UPDATED: Work today is going to suck, and here's why
So there's this guy at work. We'll call him Keith. Because that's his name. He has been a thorn in my butt for months now. Because he decided he wants to sit over in the back where I and several other women sit. And he shakes his leg while he sits there and it vibrates the floor.
This is just the opening, so bear with me. I am sensitive to vibration. I can feel people walking behind me on the floor, but you know, I can deal with that because as they move away from me it goes away. But imagine someone sitting near you and making it feel like you're sitting in the tiniest shack next to the busiest train tracks in the nation, and then imagine trying to be helpful and pleasant to people calling you wanting to spend gobs of money. It takes a toll, seriously.
I'm not the only one bothered by this, but I am as usual the loudest. Some other people who sit there on occasion have thought we were having an earthquake. It's not enough to be actionable, as far as human resources is concerned, but it is more than just plain annoying.
But a pattern has emerged that is more than any grade school "teacher he's bugging me!" comparison. Keep in mind we don't have assigned work spaces; I would prefer that we did so I didn't have to lug all my stuff back and forth, but whatever. The fact is we can choose to sit where we want.
Which means that whenever he comes to sit over in that area, within a very short time I have to move stations. This involves being "off the clock" so to speak and is adversely affecting my job, because not being on the phone is a bad thing. Too many bad things can get you disciplinary action, including getting fired. So every time I have to move I either have to work extra to make up for it or take the hit. "Because he's annoying me" is not an acceptable excuse for being off the phone. I did not connect the one with the other until recently when I got called into the office to discuss my "adherence issues".
Keith has been told, more than once, many many more than once, to knock it off. By me, by managers, you name it. And he continues to come sit there and continues to be a nuisance. Because from an HR standpoint it's not actionable.
Others have complained about his behavior in other ways. An older lady had to tell the managers that when he sits behind her he is not only loud on the phone, but rude to customers, and between calls fills the air with obscenities that the people SHE is talking to on her headset can hear. I, and others, have had to apologize to guests because Keith gave them bad information. He also seems to think he's a used car dealer, making deals to get people discounts that a) we are NOT allowed to book, let alone offer and b) that the box office will refuse to accept, resulting in callbacks of angry guests who have to be taken care of. It's making the rest of us look bad.
And still this guy comes in.
But wait, there's more.
One of my other coworkers has had even worse issues with him. A few weeks ago I saw her wearing something entirely not in her personality, a very conservative, matronly shirt (she has more fashion sense than that) and she said she has to wear them because whenever she wears anything with any kind of a neckline, Keith will stare at her chest.
But wait, there's even more.
She's a single mother with some family issues and about a month ago she was commenting how she'd like to find some kind of supplemental part time job. Keith pipes in with this "great online opportunity" and she made the mistake of giving him her email address (home, not work) and when he sent her the email, you know what it was?
Anyone who answered "pop up porn" may have a cookie.
He denies it completely. I told her to run an antivirus program, but she doesnt' have one. But she has had no problem since then.
Yes. This is now beyond annoying. It's becoming harrassing. Intimidating. The poor woman says "I just want to come to work and not feel uncomfortable, is that too much to ask?"
The other day I reported him, again, for the shaking thing. The manager apparently spoke to him though I didn't see it.
Following day he was not scheduled to work so I went to the station I like best, then found out he was picking up an extra shift and coming in in a couple of hours (he is part time, NOT full time, so while my schedule is consistent, his is all over the map, hence there are weeks he works before I come in and don't even register him and weeks when I have to play musical desks). Note that it was a quiet day, many other open stations around. Including the two right. behind. me.
So I did what any reasonable, mature, professional person would do in this circumstance. I unplugged the two units behind me, turned them off, and for good measure put an IT ticket on one (couldn't find 2) to make it look like both were broken.
Yeah, I know. But wait, you know what there is.
Any normal person would glance at two machines that look dead, see other open machines, and go elsewhere rather than screw with it.
Not our guy. Keith deliberately picked the one directly behind me (the one without the trouble ticket. I knew I should have gotten two of them) and spent ten minutes undoing my sabotage.
And then next fifteen minutes creeping me out. I had to move. I don't know if the floor was shaking, but I sure the hell was.
So I wrote a letter to my manager (more time off the phone I could not afford) and came out and said what I had just realized. This is not "clueless socially inept guy who does not know how to behave in an office environment." This is "willfully aggressive, intimidating guy who chooses to antagonize female coworkers just enough to bother them but not enough to fall into a formal category of harrassment"
So I kicked that one upstairs a notch further, after getting the blessing of the woman who got the porn, and speaking to some other women in the area that will also not sit anywhere near him (there's a nice church going lady born the same year as my mother; she called him a "jackass" (!) ) I have apparently been elected or allowed myself to be volunteered to be the spokesperson to power on this thing.
