Posted on 12/08/2010 10:59:44 AM PST by jilliane
I sincerely apologize for the vanity post. I need advice from intelligent people in regards to a workplace problem. I've searched the internet, forums, career advice sites and can't find any relevant advice.
IMO, blind copies are just that. a way to include others without anyone knowing who got a copy. of course it is sneaky.. but this director seems to choose this method of management.
Someone, hopefully someone he feels is a peer, needs to get this problem straightened out... and without bcc ing anyone.
Is this guy in tight with one of the owners or the president? If not, I’d wait for him to pi** off the wrong person with these antics.
We used to bcc a former supervisor on things, then she’d “reply all” and our ruse was discovered. You could make it a practice to “reply all” to every message - including those on which you were bcc’d.
I have seen this before in people who leave or retire from a government job to start their double-dipping- collecting retirement froma their ‘20 and out’ years of gubmint service while holding another full-time job.
These people are un-trainable- this is how they think the REAL WORLD works too.
One of the very few appropriate uses of BCC is to hide email addresses from multiple recipients to prevent spam. The thing is, you BCC everyone on the distribution, not just select recipients.
This guy sounds like a real piece of work. Maybe you should get with all your coworkers and threaten his boss with quitting en masse unless he is let go. It sounds like an intractable situation.
Reply All: Why am I getting this?
>>>Any advice is greatly appreciated. We have no H/R department or grievance channels.
Absent that, have you/can you talk to his boss?? CEO??
Tough spot..
Couple of thoughts.
- I do not believe our e-mail systems copies bcc’s on replies unless you do a “Reply All.” Not certain. I rarely bcc.
- Might try read receipts to see if that gets you any more info.
Otherwise, I would only use e-mail if you absolutely have to and certainly would not editorialize at all.
As I’m fond of saying: “Go darken his doorway” and provide opinions to his questions in person if opinion is needed.
It sounds like you work in a liberal University.
Buck up, it is normal.
Save all the emails and threads. Print them out when no one is around, for your own protection and others’, and take them home. Carry out his requests regardless of whether he remembers them, and document both the request and your response. Otherwise, ignore or nod pleasantly but noncommittally. Do not mention. Have no opinion. Do not engage. You can’t change him, you can only change your reaction to him. Nor can you control who he BCC’s on his emails. The guy will self-destruct.
If you can't tolerate the style of your boss and the workplace environment, then do everybody a favor and find a new job.
Whiny, little shits who seek to use human resource triangulation deserver the union they end up in.
Perhaps you should follow his instruction and communicate, respectively, with his boss. This would be far more effective if at least three of you each do this. It can be done as a group or individually if done in a short time frame.
And always good advice anytime, anywhere, keep your resume up to date and keep up contacts with others outside your company but in your industry.
I thought the REPLY ALL option never includes the BCC recipients....
I think most of what you wrote in post #1 would be a good thing to email him. Be sure to BCC everyone. ;)
when i find myself in that situation “gossipy feel” and I am required to respond but am not sure who else may receive the email or be “bcc’d” if the organization and recipents are small enough, i generally forward the email, re-enter, mannually, the recipients I can see and delete “fwd”. If it’s a large managed list, I’m not sure how you could go about it but that is my personal way of doing things when things take on a nastier or more personal nature and you are not sure who ELSE is being “bcc’d”. chances are, you aren’t the only one.
One thing I have found is that very few people read their emails before sending them. Especially in an environment where people feathers are getting ruffled I always reread my emails, trying to twist them in negative ways, before I hit send.
Another important thing is to use email correctly. Use it to your advantage to documents other peoples actions. Know when to not use email to protect yourself. I would hesitate to send emails to this supe that were critical of anybody since you know he has the propensity to BCC them. It sounds like this guy is a real winner.
Hey, you don't work in federal government, do you?
jilliane,
If you have no HR or Ethics department to handle harrassment claims, your only recourse is to go directly to his boss with your concerns. If that is your only avenue and you choose to pursue it, you should keep both an electronic and hard copy of every single document that you can get your hands on that shows he has been doing this. (You need to have an electronic copy on some media other than the work computer to which you may lose access once you make a complaint.) If your boss or his boss then retaliates against you for raising your complaint, he is violating federal law. At that point, you will probably need to have a good labor lawyer on your side.
Sounds like a first-class jerk.
Of course, you should speak respectfully to your boss’s boss. But I agree as posted above that you could lay low until his behavior does him in with someone else. However, if you want to address it, I think the thing to do would be to address it with him directly, privately, behind his closed door. All tact you could generate would be useful.
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