Here is an excerpt of an inter-racial,inter-gender,cross-generation,and perhaps cross-perspectives incident at work ,which I flagged up with the Human recources team,6 months fast forward,still no response.
___________
On Thursday,30th April 2009, IT department contacted me about the "Change of Name " email they had received from the HR team,and I was told that Tom William would come over before he changes my email to explain how to protect my documents and how the old emails could be saved.
Around 2:45 p.m. , Mr.Smith came to my desk with the email from HR whilst I was on a phone call.I went to IT to talk to him at 3:00 p.m. , which was when he made rude remarks about the change of my name "just because you have decided to have another name ,means a lot of work for me" .I told him I appreciated his time and efforts and if there was anyway that i could be helpful , I would be glad to help.Upon which he said "It's not just your email that needs to be changed but every user name and password that you use alongwith your network login.It will take me at least 15 minutes work beforehand on my PC ,then 30 minutes on your PC when you have to log off.So when are you free?" I replied that I could adjust that easily as I have some paperwork to do that afternoon , but do need to be told when he would start work on my PC as I had some journals to post and didn't want him to start when I was in the middle of the journal posting. He said "I am really busy and get booked to do work 3 to 6 months in advance and I just don't have the time to do this now"
I replied that I was going on annual leave for 2 weeks and didn't want any emails sent to me lost and would prefer to have at least the new email address set up by Friday lunch time.He was very rude in his interaction and gave the distinct impression to me that he didn't have time to change the email address on Thursday.
I returned to my desk and as I was preparing to post my journal, Mr.Smith came to my desk around 3:30 p.m.and asked whether I was logged into the EXETER Programme.I said I wasn't and why was he asking.He said he was changing my User ID in Exeter remotely.He still didn't advise me about the time he would start working on my PC to change my network log in,hence I worked under the previous impression that it would be done on Friday,1st May.
However,at around 3:45 p.m., he came to my desk and said ,"Manjot,you will loose all the saved files on your PROFILE and the C Drive."
I offerred, "Mr.Smith, my name is Moonstar."
Further,I asked him to break it down to me in layman's terms as I was a non technical person,and as such didn't comprehend the difference between a Profile and the C drive.He raised his voice at this point and leaned in towards my chair in a very aggressive stance and repeated "Manjot,you will loose everything on your previous profile as -Manjot - and your C Drive as well"
At this point I realised that he was going to work on my PC and I had to start saving what documents I had been working on in mid-way.However, when I told him that I would let him know when I finish saving,he spoke very rudely ,"When will you finish Manjot - today ?"
Again,I offerred, "Mr.Smith, my name is Moonstar.Why don't you use my proper name?"
Further, I requested him to give me 5 minutes at least and that I would come and tell him when I am finished saving all my documents safely.He made loud gestures with his hands about this and talked aggresively about how busy he was and walked away.As I was now very paranoid about loosing my documents and folders which I had saved on the desktop( C Drive) ,I started copying them over to my folder on the Q Drive.He came back to my desk at 3:50 p.m. and stood in a very aggresive stance beside my chair.I requested him that I was copying my files inorder to make a back up .He started talking very loudly and in a rude manner saying"you can't make a back up , you can't put load on the server,tell me what are you doing,tell me now! I am a security manager! "
I answered I was following his advice ,and since I was going to loose everything on my profile, I was simply trying to save my folders from the Desktop to the Finance drive.He was very rude by this point and repeatedly said " you can't make a back up!"
As he spoke his voice kept raising and I felt very threatened at this point and stood up from my chait in order to protect myself and put some physical distance between us.
This was the point where I asked him to talk to me calmly and my manager Catherine told him " you don't have to be so rude about it Mr.Smith"
He said he will just stop all that I had been doing and went into my PC and selected the option" undo COPY".
At this point, since my line manager had left for the day, I felt very vulnerable and unneccesarily harassed and asked Mr.Smith to continue the work the next day.Mr.Smith refused and said he needed me to log out of the computer so he could change the Network user ID from -Manjot- to - Moonstar-
I moved my paperwork to my collegue Samantha's desk and started working there.Mr.Smith went back to the IT department.Then around 4:30 p.m., he came back to my desk and said he has changed my network log in to "Moonstar" but the password remains the same and asked me to log back in.
