I do not understand why things have to be so difficult.
I finally decide to go back to school. I finally have a way to pay for it. I figure out a way I can keep working a daytime job and still go to classes I need for the degree program I'm wanting to do. I plan it out so I can do it without using up all of my leave time. I get D to do more of the kids' school (they are home schooled) so I have time to concentrate on my own class work. And then my boss is a ****ing retard!
Our work does flex days. I figure do all my classes on Mondays (its when most of the ones this semester (i'd go next semester) are held in the field I want) so I would have one monday off. I figure work 9 hours a day -set schedule- tues to fri and that only leaves 3 hours to do the other monday...
this is what I proposed to my boss:
Week One:
Monday 7:30 to 11:00 with a 30 minute lunch
Tuesday 7:30 to 5:00 with a 30 minute lunch
Wednesday 7:30 to 5:00 with a 30 minute lunch
Thursday 7:30 to 5:00 with a 30 minute lunch
Friday 7:30 to 5:00 with a 30 minute lunch
Week Two:
Monday Flex Day
Tuesday 7:30 to 5:00 with a 30 minute lunch
Wednesday 7:30 to 5:00 with a 30 minute lunch
Thursday 7:30 to 5:00 with a 30 minute lunch
Friday 7:30 to 5:00 with a 30 minute lunch
seemed good to me. I go to classes on Mondays and maybe an evening or a saturday if I need. so long as my classes on mondays are after 1230 I can get to campus just fine with that schedule without losing work hours. i could work all of my scheduled job and still go to school just fine. now just so we all review 730 to 5 with a 30 min lunch is 9 hours... also for review it is a flex day if i do not work.
this is the reply i got to my email requesting the schedule and explaining why...
"You can't flex on both Mondays. You also cannot work more than 10 hours in a day."
/facepalm
seriously. my boss can't count and clearly didn't read my request.
FML
I sent her back an email correcting her on both counts that she hasn't been bothered to reply to since.
I have no idea what i want out of this post and may delete it later... or move it to a r/v thread but I just.... I want to scream and just walk out of work right now!
I was lei'd in vets! ***** Proud Plumeria Sister!
"He said look inside your heart/ And you'll see stars/ Falling stars/ Look, deep into my eyes/ Don't look down/ Or you'll fall, he said/ Here, the sky goes on forever"
It's a government job. my HR department is close to a thousand miles away.
Her reply to my last message was:
I can't approve approve half days on that Monday. I don't have the authority and it doesn't fall into the AWW guidelines. You can read them on the Department of ______________ Intranet.
You could take leave but I really don't think this is a good idea. You are in a position, like R and A, where I don't normally let people flex. It creates a real hardship when one of you is out. See if you can come up with something else. You'll also need to fill out the attached and you will have to wait for approval from Juneau as well as the union.
*edited to protect....
I was so thoroughly pissed I went for a walk to another department and BS'd for half an hour.
Me being out is not a hardship since we have a memo... if x is out y covers blah blah blah on down the list. me R and A could all be out and there's another 6+ people to cover. I'm going to go down and talk to my union steward. I had talked to her before I emailed my boss (email so I have a record and she couldn't conveniently forget as has happened before).
When my flex day was revoked I was told it was temporary and that it was because we didn't have a clerk and I was needed to fill in for that position. We also didn't have that memo in place so then it was a hardship. It's been about a year since my flex day was taken now though... we have a clerk, we have the memo... doesn't seem so temporary.
I'd hate to do it since i worked so hard to get my office cleaned up and I enjoy working with most of the people here but the pay is shitty and this is just pushing me to the brink of quitting and leaving them to deal with the mess when no one can keep up with what I was dealing with and overcame. The non government positions aren't as guaranteed but they are often better paying and i've yet to see them tell an employee getting an education with minimal work disturbance is a bad thing.
I was lei'd in vets! ***** Proud Plumeria Sister!
"He said look inside your heart/ And you'll see stars/ Falling stars/ Look, deep into my eyes/ Don't look down/ Or you'll fall, he said/ Here, the sky goes on forever"
I was a manager in local government. There is no way I could have let my staff take regular time off via flex. I did have discretion to change staff working hours however providing the needs of the business were met. I had some staff on 27 hours pw to accommodate their lifestyle, however this went via hr and higher management than me. Go speak to hr!
~Phoenix~ is my Little Sister of Awesomeness and Self-Delusion :P Bitter Angel is my Mitten Animad is my Top Trump All Im Living For - Is my beautiful and special daughter who isnt called Kim but will moan if i dont add her :P
If I were in a different position I would understand but I'm also making an effort to work the hours other days rather than just not being here which is I would think a good thing. I am a file clerk. It's not like I have to be in court... even then the attorney's here get a flex day!
I am talking to my union steward though as it is a union contract that enables us to be able to do this. *still so pissed off*
I was lei'd in vets! ***** Proud Plumeria Sister!
"He said look inside your heart/ And you'll see stars/ Falling stars/ Look, deep into my eyes/ Don't look down/ Or you'll fall, he said/ Here, the sky goes on forever"
Also..could there be a problem with working full days and only taking 30mins for lunch? I know alot of places you need to have two 15minutes breaks and an hour for lunch to meet the rules and regulations. As said, speak to hr...i really hope you get this sorted as you seem so keen on going back to studying...Good luck with HR xx
Can you ask to talk with your boss face to face about this? It's all too easy to turn requests down in an email... If she's in the same room as you and hears in person how keen you are to go back to college that might help. If you can make her want to help you out she'll try and get her head round the practicalities.
If not, then phone HR, then the Union as a last resort I'd say.
Good luck!
