I know I haven't said much about this on my blog, but I've had a lot going on work-wise for the past few months. I guess it's time for an update!
To fill you in, I've had the same day job for 4.5 years - it was always pretty good (obviously, or I wouldn't have stayed so long!) ... until the past year or so. This new woman (IE) came in as my supervisor about 2 years ago and for awhile, it wasn't too bad. But the past year has been a nightmare. She's one of those people who doesn't believe that migraines are a real medical condition, so the times when I had to call in sick because I was at home, lying in the dark and/or vomiting, she would get unbelieveably pissed off. It's not like I would call in sick all that often or anything, but still, it would drive her nuts when I did. She started to focus in on me and pretty much do anything that she knew would upset me, or cause me some sort of grief. For example, I requested a few days off last summer - she approved it so I went ahead and booked a flight/hotel/etc - then a short while later she came back and told me that my vacation request wasn't approved. Before I had a chance to even say anything, she left for 4 weeks on vacation - leaving me to stress about this (did I have the time off or what?!). She was checking email while she was away, but wouldn't reply to my messages ....
That's just one small example, and believe me, I have MANY more. She totally fits the bill as a workplace bully.
Finally in September I'd had enough. I once again tried speaking to the Director of our School about this issue and basically, nothing was done about it (again). So I went to my doctor, as my migraines had pretty much spiralled out of control due to all the stress. She told me that she wanted me to go on medical leave, as it wasn't just the volume of migraines that she was worried about. Apparently the stress was doing quite a number on my blood pressure (hence the increase in migraines) and my heart would start racing far too high when my anxiety levels increased. So onto some meds I went, and off on medical leave I went.
I was off on medical leave for 2 months, during which time IE left UBC. So I thought it was safe to return, and I was really looking forward to it. My plan was to go back, get lots done (set up some new organization systems, really work on the recruitment/marketing plan, etc). I had planned on staying there until next August/September or so, and then I planned on taking the big leap - leave UBC/the day job and focus on my own business full time.
I was optimistic that the powers-that-be at my work would hire a good replacement - after all, nobody could be worse than IE, right?! IE was not supposed to have any input whatsoever when a replacement was being interviewed/hired, so you can imagine my shock when I found out that they had hired HER FRIEND. Yep, seriously. I was absolutely stunned when I found out ... but I then thought about it and came to the conclusion that any decent person wouldn't listen to heresay and not give someone a fair chance without knowing anything about them. Um, yeah, I was completely wrong. Obviously IE had completely biased CR's opinion of both myself and my co-worker, BW (we're the only two that this person supervises). IE didn't like BW and I, so she obviously put some nasty ideas into CR's little head, who obviously took them all to heart and believed it all. She had poor BW in tears within the first 2 days of her being in the position! CR proved to be a nasty, rude woman - and honestly, in my opinion, she is MUCH worse than IE ever was. At least IE directed all of the hostility and discrimination only at me - she was decent to most everyone else. CR, on the other hand, is nasty and rude to BW, me and seems to have absolutely no respect for the students in our School.
Just to give you an idea as to how rude this woman has been ... here are a few things she's done over the past while to either BW or myself:
a few times BW or I would speak at the same time as her - she actually put her hand up and said, "you don't speak at the same time as me". She then would give us a nice little lesson on manners - "You should know that when someone is speaking, you wait for that person to pause - THEN it's YOUR turn to speak". Rude!
Last Friday I was having a discussion with her on 2 separate occasions. Two times, while I was in the middle of saying something, she simply turned around, and walked out of my office. I guess she didn't like what she was hearing?! Double rude!
She constantly barks orders and won't do anything herself - she thinks that she's above doing "little people tasks" such as sending faxes, unlocking class room doors, etc. It's really quite unbelieveable.
Anyways, enough about that. Basically, I spoke with the Director again, as well as some of the main faculty, and absolutely nothing was done about CR's behaviour. They were willing to simply sweep it under the rug. At this point (about mid-December) I decided that I simply would not tolerate being treated this way - and there was only one thing I had left to do about it. I tried taking steps to have the issue resolved, none of which worked, so the only thing left that was within my power was to hand in my resignation. So that's exactly what I did.
My last day was yesterday.
Now it's time to focus on my business, and if need be, I'll take on a part time day job for the next while too. I hadn't planned on leaving my day job for at least another 7-8 months, so I'm not fully prepared to be out on my own - but I figure a p/t job will help out with that.
So there you have it!! Pretty crazy stuff, heh?
It's really quite sad that one person can come into an environment like that and make such a mess of it so quickly .... they've lost an excellent employee who was with them for 4.5 years (the longest time they've had a staff member, if you can believe it!).
Anyhoo, as I always say, everything happens for a reason ... so in the end, it will all work out. Karma will bite both IE and CR in the ass!
![](<a href="http://www.buyhandmade.org"><img src="http://www.buyhandmade.org/images/100x100.jpg" alt="I Took The Handmade Pledge! BuyHandmade.org" width="100" height="100" border="0" /></a>)
See, we hardly got any snow where we live! But I'm still glad I don't have to leave the apartment. :)
It's a bit of a little treat to myself for taking the jump (leaving my day job to focus on par avion design - more info on that later!)