At this point , I felt even more vulnerable as very few people were still working and most of the office was empty.I started typing my password and then said that I rather he worked on my PC on Friday morning.
He insisted that he would work on the PC and left for the IT department saying "I will change your password as you have forgotten your password!"
I answered, "Mr.Smith,why would you change my password when I remeber my password correctly."
At this point, I went to Head of Finance;Amrit, and told him that Mr.Smith threatened to change my password and that I felt very vulnerable talking to him alone ,whilst he worked from his desk in the IT department.
Amrit agreed to come with me to bring the matter to the attention of Mr.Smith's Line Manager,Mr.Josh Hart.
However,Mr.Josh Hart had left for the day and we spoke to Alex Stiles,Deputy Director of Finance.Alex advised that I should ask him to not change my password and if he had any issues he could speak to the Deputy Director Finance,Mr.Hill.
When I went over to IT,Mr.Smith announced ,"I have changed your password !" I asked him " Why?" To which he responded"Because you were acting awkward!" I explained to him that I was not acting awkward ,instead since I was going home I preferred he would work on my PC the following day.
I came back to Finance and was talking to Amrit when Mr.Smith came back to work on my desk.I was paranoid that if I loose any files ,it would be impossible to recover them if the recycle bin had been emptied.Around 4:45 p.m. , I watched as he systematically deleted everything on my old C drive and then emptied the contents of the Recycle Bin.He then explained the new password to me and that I needed to change it when I next logged in and asked me if there was anything else that I needed.I answered "Mr.Smith, you haven't explained anything to me upto now ,and now that you have finished ,you are asking me ."
He said he had been trying to copy my favourites over from my old profile to the new one,and that I was ungrateful for all the work he had done and he pushed the chair and left the Finance side.
I felt bullied by Mr.Smith throughout the ordeal and felt vulnerable when he changed my password so that he could log into my computer remotely.This incident has not only left me terribly shaken but also compromised my work,as I have lost a lot of my work which I had saved on my desktop.
(Names changed to protect the others )
___________
On Thursday,30th April 2009, IT department contacted me about the "Change of Name " email they had received from the HR team,and I was told that Tom William would come over before he changes my email to explain how to protect my documents and how the old emails could be saved.
Around 2:45 p.m. , Mr.Smith came to my desk with the email from HR whilst I was on a phone call.I went to IT to talk to him at 3:00 p.m. , which was when he made rude remarks about the change of my name "just because you have decided to have another name ,means a lot of work for me" .I told him I appreciated his time and efforts and if there was anyway that i could be helpful , I would be glad to help.Upon which he said "It's not just your email that needs to be changed but every user name and password that you use alongwith your network login.It will take me at least 15 minutes work beforehand on my PC ,then 30 minutes on your PC when you have to log off.So when are you free?" I replied that I could adjust that easily as I have some paperwork to do that afternoon , but do need to be told when he would start work on my PC as I had some journals to post and didn't want him to start when I was in the middle of the journal posting. He said "I am really busy and get booked to do work 3 to 6 months in advance and I just don't have the time to do this now"
I replied that I was going on annual leave for 2 weeks and didn't want any emails sent to me lost and would prefer to have at least the new email address set up by Friday lunch time.He was very rude in his interaction and gave the distinct impression to me that he didn't have time to change the email address on Thursday.
I returned to my desk and as I was preparing to post my journal, Mr.Smith came to my desk around 3:30 p.m.and asked whether I was logged into the EXETER Programme.I said I wasn't and why was he asking.He said he was changing my User ID in Exeter remotely.He still didn't advise me about the time he would start working on my PC to change my network log in,hence I worked under the previous impression that it would be done on Friday,1st May.
However,at around 3:45 p.m., he came to my desk and said ,"Manjot,you will loose all the saved files on your PROFILE and the C Drive."
I offerred, "Mr.Smith, my name is Moonstar."
