UGH!!! I'm so far beyond mad it's not even funny!

[SlitherinSisters]

I'll try to keep this as short as possible, but here goes.....

I was supposed to have a meeting with my supervisor last week after class but I totally forgot about it. She was a tad frustrated and pretty much told me we were meeting today at 4:30, yes told, not asked. So I show up at 4:20 I wait until 4:45 and she's still not there. She doesn't answer her phone so I left a message about the time and that I was going home.

While I was waiting for her I checked my work mailbox to find that she wrote me up!!!! For the last 7 weeks I've been working 30 hours in a 39 hour period because we were short staffed and I'm the only one under 40 hours a week so I got to pick up all the slack. I sent her a couple NICE emails asking her to please change the schedule because working 30 hours then going straight to class Monday morning was killing me. Well anyhow, I got wrote up for insubordination for not working with her because she's working so hard around my school schedule and all I could do was complain about the hours I was working!!!! The only reason those hours stopped was because I got a doctors note because my back pain from my car accident has been getting worse, so essentially she wrote me up for a doctors note! OH! And she also wrote me up for not coming to meetings

OMG I almost forgot. I called a friend of mine who is a facebook friend with her and she was FACEBOOKING when we were supposed to meet!!!!

My mom said that when I do have a meeting with her that I need to write "signed under duress" after my name because her reasons are bogus! Anyone have experience with being wrote up and writing "signed under duress" after your signature?

[Solinger]

I manage 30 - 35 managers depending on the time of year. In my experience it sounds like your supervisor is over her head and is stressed out. Rather than asking her supervisor for help (if it is available to her) she lashed out at one of the people on her team willing to help her out.

I am not sure what the laws in Iowa are (read your location under your avatar) but in California you are not obligated to sign any write up. Your supervisor will still file it with a "refused to sign" note attached. It will be used in the event they need back up to prove that a given situation was addressed.

If you do not sign the write up and request your file at any time they are not obligated to provide that document to you though.

The whole thing sounds unfair and the result of under trained managers. You should put a call or email into your Human Resource department. I recommend email at some point so that you have written proof that YOU reached out to make the situation better.

Don't attack the manager, ask what the company policies are on scheduling and what their policies are on the schedule requirements of your particular position are. Since you are an established employee that is being "asked" to help out sounds to me like you are in the right to refuse the extra hours.

In my world we have a lot of students as crew throughout the company and do our best to work with their schedules. Not to abide by laws, but to keep happy and hardworking people on our staff. If you have a decent relationship with your manager simply ask her why she wrote you up. Let her know you want documentation of the companies scheduling policies and why she thinks you are being insubordinate because you are not willing to adjust your personal life around a job that has suddenly changed the expectations on you. If not go directly to HR.

I would think that signing the write up with the notation or not, will let your manager go on believing that you agree at some level and she will continue to not respect your scheduling needs. Finding a new job is tough right now and on the other side of the coin no company wants to think about labor related law suits either.

Good luck.

[Krista]

I feel your pain on the crappy supervisor...

I got written up today for making a comment to a co-worker that my supervisor doesn't have time to finish our paperwork because she's too busy on facebook the whole 4 hours a day she comes in.

Whoops!
It's true though! I see her on there all the time (from home) when I know she's at work.
(she has deleted me from her FB friends now...hah!)

[SlitherinSisters]

I manage 30 - 35 managers depending on the time of year. In my experience it sounds like your supervisor is over her head and is stressed out. Rather than asking her supervisor for help (if it is available to her) she lashed out at one of the people on her team willing to help her out.

I am not sure what the laws in Iowa are (read your location under your avatar) but in California you are not obligated to sign any write up. Your supervisor will still file it with a "refused to sign" note attached. It will be used in the event they need back up to prove that a given situation was addressed.

If you do not sign the write up and request your file at any time they are not obligated to provide that document to you though.

The whole thing sounds unfair and the result of under trained managers. You should put a call or email into your Human Resource department. I recommend email at some point so that you have written proof that YOU reached out to make the situation better.

Don't attack the manager, ask what the company policies are on scheduling and what their policies are on the schedule requirements of your particular position are. Since you are an established employee that is being "asked" to help out sounds to me like you are in the right to refuse the extra hours.

In my world we have a lot of students as crew throughout the company and do our best to work with their schedules. Not to abide by laws, but to keep happy and hardworking people on our staff. If you have a decent relationship with your manager simply ask her why she wrote you up. Let her know you want documentation of the companies scheduling policies and why she thinks you are being insubordinate because you are not willing to adjust your personal life around a job that has suddenly changed the expectations on you. If not go directly to HR.

I would think that signing the write up with the notation or not, will let your manager go on believing that you agree at some level and she will continue to not respect your scheduling needs. Finding a new job is tough right now and on the other side of the coin no company wants to think about labor related law suits either.

Good luck.

It's nice to get a view from the other side of the coin. I thought she was crazy for treating me like this! We are always short staffed and I'm working EVERY Sat and Sun night, which is what everyone else refused to work, I said heck, I don't have life other than school, why not. I agreed to 12 hour shifts which were turned into a 16 hour shift and a 14.5 hour shift

I did send a letter to the district supervisor. We have my "crappy boss" as I call her, then above of her we have the supervisor of Iowa County the "too nice boss", then the boss above her is the district supervisor-she's in charge of three counties.

