Robin

My coworker Robin has been unhappy at work for a long time. She was not getting along with our manager Jennifer, and especially Jodie, the lady who Jennifer made supervisor. Robin was looking for another job and I guess she found one because 1/2/07 is her last day with us. I will miss her and she has been a really good pal. We went out to lunch yesterday at Steak and Shake. I'm happy for her that she has found something new where she will not have to worry day to day about if she is going to have a job or not. I am frustrated and a little angry about the circumstances that have led up to this. Mistakes in judgement were made on both sides of the fence, but we all know between a manager and a subordinate who will eventually win, whether they were right or not. I think a heck of a lot of Jennifer, she has always treated me personally with fairness and respect. I just don't think she treats everyone with that same fairness and respect.

When she made Jodie supervisor, I think that has been her only big mistake. There were employees who no longer work at the company who were very immature. They would play on the internet and read a lot--basically goofing off and chatting all the time. She saw this as "them" and grouped Robin and a few others into that group as well. She did this based on age. I see that Robin was different and even though she liked to chat a little and joke around with her coworkers, she always got her job done first and put the actual work before anything else. I have the same philosophy to work hard when there is work, but when it slacks off, to have enough fun with your coworkers to make it an enjoyable place to be. Jodie comes from a different era of workplace. She is over sixty years old, and she wants to supervise people with an iron glove. These days there are tons of places to go entry level in a customer service position and people will just not put up with that. They will move on. I feel like it's killing our department and I think a couple weeks ago, Jennifer finally saw what was going on and tried to put a stop to it. It was just too late for Robin. Everyone will be sad she is gone.