anmaikim
04-21-2006, 03:19 AM
For over a year I was employed as a wholesale representative for a small company. From the very start the job posed formidable challenges - I received no training, and our department did not have a fully functioning CRM until the holidays. 80% of my time there the sales department was understaffed. In addition to covering 1 1/2 territories worth of accounts I had to manage 15+ manufacturer's reps with no management tools - my employer was always vague and non-committal as to how she wanted them managed. In less than a year 5 salesperson came and went, so I ended up being the trainer for our dept. as well. I took these challenges head on with energy and spirit and am proud to say that I met the sales goals for the entire year in 7 months. For this I received the only bonus given at our company for the year.
In January the sales mgr. was fired and another salesperson quit, so I cheerfully signed on at the last minute to do two trade shows back to back. I had also been informed, due to yet another gross error on the part of our bookeeper not deducting for sick time that I owed 60 hours PTO (I w, on't evean open that can of worms!). I worked the 60 hours off by mid feb., signed on several important corporate accounts and was tasked to coordinate 3 of the 5 upcoming trade shows, 4 of which I was scheduled to attend - in March, June, July and August. I had little contact with my boss (who only wants to work part-time) and when I did it was always favorable.
Until she called a meeting of all of the office/sales people. I guess the $$ weren't what she had hoped for so she beat us all up about what we weren't doing, cracked the whip and piled on even more, that our numbers were going to be posted again to be under her watchful eye. She didn't acknowledge any of the overtime we were doing for the shows, instead telling us we would be better off switching from salary to hourly if we wanted recognition for the overtime (???)
After the meeting I approached her to remind her that we had stopped posting numbers because the reports were bad - in fact, they only reported a fraction of the real numbers. She went absolutely ballistic - screamed at me to do my job, instead of philandering around running reports - how dare I question her! Her face turned bright red, a vein popped out on her forehead she was so livid and out of control.
To all of our relief she left the next day for a 10 day vacation to the Bahamas. Her behavior caused me great concern so I met with a mediator to get support handling communication with the boss when she returned. When she did return we had an unfinished informal meeting about the incident (with witness), which involved her doing all the talking, with her cutting the meeting short after my first sentence saying we would work it out later when her sister (AKA the new human resource person ) came in a couple of weeks. Over the next couple of weeks she alternated between acting as if I didn't exist for days with literally 0 contact or communications, then she would barrage me with piles of e-mails and voice mails (never live visits) criticizing every last thing I did or didn't do, I was incompetent, incapable etc (cc'd and bcc'd to anyone, to my humiliation and embarrassment) while withholding vital and necessary tools I needed from her to do my job.
The day her sister came we were introduced before they retired to her office. Whew! With the arrival of the bosses' sister I felt a rush of relief knowing that we would be resolving the cold and uncomfortable impasse that had come between us when I was called into her office. Her sister told me she had bad news, that I was terminated. I was handed my check and accompanied to my desk to pack up my stuff like a thief and criminal. I was speechless with shock. Nothing was said the entire time until I opened the front door to leave. Her sister then saidto me "We will deny any unemployment comp claim you make"
I learned from my equal co-worker in job and pay (only, I was there much longer than her) that a few days prior to my being fired she had basically been forced to accept a significant salary cut to a lower hourly wage if she still wanted to work there.
Since my departure my position has been filled with someone younger and much cheaper.
In January the sales mgr. was fired and another salesperson quit, so I cheerfully signed on at the last minute to do two trade shows back to back. I had also been informed, due to yet another gross error on the part of our bookeeper not deducting for sick time that I owed 60 hours PTO (I w, on't evean open that can of worms!). I worked the 60 hours off by mid feb., signed on several important corporate accounts and was tasked to coordinate 3 of the 5 upcoming trade shows, 4 of which I was scheduled to attend - in March, June, July and August. I had little contact with my boss (who only wants to work part-time) and when I did it was always favorable.
Until she called a meeting of all of the office/sales people. I guess the $$ weren't what she had hoped for so she beat us all up about what we weren't doing, cracked the whip and piled on even more, that our numbers were going to be posted again to be under her watchful eye. She didn't acknowledge any of the overtime we were doing for the shows, instead telling us we would be better off switching from salary to hourly if we wanted recognition for the overtime (???)
After the meeting I approached her to remind her that we had stopped posting numbers because the reports were bad - in fact, they only reported a fraction of the real numbers. She went absolutely ballistic - screamed at me to do my job, instead of philandering around running reports - how dare I question her! Her face turned bright red, a vein popped out on her forehead she was so livid and out of control.
To all of our relief she left the next day for a 10 day vacation to the Bahamas. Her behavior caused me great concern so I met with a mediator to get support handling communication with the boss when she returned. When she did return we had an unfinished informal meeting about the incident (with witness), which involved her doing all the talking, with her cutting the meeting short after my first sentence saying we would work it out later when her sister (AKA the new human resource person ) came in a couple of weeks. Over the next couple of weeks she alternated between acting as if I didn't exist for days with literally 0 contact or communications, then she would barrage me with piles of e-mails and voice mails (never live visits) criticizing every last thing I did or didn't do, I was incompetent, incapable etc (cc'd and bcc'd to anyone, to my humiliation and embarrassment) while withholding vital and necessary tools I needed from her to do my job.
The day her sister came we were introduced before they retired to her office. Whew! With the arrival of the bosses' sister I felt a rush of relief knowing that we would be resolving the cold and uncomfortable impasse that had come between us when I was called into her office. Her sister told me she had bad news, that I was terminated. I was handed my check and accompanied to my desk to pack up my stuff like a thief and criminal. I was speechless with shock. Nothing was said the entire time until I opened the front door to leave. Her sister then saidto me "We will deny any unemployment comp claim you make"
I learned from my equal co-worker in job and pay (only, I was there much longer than her) that a few days prior to my being fired she had basically been forced to accept a significant salary cut to a lower hourly wage if she still wanted to work there.
Since my departure my position has been filled with someone younger and much cheaper.
