April 2017

Thornton steam tunnel Stadium Road at JPA 2x 2 glovebags asbestos pipe insulation for May shutdown. Create project. Close project.

Help install signs at Medical Center.

(4-3 comment) Payroll problem again starting this pay period. Management won't honor 40-hour work week IRS definition because new AIM interface makes it too difficult to correct. Human Resources never heard of AIM but said time should be corrected. I need to go back to my manager. I explained the reason I came to HR is the manager has become a brick wall on this issue. So I have to write another email to HR and get an official letter to address unintended effects of Leave and Overtime in same pay week. This time since May 2016 I have documented the policy to treat flexible schedule as fixed academic, by accounting for hours not worked instead of letting the software function properly. See calendar (3-31 comment). (Issue has been paraphrased many times.) Timesheets.

New safety shoes from Redwing Truck. Shoe bureaucracy sent e-mail notice of 90-day window. Create project "Safety Shoes" to collect activity for display.

Create project name "Leave overtime same week" to collect all the comments and activity to a timeline. My plan eventually is to import this site to MicroSoft Project format and continue on.
(4-4 comment) Last night's e-mail to the timekeepers. They respond by phone 8 a.m. today. 40 hours is definition of a work-week. Management should accomodate. Also if timesheet says 32 hours straight time and 8 hours overtime, you're actually paid 40 hours straight time. If that's the case, my leave has been taken without any compensation, not the half-price from time-and-a-half.
3 p.m. Meeting with Manager. Human Resources are researching an official policy.
"Leave Overtime same pay week" e-mail 4-3-2017.

(4-5 comment) Does LEAVE = 40 – time missed in 7 days? ..OR.. Does LEAVE = 40 – time missed from the schedule? For PP7b, 8 hours leave is taken but 40–36 hours worked = 4. Current Status: HR is looking for the policy reason that LEAVE is not 40 – hours worked in 7 days. I don't think there is such a policy. I will wait a few weeks for a response then weigh my options. This has been going on for me for 7 years. And I want my leave back. Others will have to weigh their options. I have been fighting this for years. I joined Project Management Institute only 3 days ago. So it's not really a secret. I wrote about it 3 years ago when I applied for supervisor. So the management has been recalcitrant, allowing problems to grow instead of addressing the actual issue. The right company will see me as a leader of high integrity, an asset to their bottom line. Remember the 40-hour work week exists to benefit the company's productivity and profit. Study going around online: Over-work is #1 reason people quit. Excessive overtime leads to mistakes, accidents, and bad attitudes.
Timesheets.

Stormy Day.

Pavilion II Academical Village stick top valence velcro-backed to blinds. Half-dozen won't fit, to be trimmed down

Install several large signs at Engineering Way, Millmont.

Wilsdorf pallets to break down into dumpster for Monday.

(4-7 comment) Oops! There it is! Payslip tells the story. X = Hours worked in designated 7-day work-week. 40 – X = Leave. For Pay Period 7 second week... 40 – 36 = 4. But 8 Leave is taken. Timesheet says 4 of the 36 were Overtime. But Payslip says all 36 are straight time and 8 Leave are taken, not 40–X. Now imagine you work 5 days 40 hours straight pay and must use 8 Leave. That scenario is playing out on a larger scale than this department. A nearby renovation requires that crews work 6 days. Workers are calling out during the week. Still working 40 and paid for 40 hours, not 44 as timesheet implies. So the 8 hours Leave is taken with no compensation, not the half-price from time-and-a-half.
Timesheets Payday 12-2 is an example. I now see (from payslip and timekeeper's Monday phone call) the weekend "Overtime" is paid as regular time. When I talk about this glitch, most people have no idea what I'm talking about. But it's old news to others. I'm just the first person to spell it out so clearly because I was affected so profoundly with all the fake overtime.
Timesheets.

