Whatever!!

Whatever!!http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/en-EUhourly82000-01-01T12:00+00:00Whatever!!http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/0d/c4fa1a9ef97717092c714b649aecc4_160x200.jpgEpiloguehttp://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/epilogue-4626853/2008-08-23T14:29:59+02:00 As I walked back to the car planning how I was going to go about getting re-employed I had a text message from my friend on the Service desk. "Vauxhall need a Sales Administrator - Here's the number, speak to a Ralph Smith" I called as soon as I was in the car, went for an interview the following day and by Monday morning I was earning again. Someone was looking after me and it reassured me that sticking to my guns was the right thing to do. I stayed at Vauxhall for 6 months. The people were lovely but it was so quiet I was often bored. After the hassle I'd just turned my back on though it was like having a holiday and I'm glad I worked there. My stress levels had snuck way up without me realising and this job was perfect for bringing them right back down again. There came a time when I knew it was time to get my butt in gear and move on and since the Motor Trade was struggling I went for something totally different. I now work as a Call Handler for Devon and Cornwall Police taking emergency and non-emergency calls. It's rewarding, worthwhile and the best job I've ever had. There are so many avenues to explore, the people are lovely and the pay is great. And if I ever lay eyes on Tracey again...I'm going to be twice as smug as she ever was! <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/epilogue-4626853/#comments">Comments</a> As I walked back to the car planning how I was going to go about getting re-employed I had a text message from my friend on the Service desk.
"Vauxhall need a Sales Administrator - Here's the number, speak to a Ralph Smith"
I called as soon as I was in the car, went for an interview the following day and by Monday morning I was earning again. Someone was looking after me and it reassured me that sticking to my guns was the right thing to do.
I stayed at Vauxhall for 6 months. The people were lovely but it was so quiet I was often bored. After the hassle I'd just turned my back on though it was like having a holiday and I'm glad I worked there. My stress levels had snuck way up without me realising and this job was perfect for bringing them right back down again.
There came a time when I knew it was time to get my butt in gear and move on and since the Motor Trade was struggling I went for something totally different.
I now work as a Call Handler for Devon and Cornwall Police taking emergency and non-emergency calls. It's rewarding, worthwhile and the best job I've ever had. There are so many avenues to explore, the people are lovely and the pay is great. And if I ever lay eyes on Tracey again...I'm going to be twice as smug as she ever was!

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]]>Walk of Pridehttp://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/walk-of-pride-4626833/2008-08-23T14:23:25+02:00 My notice accused Charles of being a useless manager with loyalty to those that shout loudest and Tracey of being a bully. I handed it to Charles, Andy and the big boss himself. I also left a copy for Bob when he came back from holiday. The owners son Martin called me in to see him the next day. "You've accused Tracey of bullying. I am refusing your notice as this is a grievance and you should follow the grievance procedure." I was gutted. I couldn't put a grievance in against Tracey because she had known never to pick on me. She'd have lost and knew it. It wasn't my grievance, it was Lou's. I agreed to think it over. The following day I went back to speak to Martin. "The problem here is Tracey and Charles. If they aren't going anywhere then I have to." I explained "I can't sack them for no reason" Martin replied. "I know, which is why I'm going. I can't bare to work for that woman for a minute longer in truth but I've given you a months notice so that's what you'll get" "Do you have another job?" Martin asked "What if we could just move you to a different department?" "If you have another position you could offer me I'll take it. I don't have anything else and I do enjoy working here and I love the people, well most of them" I went off to calm down whilst Martin and Andy looked at what else was available. Nothing as it happens. "I'm sorry that it's come to this and that we have nothing else for you but I am happy to let you go with immediate effect, pay your notice and any other monies owed so you can look for something else." This seemed a reasonable offer and I took it. Tracey and Charles were called in to speak to Martin whilst I went to say my goodbyes to some wonderful people I had worked with for 5 years. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in that office. Martin was more than aware of how hard I worked for him and his business and was not best pleased that I was going but he understood. I packed my desk and made my way back to my car feeling on top of the world! <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/walk-of-pride-4626833/#comments">Comments</a> My notice accused Charles of being a useless manager with loyalty to those that shout loudest and Tracey of being a bully. I handed it to Charles, Andy and the big boss himself. I also left a copy for Bob when he came back from holiday.
The owners son Martin called me in to see him the next day.
"You've accused Tracey of bullying. I am refusing your notice as this is a grievance and you should follow the grievance procedure."
I was gutted. I couldn't put a grievance in against Tracey because she had known never to pick on me. She'd have lost and knew it. It wasn't my grievance, it was Lou's. I agreed to think it over.
The following day I went back to speak to Martin.
"The problem here is Tracey and Charles. If they aren't going anywhere then I have to." I explained
"I can't sack them for no reason" Martin replied.
"I know, which is why I'm going. I can't bare to work for that woman for a minute longer in truth but I've given you a months notice so that's what you'll get"
"Do you have another job?" Martin asked "What if we could just move you to a different department?"
"If you have another position you could offer me I'll take it. I don't have anything else and I do enjoy working here and I love the people, well most of them"
I went off to calm down whilst Martin and Andy looked at what else was available. Nothing as it happens.
"I'm sorry that it's come to this and that we have nothing else for you but I am happy to let you go with immediate effect, pay your notice and any other monies owed so you can look for something else."
This seemed a reasonable offer and I took it. Tracey and Charles were called in to speak to Martin whilst I went to say my goodbyes to some wonderful people I had worked with for 5 years. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in that office. Martin was more than aware of how hard I worked for him and his business and was not best pleased that I was going but he understood.
I packed my desk and made my way back to my car feeling on top of the world!

