It became official last week. My working relationship with my supervisors went from collegial understanding to contractual obligation, all in a matter of 15 days. On Sept 8, there was a conversation about how best to reclassify my position as professional staff. and on Sept 23, I was informed I was going to be subject to Article 18 [Corrective action/dismissal] of the collective bargaining agreement.
Since the amount of positive paperwork in my file outweighs the negative — three performance reviews in the 6 month probationary period, culminating in “exceeds expectations” for most categories — coupled with the sudden change in direction from reclassification to removal, I’m not sure how the union will deal with this. The steward I took my paperwork to last week couldn’t understand it, and the members of the administration who heard the details were scratching their heads.
I just want out. In June, I made the offer, in good faith, to let a new position description be created around the realities of the job and that I would serve until that was done and the position filled. They declined to go that route, choosing instead the current unpleasant course.
Well, now it’s up to me, and I’m doing all I can to get out. Their education agenda, the public initiatives, the policy goals — all of that is meaningless to me now. I don’t care about a bit of it, and what’s more, I’ll be working to rule for the rest of my time there. My father asked me if I had a cloth cap. I may have to invest in one . . . . .
A six-age listing of my faults and required corrective actions was handed to me on Tuesday of last week, and reviewed in detail. Some of it was amusing (but I suppressed the urge to giggle: to tell the truth, I was too surprised).
Item: violations of dress code/too casual clothing (translated: I was wearing shorts on hot days, as many do, and of course, classes had not yet begun). Well, for one thing, the University has no dress code. Period. There are location-specific expectations (business attire is expected in the confines of the administration building) and I’m sure there are other safety-related instances (closed toe shoes, etc. in construction/physical plant areas). But the institution in which I work, as with the U as a whole, has no dress code, and what’s more, I was never told of any dissatisfaction prior to this process. So I had no opportunity to correct my aberrant behavior.
Item: I arrived at 9:45 instead of my scheduled 9:30 two days in a row, coincidentally the first two days I rode my bike to the new building *and* used my new bike locker (since returned to the University: I’ll not be riding in anymore). Rather than ask if anything had changed to alter my arrival time or suggest we adjust it, bang it went onto the list of sins.
Item: I was accused of setting up an email distribution list to centralize mailings to the center’s advisory board, in excess of my authority. Well, the list was setup at the request of the previous director and used by her before she left, so it’s hard to see how that breaks any rules of the incumbent junta.
It does go on and I could cite some more, but I’m not in the mood to review that particular document on a Sunday night. I’ll have to deal with the harpies in person soon enough . . ..
As noted above, I just want out.