AIBU to think this confuses professional boundaries?

[Notss]

Sorry for the long post but don’t want to drip feed.

I work a full time job and I’m also a trustee for a charity that runs the local community centre. As part of the centre we have a cafe that used to employee three members of staff prior to lockdown. At the time that lockdown occurred we were in the middle of a restructuring and so the end result was that all three jobs were lost.

Since being allowed to re-open we initially decided to trial it with me, and another trustee, voluntarily working in the cafe. We both have food hygiene and previous experience in catering (she worked in kitchens prior to DC and I did kitchen work while at uni.)

It was then decided to bring one member of staff back in to support. This member of staff is being paid. I understand why me and the other trustee can’t be paid for our contribution.

Today was her first day and she literally walked into the kitchen, looked at the bacon my friend had cooked and said “That looks fucking disgusting, did you cook that?” She then tired some mushrooms and said “I’m not serving them, they taste tinned”

This continued throughout the day, with her completely re-arranging the kitchen halfway through because “she’s used to to it a different way”. Almost everything we did was met with some sort of “fuck this...” “Shitting that...”. Throughout the shift she also refused instruction from me and the other trusted, things like “Can you use the other eggs, they’ve got a shorter date.” Was met with “No, I won’t” because they had been stored in a fridge.

Anyway, at the end of the shift, I had a word with the other trustees and expressed that I was quite upset. I was told:

“That’s just how she is, kitchens are like that.”

“When your in the kitchen, you work for her as she’s staff and you’re a volunteer”

I took exception at the second statement. From my POV, although I’m happy to take direction from her in the kitchen, me and my friend are trustees of the charity and we did not work for her. I believe it is confusing the professional boundaries to say I work for her in the kitchen, but as soon as we step into the hall i’m senior to her again?

I tried to explain that it’d be no different from the CEO at my paid work covering for an absent colleague in my department. I might give him direction and instruction on what to do that day: but I’d always have to remember that I still work for him.

AIBU to think that:

a) I don’t work for her at any time.
b) She shouldn’t be swearing at members of the board, even if that’s the normal staff culture in that kitchen

As an additional, I did mention when this was being discussed that I might see it differently as I’m the only one with management experience (The other trustee’s in today are all from blue collar backgrounds - which I’m not knocking! While my paid job is in senior management in a corporate environment.) I was called a snob.

Sorry for the reproduction of war and peace!

I wasn't swearing and defiant BTW, but I bloody well should have been. She will be bearing the brunt of this confused and unviable set up.

Was she right about the eggs? I don't know how these things work in England. Is it more dangerous to use the refrigerated eggs or the eggs with the shorter date?

I'd say you were being tone deaf here - this employee clearly feels threatened/uncomfortable with you in kitchen. I think the underlying message is: get back to where ya belong...

£9 ph expenses? Agreed by The Board?

Are they all utterly incompetent? What a ludicrous arrangement and clearly a complete fiddle.

I think that you volunteering is wrong. You are taking a job from someone. To reopen with volunteers rather than staff is unethical

If she behaved like that on day one there wouldn't be a day two!

If she's only being paid expenses, she hasn't got a job.

So you don't need her anymore.

Problem solved - and getting rid makes it look better than being picked up for fraud when the accounts get filed.

Written warning for her behaviour and you de-volunteer yourself!

What are her expenses for?? The wholse set up smells rotten.

Thinking this through what actual expenses are going to go onto the accounts for nine pounds an hour?

You are meant to make people redundant when there is no role for them, the fact you have de facto reemployed them but on a fraudulent expenses basis indicates that there was a role for them in the first place.

I would worry less about her being rude and more about the way the board is behaving in running this non profit.

@lakesidesummer

Thinking this through what actual expenses are going to go onto the accounts for nine pounds an hour?

You are meant to make people redundant when there is no role for them, the fact you have de facto reemployed them but on a fraudulent expenses basis indicates that there was a role for them in the first place.

I would worry less about her being rude and more about the way the board is behaving in running this non profit.

She was rude but that's not the real issue. Having chaired a board of trustees I agree with the above.

Except you didn't even make these staff redundant as they had less than two years service. Your board got rid to run the kitchen on the cheap. Those employees should report you to the charities commission and to your funders.

This is a mess. Wtf are expenses of £9 an hour about? The charity has treated the employees badly and bringing her back to an unclear situation where its not clear if she's actually employed isn't helping. So she was rude. But probs has cause to be aggrieved.

Trustees oversee the organisation but you're not in charge of her or superior to her. You sound a bit too concerned with who is in charge of who. Do you think you're superior to her as she works in a kitchen and you are a trustee? Tbh if you've agreed this change as a trustee you're partly to blame for the situation. You can't get rid of paid staff and replace them with volunteers. I've worked lots with volunteers and in the charity sector. I'd think if you're experienced enough to be a trustee yiyd know this was a disaster waiting to happen.

This is complicated. I cannot believe that a charitable trust furloughed employees then had volunteers (the trustees) carry out the role that paid employees were meant to do. I can understand why she felt threatened that her role was being usurped by volunteers and she would lose paid income because of it. Her behaviour was appalling but the root of it understandable in this context.

As a paid employee, with the correct qualifications and training to do the job she should be overseeing the volunteers - that includes trustees.

I know that having trustees carry on the work unpaid would be well-intentioned but I think it has muddied the waters of whether the charity is viable to continue. I think the governors/trustees need to take a step-back and really look at the future of this charity.

It all sounds very dodgy and I'm not surprised if she resents that volunteers are standing in for redundant colleagues. Would you like it if your full-time job was taken over by someone working for nothing?
And as she's clearly not redundant, she should be properly paid and not on some expenses fiddle.
It doesn't sound as if you're competent to be a trustee - so perhaps you should address that first.

I've worked both formal, management roles AND as staff in restaurants. Restaurant culture, specifically back of the house in the kitchen, is very different and it sounds like you have a serious clash of cultures.

What she sees as normal behavior, you feel as aberrant. But, really, she is expecting you to show her the respect of her profession- that she know more about food prep than you do. And she's likely right, even if, as a trustee, you are her senior.

Be gracious and let her continue to have authority on this. The kitchen is her realm and if she's paid staff, I'm going out on a limb to assume she does not have the means or income that you, a trustee of a charity, does.

She particularly doesn't have the means or income after being sacked in the middle of a pandemic and then allowed to work for £9 an hour with zero employment rights

@Durgasarrow

Was she right about the eggs? I don't know how these things work in England. Is it more dangerous to use the refrigerated eggs or the eggs with the shorter date?

There is nothing wrong with using refrigerated eggs they should be room temp for cakes but you won't get sick from a refrigerated egg

I think the board of trustees need some refresher training on their responsibilities. And some guidance on managing staff and volunteers.
I suggest getting in touch with the local VCS for some help.
This sounds like a whole world of a mess.

You need some HR advice urgently OP, there have been some serious process mistakes made. It is just not on to sack your team and replace them with volunteers. Small wonder she's pissed off.

She sounds awful YANBU

Hang on, you're a trustee and you've only just realised that your organisation's employment practices are dodgy? What do you bring to this outfit, exactly, other than a bit of 20 year out of date kitchen experience? It's not her language you want to be worrying about; it's her fraudulent contract. And her redundancy-that-wasn't.

The behaviour is not good. But she probably resents her and her colleagues having been treated like shit by the organisation. And she may hold the trustees responsible for that...