06.02.01
I have worked for The Company for seven years. Within a dept of 110 people, there are 5 people including me who have worked there as long or longer. [I've got a lot of experience in my job.] Recently, the company created a third shift and I put in for the jr. overlord position. I did not get the jr. overlord position. It went to Overlord Rick's lackey. The assistant department director, who got a higher paying job at another company, told me he selected the lackey because 'lackey' had a little more computer experience than I.
Translation ['lackey' knows the inventory control computer pathways. which are easy to learn.]
I have company-paid-for management training, have developed the majority of the training procedures, improved every process within the dept during my time spent w/ the company, and I consistently have the highest productivity numbers within the dept. When the new shift begins we are a group of 6. Our 2 tasks are to Stock and Receive inventory.
Strangely, I train 'lackey' how to do all the receiving processes. I train the rest of our brand new staff receiving process and instruct them in forklift operation. Recently we have hired 5 more employees. I have tried to force lackey to train new employees since I'm just a highly experienced grunt. Lackey tells me he has no options and that I need to train the new employee because they sent him 2 new employees in one night, blah blah blah. I observe that while I am training new employee A, lackey spends 1 hr w/ employee B, turns him loose, and then spends his time doing basic receiving work. Employee C arrives while I am on vacation. Lackey gives him brief training and turns him loose in the building. Employees D and E arrive. Lackey gives D brief training and assigns employee E to me to train. Employees A, B, and E are black. Overlord Rick trains no one, and speaks to no one. Overlord Rick has not spoken to any of the last 5 new employees even though they have been working at the company for 6 weeks.
Here're my questions:
1. If employees A, B, and E are black and employees C and D are white does this look like racism?
2. I instruct 75% of the new employees. Would you consider it favouritism if the company hires 'lackey' over me for jr. overlord? Supposedly, we were nearly equal candidates for the job. Lackey only has 'more computer experience'.
3. Is there a magic pixie dust to fix this or should I file a grievance w/ the company?
Please Help Me Pixie!
Call me Confused.
Confused,
Hmm. This situation sucks, but I'm sure that you know this already.
What the new lackey has over you is probably that he has the unfortunate natural talent of being a first-rate ass-smoocher. Ass-smooching gets a lot of incompetent people fairly far in life, provided that their overlords are vain, stupid creatures themselves.
And the answers to your questions:
1) From the information that you have provided, I detect no smack of racism. Of course, you work with these people regularly, so you might see something in this that I don't, as a casual observer.
What it sounds more likely to be is that the lackey is not only an ass-smoocher, but a lazy, incompetent fuck.
How are the people that the lackey trained doing at their jobs? Do you need to correct them frequently? Are they just muddling by, or are they doing okay work?
2) See above. Ass-smooching is a wonderful skill to use on your ignorant overlings. You might actually be too much of a straight-shooter, not willing to play all of the stupid internal political/popularity contest bullshit that exist at the management level of your company. This may hinder your growth within the business, which isn't fair.
3) Magic pixie dust is only good for two things: making things sparkly, and in the right situation, making things fly. It can't fix work traumas. Trust me. If it did, I'd be the happiest, most well-adjusted worker peon ever!
I would document the concerns that you have raised, and strongly consider bringing it up to the powers that be in the form of whatever exists below an actual grievance. Casually mention that you are considering lodging a grievance because of these unfair activities occuring on the third shift. It would be of particular help if the peons that the lackey trained weren't doing as well as your peons.
I recently went through a situation at my place of employment that required documentation of this sort. When all of the little incidents that I recorded happened alone, they didn't seem like much of anything. However, en masse, they elicited the query from upper management as to why I hadn't complained about the situation earlier. I didn't have a reasonable answer, other than that they hadn't seemed to bad at the time.
Don't put up with injustice in the workplace. You'll always be a lowly peon if you don't speak up for yourself, and you're too good for that.
Believe in yourself.
Rock on.
-- pixie
