What is wrong with this woman?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I work as a Member Service Rep at a new health insurance company. I took a lower starting salary because I was told that I could advance, be my own boss and, if the company grew, become the Member Service Manager.

Two months after I started, the company hired this woman to be a case manager. The medical director quit two weeks later and “the Queen”, as she is called around here, jumped in and announced that she would not mind at all being the interim medical director.

The Queen also decided that the credentialing manager was not doing his job correctly. She hounded him, clocked him, made sure the Executive Director docked him for every second he was late and made his life so miserable that he finally quit. The Queen jumped right in and announced she would not mind being the interim credentialing manager.

Our original member services director was contracted from another company. When his contract ran out, guess who did not mind helping out with member services?

It wouldn’t be so bad if she knew what she was doing! Cover letters were needed for customer mailings. I wrote them. The Queen said “No need to do that, I’ll do it.”
My old director came in one day and I asked him to set up a database system for complaints and he did. The Queen saw this and said “There is no need for that, I’ll make a record keeping system.”

On August 1st we went live. Meaning all systems should have been prepared for customers. 2 weeks ago I spoke to the Queen, telling her that there were serious holes in the Member service proceedure. As it stands, all customer calls have to be tracked on paper forms. The weekly reports will have to be done by hand. Where are all the things she said she was so eager to do?

Her answer? “You won’t have time to track all this on paper because you will also have to be the relief receptionist(!), I’ll get you a notebook(!!) so that you can put the customer’s name in when they call.”

What about the the industry standard response time for complaints? What about welcome letters and cover letters?

Her answer? “That better get done or the Board of Directors are gonna blame you(!!!).”

Did I mention that the provider book had to be delayed for a whole month because of credentialing? Did you know she was the reason the internet was removed from everyone’s computer?

My response was to get another job. My Executive Director doesn’t know this yet, but August 30th is my last day. Call me vindictive ('cause I am) but I would like to see this woman take a fall. I don’t want to do anything that will cause the company any trouble, just The Queen. I need suggestions. What should I do?

2

Sounds like telling someone the truth about her actions should do it…she threw the rope over the tree branch herself, as I see it.

3

Is the company big enough to have a genuine Personnel department? There should be an exit interview.

If it’s really a small outfit, you may have to communicate to the Director, yourself.

In any event, you have a choice:

  • Let the director/HR department know why you are leaving;
    or
  • Keep your mouth shut and your bridges unburned.

If your writing skills are up to it, write the Director/HR a letter explaining how you are really sorry to have to leave the company, but you just had too much grief after the “systems were changed” and the “projects were cancelled.” (Don’t mention the Queen’s involvement as an issue. Simply point out how Decision A, Decision B, and Actions C and D had left you feeling that you could not do your best work.)

This is tricky because if the market is small enough, you may run into the Queen again in another company after she destroys this one. In that case, you may want to consider letting the whole thing go.

However good it might feel, do not name or blame the Queen for the problems. Simply lay out all the bad decisions that ruined the work experience.

4

Document everything “the Queen” has done “for the company”, and send it to whoever is in charge, explaining that this is why you have decided to seek employment elsewhere. With someone that intent on advancing her own agenda at the expense of the company in charge, you were concerned that your employers would not be around long enough to continue collecting paychecks from them.

It’s the truth. Any business operation that insists on a strictly paper-based bookkeeping system will not be competitive today. Computers have done for business what mass production has done for industry. Unless your employers desire to be a very small, unprofitable organization, they need to be aware of this parasite in their midst.

~~Baloo

5

That stinks. You don’t deserve that kind of B.S.

Sign her up for multiple “free offers” of pornographic magazines and videos at the work address. Also, call up an Amway rep, pretending to be her, and say that you are a “motivated self-starter” who wants to “increase your income in your free time,” and that you want more information. Give the work number and address. While you’re at it, see if you can contact some Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses and have them come by “at her request” to prostelytize.

6

tomndebb’s advice is much, much better than mine. !@#$% simulposts!

