This may be known as "folder-gate" but I hope not...
Today was made for blogging, and not just because it was 12 degrees when I left the house this morning.... Most people complain about their jobs on their blog. For the most part I've avoided it because I mostly like my job, I just hate my commute. But today? Today was a new low.
I work for a non-profit. Money is tight. We're constantly reminded of that. I even buy my own pens so as not to impose my preferences on our budget. Our parties? All potlucks. So on Friday afternoon when a co-worker and I stumbled upon a dumpster cart full of file folders in the lobby, we were a little shocked. Apparently somebody's office was just emptied and the majority of the dumpster contents were almost new file folders and hanging folder, even 3 ring binders. Good stuff. Expensive stuff. In the trash. We were both a little horrified, and since I've needed hanging folders since I started working there 2 and a half years ago, I grabbed some. My co-worker went after the 3 ring binders. These are things we need to do our job but don't like ordering unless we're desperate. To date, I've placed ONE supply order, on my first day, and my boss gave me such a hard time about it I haven't bothered to attempt another. Not once. I find this extremely silly, but for the most part, I'm ok with it. Until now.
So while we were doing our version of "dumpster diving", the director of finance came around the corner. She's the stickler... the one that always tells us not to waste money... the reason our paper towels are only 1-ply (so I use twice as many). We showed her the waste thinking she'd be appalled... maybe applaud us for our efforts. Instead she said "we don't have the storage space for all that." When we told her we needed these things she said "well, take what you need." We thought everything was cool. My co-worker even straightened up the cavernous and empty supply cabinet to make room for some of the salvaged items. Cool, right? Not so much. Apparently.
This morning, my co-worker sent out an email to Allstaff saying simply "if you're throwing out supplies, take a minute to think if somebody else could use them". Then she thanked me for helping her on Friday. About 5 minutes later, while I was still basking in the glow of the public acknowledgement, another email hit Allstaff. This one from our Director of Finance. She said that we were to "DISREGARD" the previous email and that it is not our policy nor appropriate to save office supplies since we don't have storage space for them. She then said that co-worker and I "were told this on Friday". Whew... I felt like I was 5 again. What was HER problem?
I'm never one to be chastised without fighting back. I drafted what I thought was a very calm and appropriate response and sent it just to the Director, with a bcc to my boss, just to let her into the loop since I was sure she was staring at her screen wondering just what I'd gotten myself into now. (Quite a change from all the "Wow, thanks..." and "You rock!" emails I had in my box after helping other departments with projects last week.) I said that while I understood we didn't have unlimited storage space, I appreciated being able to grab the handfull of folders I needed since I would never place an order for such a small amount of folders, and it would be nice if we had some way to know when things were available. It was nice. I read over it about 30 times before I sent it. Then I got a phone call from my boss. She wanted to make sure I had only sent it to the director and her. I assured her I had. Then another few minutes and she calls again. She said "did you get the email?" I said "No, what?" and she said "she sent it to your comcast account." I hesitate for a second.
"I don't HAVE a comcast account!" So she forwards it to me and says "Just drop it." I read the email which tells me that this is "her last word on this inappropriate subject and email" and I gasp. I notice it is cc'ed to my boss, my director, and the director of HR. And in the To: field is SOMEBODY ELSE'S email!!! She sent this belittling missive to the WRONG PERSON! I laughed so hard I had to hold it back. She just insulted SOMEBODY ELSE. Possibly a vendor or some outside client of some sort. And nobody would tell her! I certainly wasn't going to. My director asked me if I wanted to talk but I assured her I wasn't sending any more emails. My boss said the matter was over as far as she was concerned, but I was still kind of pissed.
First of all, she was hypocritical, wasteful, insulting, demeaning, and just plain rude. And second of all, if I'm now working for a place where Directors aren't open to criticism or comment, then I'm not sure I want to be in such a place. It's called a Dictatorship and I'm too smart to work for dictators. Particularly dictators that hold our bonuses over our head then send perfectly good file folders to the landfill because they can't be bothered to replace the REMOVEABLE label.
And in the end, seriously, all this drama.... it was about FILE FOLDERS. Fucking office supplies! I'm guessing it was a "slow news day" in the office and everybody was bent out of shape because of the cold, but it sort of blew me away. Why the hell did I have to spend my whole morning defending my honor because I wanted to recycle office supplies. Isn't that what I've been taught to do for YEARS? Be resourceful? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? COME ON.
I spent the afternoon sorting out all my papers into my new folders so that when I do finally leave, they can figure out what I was working on. Meanwhile about half the office called me or came by to say "What the fuck is her problem?" about our Director of Finance. Apparently I wasn't the only one that found her email rude and insulting. The rest of the office was ALSO insulted. And yes, I realize this woman must have a boatload of personal issues that don't have a thing to do with file folders that led her to overreact so dramatically. And I did see the HR Director go toward her office, hopefully to calm her down. I'm looking forward to mentioning the incident in my exit interview eventually.
Before I left tonight, I swiped some glue sticks from the supply cabinet. Afterall, I earned them. I just bought myself some new pens.