The problem with flex is its a perk and not a right. Its there to help you work around your lifestyle but not there as an alternative to contacted hours. It would set a precident to do it your way. I know it seems stupid but thats how it used to work. I assume it still does.
~Phoenix~ is my Little Sister of Awesomeness and Self-Delusion :P Bitter Angel is my Mitten Animad is my Top Trump All Im Living For - Is my beautiful and special daughter who isnt called Kim but will moan if i dont add her :P
Also..could there be a problem with working full days and only taking 30mins for lunch? I know alot of places you need to have two 15minutes breaks and an hour for lunch to meet the rules and regulations. As said, speak to hr...i really hope you get this sorted as you seem so keen on going back to studying...Good luck with HR xx
The breaks aren't counted as separate for that purpose. We are just expected to take them. Our flex agreement (with the union and HR) says minimum 30 minute lunches no longer than 90.
Sorry for the confusion there. I tend to miss details others don't understand/ do need when I get flustered.
Quote:
Can you ask to talk with your boss face to face about this? It's all too easy to turn requests down in an email... If she's in the same room as you and hears in person how keen you are to go back to college that might help. If you can make her want to help you out she'll try and get her head round the practicalities.
If not, then phone HR, then the Union as a last resort I'd say.
Good luck!
I've done emails intentionally since she "forgets" things when we have no proof of what she said.
*hugs everyone* Thanks guys.
I was lei'd in vets! ***** Proud Plumeria Sister!
"He said look inside your heart/ And you'll see stars/ Falling stars/ Look, deep into my eyes/ Don't look down/ Or you'll fall, he said/ Here, the sky goes on forever"
The problem with flex is its a perk and not a right. Its there to help you work around your lifestyle but not there as an alternative to contacted hours. It would set a precident to do it your way. I know it seems stupid but thats how it used to work. I assume it still does.
Sorry we posted at the same time. I didn't see you.
My main problem with all of this emailing isn't that its a perk rather than a right or even anything in there. It is a part of our union contract but I'll stay out of that for the purposes of this reply. My primary issue is that I was told before I had started documents to enroll in uni that it was fine and I could have the flex day back to accommodate that and now I am being told something different. If she had said originally that we could work something else out that would be entirely different. If she had said that I would need to try for weekend classes, again totally different. But I was given the go ahead and now that I've started the ball rolling with the university I am being told to just go **** myself.
*takes a deep breath.* sorry getting angry again.
and aside from that I looked up the guidelines and the shortened day is not prohibited and I have a coworker that works a short Wednesdays. Not as short as I was trying I will grant you that but she also isn't going to school she just wants to leave early that day.
I was lei'd in vets! ***** Proud Plumeria Sister!
"He said look inside your heart/ And you'll see stars/ Falling stars/ Look, deep into my eyes/ Don't look down/ Or you'll fall, he said/ Here, the sky goes on forever"
~Phoenix~ is my Little Sister of Awesomeness and Self-Delusion :P Bitter Angel is my Mitten Animad is my Top Trump All Im Living For - Is my beautiful and special daughter who isnt called Kim but will moan if i dont add her :P
*does best cartman impression that can be mustered*
Oh my god, you guys. i just realized that if I used FAFSA, VA benefits, Pell Grant all (all of which I qualify for) I'd have to wait for fall semester but I wouldn't even need to work. I would have the money I needed to cover both bills and school! If it comes down to it I actually will quit and on my way out the door I seriously will say "Screw you guys... I'm going home!"
I was lei'd in vets! ***** Proud Plumeria Sister!
"He said look inside your heart/ And you'll see stars/ Falling stars/ Look, deep into my eyes/ Don't look down/ Or you'll fall, he said/ Here, the sky goes on forever"
Oh my god... I don't know if I should laugh or cry... my boss just said to my face that she can't really afford to let me have a flex day but if i want or need to go back to school she can afford a day every other week for a semester or two...
first of all... no class at any uni in the us to my knowledge is one day every other week.
secondly... an associates degree (commonly called a two year degree) finished in 1-2 semesters? are you ****ing kidding?
I really am in part taking this personally now. Several other people are going to school or have just graduated and didn't have this problem. My office is an OSHA complaint waiting to happen and when I asked for supplies to clean it up I was told no, I asked for the cleaning crew to be allowed to clean my office too since they can clean everyone else's and I was told no; since most of the work I have that isn't thoroughly caught up is on another floor I asked to temporarily move to that floor (where we have 3 empty offices) and I was told no, then I was told I could have a 'satellite desk' but no phone for people to call me when they need something and still 6 months later there isn't even a desk, let alone a computer for me to use to actually be able to do my job; and now this. And those 3 things are just within the last year. This crap has been happening for more than 3 years now.
Other people on the other hand can be moved, get regular vacations (and don't get told to postpone their leave time - I was told I had to hold off on getting a cavity and some wisdom teeth pulled for so long that by the time my leave was approved the cavity abscessed and the wisdom teeth cracked other teeth because they were growing in wrong.), etc etc etc.
Yes now I am just bitching and whining.
I was lei'd in vets! ***** Proud Plumeria Sister!
"He said look inside your heart/ And you'll see stars/ Falling stars/ Look, deep into my eyes/ Don't look down/ Or you'll fall, he said/ Here, the sky goes on forever"
So, I emailed the union guy that the steward said to talk to. he's out till next monday. now I'm all kinds of anxious.
I was lei'd in vets! ***** Proud Plumeria Sister!
"He said look inside your heart/ And you'll see stars/ Falling stars/ Look, deep into my eyes/ Don't look down/ Or you'll fall, he said/ Here, the sky goes on forever"
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