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]]>The Meetinghttp://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/the-meeting-4626800/2008-08-23T14:13:28+02:00 Monday morning and me and Lou were called to Andy's office. We were prepared although Lou had thrown up several times by then. Charles was at the meeting and we couldn't wait to see what they had on Lou that could result in her getting the sack. It turned out not much. All they could go on about was a few simple mistakes she had made when processing invoices. I asked why these mistakes hadn't been pointed out at the time she made them as that was what training was all about. They couldn't answer. I told them I still made mistakes and I was always given a chance to put them right, why wasn't Lou offered the same chance. They couldn't answer. I pointed out that Lou had been given no real training so how could she not be expected to make mistakes? They couldn't answer. We then went through all our points and evidence and left the meeting feeling very confident. "They had nothing! They can't fire you for making mistakes, they'd have to fire everyone!" I said. Lou was still panicking like mad though and went home. She was still throwing up with the stress. At about 3pm she called me. "They want me to come back in now" she said "I think they're going to fire me!" "Well if they do, I'm coming with you, it's uncalled for. And it's sneaky. They've done this just as Bob and Rachel are both on holiday so you have no support and no advice from anyone. I've done my best to help you but I'm not trained in this sort of thing. It's completely unfair if they do" Lou came in at 4pm. At 4.10 she announced she had been fired. At 4.20 I handed my notice in. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/the-meeting-4626800/#comments">Comments</a> Monday morning and me and Lou were called to Andy's office. We were prepared although Lou had thrown up several times by then.
Charles was at the meeting and we couldn't wait to see what they had on Lou that could result in her getting the sack. It turned out not much. All they could go on about was a few simple mistakes she had made when processing invoices. I asked why these mistakes hadn't been pointed out at the time she made them as that was what training was all about. They couldn't answer. I told them I still made mistakes and I was always given a chance to put them right, why wasn't Lou offered the same chance. They couldn't answer. I pointed out that Lou had been given no real training so how could she not be expected to make mistakes? They couldn't answer.
We then went through all our points and evidence and left the meeting feeling very confident.
"They had nothing! They can't fire you for making mistakes, they'd have to fire everyone!" I said. Lou was still panicking like mad though and went home. She was still throwing up with the stress.
At about 3pm she called me.
"They want me to come back in now" she said "I think they're going to fire me!"
"Well if they do, I'm coming with you, it's uncalled for. And it's sneaky. They've done this just as Bob and Rachel are both on holiday so you have no support and no advice from anyone. I've done my best to help you but I'm not trained in this sort of thing. It's completely unfair if they do"
Lou came in at 4pm. At 4.10 she announced she had been fired. At 4.20 I handed my notice in.

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]]>Me and Lou against the worldhttp://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/me-and-lou-against-the-world-4626767/2008-08-23T14:05:08+02:00 Lou was mortified to be given a letter telling her she was being called to a meeting the following Monday. "They're going to sack me!" she fretted to me "They won't. What can they sack you for? Trying to do the job you were employed for?" I soothed. She asked me to come to the meeting with her and I agreed. In fact I told her that if she was fired, I'd walk out the door right behind her. That night we joined several other employees for drinks. It was a regular thing the company did and always a laugh. As you can imagine, me, Sarah, Hazel and Lou all got a little merry. In fact Lou got off her face! Myself and Lou made it very clear to everyone that if she was fired on Monday, I was walking. Charles boss, Andy, the man who would ultimately be responsible for giving her the push if that's what it came to was there too. At one point my friend Tom called me over and I had to squash between him and Andy to talk. "This guy here is going to fire Sam on Monday" I slurred to Tom before giving Andy a little bump with my hip. Seems I wasn't aware of my own strength since Andy went flying off the end of the bench! It's still my proudest moment! On the Sunday before the meeting, me, Lou, Sarah and Hazel sat down and made notes about every occasion Lou had been let down. There was about 4 pages by the time we had finished. "Whatever they think they've got on you, it's going to have to be good. There's so much eveidence that you have been discriminated against here, there's no way they can fire you!" I reassured Lou. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/me-and-lou-against-the-world-4626767/#comments">Comments</a> Lou was mortified to be given a letter telling her she was being called to a meeting the following Monday.
"They're going to sack me!" she fretted to me
"They won't. What can they sack you for? Trying to do the job you were employed for?" I soothed.
She asked me to come to the meeting with her and I agreed. In fact I told her that if she was fired, I'd walk out the door right behind her.
That night we joined several other employees for drinks. It was a regular thing the company did and always a laugh. As you can imagine, me, Sarah, Hazel and Lou all got a little merry. In fact Lou got off her face! Myself and Lou made it very clear to everyone that if she was fired on Monday, I was walking. Charles boss, Andy, the man who would ultimately be responsible for giving her the push if that's what it came to was there too. At one point my friend Tom called me over and I had to squash between him and Andy to talk.
"This guy here is going to fire Sam on Monday" I slurred to Tom before giving Andy a little bump with my hip. Seems I wasn't aware of my own strength since Andy went flying off the end of the bench! It's still my proudest moment!
On the Sunday before the meeting, me, Lou, Sarah and Hazel sat down and made notes about every occasion Lou had been let down. There was about 4 pages by the time we had finished.
"Whatever they think they've got on you, it's going to have to be good. There's so much eveidence that you have been discriminated against here, there's no way they can fire you!" I reassured Lou.