The "crappy boss" is absolutely NOT made for this job. I work with people who have mental disabilities. She was actually working in my position and quit after one month because she couldn't handle it!!!! Then my "too nice boss", bless her heart, for some reason hired this woman to be a supervisor!!!! What the HECK!

Get this! At the last work meeting she told us we were doing wrong and when a staff member asked her what we were supposed to do instead she said "I'm just your supervisor, I'm not here to give you solutions"

She's worthless.

I feel your pain on the crappy supervisor...

I got written up today for making a comment to a co-worker that my supervisor doesn't have time to finish our paperwork because she's too busy on facebook the whole 4 hours a day she comes in.

Whoops!
It's true though! I see her on there all the time (from home) when I know she's at work.
(she has deleted me from her FB friends now...hah!)

!!!!!!!!!!! You're boss and my boss would be best friends!!! I can't believe she wrote you up for that! My boss would probably do the same. What on earth did you get wrote up for exactly? Insubordination like me?!

[dsirkle]

Lots of supervisors are not leaders. It sounds to me that she wrote you up because she feels that you are ungrateful. She seems to perhaps think that she is working with you to accommodate your school schedule and you should be willing to do whatever she wants in return. If this is the case, it's just a personal issue not a disciplinary issue. I would not sign anything. She would put "refused to sign" on there. "Signed under duress" seems a little too melodramatic. Going over her head usually won't endear you to her. Isn't there a sanctioned procedure for contesting the write up?

[wolfy-hound]

Sounds like a lack of communication on both parties behalf. Ask to have a meeting and discuss your current schedule, and what you need it to be. Have a written page of concerns so you don't get sidetracked and forget anything.

What your boss does isn't your concern really. If she goofs off on FB, that shouldn't affect whether you are doing your job. You missed a meeting with her, and now she missed a meeting with you. You agreed to extra hours, but now it's too many hours. Maybe she thinks she's been doing you a favor giving you extra hours, and it seems out of the blue that you don't want them now.

It's never one-sided. Get a sit-down meeting to discuss #1 your schedule, and #2 your concerns on being written up, and how you can avoid any future issues. It's your job, you are supposed to work WITH the people, including bosses.. not work against them and opposed to them.

Yes, she could refuse to work with you, but it doesn't mean YOU shouldn't make the effort. You can't control her, you can only control YOU.

[SlitherinSisters]

Sounds like a lack of communication on both parties behalf. Ask to have a meeting and discuss your current schedule, and what you need it to be. Have a written page of concerns so you don't get sidetracked and forget anything.

What your boss does isn't your concern really. If she goofs off on FB, that shouldn't affect whether you are doing your job. You missed a meeting with her, and now she missed a meeting with you. You agreed to extra hours, but now it's too many hours. Maybe she thinks she's been doing you a favor giving you extra hours, and it seems out of the blue that you don't want them now.

It's never one-sided. Get a sit-down meeting to discuss #1 your schedule, and #2 your concerns on being written up, and how you can avoid any future issues. It's your job, you are supposed to work WITH the people, including bosses.. not work against them and opposed to them.

Yes, she could refuse to work with you, but it doesn't mean YOU shouldn't make the effort. You can't control her, you can only control YOU.

That's the whole thing. I sat down and spoke with her on several occasions about my hours. Since I was the only part time employee she was always changing my schedule. From the very beginning I told her I wanted 20 hours a week. One month it was 12 hours a week the next month it was 30 hours a week. She's an idiot and that's not over exaggerating. She's constantly lying and causing more problems for herself. She tells us about other staff and their personal issues, and she even talks about work happenings on Facebook!

[SlitherinSisters]

Lots of supervisors are not leaders. It sounds to me that she wrote you up because she feels that you are ungrateful. She seems to perhaps think that she is working with you to accommodate your school schedule and you should be willing to do whatever she wants in return. If this is the case, it's just a personal issue not a disciplinary issue. I would not sign anything. She would put "refused to sign" on there. "Signed under duress" seems a little too melodramatic. Going over her head usually won't endear you to her. Isn't there a sanctioned procedure for contesting the write up?

That's exactly what I think. I'm the only one who has gotten wrote up for this kind of stuff and I can assure you I'm not the only who has missed a meeting or asked for different hours.

[BPelizabeth]

Well I was in HR for many years and I am not sure what the laws are regarding written warnings however I do not see how you can go to a straight written if you have not had any verbal warnings.

What I would tell you is try to talk to her to see what "you can do" to assist her in scheduling issues. Keep a log of the times and dates of your conversations. Including the meetings when she makes remarks like she did at the last meeting. I agree with the others not all are made out for supervisors and quite frankly I am not sure how she can supervise a position she couldn't handle. With that being said...you have to be careful not to look like a whiney employee because she will have the other supers ear first! Ya know what I mean. Document...document...document and when the time is right pull out your documentation book. That will speak volumes to her supers.