Incident at work, views please

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moesha

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Something happened me in work and I would like to share it with you and give me your views.

A new employee and I were talking , general chat while tooing and frowing to the photocopier, between calls etc. Still getting the work done but we were talking.

Manager stops us and says, " are you girls going to be talking all afternoon?"

I answered "no". Manager says "well good because there is plenty of work to be done now get on with it".

Manager walked away. I was fuming. I calmed down after a while and I approached managers office, knocked on the door and asked if I could have a word. Manager says " im too busy, I dont have the time, Ill have to see" I said " well can you talk to me later" Same reply from manager. I said "well will you let me know when you can have a word with me" Same reply from manager. I said "actaully this cant wait, please do not speak to me like im a child in a classroom, especially when we werent the only people talking" Manager then scowled "leave my office now" . I didnt answer and i left her office.

Im in the Civil Service and the office I work in is quite small. There were two other people in the office at the time and they both were on personal calls.

What do you make of this?
 
doesn't sound too productive if you were just talking and two others on personal calls.
I pity your manager...........oh but this is the public service so productivity not an issue.
Wonder what it costs us the taxpayer per hour to keep this office going?
 
If you read my post properly I did say that I was talking while doing other things.

Yeah I agree with you on pitying my manager. SHe is paid to manage and while she did try to do that she just didnt do it the way she should have. I mean she is paid approx €110k per year for her role. Dont fall off your seat markowitzman. Im not exaggerating. For that money you would expect a bit of professionalism on how to deal with talking employees.

Productivity issues are very important in the Public Service as far as I know. Im in the Civil Service and we do have performance targets which in my case are always met.

Im not going to disclose what office I am located at but if you are interested in how much an office is costing the taxpayer per hour, please feel free to contact the Freedom of Information Section of your department of choice. The cost of a FOI request if €15 as far as I know.
 
Yeah I agree with you on pitying my manager.
Personally I would not work for 110k if staff not rowing with me.
but if you are interested in how much an office is costing the taxpayer per hour, please feel free to contact the Freedom of Information Section of your department of choice. The cost of a FOI request if €15 as far as I know.
spare me, tomorrow is Monday!
Re "the incident".....not an incident in my book but others may differ.
As a manager I would record this if it were an ongoing problem and would look at it at reviews etc or before that if serious.
 
Perhaps she was having a very tough day and needs a bit of leeway.

If its still bothering you a lot in a few days time when you have both cooled down then send her an e-mail and ask to meet with her to discuss the matter.
 
You should take a bullying case against her and sue for €25M at least for emotional trauma. :rolleyes:
 
Perhaps she was, but thats no excuse for that attitude.


Well thank god, joe feels the same way I do. I thought it was just me, that she had an attitude. I could have been going into her to talk about anything, managers are supposed to be approachable.

I think what might have her riled up is because the new person that started, I happen to know. NOt personally, but we are both from the same area and we know alot of people in common but not each other. I think my manager was listening in and was piddled of about that. Maybe not, but we are supposed to be having a mediation meeting sometime soon to sort this out. Im so stressed out about it. At this moment I cannot even comtemplate looking, speaking or listening to my manager.
 
Clubman,

YOu mentioned the "b" word. Which when mentioned, the incident is taken very seriously. I didnt mention the word deliberately because thats the way I feel and I wanted you folk to from a view of the situation without the "b" word even being mentioned. (God im ramblin)
 
I was being sarcastic though. Your incident is a non event in my opinion (and you did look for opinions). Anything other than an eventual quiet word about it with the person in question is OTT as far as I can see.
 
is chatting at the photocopier part of your job description?
worth checking as one never knows with civil service!
Have to agree with clubman.........completely OTT.
My advice would not to bother the manager with this, as if you do I think you might just be letting yourself down.
 
Seems like your manager was well within her rights to tell the two of you to stop yapping and do a bit of work. Also, if she is on 110k per year then presumably she actually does have quite a lot of work to do and doesn't have time to coddle you and worry about your feelings. I'd suggest that you forget about it and encourage the other people in your office to stop wasting our tax dollars.
 
moesha - Sorry to dissagree with you on one matter - The Civil Service is the most unproductive and unhelpful organisation anyone will ever come across. Basically its a job for life no matter how much or how little a Civil Servant does. Does the office you are in even perform a function ??

Regarding your incident - even the Manger is unproductive. Because, and from what you are saying the entire workforce are doing their own thing. She should send a letter to each member of her staff, advising them of their duties and that personal issues should remain out of the office. Albeit, she just might of had a bad day. Check tomorrow if there is any change.
 
From reading the original post this seems like it may have been a one off. If this is the case then you might as well let it be. We all have bad hair days and irrationally strike out at anyone and anything.

If on the other hand it is happening more regularly them it looks like a case of bullying. The fact that you have gone into her office and had to be ordered out will have been noted. You are obviously well able to stand up for yourself. Bullies tend to leave people like this alone.

You might also like to read the attached. It seems that the Dept. of Finance does not want bullying in the civil service.

http://www.finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=507

http://www.finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/circulars/circ232005.htm



Murt
 
Without meaning to cause offense to anyone, I have to say I find some peoples attitudes on here incredible and sometimes I wouldn't be surprised if people decide to never post again. The OP asked for peoples opinions, and I think they can be given without making someone feel their question is stupid.

It may seem a non issue to some people but maybe its not to the poster. For what its worth I think the managers attitude was out of line. I manage staff and would never speak to anyone like that. Even if I was having a bad day I would ask them to come back another time, or if I did say something out of line like in this case I would always go back and apologise. I find people are much more productive if you speak to them with respect and create a working environment where thay can actually feel relaxed and enjoy work a bit. If the civil service is unproductive maybe its beacause they have managers like this who don't foster productivity or loyalty from their staff.
 
Seems like your manager was well within her rights to tell the two of you to stop yapping and do a bit of work.

Of course, but the main problem seems to be the attitude when the op requested a moment to discuss the issue.
 
What happened is a non incident and not worth worrying over.
Go read your employment contract, is talking by the photocopier included?
Actually in a lot of companies you can't even walk into your managers office without being asked to. Be grateful you could even do this.
If this manager is on 110k they must be fairly senior and they have more important issues to do.

Why don't you call in the union, people have striked over less.
 
please get into the real word and appreciate you have a job..have you got targets etc
 
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