- Apr 29, 2005
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I am in debt from not having a job for over a year. I finally got a good paying job in June 2012 and started to pay down my debts. I was so happy. It was full time and benefits and sick time and vacation time.. just everything I could have wanted. Now, I am slowly losing this position... and I don't know what to do. I am sorry it's a long story.. but here it is...
Basically I started to work for company X in June of 2012. When I started with company X I was in a department that had lost both the supervisor and supporting admin. I was brought in as the supporting admin. They had Mr. Z working in a different department as a supporting admin and moved him into my department as the functioning supervisor by August 2012. Between the times of June 2012-August 2012 there was nothing but praise for the work I was doing. Not only from the department I was assigned to but also the other departments that I helped with.
By September 2012, Mr. Z had assumed all responsibilities of overseeing the department. Now, this is when things went downhill. One of my responsibilities is to take tracking confirmation forms we receive and record them into a spreadsheet. This will then transfer the data into our database when we process monthly. It is imperative I type these numbers in correctly and make no mistakes or we could approve numbers that we did not receive and therefore do not have the appropriate backup documentation. In an audit, this would be tragic.
It didn’t take long for Mr. Z to start disrespecting me. He would be very harsh when I would ask a question. Many times he would swear he told me something before, even though I had no records of it. I took a notebook and pen everywhere I went and wrote down everything he told me to do and could find nothing on whatever matter I was asking him. He would bring things to my attention like I would staple two separate packets together and stack them neatly on his desk and he would be irritated that the staples hooked on to one another and blame me for him missing some work. He also started to tell me he had no confidence in our department due to my continuous problems. Our department was supposed to go automated for claiming so we wouldn’t have certain features we manually do now. However, if we did that, it would be even more important for me not to miss claiming numbers. So, he continuously mentioned to our Manager that he didn’t think we were ready for automated processing no matter how much they were pushing us to roll that out.
By October 2012, I went from missing/keying wrong maybe 1 tracking number out of 1800 per month to missing 30. I couldn’t understand why I was keying so many missing after I had been doing so well for the best 4 months. Due to me being a perfectionist and being serious about my job, I started to create checks and double checks to make sure all of my numbers were in correct. However, the missing numbers kept being between 15-30. By December, I decided to start a new method. I decided to control find every tracking number I have entered to make sure they are in the spreadsheet and correct. I knew with this method, it would be highly unlikely I would miss any at all. However, when Mr. Z checked my spreadsheet against the physical claims, he told me I missed 18. He suggested to my Manager that I may need to be terminated or disciplined. He pushed her to make a move in this matter. However, my manager has seen me work for her and for other departments and saw that I work efficiently and accurately. She suggested I take my time and try to be extra careful but allowed me to stay on.
I did a lot of thinking around Christmas and was thinking what I could possibly be doing wrong. I couldn’t understand how I could be making such a simple mistake so many times. All my previous employers always viewed me as a hard-working, successful person. I was always praised for my accuracy and quality. I had asked the other departments I assist with if they have found anything remotely incorrect with the work I do for them to which they all replied, “No. We appreciate all the hard work you do and think you are doing great!”. I couldn’t figure out how I was missing these numbers when I had found them in my spreadsheet before he would check them. So, I devised a plan. I decided that I would save the file to my desktop along with a copy on the shared drive. I would do it before he would check my numbers and see what happened. If he said I missed any numbers, he would add them to a tab called “missing” and list them out. I would then search those numbers and see if they were in my original spreadsheet before he tampered with the shared drive copy.
In next process, just a few days ago, he said I missed 6 numbers. Now, this was a small process of only 139 claims and missing 6 seemed pretty impossible since I made sure to check each one over and over again meticulously. So, I opened up my spreadsheet on my desktop and I found all 6 “missing” numbers clear as day on my spreadsheet. I then went back into the shared drive copy where he claimed they were missing and they were not to be found. Now, this is impossible since both spreadsheets were saved at the same time and the copy on my desktop is the copy from the original on the shared drive.
