[Beyond77]

hello all,

Just wanted to update everyone on my situation and ask for more advice. 'Cause I'm about to scream

One of my co-workers and I had a meeting with our supervisor today in relation to the events that took place in my last post (EDIT: I can't link yet, but the thread was "My Type-A personality is ruining my Life"). The meeting was also about some of our general business--two of our co-workers were absent, one was on her honeymoon and the other was out with a sick child. The supervisor chose to meet with me and my other co-worker today because she is based out of another office and would not be in town again until the end of the month.

Basically, during the meeting my supervisor said that what happened to me (having to work 2 full weekend days without help) would NOT happen again, that it was not fair, and that we should figure out what to do if a similar situation happened in the future--because, due to the nature of our business, there was a 90% chance it would. She extended this situation to ALL of us; that none of us should have to be put in this position. Now, as I mentioned in my last post, I had suggested setting up some kind of plan, something that would be equal to everyone and would prevent any one person from being/feeling "dumped on". I wasn't sure what everyone wanted to do, though, and since I figured that I was under enough scrutiny anyway I had suggested that everyone discuss it in the meeting since all of us were originally supposed to be there and that we would be on an equal playing field. (the supervisor had already told us that she had planned on meeting with the co-worker that was on her honeymoon at a later time.)

Nevertheless, the supervisor agreed with this, and said that this would have been her thoughts even if I hadn't called her (and said that if she'd been in my shoes, she wouldn't have been happy to have done the whole weekend either!) So she offered some ideas. We could possibly...

1.) Set up "on call" weekends--that way, everyone would be on a rotation and know that they were responsible for a certain weekend, and could make their plans accordingly. (Of course, anyone's plans could change, and we would have a backup person in case of that).

2.) Work in shifts--if we have, say, an event lasting a whole day or more, one person would work a few hours, then someone else relieve that person and work a few hours. This way, no person would have to work more than about 3-4 hours at a time, and this would also cut down on the amount of time & people are out of the office (and not able to get their other duties done) because they're having to flex their overtime hours.

4.) Roll the dice, hope the past situation was a fluke, and not make a concrete plan. However, the supervisor stated that if we decided to do this we could not have one person do a large amount of hours alone. She also stressed again that not staffing an event was NOT an option, EVER.

I suggested that the on-call or shifts ideas could possibly work, but that we would need to talk to the other 2 people that weren't there to make a final decision. I stressed that I was frustrated at what happened earlier, and that a plan would help everyone feel like they were on fair ground. I also made suggestions to help everyone feel like no one person was favored for events (forwarding the e-mails to everyone about head office events, etc.)

My co-worker then looked at me, looked at my supervisor, and then said, "Oh, this is the first I'd heard that this whole thing upset Beyond77 so much, she could have told us she felt this way." Uh, EXCUSE ME???

I was biting my tongue so hard at this point it was about to bleed. If I had been able to tell her what I was really thinking, it would have been, "No, you all more or less forced me into doing those two days, and you weren't even willing to discuss any kind of compromise or plan. And to be frank, if someone hadn't done those events, we could have very likely lost our contract and all of us be out of a job."

The supervisor said that we still needed to take some stance--she didn't care which one, as long as we came to a decision. The co-worker then spoke to me and the supervisor about all her son's ballgames, and how the other co-workers had plans on the weekend with their families, how it would be hard for them to take time out on the weekends, etc., and said that the others believed that it would probably best to take option 3. Basically, the exact same stalemate we ran into the first time! I suggested that if we had a plan, we would at least be prepared and that I would not ask anyone else to work a large amount of hours on their own, either. But also that in any case we all needed to meet and talk about this some more, because everyone's time is valuable and that I didn't feel comfortable making this decision without the others present. It was irking me a bit that my co-worker seemed to get more and more annoyed the more either I or my supervisor even mentioned the idea of a plan, even when we said that this should be a group effort. When I tried to talk to her one-on-one later, she just shrugged and said, "it's ok, it is what it is", but I could tell she was seething.

So we're supposed to meet with one of the other co-workers tomorrow if her child is better and she returns to work, and then have a group meeting when the other co-worker comes back on Monday. But I've got a bad feeling that we're not going to get anywhere. I honestly don't know what to do now, and am trying to figure out a way to be a team player but also stand up for myself.