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]]>Heated Discussionshttp://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/heated-discussions-4626741/2008-08-23T13:56:14+02:00 I was fuming. All of us in the office had mortgages, Lou had a little boy to consider and Sarah had a car to pay off but Tracey was happy to put our jobs on the line when it was all her fault to start with. We all went home for the weekend following Bob's talk and spent the whole two days wondering if we were going to be called to a disciplinary hearing. On Monday, me, Sarah and Lou were called to Rachels office. Rachel was the head of HR. She gave us a big lecture about our behaviour and said she was disgusted in what had been written and in what we had done. She was aware of Tracey's misgivings and said she would be having a word with her too. She then said we faced disciplinary hearings. At that point I told her that if that was the case she could have my notice. No way was I going to lose my job for that bitch Tracey. I'd rather walk with my head held high. Rachel backed down then and said that luckily for us Bob had realised we had all been suffering and decided to let us off with a warning. In future though he would be sitting in on our meetings. Tracey and Leah were both spoken to about their conduct and I hope about the fact that they had invaded everyone's privacy by reading the emails in the first place. From then on we all made a concerted yet strained effort to get along. The only person that things didn't change for was Lou. Alongside everything else that was going on, Lou had been to see Charles boss about the fact that Leah wouldn't train her nor give her any work to do. Some days she would be sat doing nothing and then she would be told off for it! We could all see how distressing it was for her. Occasionally Tracey would pass her something but it never took her more than an hour to do. In the end I told her to do my delivery notes and to take them on from me. At least they were coming in daily. Lou complained and pleaded and begged to be given something to do. Taking over from Dee had gone out the window when they employed someone from accounts. Hazel was lovely and it wasn't her fault that she had been given the job so we did our best to make her welcome. In fact Lou was the first to make an effort with her. She was now the youngest and we all got along with her much to Tracey's horror. On several occasions Lou came to me in tears saying she'd had enough and was just going to leave. I talked her around saying it wouldn't be long before Tracey was on maternity and I would be taking over with my first job being to give Lou a stable role in the office. Lou agreed to try and hang on. Unfortunately she didn't get the chance. Several days later she was handed a letter. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/heated-discussions-4626741/#comments">Comments</a> I was fuming. All of us in the office had mortgages, Lou had a little boy to consider and Sarah had a car to pay off but Tracey was happy to put our jobs on the line when it was all her fault to start with.
We all went home for the weekend following Bob's talk and spent the whole two days wondering if we were going to be called to a disciplinary hearing.
On Monday, me, Sarah and Lou were called to Rachels office. Rachel was the head of HR. She gave us a big lecture about our behaviour and said she was disgusted in what had been written and in what we had done. She was aware of Tracey's misgivings and said she would be having a word with her too. She then said we faced disciplinary hearings. At that point I told her that if that was the case she could have my notice. No way was I going to lose my job for that bitch Tracey. I'd rather walk with my head held high. Rachel backed down then and said that luckily for us Bob had realised we had all been suffering and decided to let us off with a warning. In future though he would be sitting in on our meetings.
Tracey and Leah were both spoken to about their conduct and I hope about the fact that they had invaded everyone's privacy by reading the emails in the first place.
From then on we all made a concerted yet strained effort to get along. The only person that things didn't change for was Lou.
Alongside everything else that was going on, Lou had been to see Charles boss about the fact that Leah wouldn't train her nor give her any work to do. Some days she would be sat doing nothing and then she would be told off for it! We could all see how distressing it was for her. Occasionally Tracey would pass her something but it never took her more than an hour to do. In the end I told her to do my delivery notes and to take them on from me. At least they were coming in daily.
Lou complained and pleaded and begged to be given something to do. Taking over from Dee had gone out the window when they employed someone from accounts. Hazel was lovely and it wasn't her fault that she had been given the job so we did our best to make her welcome. In fact Lou was the first to make an effort with her. She was now the youngest and we all got along with her much to Tracey's horror.
On several occasions Lou came to me in tears saying she'd had enough and was just going to leave. I talked her around saying it wouldn't be long before Tracey was on maternity and I would be taking over with my first job being to give Lou a stable role in the office. Lou agreed to try and hang on.
Unfortunately she didn't get the chance. Several days later she was handed a letter.

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]]>The end is in sighthttp://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/the-end-is-in-sight-4626695/2008-08-23T13:42:42+02:00 Throughout the last few weeks the emails between me, Sarah, Dee and Lou had continued to fly. We used them to let off steam and yes we bitched about Tracey, Charles and Leah like crazy. I'm not proud of the fact that I was involved but we were at our wits end and no-one seemed to be taking any notice of how bad things were getting. We had been to Charles' boss but he may as well be his twin as he proved to be even wetter than Charles and so text book! We went to the Financial Director as the Sales Director had left and he seemed to be looking after sales for the time being. He was supportive and I had a great relationship with him as he was always in early and knew how hard I worked. However thanks to the baby in Tracey's belly he wasn't keen on getting rid of her in case it was taken the wrong way and Tracey knew that whilst she remained pregnant she was safe. He did threaten her with 12 weeks to clean up her act and improve but by the end of that she would have been on maternity anyway. On one of the days I had off and after Dee had left, Lou text me to say that the Financial Director, Bob had called everyone in one by one following a complaint by Tracey. The sneaky cow had accessed all our emails and found the bitchy ones that had been sent between us. She had then reported us for it. Bob told us he found them because the computer system threw up bad language markers but I knew this wasn't the case since he would have had the whole of the company in there at some time if that was true. Me and a friend Denise were always emailing and we could be real sewer mouths. I knew Tracey had used our passwords to get into our sysems. On my return I had an email from the IT department saying there had been a breach in security and I needed to change my password. If the system had thrown up the bad language then I would not have needed to do that. However as you can imagine the shit really hit the fan. Bob was mad. He gave us all a real telling off but in particular me since I had the most experience and was up for Tracey's job. I explained that we were at the end of our tethers and although we knew it was wrong we needed to let off steam. He accused us of bullying but I said that was unreasonable since we never sent any of the messages direct to Leah or Tracey. Should have saved my breath, he told us he would have to consider disciplinary action. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/23/the-end-is-in-sight-4626695/#comments">Comments</a> Throughout the last few weeks the emails between me, Sarah, Dee and Lou had continued to fly. We used them to let off steam and yes we bitched about Tracey, Charles and Leah like crazy. I'm not proud of the fact that I was involved but we were at our wits end and no-one seemed to be taking any notice of how bad things were getting. We had been to Charles' boss but he may as well be his twin as he proved to be even wetter than Charles and so text book! We went to the Financial Director as the Sales Director had left and he seemed to be looking after sales for the time being. He was supportive and I had a great relationship with him as he was always in early and knew how hard I worked. However thanks to the baby in Tracey's belly he wasn't keen on getting rid of her in case it was taken the wrong way and Tracey knew that whilst she remained pregnant she was safe. He did threaten her with 12 weeks to clean up her act and improve but by the end of that she would have been on maternity anyway.
On one of the days I had off and after Dee had left, Lou text me to say that the Financial Director, Bob had called everyone in one by one following a complaint by Tracey. The sneaky cow had accessed all our emails and found the bitchy ones that had been sent between us. She had then reported us for it. Bob told us he found them because the computer system threw up bad language markers but I knew this wasn't the case since he would have had the whole of the company in there at some time if that was true. Me and a friend Denise were always emailing and we could be real sewer mouths. I knew Tracey had used our passwords to get into our sysems. On my return I had an email from the IT department saying there had been a breach in security and I needed to change my password. If the system had thrown up the bad language then I would not have needed to do that.
However as you can imagine the shit really hit the fan. Bob was mad. He gave us all a real telling off but in particular me since I had the most experience and was up for Tracey's job. I explained that we were at the end of our tethers and although we knew it was wrong we needed to let off steam. He accused us of bullying but I said that was unreasonable since we never sent any of the messages direct to Leah or Tracey. Should have saved my breath, he told us he would have to consider disciplinary action.

