Advice needed for working with a bad manager

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Hnarqu
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23 Aug 2014, 9:28 pm

Hey all. Long story short, a manager from the past, that many people dislike, is coming back to run the supermarket I work for. She does not like me, and I do not like her. I try to do my job, yet I could never please her.
My first day working with her starts in nineteen and a half hours. I plan to try and do my job and see what happens, but what advice can anyone give to make it so my hours are not cut again to the minimum? I don't care how she treats me. I don't care how hard she makes my life. I simply can't lose eight hours of pay a week, every week while she runs the place. She is legally allowed to take away the hours, but I can't survive if it happens.
So, any advice?



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23 Aug 2014, 11:40 pm

Hnarqu wrote:
Hey all. Long story short, a manager from the past, that many people dislike, is coming back to run the supermarket I work for. She does not like me, and I do not like her. I try to do my job, yet I could never please her.
My first day working with her starts in nineteen and a half hours. I plan to try and do my job and see what happens, but what advice can anyone give to make it so my hours are not cut again to the minimum? I don't care how she treats me. I don't care how hard she makes my life. I simply can't lose eight hours of pay a week, every week while she runs the place. She is legally allowed to take away the hours, but I can't survive if it happens.
So, any advice?


Get yourself a spiral bound notebook. Date and time stamp every notation in this book, along with anything she does that is not in order. Keep documenting until this notebook if full. Then go to her supervisor with your concerns.



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24 Aug 2014, 12:57 am

there's probably not much you can do. keep out of her way as much as possible.



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24 Aug 2014, 1:10 am

Meistersinger wrote:
Hnarqu wrote:
Hey all. Long story short, a manager from the past, that many people dislike, is coming back to run the supermarket I work for. She does not like me, and I do not like her. I try to do my job, yet I could never please her.
My first day working with her starts in nineteen and a half hours. I plan to try and do my job and see what happens, but what advice can anyone give to make it so my hours are not cut again to the minimum? I don't care how she treats me. I don't care how hard she makes my life. I simply can't lose eight hours of pay a week, every week while she runs the place. She is legally allowed to take away the hours, but I can't survive if it happens.
So, any advice?


Get yourself a spiral bound notebook. Date and time stamp every notation in this book, along with anything she does that is not in order. Keep documenting until this notebook if full. Then go to her supervisor with your concerns.


I was doing that at the coffee shop I worked for. Every time someone said something about me working too slow or someone contradicted themself and then said I was 'insubordinate' when I refused to switch to the second thing they told me to do instead of finishing the first thing they told me to do first, or anything at all that I deemed could be harassment/discrimination/bullying/etc I wrote it in my book.

I still have it. Fortunately it didn't get to the point where I had to show the manager but the book was getting quite filled in! Sometimes I'd have to stay up late writing the incidents down while they were still fresh in my head, then I'd lie in bed stewing about it because that's what I was just thinking about :evil: I had been too wound up or stressed and overloaded to do it when I got home.

I left there more due to POTS but I tell you it's a relief I'm not dealing with that crap anymore. Any longer and I really think I'd have either "lost it" or quit on the spot one day.


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Hnarqu
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24 Aug 2014, 7:38 am

If I start writing things down the book would get full within a week of working with this manager. She's that bad. She has told me in a two month work-span that I work too fast and that I'm a safety hazard, that I work too slow and need a job coach, that I work too fast and is a safety hazard, and that I work too slow and need a job coach.
Doing what I'm best at, carts and maintenance, I end up working fast and hard. I push two rows of carts at once, and I throw out the garbage into the compacter fast to relieve some anger. I do the job in a different way, but it works for me.
Doing jobs like packing out the bread or straightening out the frozen aisles or packing out for grocery, I work a lot slower. I'm not as used to it, so I try to do the job right. It doesn't help that the manager does not want anyone to help anyone. She expects a coworker of mine who has Cerebral palsy, who can only use one hand, to empty the heavy glass bins into boxes that are shoulder height. I have gotten in trouble helping him in the past with her running the store, but I don't want people to get hurt.
I have an MP3 player with a voice recorder on it, and a 3DS that can take pictures. Using these tools might help me show proof that she's doing things wrong, but if I show the higher ups things I wrote down they would still take her side over mine.

But I do always carry around three pens (a back-up pen and a back-up for the back-up) and some paper every day. I could start writing things down if she's as bad as she was in the past. Thank you for the advice.



AspieUtah
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24 Aug 2014, 8:59 am

Hnarqu wrote:
...I have an MP3 player with a voice recorder on it, and a 3DS that can take pictures. Using these tools might help me show proof that she's doing things wrong, but if I show the higher ups things I wrote down they would still take her side over mine....