~~Baloo

7

I also find it very suspect that Queenie can just walk in and take over, as though upper management had no control over the situation. It seems to me that they share some of the responsibility for the situation for not keeping an eye on things the way they’re supposed do (or what is it exactly they do for a living?). So I’m not convinced that bringing the situation to their attention might not be received as threatening to them…

I, on the other hand, have on two occasions burned my bridges quite happily, because I decided that I didn’t want to work in those kind of conditions with those kind of people regardless. If I ended up with any of the people whose shit I called as superiors in the future, I would damn sure leave again, and make sure I told the new company - again - why I was leaving.

Not something you want to do all the time (or you end up unable to find a job, and perceived as unable to accomodate others) but I have been in situations where I felt it justified.

8

Off with her head!

9

In a small enough market, the Queen might network with people who can keep you outside the door when you need a new job. I have been involved with that sort of thing. As a rent-a-body, I have seen quite a few folks in my field in Cleveland. On those occasions when I was asked by a client about a prospective employee I might have known, I have always been honest evaluating them. But there have been a couple of people who did not get interviews because I knew that they were incompetent or unethical. (This is business and I have recommended people whom I loathed who were good–although I probably mentioned that I was not a personal fan–but not everyone has my business/employment ethics.) If the Queen gets a personal negative report, then the reporter falls to “incompetent” status when someone in her network notices that she and the reporter worked at the same place at the same time. A friend of mine was denied an interview for an excellent job because a former employee (that had never reported directly to him) was mad that he had not hired her brother eleven years earlier.

In a large market, or if you already have a reputation as a god, then burning the bridge is not an issue. In a smaller market, it is something to consider.

10

You really need to listen to tomndeb. He has this down cold.

11

Yeah, what tomndeb said.

I might add that IMHO burning bridges because of personal conflicts (couldn’t get along with someone) is never a good idea. Not hard to establish a rep as a difficult person that way. If you chose to address the issue rather than sitting on it, even the slightest hint of personal greivance in your approach could result in the message being lost or misread. Even when you decide to burn your bridges you need to do it carefully. Both my cases were pretty easy for me to address because of the magnitude of the unethical behavior involved. I stuck to the facts and tried to be as objective as possible (although I still new that it would close doors for me in the future - but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do).

12

I don’t know if you are wanting a more mature response to this wicked witch, and if so I think just leaving her to her own destruction sounds pretty good. But if you want to really get her back, I will give you some of my ideas and live vicariously through you:

Super glue her phone to the cradle, and the cradle to her desk. Lay staples, one tong bent 90 degrees to the side, on her chair. Leave anonymous notes around her stuff detailing days she had a bad hair day or something in her teeth (all day)… or other variously wicked practical jokes. And definately let her know how totally wicked and annoying she has been.

But by far, the mature thing would be to just leave it be. Let her be an example of what not to do and a good subject for stories around the campfire, I am sure you have a few beauties. And believe me, what goes around comes around, so she will get hers. You just focus on getting what YOU deserve: a new job, new friends, and hopefully, more money.

13

This is a very small company. No human resources, just 20 people now that we are live.

Today I spoke to our second in command. She not only knows about the situation, but told me that if she didn’t feel obligated to see this thing through (she is the Director of Claims) she would have quit long ago.

I have found out that there is a power struggle going on. Our executive director, who is a nice guy, has one fatal flaw: He can’t admit when he’s made a mistake. So, The Queen runs rampant, making people angry and screwing up. And I’m happy that I’ve done my small part in this behind the scenes power play.

There will be a Board of Directors meeting in 3 weeks. The director of claims and Provider relations are armed with the list of The Queen’s misdeeds. I’ll be on my way out the door by then. Apparently my leaving will be one big nail in her coffin. It’s nice to know I’m well liked.

14

For a feel-good kinda revenge:
Squid. When strategically placed around the office, nothing says I hate you like rotting squid. Or a box of crickets.

:smiley: