About 3 years ago I had a great job. It was with an American based company here in Australia. When I joined these guys, it was great. They did the outsourcing work for a major bank's credit card services. I got into that side of the banking business and I loved it.
I moved from job to job within the department learning everything and it was awesome. My team leader was the best woman. We were all friends and we socialised together after work at the pub and supported each other all the time. Whatever Deb, the Team Leader wanted, she got and in spades. There wasn't anything we wouldn't do for her.
The money was crap, but you could live on it (barely), but that didn't matter.
We moved buildings so that the whole company could be all together and my friendship base expanded.
Then the bank we did outsourcing for decided they weren't getting the service they expected (which was true due to internal politics) and they decided to go elsewhere. So our company decided to pull out all the stops in the hopes of keeping the bank's business. We got a new team leader, Brooke, who was a completely feral b***h. She was grossly fat and wore clothes 2 sizes too small for her but seemed to think she was a glamour. She also had Barbie-everything. Note pads, pens, post it notes, coffee mug, in trays, mouse pad, the lot. And this from a woman in her 30s. She also used to brag about how many houses she owned and if she favoured you with her smile and help, you were the Chosen One. Our team leader Deb got shunted sideways into the Call Centre. When she could suffer the indignity no longer, she left the company.
Under Brooke's Gestapo management style a lot of of the long time permanents left. So the knowledge base went with them. Brooke hired useless lumps who did no work and everyone else had to pick up behind them. Including one memorable young guy who would stay out all night drinking and drag racing, then come in EVERY DAY in the SAME CLOTHES. He did nothing, came in before lunch, left before 5, wandered around chatting, took 2 hour lunches sometimes and generally farked up everything put in front of him. He was Brooke's Golden Boy.
She was told numerous times about this bad behaviour but did nothing. It turned out he was the son of some board member. He eventually left and hardly anyone showed up to his farewell. I didn't contribute any money or sign his card. And Brooke gave him a glowing speech that left most of us wondering if she even knew what he did in the department.
Brooke would hold team meetings going on and on about what she expected from us but gave us no resources and no support. All this was designed to make her look good because she was gunning for the Division Head's job.
At the end of the meetings she would say, "you're all STARS!!!!!" It was the fakest most bogus motivational catch phrase I'd ever heard. We went from a strong cohesive team that would raise problems and solve them, to being sullen, depressed and anti-work where everyone would be too afraid to speak up. Those who voiced their opinions would not have their contracts renewed, even though we needed those people. I was one of them.
I would have a meeting with Tim, Brooke's sub team leader (her dogsbody) who was thicker than two planks and didn't have a clue what I was talking about when he asked me to explain my stats for the month. He was such a robot, he dressed in the style of the Divisional Head to "fit in" and used to grease his hair into a spike down the middle of his head. He looked like a stegasaurus.
And this guy was married.
To a human female
Apart from me not taking s**t and speaking up for myself, I'm sure Tim's inability to translate what I was saying about the stats led to my downfall. My job entailed making sure the files that came to me had a maximum 32 day turnaround from start to finish (which I managed with ease). The 32 days started from the day I received the files, not calendar days. Tim didn't get that. He was convinced I was shirking my reponsiblities because some months I would close more files than other months. Also, by law we had to keep everything under the 32 day maximum otherwise the bank was slugged with huge fees.
After I was let go I had a succession of really good temp jobs which I still enjoy to this day. Plus the money is heaps better. Ya boo sucks to them!
I met an former work co worker for lunch about 6 months after I left. He is the most brilliant IT person I ever met and the nicest guy who kept getting shafted by Brooke. He finally ended up moving to the IT section of the company on heaps more pay and he didn't have to deal with Brooke any more. When I met him for lunch, he told me that my old files were up to about 245 days turn around and there were in excess of 300 files outstanding. NOBODY WAS DOING MY JOB!!!!
Hahahahahahahahahaha. It's exactly what they deserve. The bank ended up taking their credit card business elsewhere and moving the operations interstate. And the Brooke and Tim Show? As far as I know, she's still wearing tiny clothes, showing off her various fat rolls and b***hiness and climbing the corporate ladder. As for Tim, he's probably still following her around and pretending he knows what the hell is going on.
Man, I can't wait until she hit's that good old glass ceiling.
Why do I think this will happen? Because all the higher ups are slim, well groomed, decent looking people. They are educated and well spoken and very good people persons. Brooke is loud and brash and brays when she laughs and is full of her own self importance.
A guy I knew very well who was a higher up told me she has no chance because the business is all about image and her image doesn't fit in with what the company thinks of itself. They can't openly discriminate against people like her, but the subtle discrimination is definitely there.
It's exactly what she deserves.