I'm so angry I'm dizzy (work related-- oh, and way too fucking long)

The BBQ Pit
1

Has anyone here ever try to improve your company or working conditions in a safe, easy, and cheap way only to be thwarted by your manager or the head honchos themselves?

Yeah.

So I work in Kissimmee as a concierge, which is an amazing job I love because it enables me to go out to eat at the finest restaurants for free, go to theme parks for free, see dinner shows for free, see live entertainment for free, and to do all kinds of other stuff for free year round. In addition to all this, I work mostly by myself with an open online connection, and I usually see my manager once every other week. Also, I feel good about what I do; sell tickets to attractions, recommend stuff, make reservations, and generally try to tell everyone where everything is and save them money.

Now in doing all this, you need to keep track of a lot of information. Marketing companies with referral programs, theme park events, prices, schedules, car rental companies, seating charts, phone numbers, fax numbers, the intricacies of our computer sales programs, confirmation numbers, space shuttle launch stuff, taxi stuff, shuttle company stuff…so much other crap, I’m not even going to mention it all because it could fill a book.

In fact it did fill a book.

And it’s the book that my companies head honcho is upset about.

You see, all of this information can be really overwhelming…a lot of people don’t even bother with most of it, and just sell the essential stuff, thus limiting their income and the guest’s satisfaction. Me? I decided when I joined the company to hoard and organize everything I could find into a book. And after nine months of tweaking it and collection information from all over the company and the city, it was gorgeous. I was rarely left scrambling for phone numbers, seating charts, and answers for how to do my job because I already had the answers with me. And then I started seeing the plight of my coworkers. Everyday they sent messages over our sales program, asking the same questions. How do you book seats for an Orlando Magic game? What’s the phone number for the Blue Man Group box office? Can a guest with a combo Busch Gardens/SeaWorld ticket go back to either park for the second day free like they can with a one day ticket? And having been there myself at some point, I know that while they’re asking these questions, they have impatient guests in front of them fixing to take their money elsewhere.

So I spent a couple months fine crafting a book for my company to take a look at, so that perhaps they’d take an interest in it and mass produce it so that everyone else could also have answers neatly organized, and always on hand. It had in it damn near everything you’d ever want to know to do my job. Since it was a three ring binder with protective sheet sleeves, it could be updated and changed whenever deemed necessary. It was everything my own was, and more. I was very proud of it. My manager was proud if it. He took it into the office to show the head honchos themselves.

The head honchos? Not interested. They were looking to hire a corporate trainer that would make training manuals for everyone and make the company more cohesive. Other managers beneath head honcho? Turned off by the idea head honcho doesn’t like it. My coworkers? Very Interested! After sending out a severely trimmed down version of a document that was to be included in every work book I was planning on making, I received a lot of great feedback from my coworkers wanting a book themselves, and willing to do anything they can to help me make them.

So I decide, ok, I’m not going to wait around for my company to get behind this thing. I’m not going to wait months and months and months for someone to finally give this company something as a simple as a Goddamned point of reference guide. This should have been put in place forever ago! So, for the next month and a half I slave away on making a new workbook for myself, and one coworker, with plans to copy everything out of mine once it’s fully assembled for extra copies for coworkers that would like one.

And then today I recieve an email from Head Honcho:

“Hey yaddayadda Good to see you at the Disney party the other night, you looked like you were in high spirits blahblahblah. Listen – we’ve got wind that you’re planning to make books for people in the company. Now, the one I looked at had information about certain Car rental/taxi companies we don’t like to use because we have contracts with other companies and we don’t like to suggest anything unless they have a certain amount of insurance in case there’s an accident. We just want to make sure the companies we recommend reach our level of quality. So we want you to stop making books for other people now, especially new hires, until we can work together on a book we can mass produce.”

Ok, now here’s what pisses me off.

  1. I highly doubt they and their new corporate trainer are going to use me when they go about making their own whatever. When It’s been around two months since I’ve turned my original book into the office and I’ve yet to even receive a “Thanks”. I was told they had different plans. That’s all. It’s obvious they want this done, but they don’t care for me to do it otherwise they would give me SOME kind of feedback, ya know, other than the negative type.

  2. I’m not the type of person who waits around for someone else to take care of problems. Most of my coworkers have no point of reference for things and no one has, or seems to be, doing anything about it. A Corporate trainer is going to do this for us? When? Next week? Next month? In two Months? And how much money are we losing all the mean while? Not having answers ready leads to people walking away.