Thanks again for listening, and letting me vent.

[cantstopcrying]

What is the nature of your work/job? Is there anyone above your supervisor that would be able to institute an SOP on this?

[sabby]

Wow, I would say that meeting sounded pretty worthless. You are still sitting there with absolutely no resolution to the problem whatsoever.

I think #2 sounds like the best idea out of all of them. Sharing the workload in this case, to me, is more appealing and you and your co-workers would have the opportunity to work around a few hours at a time instead of an all day affair. I also think that a rotation for weekends would be the best way to go also. That way every 4th weekend event would be yours.

I would say that if you cannot get your co-workers to agree to anything but the status quo, I would let the supervisor know that there is no co-operation happening and maybe she needs to make it crystal clear that what happened to you will NOT happen again to anyone and it's part of their job description (she should have it in your job description).

Boy, nothing irks me more than being a team player when the rest of the team cares zero about doing the same. It makes for a difficult situation every single time.

Wish you luck in moving forward with this issue!


sabby

[Doh2007]

Congratulations for taking the high road. It sounds like your concerns were heard by your supervisor and taken to the next level.

It's a total bummer that nothing got accomplished. It sounds like your coworkers have no trouble laying the whole heap off on you. Next time anyone says they have things on weekends, be sure to have something that you also have to do on the weekends, that you ALL have important things to do. Let's share fairly.

I wouldn't despair yet. It sounds like your supervisor sees the unfairness and wants to do something. Be sure that if no one else takes the initiative, that you pick whichever plan you want.

Good luck and hang in there.

[Beyond77]

Originally Posted by cantstopcrying

What is the nature of your work/job? Is there anyone above your supervisor that would be able to institute an SOP on this?

I work for an agency, and in my department we work with a pretty high profile government program. Specifically, my and my co-workers job is to assist recipients of this program--calling them to let them know about it, helping them apply for it, and so on. We also do a lot of promotion for this in the community, attend community events, etc. We have a head office that occasionally sends us events to do in our area--we are under contract with them, and when they call us to do an event, someone has to do it as a condition of that contract. (The 2-day event in question, the one that caused this bruhaha, was one of these.)

BTW, what is an SOP?

Originally Posted by _sabby_

I think #2 sounds like the best idea out of all of them. Sharing the workload in this case, to me, is more appealing and you and your co-workers would have the opportunity to work around a few hours at a time instead of an all day affair. I also think that a rotation for weekends would be the best way to go also. That way every 4th weekend event would be yours.

I would say that if you cannot get your co-workers to agree to anything but the status quo, I would let the supervisor know that there is no co-operation happening and maybe she needs to make it crystal clear that what happened to you will NOT happen again to anyone and it's part of their job description (she should have it in your job description).

Boy, nothing irks me more than being a team player when the rest of the team cares zero about doing the same. It makes for a difficult situation every single time.

Wish you luck in moving forward with this issue!


sabby

I agree that # 2 would get my vote. I'm a little gun shy, though, about communicating with the supervisor again by myself because of the whole blowup over me calling her the day all hell broke loose.

As I mentioned in my first post, the thing that makes this whole situation so difficult is that my co-workers are not evil people, and have proved that they will do non-regular-hours work, as they have in the past--events on a Saturday, at night, etc. We've even switched around our schedules to help each other; one time I switched with another person and worked her shift because she had something to do on a Saturday, and another person switched a shift with me because I had family in town. We've got along quite well, and have worked as a well-oiled team with plenty of give and take in the past.

Even now, we're getting along pretty good for the most part...the friction comes whenever THIS topic comes up, or the topic of scheduling events, period.I don't want people thinking of me as a bossy, betrayal-minded witch for trying to get things done and settled, but I don't want to be a doormat either.

Ugh. To say that I'm torn about all this is an understatement

[cantstopcrying]

Originally Posted by Beyond77

BTW, what is an SOP?

Sorry, SOP is Standard Operating Procedure. Basically laying it down in writing what will happen in situations like that. Especially if you are an agency of any size, with a presence in the community, this is bound to happen again. I'm right there with you on the frustration level of trying to be a "team" and trying to make things cohesive and work well only to have others say "not me".