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]]>I lose it!http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/11/i-lose-it-4573647/2008-08-11T21:06:31+02:00 Leah had a particuarly difficult customer who in all honesty was rude, demanding and unreasonable. We had all dealt with her on the phone at one time or another but Leah always took the main brunt of it and to be fair she shouldn't have had to. One day this customer called in and was plain rude and pretty horrible to Leah who subsequently left the office when the call had ended. When she walked back in it was clear she had been crying and was still struggling to gain control of her upset. I have never seen Tracey move so fast. She was out of her seat like a runner off the blocks. "Oh Leah what's wrong?" she cooed hugging Leah to her and being all comforting and caring. "That bitch Sue has been on the phone again. It's not fair, I have to take all her flack and it should be Dave who deals with it. It's him that agreed to sell her 50 vans." "Well I'm not having a member of my staff upset. I'm going to call Dave and John and tell them this has to stop." I sent an email to Dee saying I bet she'd never move that fast to support one of us. I didn't have to wait long for her to prove me right. After a few hours of people moaning and generally spreading bad feeling about the office I decided we had to put a stop to things there and then. I went in to see Charles and Tracey and asked if we could have a meeting...now! "Yeah, uh ok um..." Was all I got from Charles and Tracey just sort of nodded without looking at me. I went and sat down and waited for the meeting. From my desk I could see Tracey at hers and after waiting 10 minutes and becoming a little more than bothered about no-one moving to hold this meeting I looked up to receive what can only be described as the smuggest look I have ever seen, from Tracey. She obviously thought it funny that nothing was happening. It was the final straw. Storming back into their office I asked rather more firmly than before "Can we have a meeting NOW please?!" "Uh yeah, sorry um I was just uh, I needed to finish this report" stuttered Charles "Yeah and I need to get these done by 3" smugged Tracey "WELL FUCKING SAY SO THEN!!" I shouted before storming out literally shaking from head to toe with frustration. Did Tracey jump out of her seat to see why I was so upset and angry? Did she offer to call my superiors to sort out whatever issues I had? Did she hell. Apparently I was not as valued as her little friend Leah and Tracey had just shot herself in the foot. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/11/i-lose-it-4573647/#comments">Comments</a> Leah had a particuarly difficult customer who in all honesty was rude, demanding and unreasonable. We had all dealt with her on the phone at one time or another but Leah always took the main brunt of it and to be fair she shouldn't have had to.
One day this customer called in and was plain rude and pretty horrible to Leah who subsequently left the office when the call had ended. When she walked back in it was clear she had been crying and was still struggling to gain control of her upset.
I have never seen Tracey move so fast. She was out of her seat like a runner off the blocks.
"Oh Leah what's wrong?" she cooed hugging Leah to her and being all comforting and caring.
"That bitch Sue has been on the phone again. It's not fair, I have to take all her flack and it should be Dave who deals with it. It's him that agreed to sell her 50 vans."
"Well I'm not having a member of my staff upset. I'm going to call Dave and John and tell them this has to stop."
I sent an email to Dee saying I bet she'd never move that fast to support one of us. I didn't have to wait long for her to prove me right.
After a few hours of people moaning and generally spreading bad feeling about the office I decided we had to put a stop to things there and then. I went in to see Charles and Tracey and asked if we could have a meeting...now!
"Yeah, uh ok um..." Was all I got from Charles and Tracey just sort of nodded without looking at me.
I went and sat down and waited for the meeting. From my desk I could see Tracey at hers and after waiting 10 minutes and becoming a little more than bothered about no-one moving to hold this meeting I looked up to receive what can only be described as the smuggest look I have ever seen, from Tracey. She obviously thought it funny that nothing was happening. It was the final straw.
Storming back into their office I asked rather more firmly than before "Can we have a meeting NOW please?!"
"Uh yeah, sorry um I was just uh, I needed to finish this report" stuttered Charles
"Yeah and I need to get these done by 3" smugged Tracey
"WELL FUCKING SAY SO THEN!!" I shouted before storming out literally shaking from head to toe with frustration.
Did Tracey jump out of her seat to see why I was so upset and angry? Did she offer to call my superiors to sort out whatever issues I had? Did she hell. Apparently I was not as valued as her little friend Leah and Tracey had just shot herself in the foot.