I then started to question where those numbers would have gone. I thought maybe when saved the spreadsheet that he may have been filtering/sorting the spreadsheet and somehow cut off those 6 tracking numbers. However, when I compared my original spreadsheet on my desktop and the spreadsheet that was on the shared drive, both had 139 tracking numbers. So, I then decided to look at the individual lines where each of the missing claim numbers should be to find out what IS there if it isn’t the correct numbers like on the one saved to my desktop. So, what I found was the following: (this is only an example as I don’t want to give our company tracking numbers)
44432 was changed to 44332
55129 was changed to 55126
20911 was changed to 21911
21788 was changed to 21783
50591 was changed to 59501
Each number was only changed slightly. Only one number was changed and it wasn’t even consistent. It was definitely made to look like a keying mistake. I knew then that this was deliberate sabotage. I took screen shots of the last time the file was saved/edited as well as screen shots of the shared drive spreadsheet. I wrote my Manager and told her exactly what I found. I wrote her a very detailed message explaining my worried and decisions.
I didn’t hear anything from her for about 3/4th of the day, so I came to her desk and mention it to her. She told me that she hadn’t looked into it but would listen to me when we had our one on one meeting that afternoon. I agreed and printed out both the emails and proof I had on the matter. She arrived to my meeting with her with a pen and notepad and asked me what had went on. I explained to her as basically as possible what happened. I had to explain it around 5 times for her to finally understand, due to her not being aware of the much of the process. She told me she had to talk to her manager and then to the HR manager. I told her I was happy she was going to discuss this with her manager but expressed my concern with her speaking to the HR Manager. You see, the HR manager is his father and may or may not side with his son if the matter was brought to his attention. I knew this was possible as a few months earlier, Mr. Z had been in trouble with inappropriate behavior with another co-worker who was later fired. I was assured by my Manager that I should not be worried. She explained to me that the HR manager is a professional and it will not matter that he is personally involved with Mr. Z. I agreed to the situation and told her I had confidence they would handle it appropriately. The next day I was told she spoke with her boss and the HR manager. I was told that I would be called into the HR manager’s office. I would be allowed to tell my story. Then, Mr. Z would be called into the office and would have the ability to tell his side of the story. Then, my Manager and the HR Manager would meet and decide the consequences.
Around 10 am, my phone at my desk rang and I was asked to come to the HR Manager’s office. I said “Sure, no problem.” and walked down to meet my destiny. I brought with me all of my evidence along with the emails and backup that I needed to prove my case. When I walked in I was greeted with the HR Manager and my Manager laughing. I asked what were they laughing about and I was told that it was from my response of “No problem.” The HR manager proceeded to explain to me that an answer of “no problem” is the worst response to give someone. He said that is shows a lack in quality education and demonstrates a lack of understanding in grammar. He said it was typical for my “age” and he wasn’t surprised. (I’m 27)
I laughed it off and asked if he would like to see my documentation on the matter. I was then asked to give him a full account of what happened. I explained to him slowly what had happened, what made me do my own experiment and where I came up with my conclusions. I felt as though I was on a witness stand in a court room. I was intensely questioned for about an hour and a half on why I would do this sort of research, why would Mr. Z want to do this to me, and what he would get out of sabotaging me. I explained to him how I wasn’t sure why this was happening. I explained to him that I never got a real friendly response from Mr. Z and didn’t know exactly why. I explained to him that although I wasn’t sure Mr. Z liked me, I never thought he would try to sabotage my work or even try to get me fired. I offered for anyone who wants to come over to my desk and see the files and their last altered dates I would be more than happy to show them. I was told this was unnecessary. After our meeting, I was told to leave and they would have Mr. Z in for some questioning. Mr. Z was in the HR manager’s office for around an hour. He walked back to his desk and didn’t say anything to me. I waited most of the day to find out what the final verdict was.
