I'm a victim - strategy advice needed

[Flubber]

Pekka

for a "supercitizen" , you sure do seem to find yourself in a lot of situations where you get pushed around LOL.


I have a question and a comment. The questions is what were the terms of your "employment"? Does it specify explicitly the work you were to do ? Are you paid hourly for the work or is it more like a weekly stipend? etc etc




I would probably do a legthy update email; that covers all of your projects for her and gives an update on each one and then closes as follows

" I do require your direction as to what priorities to assign to each of these tasks. My understanding is that Project X was to be my focus but completeing that in a timely fashion is a full-time job alone and would necessarily preclude me from having significant involvement in the other projects. If you require my assistance on the other projects , I believe that the time lines for Project X muct be extended" etc etc etc


Thats what I would write if my contract were pretty vague -- If the contract is crystal clear that you should do project X.

" I do require your direction however. My understanding is that Project X was to be my focus and in fact my contract obligates me to complete project X by *. I believe that this project alone is a full-time job and would necessarily preclude me from having significant involvement in the other projects. If you require my assistance on the other projects , I will do what I can to assist but the extensive involvement in numerous projects as outlined above, can not continue if Project X is to be completed as I am required to do" etc etc




Even with a known bully and tyrant, I believe in going at them in a forthright fashion. Your problem is that you are overworked so SAY SO.

[Zoid]

Besides, calling the media on this isn't so bad. It will probably force the university to take some sort of action. I never thought I'd say this but you have to be more assertive, the only way to deal with bullies is by standing up to them (or occasionally film them with a hidden camera, leave the film to some investigative journalist on YLE and watch the **** hit the fan... )

And finally, don't beat yourself up for leaving Nokia. It was the right decision to do at the time. This job seemed more interesting. You couldn't know your boss would be a psycho nazi from hell... Regretting things only gives you an uset stomach and ulcer. Not to mention bitterness and resentment. No good has ever come from those feelings!

[Pekka]

Zoid, exactly. I recognize the need for a way out. I didn't know how 'on the edge' I was until I spoke with the former employer. I know her so it was cool. And I'm not ashamed to say I had to bite my tongue so no tears would be showing.

The thing is, I'm not your ordinary pushover. But I gave up so much for this, too much. This was the bridge for me to the PhD studies as well as some interesting continuation projects. You know? But as it turns out, I don't have the time to do this first project, so imagine the future? There is no future. I'm still going for the PhD, but via different route.

There will be a serious conflict between us sooner or later. I will let her know at the end of the contract, that I won't be continuing, and I won't be doing my thesis for her. She will shout at me, she will throw me out and do everything in her power to make my graduation as difficult as possible, burn all my bridges and contacts we have together and discredit me from all the work.

But there's still what... 4 months+ left in the contract. It's not as simple as 'don't do the tasks'. You see.. in my contract, it says I'm working for project X. So she has made all these tasks UNDER the project. She even CHANGED the name of a complete different big project, these are all scientifical projects, not just some little fiddling, ok so she changed the name to get it under this project, which really is a cluster of projects, and so in my contract, it belongs to my domain technically. It's not what we agreed upon, but since she is changing the names, it suddenly becomes my domain, and since she is my superior, she can let me know what tasks are included even afterwards.

So in either way I'm ****ed. And I am being abused so badly, I mean.. I can call it abuse, ruthless and cold abuse with extreme conditions. LIke if I worked for all the hours in a day, 24/7, from now on until the end of the contract, I wouldn't be able to finish all those tasks. I am not kidding.

[Flubber]

Ahh-- Just saw the bit about your boss leaving in a bit. I would send the email I suggested above (since its conciliatory and makes you look good) and then I would start refusing to do work for her other than your main project. All meeting requests, memos, emails etc related to other projects get forwarded to her ( and cced to sender) with a note that it related to "the project I filled in for you"


Never hostile, never confrontational but for every task you have you end up with a piece of paper giving it back to your boss with copies to the people that expect the work to be done. If she is contracted as the expert, its hard for her to push back too hard

[Arrian]

Have you complained at all?

-Arrian

[Pekka]

"
Even with a known bully and tyrant, I believe in going at them in a forthright fashion. Your problem is that you are overworked so SAY SO."

I have said this. The answer translates as "tough luck".

And about not taking action, she has the power to burn all my bridges in the academic world. Ok? The consequences are known. I'm in this middle kind of position, where I still need her help to go forward. Plus, I need the damn letter and her signature so I can add that job to my resume. Has she refused to do this for her former employees? Absolutely. Last two of them don't have that letter. Tough luck.

[Pekka]

Arrian, I have complained. No effect. I can resign, but I need the money. I really need the money.

[Az]

Pekka:


welcome to my world.

The army sent me to school to be a chemist - Then placed me as a project development manager - Only to be actually dealing in purchasing chairs, and barrels for 99% of the time.

[Pekka]

Flubber, I woudl have already refused them, but I'd be breaking my side of the contract, since she has altered projects under the project I'm working for and is in my contract.

[Pekka]

Ok, the problem is, there needs to be problems with the contract if I want to be in the clear. So I'm looking ways to find to show, that she is breaking the contract. But on the contract it doesn't look like that. Everyone knows it is so though, because there's people who have burnt themselves in this very same position.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Have you considered poisoning her?

[Zoid]

Pekka, this is seriously unfair. I know the academic world can be a *****, but seriously, noone should be able to hold your future in their hands and then make you jump through hoops just because they can make you. Is all her fiddling around with the contract legal? There must be some legal guy you can talk about that with?

[Lul Thyme]

Sounds like a job for SuperCitizen

[Pekka]

It's definitely not legal I figure. But like I said, she is already practically fired. So, it's not like it matters if it's legal or not, unless it is illegal in sense of criminal law.

[Pekka]

Ok so what I'd like to point out is the position I'm in. I can't resign, since I really really need the money. She can't be fired, since she already is fired practically. She can and will definitely throw everything on me should I become a problem. All the previous cases show, that the people were abused badly after they resigned or complained. So the problem is, I would lose the future opportunity that was promised to me with this job should she decide so. That is the basis I have planned everything on, so I really need that stuff.

She knows this all too well, or do you think she has changed the project names and shifted them under my project by accident? It's not an accident, it's a calculated move. Sure, I can just not do, but I will lose those opportunities promised, period. And then I don't know what to do, it's the reason I have worked hard this far so this would be all for nothing.

Alternatively, I can try to make through this nightmare, last 4 months and make my moves during that time, so I can shift to other things immidiately and let her know I won't be signing a new contract. She will be pissed off, bu tas long as I have everything ready, it wouldn't matter, that is, she can't burn the bridges for me anymore as I would have already signed etc. with the future, the stuff I'm really looking forward doing.