I am in need of a 'Bahamavention'. Anybody??
-Summer... aka "Still Twitching"
I work for a non-profit. Money is tight. We're constantly reminded of that. I even buy my own pens so as not to impose my preferences on our budget. Our parties? All potlucks. So on Friday afternoon when a co-worker and I stumbled upon a dumpster cart full of file folders in the lobby, we were a little shocked. Apparently somebody's office was just emptied and the majority of the dumpster contents were almost new file folders and hanging folder, even 3 ring binders. Good stuff. Expensive stuff. In the trash. We were both a little horrified, and since I've needed hanging folders since I started working there 2 and a half years ago, I grabbed some. My co-worker went after the 3 ring binders. These are things we need to do our job but don't like ordering unless we're desperate. To date, I've placed ONE supply order, on my first day, and my boss gave me such a hard time about it I haven't bothered to attempt another. Not once. I find this extremely silly, but for the most part, I'm ok with it. Until now.
So while we were doing our version of "dumpster diving", the director of finance came around the corner. She's the stickler... the one that always tells us not to waste money... the reason our paper towels are only 1-ply (so I use twice as many). We showed her the waste thinking she'd be appalled... maybe applaud us for our efforts. Instead she said "we don't have the storage space for all that." When we told her we needed these things she said "well, take what you need." We thought everything was cool. My co-worker even straightened up the cavernous and empty supply cabinet to make room for some of the salvaged items. Cool, right? Not so much. Apparently.
This morning, my co-worker sent out an email to Allstaff saying simply "if you're throwing out supplies, take a minute to think if somebody else could use them". Then she thanked me for helping her on Friday. About 5 minutes later, while I was still basking in the glow of the public acknowledgement, another email hit Allstaff. This one from our Director of Finance. She said that we were to "DISREGARD" the previous email and that it is not our policy nor appropriate to save office supplies since we don't have storage space for them. She then said that co-worker and I "were told this on Friday". Whew... I felt like I was 5 again. What was HER problem?
I'm never one to be chastised without fighting back. I drafted what I thought was a very calm and appropriate response and sent it just to the Director, with a bcc to my boss, just to let her into the loop since I was sure she was staring at her screen wondering just what I'd gotten myself into now. (Quite a change from all the "Wow, thanks..." and "You rock!" emails I had in my box after helping other departments with projects last week.) I said that while I understood we didn't have unlimited storage space, I appreciated being able to grab the handfull of folders I needed since I would never place an order for such a small amount of folders, and it would be nice if we had some way to know when things were available. It was nice. I read over it about 30 times before I sent it. Then I got a phone call from my boss. She wanted to make sure I had only sent it to the director and her. I assured her I had. Then another few minutes and she calls again. She said "did you get the email?" I said "No, what?" and she said "she sent it to your comcast account." I hesitate for a second.
"I don't HAVE a comcast account!" So she forwards it to me and says "Just drop it." I read the email which tells me that this is "her last word on this inappropriate subject and email" and I gasp. I notice it is cc'ed to my boss, my director, and the director of HR. And in the To: field is SOMEBODY ELSE'S email!!! She sent this belittling missive to the WRONG PERSON! I laughed so hard I had to hold it back. She just insulted SOMEBODY ELSE. Possibly a vendor or some outside client of some sort. And nobody would tell her! I certainly wasn't going to. My director asked me if I wanted to talk but I assured her I wasn't sending any more emails. My boss said the matter was over as far as she was concerned, but I was still kind of pissed.
First of all, she was hypocritical, wasteful, insulting, demeaning, and just plain rude. And second of all, if I'm now working for a place where Directors aren't open to criticism or comment, then I'm not sure I want to be in such a place. It's called a Dictatorship and I'm too smart to work for dictators. Particularly dictators that hold our bonuses over our head then send perfectly good file folders to the landfill because they can't be bothered to replace the REMOVEABLE label.
And in the end, seriously, all this drama.... it was about FILE FOLDERS. Fucking office supplies! I'm guessing it was a "slow news day" in the office and everybody was bent out of shape because of the cold, but it sort of blew me away. Why the hell did I have to spend my whole morning defending my honor because I wanted to recycle office supplies. Isn't that what I've been taught to do for YEARS? Be resourceful? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? COME ON.
I spent the afternoon sorting out all my papers into my new folders so that when I do finally leave, they can figure out what I was working on. Meanwhile about half the office called me or came by to say "What the fuck is her problem?" about our Director of Finance. Apparently I wasn't the only one that found her email rude and insulting. The rest of the office was ALSO insulted. And yes, I realize this woman must have a boatload of personal issues that don't have a thing to do with file folders that led her to overreact so dramatically. And I did see the HR Director go toward her office, hopefully to calm her down. I'm looking forward to mentioning the incident in my exit interview eventually.
Before I left tonight, I swiped some glue sticks from the supply cabinet. Afterall, I earned them. I just bought myself some new pens.
I am in need of a 'Bahamavention'. Anybody??
-Summer... aka "Still Twitching"