Finally, I was called back into the office around an hour before I was supposed to leave for the day. I was told Mr. Z did not confess. (I wasn’t surprised to hear this.) I was told Mr. Z had a strong set of negative perceptions of me which they deemed to be unfortunate. I was told that I had a set of strong, negative perceptions of him that was also unfortunate. I was told that Mr. Z presented to them a side of the argument which was just as plausible of me sabotaging my work to get him fired as the other way around. I asked what was the argument he set forth. I wanted to be able to counter it. I was told that it didn’t matter. I was told that since there was not enough evidence for either of us to convict the others, the matter canceled itself out. I was also told that they considered firing me or him but thought we are both hard workers and the company would benefit from keeping both of us on board. I was then told that there are no other positions available for either one of us so we would have to continue to work together. I told them this put a lot of worry in me because he can continue to manipulate my data and it can continue to go on. I explained that if what I did with all my backup did not prove anything it would continue to not prove anything and I would slowly lose the confidence of my workplace until they replaced me. I was told that I would have to just “play nice” with Mr. Z and be a professional. When I explained that I always present myself in the most professional way I was told that he had to say it to me as he had to say it to Mr. Z and it wasn’t an attack on my conduct. I was then strongly advised that if I told anyone at my workplace what happened I could be in serious trouble. I was told that I would be responsible for causing havoc in the workplace, giving workers a distraction, and ultimately putting my position in jeopardy for spreading unconfirmed speculation about a fellow co-worker. And with that, I was sent back out the door. He grabbed my attention one last time before I left to say, “I hope you know you’ve made quite a serious uncomfortable situation for yourself here.”.
So, now I am left at a job which my supervisor is furious with me. A supervisor which boldly lied and in the face of everything did not get into even the slightest bit of trouble. I now have to sit in front of Mr. Z and have to sit across from Mr. Z’s wife. On top of all of that, my HR Manager pretty much told me it was going to be a difficult situation and that I can speak to no one there about it. I realize I am in a losing situation, but I had to bring it to their attention. If I didn’t I would have lost my job for inaccuracies. Although, coming to them about this matter did nothing good for me either. I was in a catch-22 and continue to be. I am currently looking for a new position as I know it will only get worse for me from here.
I just need prayers... so bad...
Basically I started to work for company X in June of 2012. When I started with company X I was in a department that had lost both the supervisor and supporting admin. I was brought in as the supporting admin. They had Mr. Z working in a different department as a supporting admin and moved him into my department as the functioning supervisor by August 2012. Between the times of June 2012-August 2012 there was nothing but praise for the work I was doing. Not only from the department I was assigned to but also the other departments that I helped with.
By September 2012, Mr. Z had assumed all responsibilities of overseeing the department. Now, this is when things went downhill. One of my responsibilities is to take tracking confirmation forms we receive and record them into a spreadsheet. This will then transfer the data into our database when we process monthly. It is imperative I type these numbers in correctly and make no mistakes or we could approve numbers that we did not receive and therefore do not have the appropriate backup documentation. In an audit, this would be tragic.
It didn’t take long for Mr. Z to start disrespecting me. He would be very harsh when I would ask a question. Many times he would swear he told me something before, even though I had no records of it. I took a notebook and pen everywhere I went and wrote down everything he told me to do and could find nothing on whatever matter I was asking him. He would bring things to my attention like I would staple two separate packets together and stack them neatly on his desk and he would be irritated that the staples hooked on to one another and blame me for him missing some work. He also started to tell me he had no confidence in our department due to my continuous problems. Our department was supposed to go automated for claiming so we wouldn’t have certain features we manually do now. However, if we did that, it would be even more important for me not to miss claiming numbers. So, he continuously mentioned to our Manager that he didn’t think we were ready for automated processing no matter how much they were pushing us to roll that out.