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]]>Things get bitchy..http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/11/things-get-bitchy-4573549/2008-08-11T20:48:49+02:00 It wasn't long before Louise felt comfortable enough to wander in and out of our office and make herself known to us. She was a great laugh and got on really well with us all. In fact she got on with us all so much that Tracey decided she didn't like her. Which meant that Leah couldn't either. Over the next few weeks We got closer to Lou and Leah and Tracey went out of their way to make things more difficult for her. Tracey refused to organise her training always giving poor excuses such as Leah was too busy or she had to attend a meeting. Promises were continuously made and broken so...we held another meeting! At this one I pointed out that despite Louise being taken on to help Leah out, Leah seemed reluctant to share any of her workload. Everytime Lou asked for something to do Leah would say "well there isn't anything really" or "That really doesn't need doing right now" all the while slowly disappearing behind piles of paperwork that clearly needed sorting. Lou even offered to sort out her filing. Leah even turned down this offer saying she would need to sort through it first! The tension and bad feeling between us and Leah, Tracey and Charles grew so much that you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Soon there were emails flying between us bitching about what a useless boss Tracey was and how much of a wuss Charles was for never taking control of the whole situation. He was wrapped around which ever little finger got to him first on any given day. Tracey and Leah were also sending emails although we had no proof you only had to watch them for half an hour and it became obvious. They even began texting each other as if we wouldn't notice that going on right under our noses. despite the fact that I was involved in the bitching I did always try to approach any work situation with a neutral outlook. As Lou became more and more stressed about not being trained or allowed to actually do any of the work she was employed to do, I would find myself talking her put of quitting. As Tracey promised at every meeting that she would do something about it I actually encouraged Lou to give her a chance to prove she would! That was until the day she proved just what a bias and spiteful cow she really was and this time she picked on the wrong person....me! <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/08/11/things-get-bitchy-4573549/#comments">Comments</a> It wasn't long before Louise felt comfortable enough to wander in and out of our office and make herself known to us. She was a great laugh and got on really well with us all. In fact she got on with us all so much that Tracey decided she didn't like her. Which meant that Leah couldn't either.
Over the next few weeks We got closer to Lou and Leah and Tracey went out of their way to make things more difficult for her. Tracey refused to organise her training always giving poor excuses such as Leah was too busy or she had to attend a meeting. Promises were continuously made and broken so...we held another meeting!
At this one I pointed out that despite Louise being taken on to help Leah out, Leah seemed reluctant to share any of her workload. Everytime Lou asked for something to do Leah would say "well there isn't anything really" or "That really doesn't need doing right now" all the while slowly disappearing behind piles of paperwork that clearly needed sorting. Lou even offered to sort out her filing. Leah even turned down this offer saying she would need to sort through it first!
The tension and bad feeling between us and Leah, Tracey and Charles grew so much that you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Soon there were emails flying between us bitching about what a useless boss Tracey was and how much of a wuss Charles was for never taking control of the whole situation. He was wrapped around which ever little finger got to him first on any given day.
Tracey and Leah were also sending emails although we had no proof you only had to watch them for half an hour and it became obvious. They even began texting each other as if we wouldn't notice that going on right under our noses.
despite the fact that I was involved in the bitching I did always try to approach any work situation with a neutral outlook. As Lou became more and more stressed about not being trained or allowed to actually do any of the work she was employed to do, I would find myself talking her put of quitting. As Tracey promised at every meeting that she would do something about it I actually encouraged Lou to give her a chance to prove she would! That was until the day she proved just what a bias and spiteful cow she really was and this time she picked on the wrong person....me!

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]]>A few weeks in....http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/07/01/a-few-weeks-in-4391361/2008-07-01T21:50:28+02:00 ...And Leah was proving to be a lazy madam. She literally had filing piled around her desk and under it. There were far fewer orders coming her way than anyone else's yet we all slogged on working extra hours just to attempt to keep on top of everything. The lazy Moo didn't even have to tax her own vehicles, that was left to me!! I wouldn't have minded if I didn't average 150 new cars already every month let alone her vans which as you can imagine were often sold to fleet companies! On top of that we had become increasingly aware of the constant emails that flew between her and a particular salesman in Exeter. We never read them but it wasn't hard to work out that there was a serious amount of flirting going on. This in itself wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't constantly moan about how much she had to do and how much she was struggling! The cracks were beginning to show as far as Tracey and Charles were concerned too. charles was out of the office more than in it. He was either having a ciggie out back or wandered off to Lord knows where since he never told anyone where he was going or why. This left the rest of us taking calls from people who were getting very annoyed by the fact that he was never anywhere to be found and didn't return their calls when he was in the office. Tracey was around more often and to be fair was also feeling the brunt of Charles failings but yet she still went off to other sites with him at a moments notice. There was never any warning which meant we were left holding the fort. We were left to deal with more irate salesmen, trying to find someone to sign cheque requests and having to resolve issues that we shouldn't have been dealing with. Dee and myself, being the two longest standing members of staff there had to practically run the place whilst all the time defending our crappy supervisor and boss. It was time to call a meeting. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/07/01/a-few-weeks-in-4391361/#comments">Comments</a> ...And Leah was proving to be a lazy madam. She literally had filing piled around her desk and under it. There were far fewer orders coming her way than anyone else's yet we all slogged on working extra hours just to attempt to keep on top of everything. The lazy Moo didn't even have to tax her own vehicles, that was left to me!! I wouldn't have minded if I didn't average 150 new cars already every month let alone her vans which as you can imagine were often sold to fleet companies!
On top of that we had become increasingly aware of the constant emails that flew between her and a particular salesman in Exeter. We never read them but it wasn't hard to work out that there was a serious amount of flirting going on. This in itself wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't constantly moan about how much she had to do and how much she was struggling!
The cracks were beginning to show as far as Tracey and Charles were concerned too. charles was out of the office more than in it. He was either having a ciggie out back or wandered off to Lord knows where since he never told anyone where he was going or why. This left the rest of us taking calls from people who were getting very annoyed by the fact that he was never anywhere to be found and didn't return their calls when he was in the office. Tracey was around more often and to be fair was also feeling the brunt of Charles failings but yet she still went off to other sites with him at a moments notice. There was never any warning which meant we were left holding the fort. We were left to deal with more irate salesmen, trying to find someone to sign cheque requests and having to resolve issues that we shouldn't have been dealing with. Dee and myself, being the two longest standing members of staff there had to practically run the place whilst all the time defending our crappy supervisor and boss. It was time to call a meeting.

