So, I Had To Find Out In An Email??? (Update#7--Now With Popcorn Worthy Details)

[Jaelle]

Then so am I, artk2002. I had the same thought. 

My workplace isn't nearly as dysfunctional (right now, anyway), but there has been times when I've had to step back and stop "fixing" things that were another person's job. If I'd kept doing it, they would have kept happily ignoring what they were supposed to do and were getting paid to do.

And sometimes, I've had to stop doing it because I wasn't getting paid for it, it wasn't in my job description, but corporate would ignore the fact that we needed someone to do it and be paid to do it until it actually wasn't getting done. I have my own job to do.

It's tough to be the one who cares, sometimes.

Good luck, Yarnspinner.

[PastryGoddess]

Yikes. I wonder of Stoney's aversion to signing checks has a sinister motivation. When the stuff inevitably hits the fan, she can claim "I never approved those payments, expenditures, etc. My underlings took it on themselves to do that and kept me in the dark. I think they all should be fired." In an environment like that I'd be keeping a very detailed documentation trail -- off site if at all possible.

But then, I'm just a tad paranoid.

I had this same thought as Art.  Make sure you all are documenting keeping her in the loop regarding the checks and so forth.  It would be so easy for her to blame the "underlings" for things not getting done when she's called on the carpet. 

[JenJay]

Art is probably right.

My first thought was that, when the board notices things are falling apart, they'll say (not necessarily to OP, but to someone other than Stoney of course) "If Former Coworker was taking care of it and nobody stepped in to cover when she left then YOU are at fault. Of course Stoney assumed someone would handle it like always. We can't hold her accountable for what YOU failed to do." 

[Yarnspinner]

Believe me, we are all concerned about this.  Stonecold's favorite line is always "You people have to be flexible and step up to the plate."  When she first took over here, her opening salvo was "I expect each and every one of you to be able to do my job at a moment's notice."  She wasn't kidding, either.  In the last six years, one or another of us (even the teenagers who shelve books for us) have had to do jobs that are hers.

Lately she has been working from home.  Which is interesting since...well, I know I can't do MY job from home, so I can't figure out how she does HERS.    And when she IS here, she has been painting the walls in the hallway...making her possibly the most overpaid painter in the country.

If I sw half the stuff I see going on at my library introduced into the plot of a TV show, I would say they were unrealistic....but I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

[rain]

I really, really want to read the book you're gonna' write after you retire.

[catlover]

But Stoney's days are numbered now, aren't they?   I was driving back to Chicago yesterday, and the newspaper in the gas station had headlines about the big raid and how the Feds are involved now and the kickbacks and waste/mismanagement with the $1000+ wastebaskets???

[LeveeWoman]

That was this library system?

[DollyPond]

there has been times when I've had to step back and stop "fixing" things that were another person's job. If I'd kept doing it, they would have kept happily ignoring what they were supposed to do and were getting paid to do.

I agree with this statement from elephantschild.  Sometimes you have to step back and watch the train go off the cliff.  If you are the one who always "fixes" things and prevents disasters guess who gets to do that job permanently (and subsequently NOT rewarded or acknowledged)?

[LadyL]

LordL worked for a boss who was about as nightmarish as Stone Cold. It finally came out that she actually had neurological issues related to a medical condition she refused treatment for, that were causing major memory lapses and mood changes. But in the mean time, she let a LOT of bills go unpaid, and it was after services got shut off repeatedly (along with a ton of employee complaints) that finally helped get her fired.

[rain]

I'm actually sitting here with popcorn & soda waiting for the updates/trainwreck

[cheyne]

Posting for updates.  I have kettle corn to share.

[Morrigan]

I am soooo glad my director is nothing like Stonecold.  Actually, I'm glad my library is nothing like yours.  No offense, but I don't know how you (or any of your co-workers) have lasted that long!

[Yarnspinner]

Not much of an update, but some chickens are coming home to roost.  We have been weeding the really old books and the  ones we can't sell at booksale (and the ones in such bad shape I won't take them to goodwill) are piling up because Stonecold hasn't paid the dumpster guys to come and haul away the dumpster that's already there.  AND....you betcha....the local paper isn't being delivered because we haven't paid them aaaaaaaaand after promising those of us willing to work extra days that we would be given double overtime for it, we found out she lied about getting this approved by the city.


The library board, of course, continues to support her because she's such a breath of fresh air.  Harrumph, harrumph.

[Yarnspinner]

But Stoney's days are numbered now, aren't they?   I was driving back to Chicago yesterday, and the newspaper in the gas station had headlines about the big raid and how the Feds are involved now and the kickbacks and waste/mismanagement with the $1000+ wastebaskets???

Different library.  We don't have any federal involvement....although there has been an investigation that went nowhere.  Still, we can dream.....

[Dr. F.]

Not much of an update, but some chickens are coming home to roost.  We have been weeding the really old books and the  ones we can't sell at booksale (and the ones in such bad shape I won't take them to goodwill) are piling up because Stonecold hasn't paid the dumpster guys to come and haul away the dumpster that's already there.  AND....you betcha....the local paper isn't being delivered because we haven't paid them aaaaaaaaand after promising those of us willing to work extra days that we would be given double overtime for it, we found out she lied about getting this approved by the city.


The library board, of course, continues to support her because she's such a breath of fresh air.  Harrumph, harrumph.

Hang in there! The idiot I used to work for finally got his come-uppance after 5 years of complete and total incompentance and constant backing of the Board. In our case, the volunteers complained and then hooked up with former employees (I was one by that point). None of us had anything to lose, so when we said we'd go to the media, all of a sudden it was possible to make changes where it hadn't been before.

Karma wins in the end. I admit to significant schaedenfreude.