Recording her (and others) without their consent might be illegal in your state. Almost all states allow one-party recording of others without their consent, but you want to make sure you aren't prohibited from doing it. Even if you are in a state that allows recording others, the company for which you work might use it as a reason to dismiss you (but, if she is violating law or company policy with her actions, the company might appreciate some recorded evidence, too). If I knew what state you reside in, I could be more certain.

Meanwhile, stick with the notetaking, and if there are other employees who have similar personal complaints about her, encourage them to do the same. Having notes from two or more employees about the same hostile actions is almost always conclusive from both a corporate and legal point of view.

Good luck and do the best that you can.


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katiesBoyfriend
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24 Aug 2014, 9:07 am

I've had enough bad bosses to know that if someone wants to get rid of you bad enough, they'll find something and make it stick.

By all means make detailed notes of what happened, but don't think that'll save you. I had that happen to me at the place where I used to teach. I took my information to a now former president of our staff association who, in turn, handed it over to the lawyer. The lawyer then turned around and said I'm the one who had to chance his attitude. Of course, I wasn't present when the lawyer received it, so, for all I know, that president (who, as it turned out was also a co-conspirator) could have embellished the information in order to blacken my reputation.

Fortunately, that president was eventually succeeded by someone more sympathetic and I managed to hang on for a few more years due to her efforts.

Be careful about recording any conversations. Anything recorded in secret might not be accepted in a dispute inquiry as it might be considered a violation of the other person's rights (entrapment and all that). So, if you are going to do it, you have to do it openly. That way, the other person will also have to be open about what's being said.



Hnarqu
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24 Aug 2014, 9:10 am

AspieUtah wrote:
Hnarqu wrote:
...I have an MP3 player with a voice recorder on it, and a 3DS that can take pictures. Using these tools might help me show proof that she's doing things wrong, but if I show the higher ups things I wrote down they would still take her side over mine....

Recording her (and others) without their consent might be illegal in your state. Almost all states allow one-party recording of others without their consent, but you want to make sure you aren't prohibited from doing it. Even if you are in a state that allows recording others, the company for which you work might use it as a reason to dismiss you (but, if she is violating law or company policy with her actions, the company might appreciate some recorded evidence, too). If I knew what state you reside in, I could be more certain.

Meanwhile, stick with the notetaking, and if there are other employees who have similar personal complaints about her, encourage them to do the same. Having notes from two or more employees about the same hostile actions is almost always conclusive from both a corporate and legal point of view.

Good luck and do the best that you can.

Thank you. Supposedly, if I record her yelling at me it's legal. It doesn't help that most of the people I work with don't care enough to actually do anything in this type of situation. The younger people don't want to put in too much effort with anything, and the older people, who work full time, don't want to lose their jobs.
My ffather went shopping there before and told me the people working are already less happy because she's around. This will be interesting.



Hnarqu
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24 Aug 2014, 9:12 am

katiesBoyfriend wrote:
I've had enough bad bosses to know that if someone wants to get rid of you bad enough, they'll find something and make it stick.

By all means make detailed notes of what happened, but don't think that'll save you. I had that happen to me at the place where I used to teach. I took my information to a now former president of our staff association who, in turn, handed it over to the lawyer. The lawyer then turned around and said I'm the one who had to chance his attitude. Of course, I wasn't present when the lawyer received it, so, for all I know, that president (who, as it turned out was also a co-conspirator) could have embellished the information in order to blacken my reputation.

Fortunately, that president was eventually succeeded by someone more sympathetic and I managed to hang on for a few more years due to her efforts.

Be careful about recording any conversations. Anything recorded in secret might not be accepted in a dispute inquiry as it might be considered a violation of the other person's rights (entrapment and all that). So, if you are going to do it, you have to do it openly. That way, the other person will also have to be open about what's being said.

I don't know. the good side of my job is that I work with a union and have been there for over six years already. I'm just a little scared. I can't lose hours right now.



katiesBoyfriend
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24 Aug 2014, 2:00 pm

Hnarqu wrote:
AspieUtah wrote:
Hnarqu wrote:
...I have an MP3 player with a voice recorder on it, and a 3DS that can take pictures. Using these tools might help me show proof that she's doing things wrong, but if I show the higher ups things I wrote down they would still take her side over mine....

Recording her (and others) without their consent might be illegal in your state. Almost all states allow one-party recording of others without their consent, but you want to make sure you aren't prohibited from doing it. Even if you are in a state that allows recording others, the company for which you work might use it as a reason to dismiss you (but, if she is violating law or company policy with her actions, the company might appreciate some recorded evidence, too). If I knew what state you reside in, I could be more certain.

Meanwhile, stick with the notetaking, and if there are other employees who have similar personal complaints about her, encourage them to do the same. Having notes from two or more employees about the same hostile actions is almost always conclusive from both a corporate and legal point of view.

Good luck and do the best that you can.