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]]>I Digresshttp://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/06/22/i-digress-4348900/2008-06-22T20:32:53+02:00 Taking a little time from my rant about work I wanted to play the little game Milly and co have been playing on Google and here are my answers (I used my actual first name for the questions but have replaced it with user name here): 1. "Fosscinater needs to decide Scott or Kim?" Well since I have an issue with the second name I'm opting for Scott...whoever the hell he is... 2. "Fosscinater looks like she is turning 1" Well I did get asked for ID when buying cigarettes for my Nan the other day but I can assure you I do not look that young!!! 3. "Fosscinater likes to Snowboard" If snowboarding is lying on a a soft surface in my bedroom watching TV then hell yes I LOVE snowboarding!! (soft surface does not refer to my husband....) 4."Fosscinater says DO IT DO IT" Absolutely!!! Unless by doing it you are committing a crime or your husband actually is a soft surface and therefore can't DO IT DO IT back..... 5. "Fosscinater wants to secure a recording contract and follow in the footsteps of Deltra Goodram and Christina Aguilera" Are you kidding!?!? If I sang in public I'd only secure a contract on my head; reward for whoever shoots that wailing banshee!! 6. "Fosscinater does Leona Lewis" Despite the short hair I am not that way inclined...oh you mean sings like her? More chance of me screwing her actually! 7. "Fosscinater hates Jeff" What can I say, Jeff pissed me off a little, you know we've never been close... 8. "Fosscinater goes top 10 in Blighty" Check out the most wanted and guess which one I am because they surely cannot mean the music charts (see above!) 9. "Fosscinater loves Kristina" She did take my side during all that business with Jeff... 10. "Fosscinater has a good voice" For yelling at my husband or shouting above the crowd at a busy bar on a Saturday night! 11. "Fosscinater gets into Potter on tour" I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove anything!!! 12. "Fosscinater eats every last drop" So you can all stop asking if I spit or swallow now ok!?!? 13. "Fosscinater can..be" Well that's all it said!! Sums me up perfectly! 14. "Fosscinater drinks either in Corrie" Either what!?!? 15. "Fosscinater makes £50m acquisition" Obviously with all my spare change laying around..... I feel like you all know me a little better now xx <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/06/22/i-digress-4348900/#comments">Comments</a> Taking a little time from my rant about work I wanted to play the little game Milly and co have been playing on Google and here are my answers (I used my actual first name for the questions but have replaced it with user name here):
1. "Fosscinater needs to decide Scott or Kim?" Well since I have an issue with the second name I'm opting for Scott...whoever the hell he is...
2. "Fosscinater looks like she is turning 1" Well I did get asked for ID when buying cigarettes for my Nan the other day but I can assure you I do not look that young!!!
3. "Fosscinater likes to Snowboard" If snowboarding is lying on a a soft surface in my bedroom watching TV then hell yes I LOVE snowboarding!! (soft surface does not refer to my husband....)
4."Fosscinater says DO IT DO IT" Absolutely!!! Unless by doing it you are committing a crime or your husband actually is a soft surface and therefore can't DO IT DO IT back.....
5. "Fosscinater wants to secure a recording contract and follow in the footsteps of Deltra Goodram and Christina Aguilera" Are you kidding!?!? If I sang in public I'd only secure a contract on my head; reward for whoever shoots that wailing banshee!!
6. "Fosscinater does Leona Lewis" Despite the short hair I am not that way inclined...oh you mean sings like her? More chance of me screwing her actually!
7. "Fosscinater hates Jeff" What can I say, Jeff pissed me off a little, you know we've never been close...
8. "Fosscinater goes top 10 in Blighty" Check out the most wanted and guess which one I am because they surely cannot mean the music charts (see above!)
9. "Fosscinater loves Kristina" She did take my side during all that business with Jeff...
10. "Fosscinater has a good voice" For yelling at my husband or shouting above the crowd at a busy bar on a Saturday night!
11. "Fosscinater gets into Potter on tour" I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove anything!!!
12. "Fosscinater eats every last drop" So you can all stop asking if I spit or swallow now ok!?!?
13. "Fosscinater can..be" Well that's all it said!! Sums me up perfectly!
14. "Fosscinater drinks either in Corrie" Either what!?!?
15. "Fosscinater makes £50m acquisition" Obviously with all my spare change laying around.....

