You Try to Show Some Initiative

You try to show some initiative at the office and you get your nose cut off.

I created a blog, a thing that is OFFERED by management for use in passing along information that might be useful to other employees. It's a place to tell people what you do, what your unit does and other things that might be helpful. Unfortunately, it's not available to the general public, but otherwise, that's okay. Because if there's a problem, there's no sense in the entire world knowing about it, right?

So, I started this blog, and added information that included corrections to the errors on the public website (the one that's completely wrong, by the way, and caused 50 million phone calls), a simple form for people to use that I could copy and email to folks for address changes. Our telephone numbers for outside workers to use to get to the proper person, and messages from my supervisor about phone problems and shutdowns of county offices...that kind of thing.

All work related, mind you. I wouldn't create a blog like this one (where I slam anything and everything that I can or where I rant rant rant until the cows come home), and I was called into the supervisor's office for it.

What? No, it's not accessible to the outside world. Only to the workers at present.
Yes, the website is in my sig line, but even if you click on it, it's a broken link for the outside world. Yes, I might have signed an email to someone in the outside world in order to give them the website address for the place to sign up for direct deposit and give them the payment dates, but that still doesn't make the blog accessible to the outside world. I sent it to myself, and tried to access it from home, and it pops up with an error message. Yes, I would like it to be available to the outside world, because it takes so (blipty blip) long to get corrections made to our public site--it would be nice to have a place where a quick quip could be made to let folks know about changes or corrections. Yes, it can be editted to be whatever you'd like it to be--I thought it would be pretty cool to do an interview (of a fashion) with you, to put in a bit about how to make sure that information is entered correctly on such and such system so that openings go more smoothly.

In short, I tried to be upbeat. I've gotten a few emails saved indicating how helpful the website was. I didn't say that I had a lot of comments, that would be rather a lie. Most people aren't even paying attention to the fact that there *IS* a blog address on my sig line. But those who have read it have said that it was helpful.

And then I was given rules and the proper use jargon, and told what changes to make, etc. And what had to be taken down, etc. I guess it wasn't so much getting called on the rug, as getting told that I had stepped on people's toes.

To my way of thinking, if other people would do their jobs...but there I go again.

You know, somewhere, there's a place for me. I am not a person who worries about how someone else might feel about losing their "job" because of a silly little blog entry. Frankly, my blog was a tool to help me get through my job--and it's been helpful so far, in that work is coming past my desk, and the errors have been far less than what they've been in the past because of my blog. And therefore, I feel it has been useful and appropriate.

And then, some of us got together, and they told me that they want me to be a phone jockey. Just answer the phone and give it to the worker. 95% of the time, we want the call to go to the worker. We don't want YOU answering the call.

Well, that's what I do most of the time anyway. I don't get why I'm being talked to about this! Do you honestly think that just because I did this blog, that I'm not doing my job? Well, that's sort of the idea I was getting. I'm not even sure the two were tied to each other! But that was the feeling I left the office with--angry and upset that my initiative has been clamped and stamped and trampled, and that because of it, my "position" has been clamped and stamped and trampled as well.

So what am I left with? I'm left with an idiot position, where I've worked for 22 years, answering the phone and saying "I don't know, you have to discuss this with your worker."

Beyond that, I "found out" something that I've been sending to my supervisor that she's seen, but it either hasn't sunk in yet as to how it's going to affect the outside world, or she's really not reading my email. I suspect the latter AND the former.

Well, it's time to shower and get going. I ALMOST wish I hadn't started this blog. I thought it was a good idea at the time. Now, I'm not so sure.