custy under fire - your professional help would be very much appreciated

[Tortington]

the story is far too long and laborious suffice to say it involves a london borough council and the company i work for supposedly working toether to help set up a residents association. the person designated fromt he council is a housing officer and has no experience - i have been brought in half way through the process and have been to two meetings ( those of you who read may remember me asking your advice over whether i was being paranoid at minuteds of said meeting being unfair) anyway, i was asked to comment on the governance document proposed for the association and found that it was a fucking shower of shite. so i went through point by poitn and made suggestions - explaining whilst i went that this was not a document tying statuatory agencies into working with ressies assoc but that it was the GOVERNANCE doc.

anyway fuckwit fella from council said this to an area manager who is a spineless shit

......is custy or custycompany wish to come up with a model which would have involved the same amount of work as producing the e-mail below, then she is free herself to put forward and produce one. the comments below verge on nit picking ( does it really matter if it is a management or other committee?) .....it does actually.. A lot of what custy has written is legalesque pedantry
this may not have been your intention or custycompany intention but having experienced custys approach in meetings and now this i have to question whether her continuin involvement is going to be productive in this project. We need everyone signed up to the process

i think its in our interest to explicitly sign up to this initiative as a committment to joint working. it may not tie in with "model" constitutions but it is the reallity ont he ground.

thats it

right any way i can have the bastard for calling me a nit picking pedant and suggesting i get chucked off the project?

hes not in said his secretary.

i have written your great quotes down as i get flustered with authority and turn into a great big piece of wobbly jelly and start stuttering and mumbling with "err" after..err...each...err....word.

WWW you have the situation spot on - i cant win and as the lowest member of staff - well, we know where it trickles

so what union is it for housing associations?

Tell his secretary that you would appreciate it if he could contact you when he is less busy, so that you can try to fit in a meeting with him in your busy schedule.

Click here to join a Union relevant to your work area.

Don't have any advice, not something I know much about - but wanted to wish you good luck Custardo.

unison here i come

thanks for your help and good luck messages, i am actually relieved that i didn't talk to anyone today it helped me get it somewhat into perspective and get over emotions.

i woke up today and cried at the dreadful day i was about to have. so thanks everyone

Aw mate, get yourself in that Union and don't let arseholes like him get to you!

Look at it this way. You go to work, you get paid, you come home, you spend money you earnt. That's it. Don't let work spill over into your home life. You are only there so their accounts have to put money into your bank account, that's all. Who gives a toss what these people think about you? They don't influence your home life, they don't socialise with you, they probably don't give you a second thought when they are at home either. They're just work colleagues that you have to see every now and then.

Wishing we lived nearer!

ta matey

Custy. I can't compete on a business-like basis with the wonderful advice given already, but just wanted to say that if it does still all go tits-up, you could always just whack him with a brick (apologies for stealing your line if you happen to read this willow)

custardo, good luck. You know where I work (in housing too). All our team belong to Unison. Definitely worth it. My collegue who's worked in local government since she was born is a very committed unison member and regularly advises on all sorts of grievances. I can ask her anything specific about your situation - just say.

I am not an expert in this but from where I stand, I agree with phillippat about focussing on the ability of this residents' group to attract funding.

If this rubbish governance document will prevent the group getting funding, surely a major reason for their formation, then your advice on rewriting the document to get funding it must be noted. You must be seen to make this point to the council's housing officer asap.

You can be polite and positive about it - you could say that from your perspective the way the governance document is written could prevent the residents' group from being eligible for funding from outside agencies. (Here you can bring in supporting evidence about how groups get funding in your experience etc etc). You just want to warn them of this potential problem. But you imagine the housing officer may well have thought this through and has an answer for you...... You are eager to hear how the housing officer has anticipated getting funding for the group, so please can this be clarified now? Be disingenuous as Blu says.

Is it at all possible that the housing officer does not want the residents' group to get funding? Is it possible someone somewhere actually wants the group not to flourish? probably an off the wall thought, but something to think about.

thank you, much appreciated.

i dont think hes doing it on purpose - hes just not qualified to do this.

your right of course about the emotional keep calm stuff ( and the brick) will do mi bestest - is not mi strong suit.

