Stood up for myself again...

[Lindsey]

I just wrote my boss the email I have been putting off for MONTHS.
The other drafter guy (my "supervisor" when I was hired... not so much supervisor now) does no work and throws tantrums when he does have to do work and basically I get stuck with everything. In the last two days before I left for vacation I did 15 drawings for a report that had to be out on the 31st. It's a big project, a lot of money, a lot of importance. I left him with 4 drawings that still needed to get done. When I got back on the 5th I got an email from the project manager telling me that two of the four drawings hadn't even been STARTED. Then I found out that the 4 other smaller projects due last week also weren't started at all. It's Friday tomorrow, and I still haven't caught up with the stuff that was due more than a week ago, let alone all the stuff that's due tomorrow.
So I emailed my boss, telling him I feel the amount of drafting I'm responsible for is stressing me out and I let him know how behind I am due to NOTHING getting done while I was gone. I know that he knows Chris doesn't do any work. He tries to get on his case about it, but basically my boss is a big softie and he doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.
I put off hitting "send" for half an hour. I did it, and now I'm nervous to go to work tomorrow.

[Marilyn]

Lindsey, what is done is done. Whether it was the thing to do or not, it's done, so don't stress over it tonight. Your boss realizes how productive you are and he does not want to lose you. He probably will understand the pressure and frustration you are under. You took off, then got sick. We are all entitled to vacation, and should not have to suffer because we took deserved time off.

Go in tomorrow confident that you are a valued employee, and if your supervisor isn't happy, it's probably because he realizes that what you stated was the truth, and he needs to act, but wants to avoid the confrontation.

Hang in there!! and know that we are all thinking about you.

[Tink]

Lindsey,

Rather than worrying yourself to a frazzle, how about just doing what you can do and when the topic of what doesn't get done comes up, just let the blame lie where it belongs? It sounds like you do work very hard and it has been noticed and rewarded. Maybe you need to just keep that in mind and let the bosses worry about getting the rest accomplished. You can't change anyone else... but you can wear yourself out and even make yourself look manic trying. You say the boss knows what a slacker the other guy is; so beating a dead horse can only hurt you.

Deep breaths hon... you sound like a wonderful employee... but you need to pick your battles wisely and this sounds like one you're not in a position to win.

HUGS

[Lindsey]

Well, until now I have been taking all this work with a smile on my face. My boss doesn't realize the pressure I'm under because I have worked myself crazy to get everything done and keep everyone happy. My co-workers have noticed it and have all insisted for months that I say something to my boss about it. Even my parents have told me I should say something. It has gotten to the point that sometimes I get home from work and I just sit there and cry. I think my boss really needs to know what's going on, because as far as he knows I'm working away as happy as can be. At least if he doesn't do anything to Chris, he might at least think about hiring a third drafter to help me out with the workload.
We'll see how today goes.

[Lindsey]

I just got into work and already got a reply

"Thank you for the message and I support and agree with you, so let's talk as soon as I get in"

[Marilyn]

Okay, so what happened when he got in??? We're on pins and needles!!!!

[highlans]

That sounds good lets us know soonest

[Lindsey]

