The boiling over...
I am minus one very efficient staff.
The boiling point came one day earlier but the spill over was worst the next day. I wasn’t there during the boiling over, actually it wouldn’t have happened if I was around because she would have referred the matter to me and it would have been resolved before conflict arose. It was not even a big matter just some misunderstandings and rising of temper but sometimes things happen that there’s no turning back.
It started with a request for a supporting document from one of the auditors. He sent the request to our office assistant through text message. She wanted to clear up what he wanted since the report he was referring to did not indicate the documents he needed. So she asked for more information also through text message over mobile phone. He thought his message was clear but reviewing the flow when I got back showed that it wasn’t really clear. It would have been resolved if I was there since for sure she would refer it to me and I would have known what to look for but I was not around. So she was asking for clarification through text and the message that got through the other line was that she was angry and there was heated exchange of written words over the mobile phone and the auditor decided to call her on landline. Even if the instruction to her was not clear she was already doing what she thought he wanted her to do but she was already mad from their exchanges and would not talk to him. So he talked with our boss who sided with him and told her what to do but by that time her temper has really risen that she just packed up and left.
Our boss was mad of course and asked our office supervisor to prepare a written notice of disposition. Our office supervisor was not in the department at that time and prepared the memo based on the instruction of our boss. One of our other staff who was also staying in the same boarding house she stayed did not tell her a memo would be coming.
The next day she came to work. I too came to work and the supervisor told me of the memo, I told her that our company procedure required that a notice to explain be given first before a disposition is given but the boss told me there was no need since she was around and witnessed what happened. Well, she’s the boss after all so I went back to my place. And I heard her call our staff and hand her the disposition (it was to be 6 days suspension). The moment she got the disposition she shouted “I don’t deserve this! I’m doing my job well and you give me this… you give me this without even talking to me…” She was talking, actually shouting, continuously while packing her things again and she left!
She did not expect to be handed a disposition without even being talked to! Her outburst was out of place but I sort of expected it for she does have a temper. Of course, there’s no way she can comeback after that but I feel sad for the whole situation. She is one really efficient staff. She has put order to our system in the department plus she has to do a lot more! The boss found her so efficient and another staff inefficient in office work (but superb in her liaison function) that she gave her a lot of the stuff the other staff was handling. She was overloaded of course and I kept telling the boss about this. So now, we are one staff short once more. Of course no one is really irreplaceable but to find a staff with so much dedication to her work as her would be difficult.
I also feel sad that she had to leave that way. There was a nice relationship between her and the boss. The boss liked the way she worked and frequently asked her to assist her in so many ways including helping her with computer functions. I’m used to staff leaving but we usually feel happy when they leave because we know that they’re moving to better pastures. But this… it is really sad!
I suddenly remembered an auditor from a long time ago. He too was efficient, he worked and worked but he kept complaining about his family – his mother and siblings… that they were too demanding! One day he came to work without teeth. He had them all extracted! (He must have some few teeth with cavities but not the whole of it!) I asked him why and he said he just wanted it. He filed his resignation later on. He got so tired of taking care of his family that he decided to just disappear from them and forget about all his links. I thought that was pretty extreme too!
Sometimes I get overwhelmed with stuff too and I’ve seen some auditors get burned out too. I know that double effort is needed when you have to do stuff when you’re carrying some negative weight around you. But you have to release it in positive ways or it eats you little by little until you finally explode… and by that time there’s no turning back!
It doesn’t really mean that nothing good may come of it after that. Sometimes some ugly things happen. You think that nothing good can come out of it but sometimes it does and you only get to see it afterwards…
So with this recent event…
Well I’m sad but I hope that something better comes for our staff and that we get someone that will work out well for us too! :)
The boiling point came one day earlier but the spill over was worst the next day. I wasn’t there during the boiling over, actually it wouldn’t have happened if I was around because she would have referred the matter to me and it would have been resolved before conflict arose. It was not even a big matter just some misunderstandings and rising of temper but sometimes things happen that there’s no turning back.
It started with a request for a supporting document from one of the auditors. He sent the request to our office assistant through text message. She wanted to clear up what he wanted since the report he was referring to did not indicate the documents he needed. So she asked for more information also through text message over mobile phone. He thought his message was clear but reviewing the flow when I got back showed that it wasn’t really clear. It would have been resolved if I was there since for sure she would refer it to me and I would have known what to look for but I was not around. So she was asking for clarification through text and the message that got through the other line was that she was angry and there was heated exchange of written words over the mobile phone and the auditor decided to call her on landline. Even if the instruction to her was not clear she was already doing what she thought he wanted her to do but she was already mad from their exchanges and would not talk to him. So he talked with our boss who sided with him and told her what to do but by that time her temper has really risen that she just packed up and left.
Our boss was mad of course and asked our office supervisor to prepare a written notice of disposition. Our office supervisor was not in the department at that time and prepared the memo based on the instruction of our boss. One of our other staff who was also staying in the same boarding house she stayed did not tell her a memo would be coming.
The next day she came to work. I too came to work and the supervisor told me of the memo, I told her that our company procedure required that a notice to explain be given first before a disposition is given but the boss told me there was no need since she was around and witnessed what happened. Well, she’s the boss after all so I went back to my place. And I heard her call our staff and hand her the disposition (it was to be 6 days suspension). The moment she got the disposition she shouted “I don’t deserve this! I’m doing my job well and you give me this… you give me this without even talking to me…” She was talking, actually shouting, continuously while packing her things again and she left!
She did not expect to be handed a disposition without even being talked to! Her outburst was out of place but I sort of expected it for she does have a temper. Of course, there’s no way she can comeback after that but I feel sad for the whole situation. She is one really efficient staff. She has put order to our system in the department plus she has to do a lot more! The boss found her so efficient and another staff inefficient in office work (but superb in her liaison function) that she gave her a lot of the stuff the other staff was handling. She was overloaded of course and I kept telling the boss about this. So now, we are one staff short once more. Of course no one is really irreplaceable but to find a staff with so much dedication to her work as her would be difficult.
I also feel sad that she had to leave that way. There was a nice relationship between her and the boss. The boss liked the way she worked and frequently asked her to assist her in so many ways including helping her with computer functions. I’m used to staff leaving but we usually feel happy when they leave because we know that they’re moving to better pastures. But this… it is really sad!
I suddenly remembered an auditor from a long time ago. He too was efficient, he worked and worked but he kept complaining about his family – his mother and siblings… that they were too demanding! One day he came to work without teeth. He had them all extracted! (He must have some few teeth with cavities but not the whole of it!) I asked him why and he said he just wanted it. He filed his resignation later on. He got so tired of taking care of his family that he decided to just disappear from them and forget about all his links. I thought that was pretty extreme too!
Sometimes I get overwhelmed with stuff too and I’ve seen some auditors get burned out too. I know that double effort is needed when you have to do stuff when you’re carrying some negative weight around you. But you have to release it in positive ways or it eats you little by little until you finally explode… and by that time there’s no turning back!
It doesn’t really mean that nothing good may come of it after that. Sometimes some ugly things happen. You think that nothing good can come out of it but sometimes it does and you only get to see it afterwards…
So with this recent event…
Well I’m sad but I hope that something better comes for our staff and that we get someone that will work out well for us too! :)
posted by elizabeth | 7:09 PM
2 Comments:
hi, elizabeth. i feel sad for that staff of yours. i also had a bad temper before. sometimes the workload (which is mostly over than the other staffs) plus the skills can make someone think that he or she is indispensable. with that temper of hers, the penalty will surely get into her nerves. but i had learned my lessons very well. God has given me the patience to deal with 'impossible' people. we sometimes need to set aside personal differences. too bad she did not think first before acting harshly about the situation. it's all work, i believe at hindi dapat personalin. at kahit efficient pa siya, she should have given the due respect to the boss. remember the 2nd rule that if the boss is not right, go to rule no. 1?
Hello Bing, totoo she violated the second rule. Nakakalungkot for her but she probably learned something from what happened.
We were able to get somebody and she came back to help train the new hire. Okay naman yung nakuha namin and our other staff was also finally able to get another work. I hope she does well there.
Post a Comment
<< Home