May 11, 2012

  • Overzealous, petty AND stupid

    What a fabulous combination for a manager.  I'm so glad we have people like this.

    There is a process, by which everyone is expected to follow when posting job rotations for their group.  The process is quite simple. 

    • Hiring Manager
      1. Prepare a business case
      2. Get it approved by your boss
      3. Send it to my boss & cc me
      4. I prepare your job posting based on the position's job code, my boss ensures that union reps (if applicable) are all aware that it's coming
      5. You review the posting I send you and make revisions (if necessary)
      6. I post it
      7. On closing day, I attach all the applications and I send them to you.  I will have checked that all applicants are permanent, full-time employees and that everyone CC'd their supervisor.
    • Applicant
      1. Discuss with your boss to determine if you can be released
      2. Prepare your application (resume & cover letter)
      3. Email it to the Job Rotation mailbox & cc your boss

    Simple, right?!

    Well, Overzealous Petty & Stupid (OPS) didn't seem to think so.  Someone in his group applied for a rotation.  When she got an interview (i.e. has not been hired yet) he sent me a job posting that he created for her position, sent it to me and said get it ready to fire in the event that she is hired.  He wanted it to go out the same day.  A little overzealous, no?

    Anyways...not going to happen.

    First of all, OPS should've sent it to my boss.  Not me.  Second, I cannot issue a job posting unless directed to do so by my boss.  Third, you cannot write up a brand new job description for a represented position.  Otherwise the unions get VERY upset.  You can only make small minor changes to the EXISITNG one.  Fourth...where is your business case?

    So, I kicked it over to my boss and let him kick it back.  Cuz dealing with OPS is one of my least favourite activities.

    But that wasn't enough.

    He called to find out if there was a way to circumvent the process and just get it approved by the big boss.  Uhm...dude, no.  I'm not going to say that others haven't broken the rules like that, but it's not exactly something we encourage.

    So, after a few back and forths, I eventually sent him a draft posting and said, "Let me know if this is approved and I will issue it."  He emailed it back the next day.  5 minutes after he emailed it to me, he called my desk.  I was in a meeting with my boss but I could hear my phone ringing at my desk (we were really close by).  5 minutes after that, OPS showed up at my office.  As he walked by my boss' office, he saw me so he pedalled back and asked me if I had gotten his email and voicemail.  So, I already told you the story about this.  Honestly, wtf.

    The next day, I issued his one-week job posting.  The second day into this posting, he called to ask me who applied.  I told him that to try to ensure some level of fairness, the hiring manager does not receive any postings until the day the posting closes.  I then pointed out that there was already one applicant that foolishly cc'd him.  Oh well.  After some more nagging, I told him that was the only person that applied and that he should just relax because there were still 3 more days.

    The day the posting was set to close, he called me and emailed me a few times to say that he wanted to be sure that he would get everything at 3pm because he wanted to review it over the weekend.  Dude...I already have one micromanaging boss.  I don't need more micromanagers who think they can tell me what to do.  Fuck off.

    Lucky for him, I'm very on the ball, so the email had already been scheduled to go with all the attachments at exactly 3:06 pm.

    Meanwhile, there was a rotation posted to which *he* wanted to apply.  So he sent me an email saying he was going to apply and that he had asked his boss to review his resume and cover letter.  Seriously...I don't care.

    On the last day, he applied to the position and did not cc his boss.  So, I kicked his email back.  Actually...I was going to just let it go because he had said he discussed it which his boss.  *My boss* said to kick it back.  So OPS leaves me this snide voicemail saying, "I don't know what your process is, or why it keeps changing or how it's enforced...blah blah blah."  Again, fuck off.  It flat out says in EVERY job posting that goes out, "cc your supervisor".

    He did resend it.  And in resending it, he cc'd his boss and wrote, "As requested by *insert cokeaddict's full name here*."

    Dude.  You trying to start a war here?!  I didn't not REQUEST that you resend your application.  I reiterated the rules and gave you the opportunity to do this correctly.  I could've just NOT INCLUDED your application in the package to the hiring manager.

    So...I emailed him and reiterated that these are the rules.  I know I missed that his employee had not cc'd him when she applied to another job but that it does not generally happen.  And since I didn't want to talk to him about this bullshit anymore (and I don't have to put up with his snide implications), I told him to direct all his concerns/questions to my boss (who is more than happy to stonewall him).  That's not enough, obviously.  So OPS emails my boss and cc's me to say he wasn't expecting a response (so you want me to ignore you?!) and that he wasn't referring to that employee as she had informed him of her intent to imply.  It was for the clerk who applied to her position.  This clerk reports to him.  He's upset that she didn't cc him and I didn't kick her application back??  I didn't kick her application back because she's applying for a position that is in her current group.  OPS is the hiring manager AND her supervisor.  Seriously...maybe she didn't talk to you about it, but she's IN YOUR FUCKING GROUP!!!  Applying to a job that is also IN YOUR FUCKING GROUP!!!

    Honestly...I don't have the energy to put up with this shit.  Administering this program wasn't even a part of my job.  We had a clerk for this.  But as a result of cutbacks, we got rid of the clerk and now *I* administer the program.  But I have REAL work to do.  Just follow the damned rules and everything will run smoothly.  No one else has had any issues getting a job posting out!

    Whatever, I'm hoping this idiotic issue dies once these two job postings close.  Then, I hopefully won't have to talk to him again...if possible, ever.

cokeaddict