Gotcha, Sorry I was obtuse. No, these range from light to medium emotional expressions of faith for childrens books to deep emotional sharings about how God awakened a person from a sound sleep in order to direct her to write a memoire that contains "What Jesus Did For Me" in every chapter title. Christian romances, Christian memoirs, Christian poetry for children, Christian essays. These are lovely people, but please, of please, give it a rest and write something secular.
Remember this? I had the finished product on my desk this morning. So i distrubuted it to where it needed to go, informed the relevy people. Put out promotional displays. I go to tech and give the ok to modify the website (because months ago, before i even spoke with the others, i spoke with tech to make sure these changes were possible... To which they told me it was and to give them the go-ahead when i was ready). Tech NOW TELLS ME that its not doable and it will take an additional few weeks to run the codes by ANOTHER person. ....... I need another bus.....
Reason #374 why your big boss should meet with each department head every day for 10 minutes and keep a running log of all projects and their various states of progress.
Doncha just LUV the IT folks? Everything is possible and easy ... until you ask them to actually, like, DO it. Then it's impossible. That's called S.O.P. (Standard Operating Procedure.)
I haven't seen my big boss for about 3 months... mind you I havent seen my immediate boss for about a month, mostly they just leave me to do my thing...
my boss claims to trust me..... and yet, he wants to read my staff emails before i send them. claims to trust me by, every time i ask permission to do something, saying "you dont have to ask, just go ahead and do it. i trust you!".... but then i have 1 shelving unit moved, and i'm told at that at the Admin meeting, 2 managers were mad because i "went rogue" and didnt ask to move the unit and my boss didnt defend me. instead, he came to me and told me i should have asked (i'm still feeling the effects of this... i had to meet wit the building security manager to ask permission to move a 4 foot tall, 6 foot long, unit across the room yesterday.... and before anyone mentions "maybe he needs to check to see if its ADA compliant".... i did my research the first time and consulted with another manager before i moved the unit to make sure we were compliant with ADA standards and building standard)
@ J.T. Woody Micro-management! Especially if your boss insists on reading your every email or questions your judgement on your placing of office furniture. Don't know what to say. It sucks and I wouldn't like to work in that environment. If you like where you work, generally speaking, then I'd suggest you have a private meeting with your immediate boss and express your concerns / grievances. Alternatively, seek other employment.
Another coworker heard what happened (this is the second incident that happened in 2 months where i was told i could do something.. and do it, and then get in trouble for doing it). and there have been other little incidents over the months too. the article is called "From Pet to Threat" and its basically about POC and Women in the workplace who start out as the shiny new toy but when they start having big ideas, they become a threat to the work culture and actions are taken to keep them in their place. Its upsetting and i'm not happy about it because a lot of what the article talked about is happening to me. i was the shiny new diversity hire (the only black librarian on staff.... they even did a news paper article welcoming me and i thought this was what they did for all new hires. spoiler alert... they did not...). I was taken to all these events and programs. then was given control over the "minority" stuff.... like, i'd NEVER planned a program or an event and was never shown how, but suddenly i was expected to do a program for Black History Month and was expected to go to NAACP meetings and be an expert on all things POC including programs, books, and people. Long story short, after 5 years im branching out and wanting to do other things. other programs (i got so much push back for wanting to bring in a tarrot card reader for halloween and again so much pushback for wanting to bring in an author who wrote a memoire about how she ran away and joined a circus and rediscovered life through the lens of the carnies.... composting and gardening programs, too....) and i keep being told its ok to do them, but when i do all the leg work and finally have it planned and paid for, it gets shot down at the last minute and i have to go back to the performer or agent and look VERY unprofessional when i have to cancel it. i get pushed back into the box of "stick with the diversity and POC programs" ("you like science fiction, right? why dont you do an Afro Futurism program. we've always wanted to have one here!"..... cool, yes, but why wait to hire me to do it? why not just do it???) its disheartening. (when i become a published author and they want me to do an author talk... im charging them double )
@J.T. Woody Ref above, You might not want to read this; however, for some reason, judging by what you have written, they view you as a threat. I think it is high time that you seek alternative employment.
You don't have to be a POC or a woman to experience that. Pretty much if you try to shake up the status quo you're gonna get shot down. I worked for a restaurant chain and got sent to a seminar for managers, and when it was over I started instituting some of the things they had taught us, like making sure the beef in the freezer is a certain distance away from the door so it doesn't start to thaw every time the door is opened, and the unit manager had somebody immediately move it all back the way it was and took it as an act of war on my part. I was night crew and the unit manager was day crew, so it was like a back and forth—when I got there I'd put people to work doing some of the things I had been taught were proper procedure, and then next day it would all get undone. It was like "We're gonna send you to this management seminar, but don't actually try to do any of the things they teach you, we don't work like that around here"—only they forgot to mention the last part. Talk about frustrating. The sad part is, the unit manager also attended the seminar—all of us did.