I feel like you all know me a little better now xx

Comments

]]>The Latest Additionhttp://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/06/19/the-latest-addition-4338194/2008-06-19T21:48:15+02:00 The next few weeks proved to be ridiculously busy. March is one of the busiest months of the year in the motor trade and here we were trying to handle that and a huge overhaul of the office at the same time. My filing pile was taller than me when I was sat down, my one in-tray was now three, my phone rang off the hook and my microsoft inbox was so full my monitor looked bloated. We still only had one fax machine trying to cope with orders from Exeter to Penzance and the Salesmen were getiing less patient and more irritating by the hour. I began arriving at work by 7.00am just to get a couple of hours filing done before the calls started and the red mist descended. It was getting harder and harder to be the organised woman I had once been and having a little bit of OCD when it comes to the way I work, I was becoming a moody snappy colleague to work with. Only the other two girls in the office, Sarah and Dee could sympathise. The silver lining on our particular cloud was that Dee was pregnant. It was wonderful news as she had longed for a child and was worried about never having them following an ectopic pregnancy. She had shared the news with me and Sarah as soon as she had found out but would tell work as soon as she was past the safe zone of 12 weeks. At least they would have plenty of time to get her Maternity cover sorted. As for Tracey and Charles...well Tracey was still on her "Let's get Leah into the office" trip. Nevermind the humoungous filing piles on every desk, never mind the urgent need for another fax machine and bollocks to the fact that Charles had no idea what he was doing but said "yes" to everyone anyway. One day her wish came true. Leah arrived and with her came a whole load more trouble. To begin with it wasn't so bad. She was ok if a little squeaky and she seemed to know her stuff when it came to Commercial vehicles so it made no real difference to us whether she was there or not. What did become apparent after a couple of days was that she had quite a tight friendship with Tracey and was prepared to use it to her advantage if necessary. More to the point, Tracey, who had a severe lack of friends both in and out of work, lacked in self confidence and was desperate to be liked, was happy to be used and didn't hesitate in favouring Leah. At this point myself, Sarah and Dee were bitten by doubt and it was starting to itch. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/06/19/the-latest-addition-4338194/#comments">Comments</a> The next few weeks proved to be ridiculously busy. March is one of the busiest months of the year in the motor trade and here we were trying to handle that and a huge overhaul of the office at the same time. My filing pile was taller than me when I was sat down, my one in-tray was now three, my phone rang off the hook and my microsoft inbox was so full my monitor looked bloated.
We still only had one fax machine trying to cope with orders from Exeter to Penzance and the Salesmen were getiing less patient and more irritating by the hour.
I began arriving at work by 7.00am just to get a couple of hours filing done before the calls started and the red mist descended. It was getting harder and harder to be the organised woman I had once been and having a little bit of OCD when it comes to the way I work, I was becoming a moody snappy colleague to work with. Only the other two girls in the office, Sarah and Dee could sympathise.
The silver lining on our particular cloud was that Dee was pregnant. It was wonderful news as she had longed for a child and was worried about never having them following an ectopic pregnancy. She had shared the news with me and Sarah as soon as she had found out but would tell work as soon as she was past the safe zone of 12 weeks. At least they would have plenty of time to get her Maternity cover sorted.
As for Tracey and Charles...well Tracey was still on her "Let's get Leah into the office" trip. Nevermind the humoungous filing piles on every desk, never mind the urgent need for another fax machine and bollocks to the fact that Charles had no idea what he was doing but said "yes" to everyone anyway. One day her wish came true. Leah arrived and with her came a whole load more trouble.
To begin with it wasn't so bad. She was ok if a little squeaky and she seemed to know her stuff when it came to Commercial vehicles so it made no real difference to us whether she was there or not. What did become apparent after a couple of days was that she had quite a tight friendship with Tracey and was prepared to use it to her advantage if necessary. More to the point, Tracey, who had a severe lack of friends both in and out of work, lacked in self confidence and was desperate to be liked, was happy to be used and didn't hesitate in favouring Leah. At this point myself, Sarah and Dee were bitten by doubt and it was starting to itch.

Comments

]]>The Terrible Triohttp://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/06/17/the-terrible-trio-4327238/2008-06-17T14:32:58+02:00 Something I should mention about Tracey and Charles is that they used to work together at a place that had recently made numerous redundancies. Hence why we had been landed with them. To make matters worse there there was a third person to add to the brew. Leah. She too had worked with both Tracey and Charles and so as you can imagine they had a rapport with each other from the start. Before the centralisation, Leah had been based at our Commercial depot doing admin solely for them. Once we were centralised it made sense for her to join us in our office. No-one had a problem with this until Tracey made it her one and only focus. "i think we need to get leah up here as soon as possible" she annouced at a meeting one day. The meeting had been arranged to discuss ways of organising the work load and discuss who was going to do what. We also needed to work out how we were going to keep track of the all the paperwork that would be flying in to us from all directions. "Yes, fair enough Tracey" I said "But as long as she has a fax machine and a telephone she can work from where she is for now. We have other things to discuss that need dealing with today and sorting by the end of the week." I have witnesses to back me up on the fact that I did say this out loud but you would have thought that I had simply told myself this very relevant point. "So as soon as Leah is up here with us the better" said Tracey again. And again and again. Charles meanwhile sat and laughed nervously in reply to any question he didn't want to answer. Some manager! The guy looked like he would pass out if you so much as looked in his direction. And it was obvious that Tracey knew he could be manipulated and controlled like a child. The rest of the week passed by with myself and the other two girls trying desperately to appease the irate salesmen who were determined to prove we could only fail in our centralised role whilst Tracey concentrated on....you've guessed it, getting her new best friend Leah into the office. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/06/17/the-terrible-trio-4327238/#comments">Comments</a> Something I should mention about Tracey and Charles is that they used to work together at a place that had recently made numerous redundancies. Hence why we had been landed with them. To make matters worse there there was a third person to add to the brew. Leah. She too had worked with both Tracey and Charles and so as you can imagine they had a rapport with each other from the start.
Before the centralisation, Leah had been based at our Commercial depot doing admin solely for them. Once we were centralised it made sense for her to join us in our office. No-one had a problem with this until Tracey made it her one and only focus.
"i think we need to get leah up here as soon as possible" she annouced at a meeting one day.
The meeting had been arranged to discuss ways of organising the work load and discuss who was going to do what. We also needed to work out how we were going to keep track of the all the paperwork that would be flying in to us from all directions.
"Yes, fair enough Tracey" I said "But as long as she has a fax machine and a telephone she can work from where she is for now. We have other things to discuss that need dealing with today and sorting by the end of the week."
I have witnesses to back me up on the fact that I did say this out loud but you would have thought that I had simply told myself this very relevant point.
"So as soon as Leah is up here with us the better" said Tracey again. And again and again.
Charles meanwhile sat and laughed nervously in reply to any question he didn't want to answer. Some manager! The guy looked like he would pass out if you so much as looked in his direction. And it was obvious that Tracey knew he could be manipulated and controlled like a child.
The rest of the week passed by with myself and the other two girls trying desperately to appease the irate salesmen who were determined to prove we could only fail in our centralised role whilst Tracey concentrated on....you've guessed it, getting her new best friend Leah into the office.