By October 2012, I went from missing/keying wrong maybe 1 tracking number out of 1800 per month to missing 30. I couldn’t understand why I was keying so many missing after I had been doing so well for the best 4 months. Due to me being a perfectionist and being serious about my job, I started to create checks and double checks to make sure all of my numbers were in correct. However, the missing numbers kept being between 15-30. By December, I decided to start a new method. I decided to control find every tracking number I have entered to make sure they are in the spreadsheet and correct. I knew with this method, it would be highly unlikely I would miss any at all. However, when Mr. Z checked my spreadsheet against the physical claims, he told me I missed 18. He suggested to my Manager that I may need to be terminated or disciplined. He pushed her to make a move in this matter. However, my manager has seen me work for her and for other departments and saw that I work efficiently and accurately. She suggested I take my time and try to be extra careful but allowed me to stay on.
I did a lot of thinking around Christmas and was thinking what I could possibly be doing wrong. I couldn’t understand how I could be making such a simple mistake so many times. All my previous employers always viewed me as a hard-working, successful person. I was always praised for my accuracy and quality. I had asked the other departments I assist with if they have found anything remotely incorrect with the work I do for them to which they all replied, “No. We appreciate all the hard work you do and think you are doing great!”. I couldn’t figure out how I was missing these numbers when I had found them in my spreadsheet before he would check them. So, I devised a plan. I decided that I would save the file to my desktop along with a copy on the shared drive. I would do it before he would check my numbers and see what happened. If he said I missed any numbers, he would add them to a tab called “missing” and list them out. I would then search those numbers and see if they were in my original spreadsheet before he tampered with the shared drive copy.
In next process, just a few days ago, he said I missed 6 numbers. Now, this was a small process of only 139 claims and missing 6 seemed pretty impossible since I made sure to check each one over and over again meticulously. So, I opened up my spreadsheet on my desktop and I found all 6 “missing” numbers clear as day on my spreadsheet. I then went back into the shared drive copy where he claimed they were missing and they were not to be found. Now, this is impossible since both spreadsheets were saved at the same time and the copy on my desktop is the copy from the original on the shared drive.
I then started to question where those numbers would have gone. I thought maybe when saved the spreadsheet that he may have been filtering/sorting the spreadsheet and somehow cut off those 6 tracking numbers. However, when I compared my original spreadsheet on my desktop and the spreadsheet that was on the shared drive, both had 139 tracking numbers. So, I then decided to look at the individual lines where each of the missing claim numbers should be to find out what IS there if it isn’t the correct numbers like on the one saved to my desktop. So, what I found was the following: (this is only an example as I don’t want to give our company tracking numbers)
44432 was changed to 44332
55129 was changed to 55126
20911 was changed to 21911
21788 was changed to 21783
50591 was changed to 59501
Each number was only changed slightly. Only one number was changed and it wasn’t even consistent. It was definitely made to look like a keying mistake. I knew then that this was deliberate sabotage. I took screen shots of the last time the file was saved/edited as well as screen shots of the shared drive spreadsheet. I wrote my Manager and told her exactly what I found. I wrote her a very detailed message explaining my worried and decisions.
I didn’t hear anything from her for about 3/4th of the day, so I came to her desk and mention it to her. She told me that she hadn’t looked into it but would listen to me when we had our one on one meeting that afternoon. I agreed and printed out both the emails and proof I had on the matter. She arrived to my meeting with her with a pen and notepad and asked me what had went on. I explained to her as basically as possible what happened. I had to explain it around 5 times for her to finally understand, due to her not being aware of the much of the process. She told me she had to talk to her manager and then to the HR manager. I told her I was happy she was going to discuss this with her manager but expressed my concern with her speaking to the HR Manager. You see, the HR manager is his father and may or may not side with his son if the matter was brought to his attention. I knew this was possible as a few months earlier, Mr. Z had been in trouble with inappropriate behavior with another co-worker who was later fired. I was assured by my Manager that I should not be worried. She explained to me that the HR manager is a professional and it will not matter that he is personally involved with Mr. Z. I agreed to the situation and told her I had confidence they would handle it appropriately. The next day I was told she spoke with her boss and the HR manager. I was told that I would be called into the HR manager’s office. I would be allowed to tell my story. Then, Mr. Z would be called into the office and would have the ability to tell his side of the story. Then, my Manager and the HR Manager would meet and decide the consequences.
