I want to rise above, but be forewarned. in Life

  • Feb. 18, 2019, 5:18 p.m.
  • |
  • Public

Going to wait to respond to others until tomorrow because I am cranky; my apologies.
Today I have something to rant about and it’s pedestrian.

I am a good employee and a better person than most I have met at this company.
I do not claim it lightly.
Time has shown that I am more above board and genuinely interested in helping than the people who seem to hate their jobs, are coasting, or hurting whomever needed in order to meet their goals – pertains to about 80% of those I’ve met.

Other Good Stuff About Professional Me
I am punctual, almost always exceed production expectations, have overhauled most job aids, created SOPs for the new, volunteered to host multiple trainings, served as subject matter expert for most tasks, and am go-to for troubleshooting the new database where I took the solo initiative to develop higher skills.
I am the person my peers regularly and repeatedly request to help troubleshoot their problems.
I volunteered for my manager’s pet project wherein I performed more work than any other involved per her admission.
I have written kudos on file from outside teams and clients, and have been requested to serve as team rep on certain sensitive issues.
I have management experience, and though I choose to avoid a formal role of such ilk again, I have stepped up and served as fire-puter-outer when middle management is absent, busy, or has requested such.

The Constructive Criticism
My one calculable failing this past year has been enough absences, for the first time in 15 years, to receive a temporary verbal warning that falls off my file shortly. I averaged 1 absence every 3 months for a total of 4 annual. Four however still met expectations per company standards.

The Problem
I have a manager who I do not understand.
She knows we have different communication styles, and recently she privately admitted she may be partially to blame for misunderstandings after having publicly contradicted a fix I shared with multiple external teams and disregarding my input. This contradiction yielded much confusion and protracted conversation. It was then discovered that she had not read the communications thoroughly and was forced to retract her statements then promote my fix for clarity. Not her proudest moment.

Today I received my annual review wherein nearly all of the company-standards exceeded expectations, and every category at minimum met them.
This manager opted to stress that she believes I have poor written communication skills and am not a team player therefore did not warrant a positive review.
She cited non-specific complaints wherein peers were afraid to approach me due to my demeanor, despite all evidence to the contrary.
She used the temporary verbal warning as a rationale to withhold my yearly raise and bonus.

The Point
This person knows I have been actively looking for a better position.
She is punishing me.
Funny thing is, her choices are not especially surprising.
What IS surprising is that I am disappointed in myself for not being able to help her to act otherwise.
Also, her ongoing input has begun to impact my confidence.
She does not deserve that level of influence; I do not trust thus cannot respect her.
I will need to work to overcome.


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