  3. The book they don’t like? The bastards never gave it back to me.

  4. Don’t want me recommend one car rental company over another for insurance reasons? Fair enough. But hey, if that’s the only real gripe with the book I put together, why not just take out the one or two Goddamn pages of the book you dislike? It’s a fucking binder!

  5. About those one or two pages that can be taken out – The book is between 45-60 pages long (It’s a work still in progress you see…). Seriously, take the one or two pages out. A huge chunk of the book are step by step instructions on how to sell, reserve seating, and do refunds using our sales program. Most of these documents were written by managers.

  6. And you want to make sure anyone we recommend reaches our level of quality? And what level of quality is that? Just last month I learned that we have a contract with a particular cab company and that they only want us using them. They’re horrible. Up until hearing about the contract I’ve avoided using them because half the time anyone mentions them it’s a guest bemoaning how they were way overcharged. Oh yeah, and for some bizarre reason, they’re the only company that doesn’t tip us when we call them. Which, according to my new manager, is because we’re not supposed to accept tips from taxi drivers at all. Since when? I’ve never heard this before. It sounded totally ridiculous. And where the hell does the money go if not in MY pocket?

  7. And just where does this line of thinking lead to anyways? There’s no list of what companies we’re supposed to stick to and what services we are or are not allowed to recommend. What, am I supposed to get my companies approval before suggesting a restaurant to someone? Before telling them where to play mini putt putt? Where to get a massage? Or perhaps they don’t want me making anymore books because they don’t know either. What do they expect me to do when I genuinely dislike their choices? Not offer them anything? What about when I can’t use their choices because they’re used up and overly busy? Tell my guest he’s SOL?

6.5) I don’t know what the training is like these days for my company, but when I was recruited it was nonexistent. I sat behind some guy and he made me watch everything he did, which mostly included him playing on Myspace. Then I switched to a new team and my manager at the time wondered if I was mentally handicapped because I didn’t know anything. Since then, the company has made no attempt to catch up with us and explain to us the new rules, new contracts, what we are and are not allowed to do and/or why. And as a result, most of my coworkers, even managers, use companies they’re not supposed to on a daily basis. Perhaps they wouldn’t if they knew better. Or if they thought there company really cared one way or the other. Or if my company’s choices of business paid us better instead of screwing us up the ass. Or if they didn’t suck altogether.

  1. Seriously, what the fuck does this email even mean? I can’t have a binder with information given to us directly by theme parks? With instructional guides written by our own managers? With seating charts for shows we sell tickets to, since we can never find the Goddamn things when we need to? Or maybe I’m allowed to have it, but just not allowed to make copies for other people. Or maybe they’re not allowed to accept copies from me.

  2. Whether my company realizes it or not, they have some pretty big decisions they’re going to have to make in the future as they grow even larger about who the hell they are. Are we Concierges, or just ticket sales people? Because if they’re really serious about people only doing things the way they want them done, they’re going to have to up the ante with rules and punishments. Like I said, I probably see my manager once every other week. Sometimes less. Am I free to recommend the services of companies I personally like or not? Who am I to this company?

  3. The coworker I made a book for? He’s one of my company’s best salespeople. He could sell a glass of water to a drowning man. He LOVES his book. First day I finished his we were working together, and every five minutes:
    “Hey, where’s the seating chart for La Nouba?”
    “It’s in your book.”
    “Where did I put that schedule for Arabian Nights…”
    “It’s in your book.”
    “What’s the phone number for the accounting–”
    “It’s in your book.”
    At the end of the day, he shot out an email to the head head honcho, telling her that he thinks I made a very powerful tool for new hires and veterans, and that she should really take a look at it.

And today, I get an email telling me to stop all together.

What do you all make of this?

2

Sounds to me like you should be taking your valuable knowledge and willingness to share that to another company where it might actually be appreciated.

I’ve been in similar positions to yours, but not nearly to the extreme that you’re experiencing it. I’m pretty sure I’d quit.

3

You work for a disfunctional organization. You actually created something of value to the company, but the head honchos are likely threatened by this because:

They had nothing to do with the product you created, and thus cannot take any credit for it. Your book does nothing to stroke their egos, or advance their agendas. Ergo, your book is not any good.

Welcome to the world of useless management. You may wish to read a Scott Adams book.