Today my supervisor will get the email I sent him, as today's his first day back from his weekend. Also, the other manager is talking to the head of the department. Allegedly, they will "speak to Keith."
Today is my Friday (I have the next two days off) and this is the huge shitstorm I am walking into today. I don't know what will happen. But I know it will either end, or get much much worse.
I hate change, but it's staring me in the face. I can't afford to lose this job, and I can't believe I let him impact my productivity like that. Now that it's much bigger than shaking the floor. That wasn't the problem. It was a symptom of the much bigger problem. A problem that can't just sit there in the middle of the room and be ignored any longer.
Victims should not have to accomodate the victimizer. Harrassment does not have to be sexual (as in my case) but it seems that it has taken this much to maybe get dealt with seriously. I don't want him fired, although short of that I don't know how to resolve this; it's not my call. I just want it to GODDAMN STOP.
Either that or all it will do is get him a slap on the wrist and we have to spend our days fearful of him retaliating.
By the end of the shift I will know which it will be.
UPDATE: The brilliant solution to everyone's problems!
Yeah, I'm sarcastic. I was told a) if I'm there first and he comes sit near me, I have the right to move. b) If I come in after him and he's there, I have the right to sit anywhere else. c) If I come in and he's not there, I have to be psychic and predict where he would sit, if he was there, and arrange my life accordingly. d) If I do sit far, far away, and he goes out of his way to come over to where I am and be intimidating and loud behind me, well, too bad, deal with it. e) oh, and it doesn't matter what he's doing to other people unless they speak up, I can't say a thing.
So, to recap: there are 800 posters up at work about how "if something is wrong, call this number to report it." Reporting things that are disrupting work not just for me but for several other people gets you, to quote Oliver Wendall Jones:
diddly
---------
squat
And with the adherence issues, I don't even have the luxury of taking a mental health day off work because, anything, ANYthing, even being late, will get me suspended. Two anythings and I'm fired.
So, there you have it. Time to start evaluating an exit strategy.
What I really should do is start a travel blog about Las Vegas and say all the stuff I am paid not to under any circumstances tell people. Like how bad Criss Angel's show really is, or where not to sit in the theaters, or how to get free stuff without looking like a jerk.
Man, does that sound like it would be fun... *sigh*
This is just the opening, so bear with me. I am sensitive to vibration. I can feel people walking behind me on the floor, but you know, I can deal with that because as they move away from me it goes away. But imagine someone sitting near you and making it feel like you're sitting in the tiniest shack next to the busiest train tracks in the nation, and then imagine trying to be helpful and pleasant to people calling you wanting to spend gobs of money. It takes a toll, seriously.
I'm not the only one bothered by this, but I am as usual the loudest. Some other people who sit there on occasion have thought we were having an earthquake. It's not enough to be actionable, as far as human resources is concerned, but it is more than just plain annoying.
But a pattern has emerged that is more than any grade school "teacher he's bugging me!" comparison. Keep in mind we don't have assigned work spaces; I would prefer that we did so I didn't have to lug all my stuff back and forth, but whatever. The fact is we can choose to sit where we want.
Which means that whenever he comes to sit over in that area, within a very short time I have to move stations. This involves being "off the clock" so to speak and is adversely affecting my job, because not being on the phone is a bad thing. Too many bad things can get you disciplinary action, including getting fired. So every time I have to move I either have to work extra to make up for it or take the hit. "Because he's annoying me" is not an acceptable excuse for being off the phone. I did not connect the one with the other until recently when I got called into the office to discuss my "adherence issues".
Keith has been told, more than once, many many more than once, to knock it off. By me, by managers, you name it. And he continues to come sit there and continues to be a nuisance. Because from an HR standpoint it's not actionable.
Others have complained about his behavior in other ways. An older lady had to tell the managers that when he sits behind her he is not only loud on the phone, but rude to customers, and between calls fills the air with obscenities that the people SHE is talking to on her headset can hear. I, and others, have had to apologize to guests because Keith gave them bad information. He also seems to think he's a used car dealer, making deals to get people discounts that a) we are NOT allowed to book, let alone offer and b) that the box office will refuse to accept, resulting in callbacks of angry guests who have to be taken care of. It's making the rest of us look bad.
And still this guy comes in.
But wait, there's more.
One of my other coworkers has had even worse issues with him. A few weeks ago I saw her wearing something entirely not in her personality, a very conservative, matronly shirt (she has more fashion sense than that) and she said she has to wear them because whenever she wears anything with any kind of a neckline, Keith will stare at her chest.
