To Amy, MttJocy, and Vespers, thanks so much for your reply. I'm SO glad I found this forum, knowing there are people out there like me who care makes it a lot easier. To answer your question Amy, I live in Ohio, and yes, we do have a union where I work, actually it's considered the most powerful one in the U.S. I haven't approached them yet, but the treatment is starting to wear thin. It's the same people each time, a small minority of real idiots. I have to say that there are a whole lot of co-workers who treat me great, so I try to think about that while at work. Anyway, I can't stress enough how much this forum has helped me, and I only found it last week. Best of luck to all of you out there, I'll keep in touch with news about how things are going.
Sorry to hear about the situation, but is it just verbal, or do they do things to sabotage you at work? If so could you not just ignore it?
I know you have a right to go through all the channels and complain if you wish, but if you are being a little bit more sensitive than the average person about it, you may come across badly if you make too much fuss. Especially since they will probably be very good at playing it down.
Could you talk to them about it first? They might not even realise its upsetting you.
Sometimes telling the person they are being offensive, rude, etc
may work.
Your bargaining unit, union, attorney or other representative will need to show and prove that what is going on is 'workplace harassment' meeting certain legal criteria in your region. One of the things I recall from a seminar everyone in my work had to attend was 'perception'- if the person(s) doing the harassing "
perceive" you to be a member of a group (religion, race, disability, sex preference) even if you are not in the perceived group, it is still harassment. I think I also recall that the harassment has to be repetative. If you have witnesses or copies of email and memos related to the incidents, good. If the harassment is visible (graffiti, offensive photos or items) good. Is there a progression of you trying to get the people to stop, and reports or records of you working with your chain-of-command or supervisor/manager? I'm no attorney
and this is not legal advice.
You know what really annoys me? I get told off for tiny tiny mistakes (or even for just doing things a bit differently) but other people are lazy and noisy and make bigger mistakes and nothing seems to happen to them?
I don't know if this is harassment as such but it even happened today and I still think I was in the right (but I'll do what I was told and if anything goes wrong, it won't be my fault).
This also annoys the hell out of me. I do not like to be corrected or told about my mistakes on the job.... no, actually - in any circumstance. That may be an aspie thing or may just be the way I am. The way I feel about being corrected makes it hard for me to differentiate between an ordinary, professional transaction (such as a suggestion or providing direction) or someone behaving rudely and biting my head off. In these situations, I make myself stop and think over if the person is really being instructive or being an ass, or poking at my "wall" to see what I am made of. If you are a subordinate in a chain-of-command or an employee, sometimes doing as you are told (as you chose to do) can be the best vengeance. Having documentation of idiotic, hazardous or harassing "orders" from the boss can't hurt you either. As you say, if anything goes wrong, it won't be your fault.
You know what really annoys me? I get told off for tiny tiny mistakes (or even for just doing things a bit differently) but other people are lazy and noisy and make bigger mistakes and nothing seems to happen to them?
I don't know if this is harassment as such but it even happened today and I still think I was in the right (but I'll do what I was told and if anything goes wrong, it won't be my fault).
This also annoys the hell out of me. I do not like to be corrected or told about my mistakes on the job.... no, actually - in any circumstance. That may be an aspie thing or may just be the way I am. The way I feel about being corrected makes it hard for me to differentiate between an ordinary, professional transaction (such as a suggestion or providing direction) or someone behaving rudely and biting my head off.
In these situations, I make myself stop and think over if the person is really being instructive or being an ass, or poking at my "wall" to see what I am made of. If you are a subordinate in a chain-of-command or an employee, sometimes doing as you are told (as you chose to do) can be the best vengeance. Having documentation of idiotic, hazardous or harassing "orders" from the boss can't hurt you either. As you say, if anything goes wrong, it won't be your fault.
No, I don't like being corrected either. I can take it in fairly good grace if the other person is nice about it but if they sound rude, I'm very likely to get quite defensive.
It's as if I don't want to be seen as a person who makes dumb mistakes. At least some people higher up say they made quite a few errors themselves.
Sometimes, it is just a matter of interpretation, of having a different approach to a task. Provided the end result is correct, I can't see too much of a problem, as long as the legislation and core procedures are adhered to.
I have real problems being told to do something when I know the result is going to be incorrect. It's getting to the stage where I think I should just agree rather than get into an argument but then do my own thing anyway.
It's easier to do that in a large organisation as you're more likely to be considered just a face in the crowd.
tenaciouscj what happened to you at work?
I suppose Hope will always disclose her dx at work to prevent these things happening. She's been bullied enough at school- I won't allow it when she is older if I have breath in my body.
ellen
Ten years ago CJ I was in the U.S. Federal government and the G.S. 14 in charge bullied me. She had an inferiority complex aggravated by racial disparities.