sorry, i was typing my long rant and didnt see your initial response. i've already spoken to my husband and one of the managers i'm close with about leaving (the job). i was also told to go to the union about it, but IDK what they are supposed to do
It is difficult - because on one hand yes you definitely shouldn't be pigeoned holed because of your race... the whole concept of 'diversity hires' is problematic and borderline racists from a token point of view on the other hand..how much mandate do you have for branching out in your job description? I mean was itexplicit that your role was supposed to be about minority representation ? If the senior powers expect that your role is about diversity, they probably don't want to see you spending time on things that aren't diversity related. I'm a safety officer, so the area of responsibility of the role is safety - i'd reasonably expect my chain of command to support me on any safety related initiative...but i wouldn't expect much support if i wanted to promote an initiative about say sustainable transport or recycling, they'd tell me rightly, no wait a minute, you're a safety officer
nope. not part of my job description. however "other duties as assigned" is written on there..... so thats how they get around it. i was never explicitly told that i would only be doing minority programming, but its what i keep getting assigned.
there probably is a race issue then that the union can pick up ..you're being assigned specific duties because of your race, but in all honesty winning a union dispute won't solve a lot...by the time it gets to that point it's time to leave
(when i become a published author and they want me to do an author talk... im charging them double ) You realize they'll expect you to do it pro bono. "Think of all the great exposure you'll get!" Right now, you're fighting the good fight that will someday benefit someone else. It's not easy to be the first anything. Having to fight is a great inconvenience and certainly unfair, but someone has to start things off. Fifty years ago, I was the first woman hired in mechanized agriculture on the university farm. Since there was a regulation at the college that women couldn't operate heavy equipment, the farm administrator who hired me (a great guy) asked if I was willing to go to court over it if necessary. I said yes, he said, "Then let's do it." The college backed down when faced with a lawsuit (the state had ratified the ERA and the publicity woul've been terrible) but the Ag Association members at the college were a pain. Lo and behold, three years after I started, they decided I was a publicity asset. By that time, a second woman was working with me. Newspaper interviewed both of us and asked our plans for the future. I was headed for a graduate program in range management. Reporter was good with that- more school was acceptable for girls. The other woman said she was taking over her family farm the next summer. That wasn't accceptable. Everyone knows girls can't be farmers. The reporter asked, well, could you work for a chemical company or teach or something? She said she could, but she wasn't- she was going to farm. The newspaper article stated she was going to work for a chemical company as a salesperson. TV station came out and talked to me. Asked if I was "a women's libber." I told them I supported people liberation and the rights of people to do whatever the hell they wanted to do. That was included in the film clip. Some reporters were better than others. I wish you the best of luck, whatever you decide to do.
@J.T. Woody Did you see my post? Are you sure it's about your race or gender, and not just because you were trying to shake up the status quo?
Im sure. I wasnt before but incidents are adding up and it makes me wonder how some coworkers are allowed to refuse to do their jobs or to talk any kind of way to the bosses without reprocussions... But me moving a shelving unit was the straw the broke the camels back (There have been other incidents as well...)
If you are planning to either take it the union or to resign and sue for constructive dismissal (or the equivalent american term) speaking as someone whos been through a harrasment case i'd urge you to document everything, with witnes statements if you can, don't rely on anything on the work system as it has a nasty habit of being mysteriously deleted through 'accidental tech failure' also speak to a good lawyer before you do anything...the union maybe able to help in this regard
@J.T. Woody This ^^^ P.S. If you have any email paper trail, print it off now, As OM said, things can be deleted - 'accidental tech failure.'
Also think about what you want, and what works for you and your family...there can be a great expectation that you'll fight and 'do whats right' (tm), i'd imagine this might be even stronger in the case of race or gender discrimination, but i certainly felt it during my struggles with the system I fought through two hearings at great cost to my mental health, and it was only while fighting the third that i had a flash of clarity when i woke up one day and said to myself 'why are you fighting so hard to keep a job you don't even like? and the only answer was he pressure from myself and others 'not to let 'them' win I know when i chose to instead negotiate severance there were those that felt it was the wrong call 'for the organisation' or 'the greater good', but it was the massively the right call for me
i'm going to give it a bit more time. after speaking with my parents, they said to take time to calm down and talk it over with the union. not to do anything when i'm angry and upset. be level headed. be calm. I must note... i like my JOB and i'd be sad to leave it.... but the internal people make it so much harder and make it so that i dont even want to be there. waking up is a chore. i drag my feet out the door. i dread checking my email. i'm tired all the time and have little to no motivation. it feels like im under a microscope and any little thing i do will set off the powers that be. There is another library that is hiring, but its not a public library. parents said to apply because if anything, i can use it to negotiate better conditions ("if im such an asset, treat me better and give me autonomy or i walk" kind of thing.)
