Thursday, November 13, 2008

People Who Got Nothing Better To Do Than Bad Mouth Co-Workers

aka "Getting Their Panties In A Bunch".

No disclaimer on this one. Content will be relatively clean.

I work for the wonderful state of Connecticut, where they have rules in regards to ethical behavior, specifically selling stuff for personal gain on state time. So I got this book out for public consumption called, "Shades of Love", and I have copies of it for sale at work. I sold a few due to word of mouth and the like, and things were going pretty decent.

Until this morning. This morning, while I was talking to a co-worker prior to starting my day, my supervisor came up to me and said, "We need to talk". I immediately thought I'm in deep shit for something. So the first thing I asked was, "What I do wrong?", to which she replied, "This has a happy ending to it."

Long story short. A few assholes in the department next to me and elsewhere complained about me selling my book, and complained about some free advertising that I had in the cafeteria. So my boss, being the decent person that she is, and wanting to prevent me from doing something stupid, told her supervisor about the complaints she was getting about me, and wanted to know what she should do. Advice was given and off she went to talk to the head of Human Resources and the head of Labor.

After all was said and done, their blessing was given because they could see I wasn't doing anything wrong. Matter of fact, they were impressed with the fact that I was able to self publish my novel. But basically, I didn't pester people to buy book (potential violation #1), I didn't use any state equipment to solicit sales (potential violation #2), and I didn't hang my display outside of my cube (potential violation #3). Plus, someone else put a postcard and business card up in the cafeteria, which wasn't an issue either, because what someone else wants to do in a private business is fine with them.

The only thing that was suggested to me, which I did, was remove the price list. Now you would think that people would have something better to do than to bitch about me selling a book, which isn't being pushed on anyone, and that I'm only telling people about it who are genuinely interested about it. Most everyone knows I've been trying to get my book published for quite a while, so it's not like I'm trying to shove something down peoples throats.

In any event, you would think that this would be the end of the matter, right? That me taking my sign down (and the cafeteria lady taking hers down independently of me) would stop the tongues from wagging and things would get back to normal, right?

Wrong.

A couple of hours after this all this crap goes down, I send an e-mail to a friend saying "an average Thursday morning to you". She says thanks, then proceeds to tersely tell me to watch my back and that she'll e-mail me tonight. Puzzled I say "got it." and think nothing more about it. Next thing I know, she responds in part, "From a friend to friend.....stick to your state paying job."

I respond with this little symbol :\

I'm not sure what the hell happened on her end, but whatever it was made her mad enough to say what she said to me. Now, I love her like a sister, so when she said what she said, it really hurt me a lot. I'm not sure how I will handle this, if and when she contacts me.

In any event, it seems to me that these assholes should be worrying about themselves and their jobs, instead of bitching about someone selling a book out of their cube. Considering the amount of stupid fundraising that goes on at my agency (and elsewhere), for both personal and professional reasons, to bitch about me smells just a little bit fishy. And to get someone else into trouble over it, is doubly stupid and infantile.

This book, for what it's worth, has gotten me into a wee bit of trouble in the past couple of years, and I thought that the last time this happened, I was able to mitigate the damage and repair the friendships with the other people involved.

Now I'm not so sure. I may just go simply underground (much like a few other people in my life do) and not communicate with a few of my friends until this blows over. I'm just tired of getting hammered for stuff that isn't quite my fault.

But all I can say is this, and this is directed to the pricks who beefed about me in the first place: Get a fuckin' life. Worry about yourself, instead of worrying about what other people are doing. Enough with the office politics, because this ain't worth the aggravation for no one. What happened here, only reinforces my opinion that people at my job are petty little individuals who are hell bent on making things miserable for the world around them.

I congratulate the people who were too chickenshit to confront me face to face. By doing what you did, you just proved to me once again, that a good chunk of my co-workers are mean, petty, and shallow individuals.

I really do love my job.

Honest I do.

7 comments:

  1. wow...that is really difficult. it is true...at the workplace...everyone is always selling things from those entertainment books to candy...usually for their child's fundraising. if you weren't doing things during work time then...how is it a problem?

    i hope this story has a good ending. sorry you are having so much trouble at work.

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  2. It really is a very fine line when you work for the government, so you have to be extra careful when doing something like selling stuff or doing fundraisers.

    It was going on at work, but I really went out of my way to make it as low profile as possible. If people asked about it, I told them about. I made no secret about what I was doing for the past two years, so it does bother me that people would raise such a fuss over it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It would seem that people have nothing better to do really. I work with a guy that HAS to complain about every single thing that happens. Except in his case he complains about everyone to everyone else...

    It seems that people assume that because you have a job, you shouldnt be allowed to do anything in your spare time.

    So if you arent allowed to sell things there, are you allowed to actually say "Hey, I have this book...here is the link to it" and they buy it? Because you know...I have got many a good thing from work of mouth.

    Well, I hope they sort their own lives out and leave you to enjoy yours!

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  4. Have you tried giving them all a right good wedgie? Or if you want I'll come and do it free of charge - I am a very very expert wedgie giver!

    Personally, I suspect jealousy! Such an insidious emotion.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's what I think as well. People are very territorial at my job. Those wouldn't give a second thought purchasing something through one of the endless fundraisers for schools and charities, seem to have a problem with someone doing it for themselves.

    Go figure.

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  6. I can see why that would be a problem for some, but you are right, this is no different than people selling fundraisers at work for their kid.

    Maybe you should put out a "suggested donation" jar next to copies of your book. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. That would work out really well.

    "Please donate spare change to the struggling writer, as he is very open to small bribes in order to get what he needs."

    j/k

    :-)

    ReplyDelete

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