This morning I received an email from a very dear friend who said she might maybe need my help. It turns out that she expressed frustration for a new work policy in a department-wide discussion list thread and both her direct supervisor and the division supervisor chose to take offense to her expression, chose to see it as insubordination, and will be having a meeting with her this coming week to discuss her behavior.
Other people in the same division chose to also express their disdain with the unclear policy via that same list but they received no suggestion of recourse or reprimand.
Her context is that she is both a boss and a worker bee because where she works everyone is always overextended and dual-purposed at the very least. And the policy that was being put into place directly affected the group she manages while she’s wearing her Boss Hat. So… It’s odd to me that she would be singled out as the only person who can’t speak freely about her opinions and customer-side resulting effects of the new policy.
I am fantasizing about taking a day off from work to show up on the doorstep of the office where the meeting will be held with my dear friend and the two bosses. I’ll just say, “I am Ms. Awesome’s counsel” then I’ll take a seat next to her, pull out my Netbook, and begin typing. I won’t say a damn thing for the whole meeting, just raise my eyebrows and shake my head disapprovingly as they make their case for her insubordination while none of the other members of the policy peanut gallery received so much as a mention of their disapproving words. But I won’t wear my high-heeled boots, perfect for stomping on People of Power who choose to admonish those with an opinion that differs from their own. Because if I did? They’d shit twice and die. And who wants to accidentally kill people who should live to suffer through a strong woman’s continued opinions of their poor policy making decisions.
I personally am frustrated with the idea of disapproval of a poorly thought through policy as insubordination and would really like your comments on the subject. Some of you are bosses and some of you are worker bees. If a “worker bee” expresses their dislike of a new policy and you don’t like how s/he words the expression of their thoughts… what do you do? If you’re a worker bee, have you ever been reprimanded? What’d you do about it?
