The One with the $200
Since Chandler doesn't post things, I'll have to tell this one for him. He's worked at his new job since January of this year, and so far, hasn't hadn't any conflicts. The office is run by a husband and wife team who own it. They have about 8 architects working for them. Then there's an admin/receptionist/accountant/payroll woman who takes care of everything else. We'll call her B, for reasons to become obvious is a minute.
Last Monday was payday. His boss (the woman, who he mainly works for and gets along with fine) pulled him into her office and says that B has a problem with how he gets there at 8:45 but reflects 8 hours on his time sheet. Could he please just put exactly what he works. Turns out that B had gone into the man's office and complained that Chandler gets there late and isn't putting down the correct time. So they printed out a copy of his timesheet for the last period and REDLINED IT! Like went through and marked it up for when they thought he had actually worked! This is totally ridiculous b/c Chandler always works his 8 hours. If he gets there late then he stays late or eats a working lunch. He often works an hour or two of overtime at home and doesn't turn that in. And recently he worked like 20-40 hours of overtime a week to get a project done. He doesn't have to answer to this woman and it really pissed both him off that she went behind his back and made this demand. But at the time that his boss pulled him in, he was just like ok, fine.
THEN when he got his check it was $200 less than usual!!! You know, every paycheck is the exact same, plus whatever overtime he worked that period. This one was $200 less! Now, that may not be a big deal to some folks, but this little family lives paycheck to paycheck and we need each and every dollar (to support my ridiculous shopping habit ;).
So the next day he went in to talk to his boss about it and she explained that it was because of this conversation between B and the man. He said, if anything, his vacation time should be hit. And that when they redlined his timesheet they were indicating that he was cheating them which is simply not true. She apologized and said it wouldn't happened again and that she would take care of it. So she gets him a check later for the $200, and they've hit his vacation time for 10 hours! Now, 3.5 hours he was gone b/c he went with David on a class fieldtrip to the zoo. But the other 6.5 were apparently b/c he's sooo late everyday? He was really ticked off. She said that she needed to talk to him later in private, but still has not made time to do that.
What have we learned from this? 1. Apparently B runs things around there, even thought she's the receptionist. 2. Chandler now reports his time like this: 12:42 Returned from client meeting. 12:43 Began correcting redlines on UMKC project. You get the idea. Bury the bitch in so much detail she'll regret having ever said a word. 3. It's ok for a smoker to leave 3 times a day for at least 15 minutes. It is not ok to be 15 minutes late b/c you take your kid to school in the mornings. My personal opinion is who cares what time you're there or when you leave as long as you get your shit done and do a good job. That's how you keep good people. You lose them when you take $200 out of their paycheck and don't even have the courtesy to have a conversation with them about it.
Last Monday was payday. His boss (the woman, who he mainly works for and gets along with fine) pulled him into her office and says that B has a problem with how he gets there at 8:45 but reflects 8 hours on his time sheet. Could he please just put exactly what he works. Turns out that B had gone into the man's office and complained that Chandler gets there late and isn't putting down the correct time. So they printed out a copy of his timesheet for the last period and REDLINED IT! Like went through and marked it up for when they thought he had actually worked! This is totally ridiculous b/c Chandler always works his 8 hours. If he gets there late then he stays late or eats a working lunch. He often works an hour or two of overtime at home and doesn't turn that in. And recently he worked like 20-40 hours of overtime a week to get a project done. He doesn't have to answer to this woman and it really pissed both him off that she went behind his back and made this demand. But at the time that his boss pulled him in, he was just like ok, fine.
THEN when he got his check it was $200 less than usual!!! You know, every paycheck is the exact same, plus whatever overtime he worked that period. This one was $200 less! Now, that may not be a big deal to some folks, but this little family lives paycheck to paycheck and we need each and every dollar (to support my ridiculous shopping habit ;).
So the next day he went in to talk to his boss about it and she explained that it was because of this conversation between B and the man. He said, if anything, his vacation time should be hit. And that when they redlined his timesheet they were indicating that he was cheating them which is simply not true. She apologized and said it wouldn't happened again and that she would take care of it. So she gets him a check later for the $200, and they've hit his vacation time for 10 hours! Now, 3.5 hours he was gone b/c he went with David on a class fieldtrip to the zoo. But the other 6.5 were apparently b/c he's sooo late everyday? He was really ticked off. She said that she needed to talk to him later in private, but still has not made time to do that.
What have we learned from this? 1. Apparently B runs things around there, even thought she's the receptionist. 2. Chandler now reports his time like this: 12:42 Returned from client meeting. 12:43 Began correcting redlines on UMKC project. You get the idea. Bury the bitch in so much detail she'll regret having ever said a word. 3. It's ok for a smoker to leave 3 times a day for at least 15 minutes. It is not ok to be 15 minutes late b/c you take your kid to school in the mornings. My personal opinion is who cares what time you're there or when you leave as long as you get your shit done and do a good job. That's how you keep good people. You lose them when you take $200 out of their paycheck and don't even have the courtesy to have a conversation with them about it.
posted by Monica at
3:01 PM
2 Comments:
That's ridiculous!! Did he explain that he's taking David to work and that he always makes up the time by working late or working through lunch? Did he mention that he doesn't take three smoking breaks during the day? Did he stand up for himself at all? (I already think I know the answer to this.) I would talk to his boss and make it very clear that he's worked extra hours on projects and that if he's penalized for coming in late than he will report every single minute of overtime that he puts in each month. Once he does that, they're going to be very sorry they opened this can of worms. What a B!!!
By
Rachel, at 5:43 PM
I KNOW! I was so mad he had to tell me I couldn't talk about anymore in front of David!
I was proud of him b/c he did stand up for himself somewhat. He did talk to his boss again last night and she said her and the man were both really sorry about B. That it's almost like a marriage b/c they've worked with her for so long. I guess B has been complaining about him coming in "late" for a long time, but the woman never talked to him about it b/c she knew that he worked plenty. I guess B even questioned his OT. Which is bullshit b/c she leaves every day at 4 (works 7-4) so how does she even know he's not there? Anyway, they feel really badly about it and have promised to "make it up to him." Whatever that means. It's not like they can give him an extra bonus b/c B runs all the books and would get pissed. Maybe they're planning on buying him a Volvo. That's what they did for B when she had worked there 10 or 15 years. (I KNOW!)
Anyway, the whole thing really ticked me off, and Chandler too. And it all comes down to communication. If B would have just come to Jeremy and said, "I don't understand why you fill out your timesheet as if you were here from 8:30 to 5:30, when you don't get here til 8:45 or 9." He then could have explained his schedule. Instead she's getting all hot and bothered over nothing.
By
Monica, at 9:20 AM
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