4

Ditto. Take that book (binder…), save all the correspondence that shows your current management doesn’t want it, and take your skills elsewhere, preferably to a big competitor who will pay you more money to siphon off customers to your new employer. :slight_smile:

5

You’ve been told from on high there’s is no corporate interest in your book. Whether this perspective is good, bad or indifferent it’s what they’ve decided. You have decided to ignore that advice and keep working at it despite the fact that you were told you were not to spend time doing this. Now you’re angry because they have put their foot down.

Quite frankly, whether you think they are idiots or not you are being handled in a remarkably tolerant fashion by the powers that be. Some bosses would just fire you. Whether your book is amazing and wonderful is beside the point at this juncture. They are the bosses and they get to make the rules. Pick up your marbles and move to another game if it annoys you, but you really don’t have the right to be so exercised over something on which you’ve apparently already received specific feedback re not doing this book.

6

You could ask for the submitted copy back, since they don’t want it and all.

7

I’m wondering if somebody in management has made a copy of your book and is planning to submit it as his own idea at some future time.

8

My guess is that some of the info is sensitive…in fact that’s what honcho said, right? Basically there is info that, if it falls into the wrong hands, could compromise the company’s marketing. (Say, Hotel A and Hotel B are blood rivals. If someone from Hotel B finds out you’re recommending Hotel A more often or something, your company could get into hot water, getting a reputation for double-dealing or something…) I’m sure there’s some sort of negotiated balancing act regarding who gets referred when, and having that in a book somewhere tips their hand and diminishes their bargaining power, and in turn, their business.

Either that, or they’re hiring somebody’s brother in law to do the book thing, and you’re in the way.

9

This is about liability. What you’ve created is perilously close to an “employee handbook,” which can have special legal meaning. In a nutshell, if your advice ends up harming a patron, and that patron’s lawyer finds out that the company has codified that advice in a company-sanctioned publication, the company will be immediately liable. It does not matter that the advice was good/accurate. No prudent company would allow such a book to be associated with it until each page had been thoroughly vetted by company lawyers.

Your managers are smart planners but lousy communicators: the real problem here is that no one in management has explained this to you. They’re hiding behind the idea that some of the advice in the book might not be high enough “quality” for their hotel. This is a code word for “we’re not sure that we’re shielded from tort liability from this taxi company.”

10

Where did you get that she was told not to spend time on working on the book? I don’t see that in the OP.

11

That’s how I interpreted the penultimate line of the OP.

12

JoeSki is a he.

Hmmm…this is a tough one. Your co-workers like it, your manager likes it. In other words, the people who would actually need the information like it.

Is there any way you can get a little more info up the company ladder? Maybe get a meeting with one of the head honchos? Maybe you can do what they need/want with just a bit of tweaking.

13

Yeah, but that was today. astro indicated that JoeSki had been told not to work on the book before that, and should be thankful he wasn’t fired for disobeying the head office. I don’t see where he got that from. The head office wasn’t interested on a corporate level, but I don’t see where he was forbidden from pursuing the project on his own initiative prior to this recent email.

14

What Astro and others said. You have been asked to stop creating company policy for your co-workers. They have legitimate concerns from a liability and policy stand point and mean what they say. Perhaps you need to consider how important this job as it stands is to you, and how likely you can find similar employment. You sound kind of young (my apologies if you are not) and you need to relax a little and let things work out. The one thing to consider is that the higher ups may have priorities and a perspective that you do not see. Or they may be douchbags, but as I said, time will sort these things out.

15

Ahh…It’s weird…but it’s feels really nice to see some people to see my side of this right now. It makes me feel less crazy about the whole thing.

No corporate interest doesn’t necessarily mean I’m not allowed to do it. After my last manager showed the binder to Head Honcho he came back and told me they had no interest in it since they were looking for a corporate training guy to make something similar, but he did say it was encouraged for us to maintain something like that for ourselves. Just know that the company wasn’t going to get behind it.

I’m not angry because they said “No”, and I kept at it until they put their foot down. I’m angry because they didn’t say anything other than “Aw, well that’s cute. But it’s not for us. We like that you’re using it though!” and then unexpectantly told me to close down the whole operation when I decided that if the company itself wasn’t interested, maybe the individuals in it would be. And they were.

