I was talking to my supervisor at work today and we ended up talking about "thankless jobs." He is a senior job steward with our union (a volunteer position) and mentioned how he was exhausted because he'd gotten a call from a co-worker late last night who was in crisis. He said it's often a thankless job but rewarding. I know what he meant. I was a job steward once too. Many of us do volunteer or personal work that never wins any medals or external recognition yet saves another person's health, mental health, career or sanity. Some of us do this on SF.
So I'm creating this thread to share positive stories of how we helped someone in a significant way that was unpaid (or above and beyond the call of one's job). Not just to brag but to remind ourselves that our contributions and how we treat others actually matters.
For instance, my supervisor's story reminded me of when I was a job steward. I was asked by a manager to sit in on a disciplinary meeting for a coworker in another department, a man I didn't know well but I'd had some dealings with him. A bunch of managers were there (5 or 6), and this one poor guy I'll call Y, a 15-year employee about 50 years old, getting his second official warning for his behavior (he'd also had "letters of expectation" and disciplinary letters). Third in-person warning would mean being fired. You could smell the metaphorical blood in the air as the managers detailed the steps they had taken in warning him. Really I was just there as a witness but I took the role very seriously and wrote everything down and asked questions and grilled the managers on their reasons for the discipline, because to me Y's behaviour, although socially distasteful, was not an intentional violation of any rules. But it was easy to see they were gathering evidence to fire him and had no compassion for his possible mental state.
They said Y had been inappropriate in his comments to a client, who then complained. Y had a habit of ranting at length about inconsequential things, and I myself had spoken to him on work business and found him to be socially inept (he was also known to be single and friendless, and the subject of mockery), and upon hearing the managers descriptions of Y's behavior, I began to suspect Y might have a mental disorder and that it was perhaps getting worse (or possibly becoming more apparent given the increased recording/monitoring in call centres). Even though my "job" was concluded after advising Y of his options, the situation niggled at me as I thought of Y getting fired.
I looked up a senior union representative as I didn't think that Y would, and voiced my concerns about his mental health. She arranged with Y's cooperation for him to have a psychiatric assessment, and helped him to go on medical leave. His disciplinary record at work was expunged as it related to a medical condition. After his short-term leave, he went on permanent disability. Permanent disability at my company means a comfortable income, continued pension contributions (made by the union) and full extended health and dental benefits. Of course if he'd been fired he would have got nothing except 2 weeks severance.
So did I do what any volunteer job steward would do? In an ideal world perhaps. But Y was not a very likable guy and could have fallen through the cracks. It seems to me that many people like him wind up getting fired and not receiving the help they need.
So I'm creating this thread to share positive stories of how we helped someone in a significant way that was unpaid (or above and beyond the call of one's job). Not just to brag but to remind ourselves that our contributions and how we treat others actually matters.
For instance, my supervisor's story reminded me of when I was a job steward. I was asked by a manager to sit in on a disciplinary meeting for a coworker in another department, a man I didn't know well but I'd had some dealings with him. A bunch of managers were there (5 or 6), and this one poor guy I'll call Y, a 15-year employee about 50 years old, getting his second official warning for his behavior (he'd also had "letters of expectation" and disciplinary letters). Third in-person warning would mean being fired. You could smell the metaphorical blood in the air as the managers detailed the steps they had taken in warning him. Really I was just there as a witness but I took the role very seriously and wrote everything down and asked questions and grilled the managers on their reasons for the discipline, because to me Y's behaviour, although socially distasteful, was not an intentional violation of any rules. But it was easy to see they were gathering evidence to fire him and had no compassion for his possible mental state.
They said Y had been inappropriate in his comments to a client, who then complained. Y had a habit of ranting at length about inconsequential things, and I myself had spoken to him on work business and found him to be socially inept (he was also known to be single and friendless, and the subject of mockery), and upon hearing the managers descriptions of Y's behavior, I began to suspect Y might have a mental disorder and that it was perhaps getting worse (or possibly becoming more apparent given the increased recording/monitoring in call centres). Even though my "job" was concluded after advising Y of his options, the situation niggled at me as I thought of Y getting fired.
I looked up a senior union representative as I didn't think that Y would, and voiced my concerns about his mental health. She arranged with Y's cooperation for him to have a psychiatric assessment, and helped him to go on medical leave. His disciplinary record at work was expunged as it related to a medical condition. After his short-term leave, he went on permanent disability. Permanent disability at my company means a comfortable income, continued pension contributions (made by the union) and full extended health and dental benefits. Of course if he'd been fired he would have got nothing except 2 weeks severance.
So did I do what any volunteer job steward would do? In an ideal world perhaps. But Y was not a very likable guy and could have fallen through the cracks. It seems to me that many people like him wind up getting fired and not receiving the help they need.