Around 10 am, my phone at my desk rang and I was asked to come to the HR Manager’s office. I said “Sure, no problem.” and walked down to meet my destiny. I brought with me all of my evidence along with the emails and backup that I needed to prove my case. When I walked in I was greeted with the HR Manager and my Manager laughing. I asked what were they laughing about and I was told that it was from my response of “No problem.” The HR manager proceeded to explain to me that an answer of “no problem” is the worst response to give someone. He said that is shows a lack in quality education and demonstrates a lack of understanding in grammar. He said it was typical for my “age” and he wasn’t surprised. (I’m 27)
I laughed it off and asked if he would like to see my documentation on the matter. I was then asked to give him a full account of what happened. I explained to him slowly what had happened, what made me do my own experiment and where I came up with my conclusions. I felt as though I was on a witness stand in a court room. I was intensely questioned for about an hour and a half on why I would do this sort of research, why would Mr. Z want to do this to me, and what he would get out of sabotaging me. I explained to him how I wasn’t sure why this was happening. I explained to him that I never got a real friendly response from Mr. Z and didn’t know exactly why. I explained to him that although I wasn’t sure Mr. Z liked me, I never thought he would try to sabotage my work or even try to get me fired. I offered for anyone who wants to come over to my desk and see the files and their last altered dates I would be more than happy to show them. I was told this was unnecessary. After our meeting, I was told to leave and they would have Mr. Z in for some questioning. Mr. Z was in the HR manager’s office for around an hour. He walked back to his desk and didn’t say anything to me. I waited most of the day to find out what the final verdict was.
Finally, I was called back into the office around an hour before I was supposed to leave for the day. I was told Mr. Z did not confess. (I wasn’t surprised to hear this.) I was told Mr. Z had a strong set of negative perceptions of me which they deemed to be unfortunate. I was told that I had a set of strong, negative perceptions of him that was also unfortunate. I was told that Mr. Z presented to them a side of the argument which was just as plausible of me sabotaging my work to get him fired as the other way around. I asked what was the argument he set forth. I wanted to be able to counter it. I was told that it didn’t matter. I was told that since there was not enough evidence for either of us to convict the others, the matter canceled itself out. I was also told that they considered firing me or him but thought we are both hard workers and the company would benefit from keeping both of us on board. I was then told that there are no other positions available for either one of us so we would have to continue to work together. I told them this put a lot of worry in me because he can continue to manipulate my data and it can continue to go on. I explained that if what I did with all my backup did not prove anything it would continue to not prove anything and I would slowly lose the confidence of my workplace until they replaced me. I was told that I would have to just “play nice” with Mr. Z and be a professional. When I explained that I always present myself in the most professional way I was told that he had to say it to me as he had to say it to Mr. Z and it wasn’t an attack on my conduct. I was then strongly advised that if I told anyone at my workplace what happened I could be in serious trouble. I was told that I would be responsible for causing havoc in the workplace, giving workers a distraction, and ultimately putting my position in jeopardy for spreading unconfirmed speculation about a fellow co-worker. And with that, I was sent back out the door. He grabbed my attention one last time before I left to say, “I hope you know you’ve made quite a serious uncomfortable situation for yourself here.”.
So, now I am left at a job which my supervisor is furious with me. A supervisor which boldly lied and in the face of everything did not get into even the slightest bit of trouble. I now have to sit in front of Mr. Z and have to sit across from Mr. Z’s wife. On top of all of that, my HR Manager pretty much told me it was going to be a difficult situation and that I can speak to no one there about it. I realize I am in a losing situation, but I had to bring it to their attention. If I didn’t I would have lost my job for inaccuracies. Although, coming to them about this matter did nothing good for me either. I was in a catch-22 and continue to be. I am currently looking for a new position as I know it will only get worse for me from here.
I just need prayers... so bad...