Custy I have only just seen this It's terrible.He sounds an absolute nightmare.Can't your immediate bosses and colleagues supprt you?After all they know you better than he does.Good luck wth unison xx

thanks noddy xx

Custy babe, I only just saw this (you know i only read the sex threads) If you fancy a beer and a shout one eve next wk, let me know and I'll be straight over to the Golden Lion. xxx

thanks mabs.
pub! anytime.
xxxxxx

You are not allowed to the pub without me!

hay noddy you coming over to goring fer a drink?

Just seen this, have no helpful input I'm afraid custy but am right there with the Willow Solution as suggested by Prufrock.
And scope the unions out before choosing one. We have two, both good on paper, but one local rep is pants and the other excellent. If there is joint recognition, maybe try and discover which has more members in the branch...
Best of luck.

good luck with this, custy

Did you speak to them yet?

he phoned me today. it was awful. the upshot being that if i dont write a tenant compact for next thursday from scratch and if i as the rep from my organisation do not sanction crappy document then "your organisation will have to rethink its position in the borough"

so i will be the downfall of the organisation or look like a twat.

he was so very very very very clever on the phone, very quick, he never let me get a word in edgeways.

i told him funders would think the doc not up to scratch
he said that funders would be happy that we signed up to stuff in the doc.

i said i worked for a funder and i know they wouldnt be happy.
he said they would be happy. and "custy i am not going round in cirlces with you i think i've said all i need to"

i said so let me get this right. you want me to write a document and pass it through my line of management and get it approved for thursday.

he said thats your organisations problem. take it to the director " i know her from previous work" he said
i said shes not my director that xxxxx was my director

he said as the director for the london region she will have the final say.

so he told me to bypass my line management.

he told me to agree or basically i would be responsibly for my org not being chosen for future developments.

he never shouted as such he was condescending int hat " i dont see whats complicated about writing this in three days, its not complicated"
i told him i had existing meetings and arrangements
thats your orgs problem

i came off the phone ( out office only had 3 fellas left in it this evening...this is funny in a minute..) one collegue said " corr that was hard!"

then i started crying and ran to the loo!!

poor fellas didnt know what to do, i put them in a fucking awful position. hate that i did that.

i e-mailed both directors and area manager told them that this guy was agressive and i refuse to work with him on a one to one basis becuase " it leaves me feeling so upset that i am tearful and anxious for days after"

i honestly am not after any managerial position - i just want to do my job well. so if they read the above as weekness i don't care too much

i then sat in the car and cried for ages before coming home becuase its so fucking unfair to come home in tears when everyones had a hard day.

but huby knew something was wrong and i blubbed for ages.

so just stopped blubbing and had a curry.

so was a blub fest.
thanks fer listening all your advice was greatly appreciated - and i shit you not - i used some of your exact phrasiology in my e-mails - youve all been great

Sounds perfectly dreadful. Can you write down exactly what has happened and send it to all parties ? Make it clear that you are prepared to write the document as directed by tw*tfeatures, but that you refuse to accept any responsibility for any fall out as you are doing it under loud protest.

Make him explain it to further up the chain.

Oh Custy, he's a fuckwit of the highest order. I think in your position I'd make this my manager's problem - you shouldn't have to deal with someone who is aggressive and who is trying to make you behave in a way that suits him and no-one else. Surely he can't make you write this? He obviously thinks he knows this senior woman so well that he can do whatever he likes and still get what he wants, I wonder if that's strictly true? It may not be you know. I'm sorry he made you cry, what a twunt. I think you should escalate this too if possible, wtf should be get away with it?

Custy, joining Unison is a fab idea, do it asap. You need to have your concerns about the document recorded in writing so if it does go tits-up you will be in the clear. I wouldn't sign anything that goes against your professional judgement.

Escalate this to your manager, explaining that this man is aggressive and is trying to bully you and why his 'solution' would be dangerous. Ask your manager whether they want you to deal with this man, or your manager to take over. If they do want to to deal with him, explain that you are not going to sign anything that is, in your professional judgement, wrong and dangerous.

I have never worked in housing, btw, just generic advice.

Oh sweetie. Just seen this and I'm so sorry you've rubbed up against this tosser and he's upset you. Feel better soon, hon. This guy is sososososososo not worth it. Glad your man came up trumps. All my love. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Total fuckwit scumbag. I have no advice, you seem to be dealing with it appropriately anyway.

so for you though hun.