Comments

]]>The next installment...http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/06/11/the-next-installment-4303716/2008-06-11T21:52:08+02:00 After the initial shock that I was facing redundancy I decided that since I still had another week to enjoy with my new husband, I would forget about it for now. Tracey had another idea. She called me again that week to ask if I would like to come in for an interview in order to secure my job. Is it just me or does everyone think it's appropriate to call someone who is on their honeymoon and ask them if they'd like to come in for an interview whilst at the same time telling them that it can wait until they get back if they'd rather!?!? If it can wait, don't bloody call me!! On my return to work I discovered what had caused all the chaos. The Sales Director had decided to centralise our Admin department, reducing the staff and working from one office instead of 3. Everyone could see that this would mean a ton more work for those who kept their jobs but at the time we all wanted to as we all had mortgages or other bills to pay. Luckily I kept mine as did all the girls I already worked with. Everyone from the other two offices were made redundant but they did take on one new member of staff, an Admin Manager. The first day he walked into the office i knew they had made a mistake. Charles had the confidence of a beaten dog, the skin of a teenager and breathed in more nicotine than air. I prayed that appearances could be deceiving. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/06/11/the-next-installment-4303716/#comments">Comments</a> After the initial shock that I was facing redundancy I decided that since I still had another week to enjoy with my new husband, I would forget about it for now. Tracey had another idea. She called me again that week to ask if I would like to come in for an interview in order to secure my job. Is it just me or does everyone think it's appropriate to call someone who is on their honeymoon and ask them if they'd like to come in for an interview whilst at the same time telling them that it can wait until they get back if they'd rather!?!? If it can wait, don't bloody call me!!
On my return to work I discovered what had caused all the chaos. The Sales Director had decided to centralise our Admin department, reducing the staff and working from one office instead of 3. Everyone could see that this would mean a ton more work for those who kept their jobs but at the time we all wanted to as we all had mortgages or other bills to pay.
Luckily I kept mine as did all the girls I already worked with. Everyone from the other two offices were made redundant but they did take on one new member of staff, an Admin Manager.
The first day he walked into the office i knew they had made a mistake. Charles had the confidence of a beaten dog, the skin of a teenager and breathed in more nicotine than air. I prayed that appearances could be deceiving.

Comments

]]>Whatever!http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/05/22/whatever-4209036/2008-05-22T20:36:12+02:00 I wrote a blog a little while ago but chose to delete it due to personal reasons. Blogging itself however proved a very therapeutic outlet so I have decided (with a little encouragement from a fellow blogger) to return to it. I guess since this is the sort of place you can write about all the things that piss you off or frustrate you or that you generally want to air your opinion on without people telling you how opinionated you are(!), I'll write about something that still makes me feel incensed despite the fact that I should have moved on by now! It started when I returned from a week in Poland where I had enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon. With still a week to enjoy as a newly wed before heading back to work, me and my husband were looking forward to relaxing and preparing for Christmas. We had barely made it out of the airport before I received a text message from my supervisor at work. It asked me to call her when I got the message but told me not to worry it wasn't anything bad. You would hope it would at least be something that just couldn't wait for your boss to even consider contacting you when you were on honeymoon, right? Turns out she wanted to forewarn me about the letter of redundancy that was on my doormat waiting patiently to be opened on my return! To be honest I was kind of grateful for the call as I probably would have freaked out if I had read the letter before speaking to her. Despite that small kindness my supervisor, Tracey, had just started out on the road to becoming my arch nemesis. <a href="http://whateverinnit.blog.co.uk/2008/05/22/whatever-4209036/#comments">Comments</a> I wrote a blog a little while ago but chose to delete it due to personal reasons. Blogging itself however proved a very therapeutic outlet so I have decided (with a little encouragement from a fellow blogger) to return to it.
I guess since this is the sort of place you can write about all the things that piss you off or frustrate you or that you generally want to air your opinion on without people telling you how opinionated you are(!), I'll write about something that still makes me feel incensed despite the fact that I should have moved on by now!
It started when I returned from a week in Poland where I had enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon. With still a week to enjoy as a newly wed before heading back to work, me and my husband were looking forward to relaxing and preparing for Christmas. We had barely made it out of the airport before I received a text message from my supervisor at work. It asked me to call her when I got the message but told me not to worry it wasn't anything bad. You would hope it would at least be something that just couldn't wait for your boss to even consider contacting you when you were on honeymoon, right? Turns out she wanted to forewarn me about the letter of redundancy that was on my doormat waiting patiently to be opened on my return!
To be honest I was kind of grateful for the call as I probably would have freaked out if I had read the letter before speaking to her. Despite that small kindness my supervisor, Tracey, had just started out on the road to becoming my arch nemesis.

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