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OP, you are in the wrong in so many ways. Your perspective on this is appalling to me. I'd think you've had run-ins before and maybe even ordered to sensitivity training or anger management. Some basic management training would be a good start. You should realize that you were out of line - and why. In my opinion you are lucky they're only requesting that you apologize - I wouldn't fight them on it - you are a liability they could do without and could easily let you go. Take responsibility for your actions and attitude; it's not him, it's you.
While I agree that I was a little bit in the wrong, this dolt ruined product. He insults me at every turn and in general is a real pain in the ass. I barely hit him just snapped his head back a little bit to get a point across.
Wrong on two accounts. Though it was his responsiblity to check the paper, It was your job to set it up right.
And WORSE-- you snapped his head back to make a point?? You think that is a just a little wrong? Even after everyone is telling how this is wrong??
I would suggest you take an anger management class to help you deal with employees like Gary. You would learn skills to be a better supervisor.
After all, you will face other Garys' and Gary situations. Think about it.
P.S... You can be a good supevisor, learn to treat your employees with dignity and respect (even when they don't show it to you).
Or you can be a hothead who reacts instead of leads.
No. I think you're wrong about one thing. He DOES have the power in your dynamic. Because he makes you dance on his string like a little puppet.
Yes. You do have a small problem. This guy hates you and doesn't respect you. And he sounds wildly out of control behavior wise. He set you up for a confrontation with his ego, arrogance and childish behavior. In this event, he probably KNEW that you gave him the wrong specs for the part, but you can't prove it. You fell for his antics because you allowed him to play on your mind instead of nipping it in the bud. Moreover, it sounds as though you consistently allowed him to disrespect you with no consequences, and to harass you personally at work with insulting gestures and statements. That's not what a leader does.
If I were the boss of that outfit, I'd cut you some slack for touching him, since you fessed up to it, when you could have denied it flat out. Unless you made some marks. But, that's worthy of respect for honesty. But I'd penalize you for the way you handled the foul-up, depending on how much it cost, and I'd do to the other guy whatever the stupid union agreement would allow me to do. Hopefully I could throw him out in the snow. You're at least as much to blame for the screw-up as he is. I think you are MORE to blame, because your job is to keep stuff like this from happening. You should sheepishly accept the blame for this, instead of pointing fingers at your subordinate. Managers who pass the buck are rightfully despised by their coworkers. You should be embarrassed that you even sought to blame him more than you blame yourself. If you can excuse yourself for making an error, because you're human, you seem like a real hypocrite for being so merciless towards his mistake. Even though your account makes it sound reasonable for you to hate his guts.
Are you going to let him defeat you in the ultimate way? Apologize, keep your job, and learn a big lesson from this unfortunate event. Then make sure to do everything in your power to to document every single disrespectful thing he does.
This is what modern company culture looks like when subordinates have such unreasonable leeway over their supervisors to behave as they wish. You have all the responsibility for his actions, while he is free to disrespect and lack accountability without tedious procedures to remedy it. Everything is upside down. The military looks a lot like this now.
Last edited by Led Zeppelin; 04-09-2016 at 06:15 AM..
Wrong. You have a BIG problem. As others have said, you're lucky that you still have a job. And you're even luckier that he hasnt filed assault charges against you or hasnt threatened to sue the company for your actions as a supervisor. Should that happen, the company will probably fire you. And good luck finding another job with that history.
He checked his lots, but I apparently gave him the right work order but wrong print, it was HIS job to check print to work order, he ran the lot based on the print I gave him, he did this on purpose, checked them, they obviously came out right, but he ran all 2500 wrong, this is one laser table being down an entire week for a wrong part!!
If you gave him the wrong print then you messed up. Part of management is to fess up to your own mistakes otherwise you lose respect from your reports. This particular employee already has zero respect for you, which is probably earned based on the ongoing hostility.
You cannot be a successful manager with your attitude in an environment where you have limited power as you seem to have.
If you are not in the union you are actually in a terrible position now because your boss HAS power over you and might as well decide to solve the problem by replacing you with a person with the right management skills for a union shop.
You should apologize and be glad they are letting you keep your job after touching someone aggressively.
The moral of the story here is--this is why companies should not allow bullying in the first place. It never ends well.
His performance is a matter separate from your aggression, and should be dealt with separately. This is not like professional sports where somebody gets a free throw because the other team pushed them. (I think that's how it works, but I'm not a big sports fan, so go ahead and giggle if I'm wrong.)
Everybody's responsible for their own behavior in the world of adulthood.
Memorize the union contract and do not let him slide when his performance is poor. Exercise all of your rights under the contract. Give this as a concrete example of his poor performance.
Urge your company to pass a policy against bullying, and give specific examples in the policy of what bullying is.
So let's review. You gave him the wrong info, and then you physically assaulted him, and yes, that's what putting your hands on him means.
You are lucky you are being given a chance to save your job - if you worked for me, you'd be terminated for cause already with no severance and I'd be fighting your unemployment claim.
The thing is, im worried this time about this situation, I have been reprimanded before for being " heavy handed " but I like results and getting things done right the first time.
I have never hit an employee/touched, but I have been known to get a little hot under the collar and say words I shouldnt, or follow people outside of work hours to let off a little steam, but cooler heads prevail, this Gary person, he just got my nerve up this time. Last time I was wrote up for following an employee who constantly called in to a walgreens to get video graphic evidence, they cried to the union and I got a talking too.
But my boss said I did the right thing, my question is, if Im already under an EEOC investigation, can this hurt?
I am a supervisor in a union manufacturing plant, I have been there for a few years, for the most part my employees are good workers and we have a good rapport, I do however have a few that are just " anti company " and therefore against management, it happens with union types.
One of these anti management types wel call Gary, Gary has been at the company for a lot longer than I have, and he is always cracking wise about me, and other managers. Some days it can be to much, the other managers tolerate it and some even laugh about it, but I feel like he is undermining my position and my respect when he makes smart alec comments to me, or when he does things like use his smart phone to make a clown-nose horn noise when I walk by to do walk throughs, I am after all his superior, and he does not have the power in this dynamic.
Well to the point of my posting, I put Gary on a job that he has done for years, we run a laser table, and we had a massive job come in, we usually stop and test every 2nd 5th and 10th part then we run the full lot.
Gary had a lot of 2500 parts to do, in a union shop thats a week of a run, in a normal shop that is two shifts at max, which is the problem.
He checked his lots, but I apparently gave him the right work order but wrong print, it was HIS job to check print to work order, he ran the lot based on the print I gave him, he did this on purpose, checked them, they obviously came out right, but he ran all 2500 wrong, this is one laser table being down an entire week for a wrong part!!
When he brought the parts over to qc they rang me up to come see, I was incensed, I went to Gary and we started arguing, Im a bit of a hot head, but I have never been so angry in my life, he was making snide comments saying I should check my prints, I lost it and kind of pushed his face with the tips of my fingers.
He ran to his steward, next thing I know im in corporate office being told to apologize to this idiot or I will be terminated, I know I should not have put hands on him, in todays workplace atleast, but just twenty years ago I would have been able to boot him in the ass and not faced repurcussions.
I do not see why I should apologize, he ruined our production line, and caused me to lose my temper with his snide remarks, besides it was more of a push than a slap, and were both adult men, am I in the wrong here?
Amazing how you are blaming Gary for everything. You have no are taking no responsibility for your actions. You gave the wrong information and you lost your temper. Time to grow up.
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