Thank you. Supposedly, if I record her yelling at me it's legal. It doesn't help that most of the people I work with don't care enough to actually do anything in this type of situation. The younger people don't want to put in too much effort with anything, and the older people, who work full time, don't want to lose their jobs.
My ffather went shopping there before and told me the people working are already less happy because she's around. This will be interesting.

You have to record those conversations out in the open. Should things ever end in a formal legal investigation, that recording could be regarded as inadmissible because it was done without your boss's permission, thereby violating her rights. Should that ever occur, the employer may be justified in sacking you and no court will support you if that happens.



katiesBoyfriend
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24 Aug 2014, 2:04 pm

Hnarqu wrote:
katiesBoyfriend wrote:
I've had enough bad bosses to know that if someone wants to get rid of you bad enough, they'll find something and make it stick.

By all means make detailed notes of what happened, but don't think that'll save you. I had that happen to me at the place where I used to teach. I took my information to a now former president of our staff association who, in turn, handed it over to the lawyer. The lawyer then turned around and said I'm the one who had to chance his attitude. Of course, I wasn't present when the lawyer received it, so, for all I know, that president (who, as it turned out was also a co-conspirator) could have embellished the information in order to blacken my reputation.

Fortunately, that president was eventually succeeded by someone more sympathetic and I managed to hang on for a few more years due to her efforts.

Be careful about recording any conversations. Anything recorded in secret might not be accepted in a dispute inquiry as it might be considered a violation of the other person's rights (entrapment and all that). So, if you are going to do it, you have to do it openly. That way, the other person will also have to be open about what's being said.

I don't know. the good side of my job is that I work with a union and have been there for over six years already. I'm just a little scared. I can't lose hours right now.

Don't count on the union, either. It may claim to stand up for the individual worker, but I wouldn't be surprised if it would just as soon toss you under a bus in order to maintain peace with the management. (Sacrifice one and leave the rest in peace.) Besides, it might not have enough in its bank account to mount a prolonged defence. Think about it: you probably pay union dues. Where to you think that money's used for? I'd wager it won't go to bailing out individual members.



Hnarqu
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24 Aug 2014, 9:19 pm

Well, the first day went okay. I'm guessing since she's older and recently got in trouble that she mellowed out. I'll have to see how things go.



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25 Aug 2014, 8:20 am

Hnarqu wrote:
Well, the first day went okay. I'm guessing since she's older and recently got in trouble that she mellowed out. I'll have to see how things go.

Good!


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25 Aug 2014, 10:05 am

Hnarqu wrote:
Well, the first day went okay. I'm guessing since she's older and recently got in trouble that she mellowed out. I'll have to see how things go.


~fingers crossed~ It keeps up.

I once had a manager who was always playing mind games with folks, asking questions he already knew the answer to, making us paranoid about our replies and aggravating us with obviously wasted time. It was all so passive-aggressive, etc.

We finally banded together and filled out a management survey (having one person fill out all of the surveys so handwriting couldn't be traced back), and handed them into his boss's assistant's desk while she was out.

TEAMWORK! :lol:

After his boss spoke to him about it, he began to change. Within a couple years, he was the best boss I'd ever had. He worked hard at it and tried to be conscientious.
We didn't like him as a boss at first, but, by the time he applied for a promotion, we were all happy to endorse him for it.



Hnarqu
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26 Aug 2014, 6:27 pm

MissDorkness wrote:
Hnarqu wrote:
Well, the first day went okay. I'm guessing since she's older and recently got in trouble that she mellowed out. I'll have to see how things go.


~fingers crossed~ It keeps up.

I once had a manager who was always playing mind games with folks, asking questions he already knew the answer to, making us paranoid about our replies and aggravating us with obviously wasted time. It was all so passive-aggressive, etc.

We finally banded together and filled out a management survey (having one person fill out all of the surveys so handwriting couldn't be traced back), and handed them into his boss's assistant's desk while she was out.

TEAMWORK! :lol:

After his boss spoke to him about it, he began to change. Within a couple years, he was the best boss I'd ever had. He worked hard at it and tried to be conscientious.
We didn't like him as a boss at first, but, by the time he applied for a promotion, we were all happy to endorse him for it.

Some people don't change. Others do not. There is the possibility that my boss is kind because she has the higher ups around right now. I am giving her two weeks work wise and three schedules under her control before I decide if she is a better manager or not.
My store is actually starting to work together in case she turns back to how she was. Hopefully we can do what you and your coworkers did if things turn bad.



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27 Aug 2014, 8:58 am

Hnarqu wrote:
Some people don't change. Others do not. There is the possibility that my boss is kind because she has the higher ups around right now. I am giving her two weeks work wise and three schedules under her control before I decide if she is a better manager or not.
My store is actually starting to work together in case she turns back to how she was. Hopefully we can do what you and your coworkers did if things turn bad.

Fingers crossed the new her sticks around, but, props to you and your coworkers for being prepared to work together in case she doesn't.