Asbestos steam tunnel repair Memorial Gym to Mary Munford House(8 hours). (service complete) (comment= First time department has used this Confined Space procedure. When I turned on the generator to run the HEPA vacuum, my air gas monitor started going off for CO carbon monoxide. When I lifted the monitor to eye-level, it stopped alarming. Good example of heavier than air. Monitors inside Confined Space did not alarm. I moved the generator farther away still upwind but it worked. The heavy traffic did not trigger alarms. It's amazing how doing a job right can make you feel good.) (4-7 calendar)

(Wilsdorf pallets to break down into dumpster for Monday.) (calendar 4-11) (4-7 calendar 4-10)

Confined Space training near our shop. Photo of opportunity.

Wilsdorf pallets to break down into dumpster for Monday. (service, job status unknown)

(4-11 comment) Much drama today, none of it from me. Department dysfunctional. Information about upcoming jobs is held secret, so you can't prepare. Questions receive one-word answers. So confusion is guaranteed. Fri 5 a.m job is changed without telling me. Of course it may have been discussed in a noisy area at a distance facing away, so they can say I was right there. For prospective employers, if I'm hired to supervise your crew, I will not isolate employees. I will give a daily briefing while making eye contact with everyone. I will write down the schedule, not expecting you or I can remember everything. I already have an online calendar. I think it's a perceived power struggle. Withholding information makes it more difficult to maintain the calendar and advance in a career path.

Clean up storage units. Haul away trash.

(4-12 comment) These are the final days of the in-house asbestos department. Work is scarce. Morale is low. Bad attitude and smart phone addiction is at maximum. Someone who is not my boss is bossing me around and barking out orders. The Workplace Bully is in a bad cycle and the real boss is a silent eye-witness. So we've had a company policy that it's okay to bully. Since most people prefer the bully over the bully's victim, I don't want people to know. I assure you if I were supervisor, it would be like a different planet and the bully would have to go. My 20-point plan to modernize the asbestos department dedicated 10 points to personnel issues. All that was rejected by management. I started this work journal because the company-hosted Collab idea was rejected. Why would anybody want to collaborate with other asbestos professionals, or want to show what they do at work? In the current crisis they could delegate some of the planning to me, but instead they restrict access. I hope to be reassigned or draw unemployment toward a better job as this sinking slave ship finally goes under.

(5 p.m. Scrape Lead Paint Old Med School 6th floor air handler.)(service) (comment= I was excused at last minute. Reminded me of a previous supervisor who asked if I could work on Saturday first day of my vacation. I said okay. Then Friday at 3 o'clock he says he doesn't need me. Well, I had changed my plans from Saturday to Monday. I never said anything, never complained. So the recent email about respecting people's time off was ironic or sarcastic.) (4-11 calendar 4-13, 5 am change to 5 pm, just happened to ask) (4-7 calendar 4-14)

Old Medical School 5809 one-glovebag and 4808 four-glovebags asbestos. (service complete)

Department meeting. Last Day at University of Virginia.

(4-13 comment) Through all the drama I must maintain mental discipline. The photos tell a coherent story. Yeah I've got 2 bosses. Real boss tells me to do something. Few minutes later Fake boss sends me a text telling me to do the same thing. So I'm in a You're-not-the-boss-of-me Power Struggle with someone who is not my boss. His power struggle is Yes-I-am-your-boss. I keep working for a salary, a livelihood. So it's serious business. Just got to keep praying for protection and opportunity.

Letter of Resignation.

I am resigning effective immediately from my position of Environmental Remediation (asbestos worker) for 7 years, the strangest, most dangerous, most stressful job I've ever had. Under the circumstances, a 2-week notice would be inappropriate and disruptive. Solution of Friday's meeting was to forgive and forget, and make no visible changes. The status quo. The department is waiting for the current workers to move on in order to expand and hire a new crew.

Now is the time for change. I expect great personal sacrifice. I'm unlikely to find a traditional job because of my age, stigma of asbestos, stigma of college, stigma as target of a workplace bully. I feel like I'm coming out of prison or isolation. It will take a while to get back to normal. During this life-changing Easter, I must place my faith in something other than this job. If not for the photo work journal (now archived) I would have nothing to show for these past 7 years.

Although technically single, I have a non-traditional family. They support my decision. They remember what I was like before this job. They hope that person can come back. I hope so too. [...]

This work blog is now Archive Status.