Further,I asked him to break it down to me in layman's terms as I was a non technical person,and as such didn't comprehend the difference between a Profile and the C drive.He raised his voice at this point and leaned in towards my chair in a very aggressive stance and repeated "Manjot,you will loose everything on your previous profile as -Manjot - and your C Drive as well"
At this point I realised that he was going to work on my PC and I had to start saving what documents I had been working on in mid-way.However, when I told him that I would let him know when I finish saving,he spoke very rudely ,"When will you finish Manjot - today ?"
Again,I offerred, "Mr.Smith, my name is Moonstar.Why don't you use my proper name?"
Further, I requested him to give me 5 minutes at least and that I would come and tell him when I am finished saving all my documents safely.He made loud gestures with his hands about this and talked aggresively about how busy he was and walked away.As I was now very paranoid about loosing my documents and folders which I had saved on the desktop( C Drive) ,I started copying them over to my folder on the Q Drive.He came back to my desk at 3:50 p.m. and stood in a very aggresive stance beside my chair.I requested him that I was copying my files inorder to make a back up .He started talking very loudly and in a rude manner saying"you can't make a back up , you can't put load on the server,tell me what are you doing,tell me now! I am a security manager! "
I answered I was following his advice ,and since I was going to loose everything on my profile, I was simply trying to save my folders from the Desktop to the Finance drive.He was very rude by this point and repeatedly said " you can't make a back up!"
As he spoke his voice kept raising and I felt very threatened at this point and stood up from my chait in order to protect myself and put some physical distance between us.
This was the point where I asked him to talk to me calmly and my manager Catherine told him " you don't have to be so rude about it Mr.Smith"
He said he will just stop all that I had been doing and went into my PC and selected the option" undo COPY".
At this point, since my line manager had left for the day, I felt very vulnerable and unneccesarily harassed and asked Mr.Smith to continue the work the next day.Mr.Smith refused and said he needed me to log out of the computer so he could change the Network user ID from -Manjot- to - Moonstar-
I moved my paperwork to my collegue Samantha's desk and started working there.Mr.Smith went back to the IT department.Then around 4:30 p.m., he came back to my desk and said he has changed my network log in to "Moonstar" but the password remains the same and asked me to log back in.
At this point , I felt even more vulnerable as very few people were still working and most of the office was empty.I started typing my password and then said that I rather he worked on my PC on Friday morning.
He insisted that he would work on the PC and left for the IT department saying "I will change your password as you have forgotten your password!"
I answered, "Mr.Smith,why would you change my password when I remeber my password correctly."
At this point, I went to Head of Finance;Amrit, and told him that Mr.Smith threatened to change my password and that I felt very vulnerable talking to him alone ,whilst he worked from his desk in the IT department.
Amrit agreed to come with me to bring the matter to the attention of Mr.Smith's Line Manager,Mr.Josh Hart.
However,Mr.Josh Hart had left for the day and we spoke to Alex Stiles,Deputy Director of Finance.Alex advised that I should ask him to not change my password and if he had any issues he could speak to the Deputy Director Finance,Mr.Hill.
When I went over to IT,Mr.Smith announced ,"I have changed your password !" I asked him " Why?" To which he responded"Because you were acting awkward!" I explained to him that I was not acting awkward ,instead since I was going home I preferred he would work on my PC the following day.
I came back to Finance and was talking to Amrit when Mr.Smith came back to work on my desk.I was paranoid that if I loose any files ,it would be impossible to recover them if the recycle bin had been emptied.Around 4:45 p.m. , I watched as he systematically deleted everything on my old C drive and then emptied the contents of the Recycle Bin.He then explained the new password to me and that I needed to change it when I next logged in and asked me if there was anything else that I needed.I answered "Mr.Smith, you haven't explained anything to me upto now ,and now that you have finished ,you are asking me ."
He said he had been trying to copy my favourites over from my old profile to the new one,and that I was ungrateful for all the work he had done and he pushed the chair and left the Finance side.
I felt bullied by Mr.Smith throughout the ordeal and felt vulnerable when he changed my password so that he could log into my computer remotely.This incident has not only left me terribly shaken but also compromised my work,as I have lost a lot of my work which I had saved on my desktop.
(Names changed to protect the others )
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