Friday, April 1, 2011

8.5 months

Elba is a pro at going from sitting to standing now and is cautiously starting to cruise (once standing move from furniture to furniture while holding on). He broke three teeth on top and I think he is working on the the forth (so that will be a total of 6 now when it comes through).
I'm currently in Illinois visiting family and friends. This vacation was planned but happily coincides with my being suspended from work so I'm not sure if I have to use PTO time (or in the case that I end up fired, it won't matter).
Yes, it is April Fools Day, but I'm not joking. I was suspended pending investigation because back in June of 2010 my old boss threw me a baby shower at the property and some residents that came gave me little token gifts. We have a no gift giving policy and afterward I asked her about this. She said it wasn't a big deal since they were of little value (all less than $10) and that was consistent with her interpretation of a gift being something of value more than $10. See we have residents that often give the concierge a morning breakfast muffin, a banana or say a candy bar to employees that they appreciate. Is this a gift they should refuse? No, she decided that something less than $10 is a trivial token gift. So, why then am I suspended? Let me explain...a bit later another employee accepted the gift of a car; yes, an actual vehicle from a resident. He was fired. Not only did he not tell a manager, at first he denied and then lied about the details of this. Well, he made a complaint with EOEC that the company was discriminating because this man happens to be black and I (the white girl) got gifts at a baby shower. More important details to note; this shower was a surprise (I was not trolling for gifts). We have had employees purchase vehicles with management and family approval in the past (he didn't do this). We have had employees accept gifts of over $10 value with management and family approval (resident is giving away her old dishes because she got new ones and offers old set to housekeeper). Other managers have also received small token gifts approved by our boss. All of this I put in a 5 page statement and sent to HR/legal and I'm supposed to hear something back when they have made a decision. I was suspended Tuesday at 3pm. I haven't heard anything back.

You might ask how I feel about this. Well, at first shocked to say the least. I was pretty upset in the moment but since then I've really taken in the whole thing and I'm pretty open to being let go. I can't see how they will not fire me. It would be a lot easier to prepare their response that goes something like, "the executive director who allowed this is no longer with the company and the white girl was also fired for accepting gifts" rather than preparing a defense against racism. And because I almost feel like this was entrapment or something, I'm okay walking away from this and moving on. I also don't think I'm in a good position now to move forward or transfer within the company, since I was choked up and on the verge of tears in front of my boss, our regional and corporate HR (how unprofessional and emotionally unstable that looks). Such is life!

Elba is loving his time out here. We went and visited our friends Dave, Jen and their 10 month old. They were so cute, giving each other hugs and kisses!

He just woke up...gotta go!

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