But wait, there's even more.
She's a single mother with some family issues and about a month ago she was commenting how she'd like to find some kind of supplemental part time job. Keith pipes in with this "great online opportunity" and she made the mistake of giving him her email address (home, not work) and when he sent her the email, you know what it was?
Anyone who answered "pop up porn" may have a cookie.
He denies it completely. I told her to run an antivirus program, but she doesnt' have one. But she has had no problem since then.
Yes. This is now beyond annoying. It's becoming harrassing. Intimidating. The poor woman says "I just want to come to work and not feel uncomfortable, is that too much to ask?"
The other day I reported him, again, for the shaking thing. The manager apparently spoke to him though I didn't see it.
Following day he was not scheduled to work so I went to the station I like best, then found out he was picking up an extra shift and coming in in a couple of hours (he is part time, NOT full time, so while my schedule is consistent, his is all over the map, hence there are weeks he works before I come in and don't even register him and weeks when I have to play musical desks). Note that it was a quiet day, many other open stations around. Including the two right. behind. me.
So I did what any reasonable, mature, professional person would do in this circumstance. I unplugged the two units behind me, turned them off, and for good measure put an IT ticket on one (couldn't find 2) to make it look like both were broken.
Yeah, I know. But wait, you know what there is.
Any normal person would glance at two machines that look dead, see other open machines, and go elsewhere rather than screw with it.
Not our guy. Keith deliberately picked the one directly behind me (the one without the trouble ticket. I knew I should have gotten two of them) and spent ten minutes undoing my sabotage.
And then next fifteen minutes creeping me out. I had to move. I don't know if the floor was shaking, but I sure the hell was.
So I wrote a letter to my manager (more time off the phone I could not afford) and came out and said what I had just realized. This is not "clueless socially inept guy who does not know how to behave in an office environment." This is "willfully aggressive, intimidating guy who chooses to antagonize female coworkers just enough to bother them but not enough to fall into a formal category of harrassment"
So I kicked that one upstairs a notch further, after getting the blessing of the woman who got the porn, and speaking to some other women in the area that will also not sit anywhere near him (there's a nice church going lady born the same year as my mother; she called him a "jackass" (!) ) I have apparently been elected or allowed myself to be volunteered to be the spokesperson to power on this thing.
Today my supervisor will get the email I sent him, as today's his first day back from his weekend. Also, the other manager is talking to the head of the department. Allegedly, they will "speak to Keith."
Today is my Friday (I have the next two days off) and this is the huge shitstorm I am walking into today. I don't know what will happen. But I know it will either end, or get much much worse.
I hate change, but it's staring me in the face. I can't afford to lose this job, and I can't believe I let him impact my productivity like that. Now that it's much bigger than shaking the floor. That wasn't the problem. It was a symptom of the much bigger problem. A problem that can't just sit there in the middle of the room and be ignored any longer.
Victims should not have to accomodate the victimizer. Harrassment does not have to be sexual (as in my case) but it seems that it has taken this much to maybe get dealt with seriously. I don't want him fired, although short of that I don't know how to resolve this; it's not my call. I just want it to GODDAMN STOP.
Either that or all it will do is get him a slap on the wrist and we have to spend our days fearful of him retaliating.
By the end of the shift I will know which it will be.
UPDATE: The brilliant solution to everyone's problems!
Yeah, I'm sarcastic. I was told a) if I'm there first and he comes sit near me, I have the right to move. b) If I come in after him and he's there, I have the right to sit anywhere else. c) If I come in and he's not there, I have to be psychic and predict where he would sit, if he was there, and arrange my life accordingly. d) If I do sit far, far away, and he goes out of his way to come over to where I am and be intimidating and loud behind me, well, too bad, deal with it. e) oh, and it doesn't matter what he's doing to other people unless they speak up, I can't say a thing.
So, to recap: there are 800 posters up at work about how "if something is wrong, call this number to report it." Reporting things that are disrupting work not just for me but for several other people gets you, to quote Oliver Wendall Jones:
diddly
---------
squat
And with the adherence issues, I don't even have the luxury of taking a mental health day off work because, anything, ANYthing, even being late, will get me suspended. Two anythings and I'm fired.
So, there you have it. Time to start evaluating an exit strategy.
What I really should do is start a travel blog about Las Vegas and say all the stuff I am paid not to under any circumstances tell people. Like how bad Criss Angel's show really is, or where not to sit in the theaters, or how to get free stuff without looking like a jerk.
Man, does that sound like it would be fun... *sigh*