Administration Told Teacher To Let Them Know When He Left His Desk, But They Were Not Prepared For His Barrage Of Texts

You would think that most people working in a field where union are active and present would learn early on that you don’t want to mess with them – or their stewards.

There are always those people who think being the boss is more important than helping their subordinates do their job, though.

OP is his local union president.

A bit of background, I have worked in public education at site for over 25 years.

The “supervisor” was a new one with a questionable past. I was newly elected Union President.

For this reason (or maybe others) his boss did not like him.

The “supervisor” did not like me and I think felt threatened by my mere existence and went after me.

WRONG MOVE SKIPPY!!

From the beginning of the educational term my supervisor (ND) and I clashed.

They seemed to go out of their way to find something to talk with me about, write me up for, or simply question me about.

At first I chalked it up as trying to figure out what I did and how things ran but it became obvious that it was going after me and wanting to get me fired!

Well, let’s just say as a long-term employee in a public education system with a STRONG UNION I am fairly protected. Add to that I am the Union President of that STRONG UNION, add KEVLAR to that protection.

That is NOT to say I could not lose my job, it just needed to be criminal and a felony!

At first, OP refused to speak to him alone at all.

After multiple petty meetings, conference summaries and write ups I got tired of it! I started to push back and I would not talk, even in public spaces, to ND.

They were invisible to me. I did not hear them, I did not talk with them, in fact I would ask someone to give them a message while I was standing in front of them.

Needless to say, this made them frustrated.

If they wanted to talk with me, there was ALWAYS another person from the Union in the room with me.

Then, he refused to speak without his attorney present.

On one occasion, aka fishing expositions, by reply was, “I will not answer that questions with my attorney present.” And NO it was not an investigation of criminal nature.

ND kept rephrasing the questions, hoping I would slip up or answer, nope I am smarter than you. I answered the questions that did not answer ND’s intended path but would not answer the questions he wanted to nail me for.

This made him so frustrated that he started to threaten my job and reassign me. Nope Skippy, you can not do that.

When the boss told him to never leave his desk without permission, OP followed that instruction to the letter.

He sent me a directive that I was to check in with his assistant each morning, check out for my lunch and the back in, and then check out each day.

If the assistant was not presented I was directed to text both ND and the assistant if I was away from my desk. I was also instructed to ONLY work my duty time and I could not work outside my day.

OK, NOT A PROBLEM!

Each morning I would walk past ND’s office and check in, every time I had to go to the copier I would text them both, every time I used the restroom I would text them both, every time I had to talk with someone away from my desk I texted them.

This got FUN quickly.

If I got called into a meeting by the Dean or other higher administration I told them I was NOT ALLOWED away from my desk/office/classroom without ND’s permission and that they needed to call him to get that permission.

Needless to say, I was following the directive to the letter and blowing up things with a smile.

This lasted about two weeks before the Dean and others started to get annoyed by the actions and directive of ND. The increased pressure upon ND became increased pressure on me.

Yep, he was NOT getting the message and digging his heels in because he’s the BOSS and I was just a subordinate.

You could say it was the one that set him free.

When I was fed up, I brought in the Regional Union Representative and they started to get VERY CLEAR with not only ND but the President of the Educational Institution that the next meeting would involve the Union Attorneys and we would be filing legal action under the State and Federal laws in regard to “Union Busting!”

BIG DOLLARS in attorney fees to even start to answer the complaint. BTW it costs us NOTHING for our attorneys and filing.

Make a long story short, my life got much easier.

He was NOT allowed to talk with me and he was placed on Administrative Leave for the remainder of the year and NEVER returned to educational employment in the area.

And for me, Life is GREAT and I am happy to work more hours than I am paid for and I do not need to text anyone when I have to pee! WINNER!

Sometimes it takes a whole war to win a battle, but it’s still a win.

I love it when people have similar stories.

This person saw a potential issue, though.

Everyone loves to see an inferiority complex wither.

I mean, get a clue.

It sounds like there was only one way this was going to end.

And OP knew exactly how from the start.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.