HOW TO FAIL AS AN EMPLOYEE (CONTINUED)
"She accused me of not working the hours I am supposed to
be working. I am in there every Saturday and working over
time in the evenings. Every hour I put down on my time
card, I am in the building. No one can accuse me of being
dishonest. I feel like going over to the office of my
tribal council representative right now and filing a
complaint!"
Our consultant interrupted her ranting to ask, "What
good are you doing the children being in the building on
Saturdays and until six o'clock at night? They go home at
2, and they aren't there are on Saturdays."
"What?" she responded.
"Isn't the purpose of your job to work with the
children in the classrooms and to work with the teachers?
You can't work with the children and teachers if they
aren't there. So you aren't in the building when they need
you and you are making it up by being in the building when
they don't need you. What do you do on Saturdays, anyway?"
"Sometimes I have a report to write up on a child, or a
memo to type or some filing to do. Most of the time,"
Mabel admitted, "I just sit in there and listen to
music on my computer." Yet, she was quick to blame
this on someone else, "It's not my fault. My supervisor
insists that I come in on Saturdays and make up the time.
It's not my idea. You'd think she would appreciate that I
was working overtime."
"Well, it's not overtime if you haven't worked 40 hours
that week or 8 hours that day. If everyone else leaves at 4
o'clock and you leave at six, it's not overtime if you
didn't come in until noon. Besides, you're not doing the
children or the teachers any good by being there when it is
convenient for you instead of when they need you."
At this, Mabel became very angry with us and said, "Well,
my children are my first priority. Maybe you don't
understand that. If they need me to pick them up at school
because they are sick, I am going to be there..." She went
on a lot longer, but you get the idea.
Mabel believed that her work hours should be arranged
around her convenience. The truth is that, many times, she
was late not because she had a sick child but because she
was having new tires put on her car, buying school supplies
or going to the bank.
How not to be a Mabel. Some advice from a
successful supervisor.