Work Place Drama and Unfair Judgement

I know exactly the type you mean... sending hugs.

The only thing you can do is to keep doing what you are doing. Figure out a way to log when you do arrive and leave, as proof for when you need it.

You say that you have a resume out and about, maybe it needs to be revamped a bit? Send it to a friend who is in management, ask them to review it, give you advice.

One job sight that I love is www.indeed.com. It grabs jobs from several other sites to display all together.

Good luck,
M.

perception is often very differant from reality, but perception is more important. that's why so-called 'brown nosers" seem to get ahead. you need to start a PR campaign to give your reputation a makeover. start by operating on Lombardi Time. 15 minutes early = on time. volunteer for extra work when opportunites come up. start using postive professional dialogue like - I look forward to the challenge, and I appreciate the feedback. Make sure to stay late now and then and make it obvious by emailing your boss and maybe cc his boss right before you leave. Stay an hour late without being asked and then right before you leave send out an office fyi to everyone with suggestions for improvement or simple reminders -"hey everyone, Mr XYZs birthday is coming up and I thought I would get the ball rolling on planning something for him." or forward an interesting article that is industry related to the boss. For instance, I work in insurance. If I wanted my boss to notice that I come in early, stay late, and am a dedicated employee, I would stay late or come in early and forward my boss an article about an innovation in claims handling that I found, along with a personal note - "Mr.xyz, I came across this interesting article today. I think if we could incorporate this idea into our process, it would save time and money and improve our policyholders overall experiance. If this is something corporate is interested in pursuing, I would love to be involved in the project." The email is date and time stamped so they know you were at work at that time. In fact, never stay late or come in early without emailing your supervisor. Just make up an excuse. "Good Morning Mr XYZ, I came in early to get a jump start on the week and I had an idea. What if we tried color coding the files. I've ben color coding mine it is really a time saver." or"good morning mr xyz, I wanted to confirm that I did complete that report and you will find it in your inbox." That way the 1st thing boss man sees is that you were early and taking your job seriously. Even if all you did was come in early and do your makeup! It's not hard to appear to be doing a great job. It's a game people play. Its sad, but its an important skill. All this being said - it will only buy you time if you arent doing a good job. This wont make up for piss poor work. It's meant to get the higher ups to notice the hard work that are already doing.

you said your manager told you so. Do you think he is actually being truthful with you? Maybe he is causing trouble, telling you things about your boss, telling your boss things about you, etc. I used to have a manager like that. When my manager quit, we all ended up getting along and figuring it out. Just some food for thought.

Bosses can be such jerks.
Make sure you document everything.
I had a boss that completely went off on me in front of everyone saying he had it documented that I showed up over an hour late two days in a row and didn't even bother coming in or calling on the third day.
He was like a crazy person and I was just stunned.
Finally, I calmly said, "I wasn't late either of those two days. I wasn't even here at all. Those three days were my vacation days that you scheduled me to take off two weeks in advance. It's on everyone's calendar".
He wouldn't let me take a whole week at a time so this was all planned around a holiday that fell on a Tuesday and the office was closed Monday as well. Plus, he was yelling at me about it a month later.
I had another boss that was stomping around the office furious and everybody was like, "what the heck is wrong with him?"
He came out of his office and was digging through a file cabinet like a maniac and finally yelled at me demanding to know what I'd done with his personal file. He had looked everywhere and couldn't find it.
I just looked at him and said, "It's in the next file cabinet over. The one marked 'personal files'".
He opened the drawer and sure enough. There it was. He didn't say whoopsie or he was sorry or anything.
Sometimes people are lunatics and it sucks.
Just do your job. Document everything.
I can certainly understand how hard it is to put up with, but if this has been going on for 3.5 years, you haven't been canned yet.
Tortured, but not canned.
Make sure your butt is covered and you're above reproach.
Continue looking for another job. It's much easier to find one when you currently have one.

I'm not sure what other advice I have, just wanted to say you're not the only one who puts up with crud at work.

Best wishes.

document everything and request a meeting between you, your manager and the boss. i would speak frankly about your concerns that having to walk on egg shells constantly is creating an intense work environment that you are not comfortable with, and you feel you cannot put your best efforts in and do things with confidence if you feel like someone is constantly down your back micro-managing every potty break.

Well, there is always several sides to any story so we can only go by your version. Everyone gets one of those bosses at least once in their life. It sounds like you have a personality conflict with this manager. I am not saying that you are right or wrong. If it really is a personality conflict and you do not get along, then you might as well hang it up...it will likely never get better. I also understand that you cannot go without a paycheck. I would recomend that you document everything for your own personal files. Continue to try to be damn near perfect at your job. Don't give him anything to get you on...Essentially fake it until you make it. Keep smiling even if you are screaming on the inside and step it up on your job search. Sometimes you just have to recognize when you are in a losing situation.

Don't do anything... just focus on doing your job correctly and documenting your efforts. Your manager told you so? My guess (could be completely wrong here) is that your manager is blaming stuff on you and then blaming the boss' erratic behavior on him being tempermental. You won't confront the boss and the manager is likely telling the boss that he'll "handle it".

You could try scheduling a meeting with the big boss and the manager together and getting to the bottom of the issues. I did this one time and it worked out pretty well. Came to find out that my principal thought that she was my direct supervisor, when in fact I was told that I reported directly to the Assistant Superintendent, so our whole dynamic was "off" from day 1. Turns out that I was right, but she needed to hear the explanation from someone above me. The outcome of the conversation was actually quite positive and we worked well together for the next 5 years.

Do you punch in and out? Do you have an HR dept? I am not sure what to tell you. Can you request a meeting with the boss and let him know your feelings and try to figure out where he is coming from. Otherwise maybe have your manager start documenting your work if he/she is on your side and make your case.

Our workplace has an anonymous hotline for just such complaints. Does yours?

Sometimes bosses just seem to "have it out" for someone. Looks like you're the goat. My advice: keep looking! Something will come through eventually. Good luck.

Document everything.
Is there a time clock, or secure card system on your building that documents when you arrive/leave?
Document time spent after hours and all the tasks you work on.
Document every comment he makes about or to you, the circumstances, and to whom he is complaining.
Note your mistakes and anything you to to rectify problems.
And know what your harassment policy is at work.
It's good that you are looking for another job - keep looking.
Also look for opportunities for lateral moves within your company where you would not be reporting up through this guy anymore.
Does he treat every one like this? If he does, being a idiot to everyone is perfectly legal.
If he only singles you out - you might have a case for sexual harassment.