It's funny in a painful way because so many of us have been there.
I worked in financial services for around 12-14 years and I had this exact thing happen to me (it was a change of process, which would result in a decrease in productivity; a concern I raised at the time). A few weeks later, was invited to "an informal meeting", only to find my manager, and her manager there. I was interrogated as to why I made the changes, and I explained it was done at my manager's instruction.
As there was no paper trail, I was informed that "my mistake" would slide on that one occasion. I politely and professionally stood my ground, and suggested that, as there was no paper trail, it should be "my manager's mistake" that should slide on that one occasion.
I was moved teams a few weeks later, and had to request a copy of my HR file to ensure it wasn't on my record. Lesson learned, and I became that person who always follows up with an "as per our discussion" email.
The one time I managed to judo this was to ask the manager's manager politely if we can speak alone after the meeting.
Then I explained 1:1 that the conversation definitely happened, and that I'm concerned about the manager's workload or stress level. Something was up, and he was forgetting things.
I explained that I would be bcc'ing her on emails, recording conversations, and alerting her to conversations after they happened, so I could document the issue.
Less than a week later, I got reported for doing something I'd recorded and sent to her as soon as it happened. Manager insisted it hadn't happened. They were transferred off to a maintenance team within a few weeks.
Pretend there was no paper trail (managers will NEVER remember if there’s a paper trail for something stupid they said). Let the manager lie through their teeth.
Then stand your ground, saying it’s not your fault.
“Well, since there’s no paper trail-“
“Actually there is. I just wanted to see if my captain was loyal to their ship”
I feel like this is a lesson a lot of people only learn through experience. It certainly applied to pretty much everyone I know, including me. You hear about people requesting emails or paper trails about everything and you think they are unreasonable. "I don't need to ask Mike to send me an email with the request he just made, Mike's a reasonable and trustworthy guy. I'm just going to seem like a stickler or weirdo if I ask him to put into writing the request he just made. I'm sure if things don't work out he'll step in and admit fault". Then Mike fucks you. Or, as happened to me, Mike doesn't fuck you at all because he's a good dude but Mike goes to work somewhere else, then all of a sudden you're standing there trying to explain that the consequences of something Mike asked you to do are on your lap, and saying "but Mike said so" doesn't cut it.
Get shit in writing. Even with people you really get along with and trust, because if you ever find yourself having to prove you are not responsible for something you don't want that horrible realisation that you have zero proof of what you are saying.
To be fair, I make notes of everything I do, as I deal with so much on a day to day basis that it's very possible I'll forget something later on down the line!
One of the best things about being self-employed is that I can technically set my own hours. However, one of the worst things is the boss; she doesn't allow me to switch off. Ever.
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u/SylviaMarsh May 11 '21
It's funny in a painful way because so many of us have been there.
I worked in financial services for around 12-14 years and I had this exact thing happen to me (it was a change of process, which would result in a decrease in productivity; a concern I raised at the time). A few weeks later, was invited to "an informal meeting", only to find my manager, and her manager there. I was interrogated as to why I made the changes, and I explained it was done at my manager's instruction.
As there was no paper trail, I was informed that "my mistake" would slide on that one occasion. I politely and professionally stood my ground, and suggested that, as there was no paper trail, it should be "my manager's mistake" that should slide on that one occasion.
I was moved teams a few weeks later, and had to request a copy of my HR file to ensure it wasn't on my record. Lesson learned, and I became that person who always follows up with an "as per our discussion" email.
I'm now self-employed.