this is creepy

[Zoe Girl]

no seriously creepy,

In the email I got about taking charge of making a decision about my registration my supervisor had quotes of what I said with the registration person. I talked to that registration person today, mostly to say I was sorry if she was caught up in this in any way. She had no idea what I was talking about, she doesn't even remember talking to him really. She sits next to him so he asked about the phone call that he overheard, remember I didn't think I had done anything wrong, and she answered him about it. I talked to him later and he seemed to be okay with my explanation of the decision. And our registration person also said she was not aware that we had a protocol that said I could not make that decision for my own camp. It helped my middle of the night paranoia that everyone knew the rules and I just blatantly broke them.

So how the he&& does he have a quote of MY side of the conversation! I have this cell phone for only work, it is owned by the district. I literally NEVER have a personal call on it. My one support colleague and I use our personal phones and personal mail to communicate. This is not the first time I have felt spied on, like more than normal working environment where everything you do is considered public. However now I have to consider every conversation I ever had with anyone, did I complain or say something unkind with a person I felt more comfortable with? Well I already had a basic rule to not say anything on that phone I wouldn't want overheard, but I could have slacked off a little. I feel like planting things in my conversation just to test it.

I see the EAP counselor on Friday,

[iris lilies]

Sweetie, your supervisor is a jerk. I hope your anxiety meds allow you to stop over thinking this stuff. While it may be true that you are not doing what he wants you to do, his communication method sucks.

Here is what he should have done: tell you immediately when you talked with him about closing registration that you had done something he didnt want you to do.

That would have allowed some true fact finding dialogue such as :

Supervisor: hey Zoe, I dont want you to close registration without consulting me.

Zoe: oh ok, I didn’t know that.

Supervisor: That’s ok, I realize I have not made that clear. Please keep that in mind for the future and for all other registrations for which you have responsibility.

Zoe: hey, ok!

There would have been none of his stealth-in-the-night threats of disciplinary action amd scooting out on vacation while these issues fester.

[Zoe Girl]

I agree totally! I think I could have just called him sooner, not sure what else to do. I will email him later in the week when I have it composed.

However how does he have my side of the conversation quoted, I am sure since it is a work phone, like a work computer, then they can track things. I know I tracked a employee's internet usage when he was on the clock with me, however I didn't look at his facebook page. Just told him to cut it out. Maybe my supervisor is spending time listening into my phone calls,

In any case if he is listening in the most he has is a time I made a decision he felt I didn't have the authority to do, kinda stretching it to find anything.

[iris lilies]

Well, I cant address the phone issue because I have no knowledge of the technology involved.

For your mental health I think it best to file that away as an oddity that may or may not be true, but do not dwell on it or base your actions on it other than sure, dont go around blabbing on the company phone things that you dont want the company to know.

whatever email message you send to him, run that by your job coach. Here’s hoping she guides you in sending short messages of clarity.

Although now I have a little concern about her, given that this coach person is herself undergoing disciplinary action. While I can see that kinda working, I can more see it NOT working in her official role for you. For one thing, I think it is unprofessional of her to reveal her own job struggles. But what do I know.

[Zoe Girl]

I am actually going to go over the letter with the EAP counselor who is a different person. He doesn't share anything with my employer unless someone is in danger.

The job coach and I decided we would make really good friends so we are transitioning out of the formal relationship, she is billing me for the work on my resume and specific tasks, and then we will just go forward as friends. I can see where the conflict would be, I think it was mostly about her sharing the processes that our district uses to understand them better. She has 20 years in a variety of districts and we are really more prone to doing improvement plans, write ups, etc. for everything. Understanding that this is how this district does things, and how other districts she has worked in do things really helps.

Okay going in the X-files section of the brain!

[Yppej]

It"s creepy that so many people are on improvement plans.

[JaneV2.0]

It"s creepy that so many people are on improvement plans.

Isn't that the truth! What a lovely work environment.

[sweetana3]

Maybe it is some "new" management theory a consultant wrote a report about for them.

Stranger things have been suggested. One Fortune 100 company was told by a consultant that they would save money by getting rid of every single individual garbage can and making all these highly paid employees set their garbage aside and deliver it to a central location. Funniest thing we heard about were the precut trash holes for cans in the coffee room. They did not cover the holes when they removed the cans. Imagine cold/flu season when tissues are all over because there is no where around a cubicle to toss them.

Or the mandatory rule that my husband's company tried where every single group had to grade their employees and rank at least 10% as failing or needs improvement no matter what the group or individual had done during the year. The % was more important than the employees or the actual facts.


It could be that your higher ups have mandated that every item be documented and is holding all the managers to a strict standard of employee documentation. Who knows? But I am suspicious because of the number of these actions you have uncovered.

[Zoe Girl]

I am sure that he is being held to a high, kinda insane, standard of 'accountability' I have seen supervisors become jerks their first year after promotion more than once. I would give him a break on a few things, like my supervisor from the last 3 years I feel friendly towards her now.

What is creepy is that they are listening to our phone calls on our work cell phones. I know my colleague shared that last year someone asked her about a staff issue that she hadn't even talked to me about. Only her mom and on a work cell phone. My email from him included a quote from my side of the conversation, the registration person did talk to him in general terms (none of this was secret, I didn't think I was doing anything different than the rest of the year) but that would be highly unlikely to give him an exact quote. I assume that they can read all my emails, and that in general we have no assumption of privacy. Still creepy however.

oh and improvement plans seem to be district wide too!

[Reyes]

I find it more likely that the registrar told him what you said but didn't want to share that with you, then the district is secretly listening in on your work phone.