's all I did in effect, I asked for an explanation, as did my direct supervisor. So no I don't believe I acted wrong there. I never said anything imapropriate nor harsh to her.

 

And anyway I'm only speculating when saying that might have been what caused it. Another thing I've noticed is she seems to have some problem with males in the work place, because I know of other males whom she's tried to mess around in similar circumstances, and save having an operation I can't change that issue.

 

Either way the fact is what she did was wrong and there is no good reason for it. No matter what her reasons for being so unethical are I'm not going to wear any blame for it and nor should I, I acted properly and professionally, she did not.

 

Oh and I also disagree that I lost against her. Firstly she shafted me but now she's got someone in the job who is less experienced and less qualified. I've got a permanent job in an area better for me and not only that but another area where I've always wanted to work has expressed an interest in me working with them and so I am thinking about transfering there in half a year or so. So clearly that's her loss and my gain.

Secondly she tried to mess me around and she failed! Not only that but she's made herself look very unprofesional to that recrutment panel and to anyone else who knows about what happened.

So the way I see it, I won on both counts and I won because I did my job professionally, gained the respect and admiration of the people I actually worked with and performed well in my interviews.

[Jane0815]

LOL!

 

I don't disagree that you =deserved= an explanation, nor that you should be treated fairly, nor that she was wrong. You're on the money there.

 

But the way you handled it COULD be detrimental to your future there. It's possible to take the high road in a way that enhances your power; you took the weak approach. You're 24 - I think you'll have to be burned by "taking the high road loudly" a time or two before you get what NJRon is saying here. Maybe he can recommend one of those asian business-wisdom booklets for you.

[Mr Mister1]

The only alternative I can think of is just letting her mess me around, and that would have just made me angry later on both because she did it and because I let it happen. That sort of thing can affect you worse later on.

 

I don't think I'm the sort of person that tries to cause trouble or tries to fight with my supervisors but I also don't believe letting them walk over you is a good thing to do either.

 

Even if I did do that it doesn't mean she wouldn't have done the same thing.

[NJRon]

You are getting advice from people who have been there and, instead of listening and learning, you are justifying your actions. I totally understand where you are coming from but, if you are unwilling to learn how to play the game, then welcome to the school of hard knocks... let me know how you would handle this situation in 10 years.

 

Good luck to you...

[skyjuice]

Hi

 

Sorry to hear about your situation.

I am also 24, I really felt there is more towards the school of hard rock. Too much politics in the office, I hate it.

 

Let me tell you what recently happen to me.

I work in banking industry. Nowadays it is very competitive, especially there is a lot of money and power involved.

 

There is a business customer want to transfer facilities to another branch of the same bank, I informed this to my immediate superior. He asked me to told directly to my branch manager (the big boss) and he would pretend that he does not know anything about it. So I told my big boss about it.

 

On the same day, the big boss held a department meeting, the whole meeting the big boss fired things on me.The customer want to transfer facilities is because he moved to another location which is nearer to another branch, this is the first time I serve this customer and they blame it all to me.

 

Besides that, I sort of offended my business manager (the second big boss) because I rushed him on documents he need to sign. The documents I passed to him for one week already until I could not wait anymore. Add on to that, the customer is a VIP customer. I don't know what he told my big boss. They sort of point the finger against me.

 

Besides that, there is one real estate agent that are referring cases to me. While I am interviewing customers brought in by the real estate agent, my immediate supervisor butt in said what I recommended is wrong and asked me to change the recommendation. Later, I asked my senior colleuge about it, she mentioned that there is no wrong with my recommendation. I suspect my immediate supervisor does not like me having a real estate agent bringing cases to the branch which could contribute the the branch profit.

 

I would appreciate it if anyone of you could suggest any books to read to deal with the office politics. I was once bullied until I cried in the office. This is because I do not know how to do about the cases and so I present my work and ask my immediate supervisor is this the correct way of doing, he said he want to slap me on my face for asking him to check. If I don't ask him to check, any things wrong they would blame it on me.

 

I really want to change my career. I hate it very much. But my parents asked my to find another job first before quiting.