Monday, April 18, 2011

Support?

Last June, I filed a harassment complaint against a peer of mine at work. He had regularly been comparing me to Barny Frank (the aged, homosexual Congressman from Boston), making fun of my attire, and had been doing nothing to curtail vulgar and violent outbursts of one of his employees. It resulted me receiving a stern talking to by the resident senior HR specialist, who told me that it was necessary to make fun of some people, as it brought levity to the group, and that I would now be reporting to Steve (the peer I had just accused of harassment). To my surprise they also offered me a pamphlet for counseling, because they had heard of my "son's" retinoblastoma. At the meeting Steve said he would give me the extra attention I was seeking.

So that's exactly what he did. At least once a week, Steve forced me to meet with me for a minimum of an hour, with one session lasting three hours. In each session he would point out to me all of my failings, and how his people were refusing to work with me because of my personality defects. This culminated with Brian, who was once a friend of mine, exclaiming "at least gotten his work done," indicating a failure of my part and some of my coworkers, when Steve had explicitly asked us not to continue. I had had enough and left the meeting, our "daily" with approximately 25 people.

I went to HR again, seeking relief from Steve's continued harassment. Within an hour of my meeting with HR, Steve called me into his office to explain to me how it I was insane to be offended by Brian's comments, and that it was not my decision, whether I was offended by someone's words or actions. I walked out on that meeting. Net result, a week later, I was written up for "disrespecting" Steve and his staff. I had 30 days to shape up or further action would be taken. Worst part about it was that HR handed me one of those pamphlets again, saying they understood about how much stress I was under, at home.

So where's this all lead to? A new job with a 10% pay cut, and me still stressing over it at 12:00 AM in the morning. I've learned a lesson, don't go up against a good story teller, who's willing to use an infant with cancer against a you. Since then, I've been thinking about pursuing legal action, but Omaha is a small city, and I probably wouldn't be employable after that. I tell you what, I love it! If you'd like a copy of my write-up letter, let me know, it's a hoot.

Anyway, enjoy the picture of Molly.  I think it's really cute.  Her hair is so long now, and she's growing like a weed.  I think Marcus only has like 4 lbs. on her.

3 comments:

Grant said...

I'm sorry Matt, this is pretty horrible. If you ever want, send me your resume and I'll see what I can do.

Lyndsey said...

I'm so so sorry to read how severe it really was. It was in a similar situation when I was teaching and I also still wake with nightmares from time to time; two years later. The person I was to file complaints with was the person "in question's" best friend. Even quitting didn't bring the peace I was hoping. Hope things can start to change though I know it's been tough.

Joy said...

Wow, Matt, we hadn't heard about this. So sorry for you! Sounds like a nightmare. I hope you find some peace for your soul. I've been thinking lately about all the rotten things that are done to good people, and it makes me very sad and disillusioned with life, but I keep coming back to the fact that one day, there will be justice. God isn't blind to the evil that is done to others.