I really don't understand...

I really don't understand why some people work so hard to get somewhere and the harder they try the farther away that promotion gets. Maybe they just aren't lucky, or maybe they are being punished for something that they have no clue about. I thought I'd share this interesting situation as I am still confused on how management made this particular decision.

I used to work for a non-profit (to be called NP for short going forward). It was an agency that recieved a large portion of it's money from a rather large non-profit. NP would also have donations coming in from large corporations and also private parties as well. When I started, I was introduced to the different departments and "shown the ropes" by a co-worker (whom I will call Jane). Jane proceeds to warn me about different things on my first day. I am a person who does not forget much and notices alot. I have trained myself to have a pretty good photographic memory. Look for future blogs about why that happened.

Jane and I became fast friends and spent alot of time together. Our positions were similar and it made it easy to slack off alot. You just had to be creative about it. I am not a natural slacker when it comes to work, but found it fun on occasion. As I got to know Jane, I found out some interesting things about her colorful past. We'll just say that she wouldn't pass a criminal background check and this is most likely the only job she could get (It was not a misdemeanor and she did do time for it as well). She actually was hired through a program that NP offers.

After we had been working together for a while, a new co-worker had started (we'll call him John). John and I became close friends. It was strictly platonic as he was married. We just clicked rather well and started to spend lunches together. I think most of this started out of jealousy as Jane and I spent less time together. Keep in mind, I have a ton of information about what Jane had been getting away with at this point (I'm keeping it a secret until the very end...mwahahaha).

Problems arose between Jane, John and I to the point where we just were not getting along at work. We were called into a meeting between our supervisors and the three of us. I found it interesting that Jane sat there and lied outright to her supervisor and mine. We had the proof, yet nothing got done. Amazing, when you think about it. One great thing about NP is that they truly care about their employees. They had this action plan for workplace issues between co-workers. First step is to confront each other...did that. Second step Mediation. That is where we were at at this point.

Mediation was interesting, to say the least. John and I had talked about what I would get out of this. The best part was that Jane wanted it for the two of us, not including John. However, Jane decided to pitch a fit before the mediation and was insistent that John be included. So all three of us were scheduled to meet that day. We had to drive separately and could not talk to each other outside of the mediation room before the appointment. So John and I arrive around the same time and are waiting for Jane. Jane gets into the room and then decides that she did not want John to be there at the same time. She felt that we would gang up on her. I loved that one. If you hadn't already guessed it, she always has to get her way and it has to be on her terms. John agreed to leave, but not before mentioning that he was asked to be here by Jane. Jane and I commenced with the mediation. Yeah, let's just say that everything she had to say about me was not true. I ended up giving in because I wanted to go home and it wasn't going to get anywhere. They make you make up this list of things you both agree upon and then you sign it. There is an agreement that if you aren't following through with everything that you can be called on it and further action couuld then be taken.

So I come back after having a long weekend and everything seems to be going fine. This works for approximately 5 months. At this point, Jane is up to her old tricks and is really starting to annoy me. Our jobs were pretty similar, however, she would try to give me everything she didn't want to do. I would take on extra work just to prove that I could do it. I did it and did it better. She would get mad because I would start doing things and she couldn't do them. Part of my job was data entry and I took over one of her favorite jobs. Not my fault that she really wasn't good at it and her supervisor took it away from her.

I started in on my supervisor about how she is not doing her job and also the things that I have seen her do. She has basically taken food from the food shelf, clothes from the donated items and virtually anything else she can get her hands on that isn't tied down - including agency property that was in the store room. I might just be me thinking this way, but wouldn't you consider this to be stealing from the company you work for? You are making money. The idea of a food shelf and donated clothes and whatnot is there for people who really cannot afford those items themselves.

The best thing I got out of my supervisor from this is that she truly offered to transfer her to another department in the agency. I was stupid not to take her up on this. The worst part of this was that Jane managed to take some work home one night. Her supervisor had approved that she could work on things from home. Did you know that if you were taking work home and getting paid for it that that means you can actually have your neighbor help you? I didn't. Ordinarily, it isn't that big of an issue. She not only had help, she managed to compromise information on some clients. Not just names, but Social Security numbers, their program ID numbers, address, phone number, etc. Any clue as to how I figured this one out? I was filing some paperwork and realized that some of the forms had some unknown handwriting on them. I asked Jane who wrote them and she actually told me she enlisted help from her neighbor. I almost fell out of my chair when she said this. Partly from shock and partly from the fact that Jane was stupid enough to admit this. I filed this information for future reference.

The same week, we went to this 2 day seminar out of town. I loved the fact that we were all paid to go to the seminar and were required to attend different meetings. Yeah, to Jane that meant that she would go to one meeting and then just screw around the rest of the time. Forget about the meetings the second day. I'll make my group go home early and then get paid for it. John and I rode together for the seminar. I managed to tell him about what Jane did with confidential information. He urged me to tell someone. I was struggling with the information as I knew that if I didn't say something, I would go crazy.

At work on Monday, I decided to tell her supervisor about it. I couldn't beleive it when she told me that she knew what happened. I was actually asked what I was going to do about it. My answer was that I didn't know at that point. She asked me not to say anything because Jane had enough to worry about. Hmmmm...are you trying to make it easier on her because she's walking a thin line? Of course, I had figured that I had already gone this far that if she wasn't willing to do anything about it, I would.

After having a lenghty conversation with her manager, I went to my manager. It all comes down to have supervisor not documenting issues and then because it isn't documented it is considered to be heresay. I went to HR as well. They basically said that the agency is very happy if you make some improvement since you've been hired. That alone is enough to keep you. Yeah, I love the fact that we had an employee handbook that stated that you cannot release confidential information. I guess that you can and it doesn't matter. What is the point of having a rule if you aren't going to enforce it? That is a major breach of confidential information. I would not want anyone having my information without my consent.

My supervisor basically told me that we could be sent back to mediation again to resolve this. I knew that it wouldn't work and said that we'd already tried and it didn't work. It was time for the next step. She didn't agree. Since it was going to be a continuous cycle, I decided it was time to leave. Why should I keep doing the same thing when Jane isn't willing to fix the situation and the fact that she should have been fired according to the rules set in the employee handbook?

At one point during my notice period, I asked if they would actually pay me more money to stay. I was approved for my requested salary, but on the condition that I would go back to mediation. Nope. Not going to happen.

I kept in contact with John and other co-workers. About a month or so after I left, Jane got a promotion. I guess I should have seen that one coming. If you steal from the agency and leak confidential information, you'll get a promotion. Not to mention the fact that you are a convicted felon and your supervisor feels bad for you because you wouldn't be able to get a job anywhere else. Riiight!