I’m going way off topic with this blog because this is a subject that has been weighing on my mind. For the most part I’ve been happy with my current employer, but dealing with Celiac Disease and learning to control my abilities as a medium have really taken a toll on me as of late. Plus, Odessa seems to come out and speak her mind at the worst of times. I also have post traumatic stress syndrome and when someone gets rude or offensive with me I bare my claws and lash out before I get hurt.

I’m going out on a limb and posting this after a conversation I had with a lawyer regarding my current work situation. In order to prove my qualifications for a Production Editor position I came out of the broom closet to admit I’m a witch, a medium and <gasp> I write erotica obviously under this pen name. Soon after applying for this position, which I am qualified, for I get a verbal warning for not putting a customer on hold to take a call from the lead on our e-commerce team. I didn’t answer his call because he always comes across as a condescending know it all and it wasn’t like I didn’t know what I was doing. Instead of calling the customer I replied to their email mainly because I hate making phone calls to tell people something they don’t want to hear. Anyway, the issue was resolved, the customer was happy, but I got screwed all because in a moment of anger I said to a fellow employee, “I’m a tech, not a customer service rep.”

You don’t build people up by putting them down and the people I am working under in this so-called Christian environment are completely lacking in tack and the company as a whole knows next to nothing about producing and formatting their ebooks. This is something I know about, it’s tied to my passion of writing. My manager sends out emails all in CAPS, yet accused me of being terse. They don’t listen to my suggestions on making the ebook ordering process better and half the time they treat me like I don’t know what I am doing, I can not stand to be micro-managed.

The very best boss I ever had was Van Gerrald, the owner of Boston Pizza. He was a hard ass perfectionist, but he was always fair and he NEVER talked down to any of his employees. I did my college internship while working with Van to compile a new employee training manual. He also pointed out something to me that holds true to this day. I get along much better with male supervisors. Women tend to find me threatening, especially when I know what I’m doing and they don’t.

The very worst boss I ever had was Teresa Ford at Dell. I do not think there are adequate words to explain how much I despise this woman and I don’t care who knows it. She’s a miserable excuse for a human being and had it out for me from the day she took over our team. I even went to HR and asked to go from chat and email to be put back on phone support just to get away from her. She was clueless on anything technical and went out of her way to take everything I said out of context.

When they were imposing mandatory overtime I was working 4 10 hour shifts. That would have meant only being allowed a 30 minute lunch break instead of a usual hour. I offered to come in 30 minutes early or stay thirty minutes over to not lose my hour lunch. It wasn’t that I was eating lunch, I was driving home to walk my dog. It would have been animal abuse to have left my dog home alone for 11 hours without being able to go to the bathroom. This stupid bitch couldn’t comprehend that my dog is my only family. How would she have felt leaving her kids home alone for 11 hours? She’s an animal abuser to expect me to torture my dog in such a manner. I only wish I’d told her to her face what a total and complete piece of shit she is before I left Dell.

Let’s see before she took over our team I was Platinum Employee of the Quarter, not just for Nashville but for all of Dell. She becomes my boss and suddenly I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m a bad employee. I think not.

Dell has this speil about work life balance, but obviously where Teresa Ford was concerned, my family life meant zilch to her. My dog is my child and no way am I going to leave him at home alone for 11 hours not being able to go to the bathroom. I was also dealing with IBS on her team and when you have IBS sometimes when you have to go, you’ve got to go. It’s either run to the bathroom or shit your pants. Sometimes my colon would be spazzing so bad I could hardly keep from crying in pain and she never cared. I got fussed at for logging into an aux code to go to the bathroom with a valid medical problem. That’s how cruel of a person she is.

There are managers at Dell who do know that people have lives outside of work and that life can make or break your productivity. Both Lee Hoermann and Jason Fulford got that. They treated their teams like real people and more than once went out of their way to help me with scheduling when I was in a very bad domestic situation. They got it. They actually treated their team like human beings and did everything they could to make the best of our work environment.

I’m putting all this out there because I am terrified that I won’t get this position because of my spiritual beliefs. That is religious discrimination and that is illegal. I am more than qualified for this position. I could turn their ebook sales around and I know it. If I don’t get this position it will be for one reason, they don’t want a witch working for their company. I never discuss my personal beliefs with a customer. I never mention what genre I write despite coming into work an hour early every day to sneak in writing time, and write through my lunch and my breaks, with my MacBook always there on my desk.

Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen and if I don’t get treated fairly and with common courtesy it will happen. I’m not a woman who is afraid to speak her mind. I am strong and I am competent. I will not be walked over. I will not be put down. I am going to stand my ground and one way or the other stick this out until I can make it writing full time. Fire me and there’s going to be one hell of a lawsuit and it’s going to get  my name out and it’s going to sell my books.

It’s their call…