Well, he called in Chris first. Amanda, the receptionist, later told me she could hear my boss being kinda angry at him and then Chris mumbled something and my boss said "Well she wasn't even here!!! She was on holidays!!!!" So it seems like he was trying to blame me for stuff not getting done, and my boss completely stood up for me. Then they both came back to the drafting room and my boss asked to speak to me. I started following him, and then he said "Actually, Chris you can come too." So we all got into my boss's office, and he said he wanted to call the people in our head office to see how we can better organize our drafting department. Chris just kept going on about how we don't know what's priority and that was the only problem (absolutely not a problem at all for me), so he told my boss and the head office guy that we need to put all of our drafting needs in a pool basically. The drafting needs for all the offices will be available somewhere on every server so every drafter in every city will be able to access it and take what they can handle. It's absolutely not going to solve the problem because he won't pick up any more at all. But he did work for most of the day yesterday, so maybe the talk with my boss had something to do with it.
What bothered me AFTER the meeting was no sooner did we sit down at our computers but he was grilling me about if I went to my boss about it. I really don't think it was his business WHO went to him about it, if anyone. My boss knew nothing got done by him, a lot of the engineers are angry with how everything gets piled on me and I'm only one person so their stuff doesn't get done as quickly as they'd like. It could have been ANYONE, and everyone encouraged me to say something so I did. I kind of think it's on behalf of the whole office that it happened. So when he said "Were you the one who talked to him about it" I just said "No." because he doesn't need to know that. Then he started running through a list of the people who he thinks did it, and I can guarantee he will be asking everyone if they did it.
Amanda also let me know yesterday that she sent my boss a complaint about the language (curse-filled tantrums) and remarks (sexist, racist) that Chris has been making. A couple of days ago he was talking to a girl on the phone (she's a bigger girl, my age, and he knows we hang out and talk and whatever) and he had no problem saying loudly, in front of me and everyone else "WHAT A F-ING COW!!!!" when he hung up, because he was frustrated. He also was attacking our lab manager (also a friend of mine) yesterday when he was nowhere in sight. He has made comments about Amanda's cleavage, my underwear, how my bra color doesn't match my shirt (if a strap happens to be visible from my collar), and remarks about native people (I have some native in me, Amanda's father is native, and at the time we also had a native man working in our office). Amanda said in her email that she thinks these remarks are creating negativity in our office and people should be able to come to work to a happy and calm environment. She asked him to please bring it up in our meeting on Monday, without mentioning names or anything. He later walked by her desk, gave her a thumbs-up, and said "I'll take care of it"

[Marilyn]

Way to go, Lindsey!!! Looks like you did the right thing. So glad it's turning out at least a little better. I'm a little disappointed that your boss did not speak to you one on one. It would have been good if he had told you he appreciated your input, which I'm sure he did.

The bottomline is what to focus on though. If things are improved as a result of your actions, whether or not you get the kudos you think you may deserve, it's still good. We're proud of you!!!!!

[Janet]

I don't know anything about engineering, so all I can say is 'way to go' for standing up for yourself.

[Ponyup]

Lindsey I think Chris & my co-workers are brothers. He gets nasty with me, does no work & puts everyone down. He's being moved out of our department now. I'm upset about it because he's taking a lot of my work & won't do it as well & me & I would imagine it will come back to me before too long because he just won't get it done. But he's moving to the office across town so I won't have to deal with his negativity anymore. so it may be a blessing in disguise. I'm so proud of you for standing up for yourself. Maybe your boss will keep a better on him now that he knows there's a problem.

[Lindsey]

This is the first place I've ever worked where I've found that kind of negativity in the work place, and to think it's coming from a 45 year old man! I'm glad your coworker got moved. Unfortunately mine will never be moved or fired. I'm anxious to see if my boss brings up anything about negative and inappropriate language in this morning's meeting.

[DianaB]

I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself, but sorry that you didn't get to talk to the boss one-on-one. If things don't change you may need to consider talking to the boss alone!

[Tink]

Lindsey, I'm glad your email was taken seriously and in the way you'd hoped.
I really hope steps are taken to improve your workplace now. Just one or 2 bad apples can really make it miserable for all.

[Lindsey]

Well it looks like not much has changed, but as for now it isn't affecting me too much since the work has slowed down considerably this week. This morning he was talking back to my boss and really just acting like a jerk. My boss called at lunch time from a meeting, asking if Chris could please print out something for him. Chris just didn't reply (he was on speakerphone in the lunch room) and my boss kept asking if he's still there and Chris just said "I can't hear you!" and then looked at all of us and giggled. My boss thought he had bad cell phone reception (although he was actually coming in loud and clear) so he was like "Oh okay, I'll try going outside" and it was a really cold day today. He finally got outside and asked if Chris could hear him now and Chris was just laughing to himself the whole time and he said "Yeah I can hear you now!" and then went to print the papers for him. He just thought he was the coolest and funniest guy ever to make the boss have to go outside to talk to him. I don't understand how a man of his age gets kicks out of that.