Yes, I do believe I have the right to be upset at this juncture. Rules don’t mean squat when the company is changing so much and so often that on any given day you don’t even know what they are. Not when this is how I was told to do my job by my manager, who doesn’t care about the rules himself. Since I’ve joined the company, the only Golden rule has been to remain morally upstanding and to keep your ethics about you. Whatever you do, however things are done, don’t steal anything, keep your managers in the know, and ask questions if you don’t know how to do something. Which I’ve done. Even if the management and I are disagreeing here, they do like and respect me, and for that I am grateful. I think these are dumb decisions, but I know the head head honcho of my company is actually a very sweet woman who really does care about the people underneath her.

To me this isn’t just about the rules. Things change too fast to really pay attention to them. Granted, a key to any successful relationship is to know and accept the expectations made in the beginning for both parties…but this is a new company (well…new division of an old company) looking for an identity and culture. It’s an entirely different organization than it was when I first signed on. People are rapidly hired, let go, promoted, and fired. I’m angry and disappointed that I saw a niche I thought I was good for, but wasn’t allowed into. It was never guaranteed to me, but I can’t but help think it’s being closed off without any real justification, and after people seemed excited to see me there.

Not a bad idea, but as soon as the summer school semester is over and I have my Associates Degree, I’m going to submit my two weeks, take out a sizable loan, and do the full time student thing. Finding new employment now would be sorta pointless. But perhaps the email of Head Honcho is worth saving.

There is sensitive information in there I suppose, but it would be easily removed from the nonsensitive stuff that is nothing but helpful. The sensitive stuff isn’t on the same page as the non sensitive stuff.

Of course it can be hard to say what is and isn’t sensitive sometimes…one day Company A is the best to use, then the next Company B is the one we sponsor though we can still Company A if we insist, until finally I hear from a different manager in the company that we’ve never been allowed to use Company A in the first place and Company B is the most highly reviewed and recommended company ever, therefore it’s all we need despite what my experiences in the field have to say about it :o .

But that’s beside the point. Cut out all the referral stuff at the back of the book talking about any of the company’s other than my own, and you still got something entirely useful and worthwhile.

16

How retarded are you?

Head Honcho told you exactly what the problem is, You have no concept of the legal and contractual issues involved in making a company issued guide book. Your book contains a lot of phone numbers and schedules. Who’s going to be responsible for keeping these updated? Who’s going to add and remove content as businesses open/close? On what basis are companies going to be (not)recommended? These are issues that need to be dealt with, and you should take up Head Honcho’s offer of working on it. Send this e-mail to head honcho:

Dear Head Honcho,

I was unaware of the liability and contractual issues with my book. I would happily work with someone in order to resolve these issues. I believe that I have created a valuable tool for the company, and I would like to see others benefit from my work.

17

Oh, well geez. If you’d just SAID you lived on Airstrip One, that would have explained everything from the beginning! :smack:

18

I would say I’m not retarded. These have been considered.

When I sold cell phone for Wireless Advocates out of Costcos, we had a reference guide just like the one I’m making now. Whenever data became obsolete, our district manager would email us a scan of a page to take it’s place. We’d slip the old page out, and put the new one in. Which is why a binder is good for this sorta thing.

Companies are typically recommend or not recommended by our discretion. Or that’s how me and my coworkers have been doing it anyways. It’s just recently that I had a manager tell me that with taxis and car rentals we don’t have too big of a choice. Now I need to find out if we’re limited in other areas of referrals.

I am planning on responding to Head Honcho’s email sometime in the next two days. I plan on inquiring as to why a few pages disqualify an entire full binder, if what he has planned for Expedia in the future is a reference guide or a training manual, whether or not he’s using my book, and what are the rules with referrals exactly? Also, instead of axing my already finished reference manual, what does he think of replacing the pages he doesn’t like with pages that focus on the companies he wants to see us push as well as a page outlining what we can and can’t do, since if I’ve remained clueless on this subject for the entire time I’ve kept my job while deliberately looking for every scrap of info I can find, well, you can only imagine how clueless the rest of the company is.

I shall also be seeing about a face to face meeting.

I’m not sure I get this.

19

Sorry, my attempt at a 1984 joke. Your explanation of the company exercising revisionist history brought it to mind.

20

You’re probably recommending companies that YOUR company doesn’t have kickback arrangements with. And then of course the training consultant contract, which is someone else’s pet project, is going to look like a stupid waste of money should your book end up being adapted instead.

You’re stepping on toes and you don’t even know whose toes. Step back before they put out a contract on you. :stuck_out_tongue: