About a year ago I took on the responsibility of opening up at work and became a key-holder. Not long after this my hours changed from 8:30am-17:00pm to 8:45am-17:15pm. I found out about my change of hours when I got a letter with my payslip – nobody actually informed be prior or asked if it was convenient. To be honest, the change of hours doesn’t really bother me, but the fact that I wasn’t consulted does. On principle I started turning up at 8:45am.
Now, I’ll be honest… I’m not reknowned for my timekeeping! Since I started opening up I’ve been punctual, but my colleagues still take the piss out of me – force of habit! But recently I have been arriving on or up to 8:45am. When I open up I have to unlock the gate, unlock the bollards, put the bollards down (a mean feat!), open the gates, unlock and open the shutter protecting the fire exit, de-activate the alarm and camera monitor, turn on all the lights, open the staff entrance shutter and unlock and open the gates… by which time it’s maybe 8:55am… which is when I clock in.
Now, the powers that be don’t seem to like this 8:55am clocking in business, and my manager has, on occasion, emailed me if I have a problem arriving for 8:45am, and I’ve replied saying no, I haven’t. Other people start at 8:45am, which my arrival time has a knock-on effect on. If someone just asked me to turn up 15 minutes earlier all this probably wouldn’t have happened. Anyway… I digress.
Anyway, one night I was round at my manager’s house and she forewarned me that I’d be getting a letter re: disciplinary about timekeeping. Sure enough, the next day a letter was presented to me with the time and date of said disciplinary. I turned up at the time mentioned to meet a manager (not mine) and one of the directors of the compay. I was a bit peeved that it had got to this stage without anyone really discussing it in any detail with me to be honest. I was asked what I had to say about the matter, and I told them that I don’t quite understand why I’m in a disciplinary for timekeeping when I’ve been turning up on time… and that opening up does take a few minutes, hence my clocking times. This immediately got my director’s back up and she went on the attack saying that I should have the building open and be sat at my desk by 8:45am. I added that opening up is part of my job, so that should be accounted for. She told me that my manager had given me a formal chat about this and discussed it prior to the disciplinary, and waited for my confirmation. I told her that I have had no formal chat, it had been mentioned in an email, and I’d been emailed a document to sign and hand back. I was asked if this had happened any other time. As it happens, the day before I’d received another email and document to sign about not checking voicemails one day (it was super busy and we were short-staffed – maybe I’ll explain our staff situation in more details another time!) The director looked puzzled and asked if I’d signed them. I hadn’t. To be honest, the first I’d forgotten about due to how busy we are, and the second I’d just not got around to it at that time. The meeting was adjourned.
At this stage my manager was called down to the meeting room. Now, I can’t really comment on what was said as I wasn’t there, but I’d hazard a guess that she was being spoken to about not doing formal chats correctly. I’ll point out here that I don’t really have a problem with these issues being emailed as I’m generally really busy and don’t really have the time in the day to be sat around in meetings. I was then called back into the meeting room.
Faced by my manager and the director, my manager went on a rant about how gutted she was that I’d brought this issue up, that she’s not done anything wrong, that she’s lost my trust and possibly friendship, asking why I hadn’t come to her about it previously, yadda yadda. I could have sat up and been on the defensive, but as I mentioned, I didn’t know what had been said to her and I didn’t want to dig any holes… or make the one I was in any deeper. I basically just listened, and then the director took over. She said that she thought I was deliberately being awkward, petty and big-headed. She said she thought it was foolish of me to bring these issues of the formal chats. I pointed out that I hadn’t actually brought this issue up, and that I’d merely answered questions that I had been asked. I’m not going to lie about something if it didn’t happen. This went on for a while, and my director was saying that I said that I start at 8:45am and finish at 5:15pm and that’s what time I will arrive and leave. I defended myself and said that I actually said that I start at 8:45am, and I’ve been arriving at 8:45am.
This went on for quite some time, and I was told that there were three people, my manager, the other manager, and herself, that thought I had an attitude problem. I was also told that the managing director also has issues about my attitude. Truth be told this was a small misunderstanding that was resolved in about a minute, which my manager backed me up on. Nevertheless I figured I’d better back down a bit and just tried to calm things down, despite how furious I was at being told I’d said things that I know I didn’t say. We decided to adjourn for another week to cool the air.
To be honest I was quite upset by all this, and I know my manager was, so I asked her for a meeting directly afterwards. Understandably she was quite confused, having been told one thing by my director, and then another by me. The things that were said were practically the same, but it was the wording and delivery that was completely different, and she didn’t know who to believe. Anyway, we chatted for over an hour and finally left feeling slightly better about things. Not much, but enough to remain professional.
The week after my director called me into a meeting again to discuss where we go from here. Quite honestly I think we were both too tired to argue, and I was asked if I have any issues, and I said I hadn’t, and that I’d been arriving earlier. She said we should just put it down to poor communication by all parties and mis-understanding. I agreed and we left the room. Everything’s fine in that respect as my director and I, while we enjoy a joke, are not particularly close friends. My manager and I, however, are… and this has obviously had an impact on that. My manager came back from her holidays for a week, and I know she was still concerned about the whole ordeal. I was the same, and we had another chat. We talked about management and friendship, etc. Difficult talk – nobody wants those, but it has to be done. Anyway, I think we ironed out a few things, and while we’re not completely right I think we’re a big step in the right direction. I think we need some beer to resolve this one.
That was a story and a half – congrats to anybody who got this far. I know my shortfallings here, so it’s a lesson to be learned. I’ve dropped a podium and I need to climb back up. At least I do still have some mutual respect, which I thought I’d lost last week. We live and learn!