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Franke James is Editor/Founder of Office-Politics.com and Inventor of the Office-Politics® Game.

Peter R. Garber has worked as an HR professional for over 25 years and is the author of many business books including: Winning the Rat Race at Work and 100 Ways to Get on the Wrong Side of your Boss.

Dina Beach Lynch, is an Ombudsman, Author and former attorney. An award-winning mediator, Dina served as the Corporate Ombudsman for the 7th largest bank in the US helping over 48,000 employees to resolve workplace issues.

Dr. Rick Brandon is CEO of Brandon Partners. He has consulted and trained tens of thousands at corporations worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries.

Dr. Marty Seldman is one of America's most experienced executive coaches. His 35-year career includes expertise in executive coaching, group dynamics, cross-cultural studies, clinical psychology, and training.

Arnie Herz, is a lawyer, mediator, speaker, author and consultant nationally recognized for his practical and inspired approach to conflict resolution and client counseling.

Dr. John Burton LL.B. M.B.A. M.Div. Ph.D. is an ethicist, mediator, lawyer and theologian. John is currently located in Prince Rupert, B.C., Canada, working with Canada's aboriginal communities.

I think our district manager is ripping us off... our phones were shut off for non-payment, and our computers have been down... Should I start looking for another job?

Arnie Herz, Author of Legal Sanity, and Attorney at Law, responds to the Office-Politics letter below.

July 2005

Dear Office-Politics,

I work in a small, three-person office. Our manager is only the manager by default -- meaning he has seniority. He comes from a construction background, with zero management experience before this job. He accepts all orders from our district manger without question, and expects me to "respect his authority" when it comes to everything. Anytime I raise a question, I get the feeling he thinks I'm trying to undermine him. I do mostly outside sales, and have been told I'm doing an "excellent job" by my manager, and his boss, our district manager.

The issues I'm having are:

1) I haven't gotten back any money for my expenses in over a month. I didn't start asking any questions until about two weeks ago, and was told today by my manager, "If you keep asking about this, you're only going to cause problems for yourself." Should I perceive this as a threat? How do I handle this?

2) Because I'm out of the office most of the day, I get the feeling that our other office mate is getting "jealous" of my freedom, while she is stuck in the office. She's been subtly dropping hints that she'd like to do some field sales, something for which she was not hired. Now, we're going to be switching jobs because I've been raising questions about my mileage expenses.

3) I think our district manager is ripping us off of our commissions. I've been trying to determine for personal budgeting reasons how our commissions are calculated. I've gotten nothing but a brick wall everytime I've asked.

In addition to the above, our phones were shut off for non-payment for a day, and our computers have been down now for eight straight days.

Should I start looking for another job?

Walking Target



Dear
Walking Target,

Yes.

Thanks for writing to Office-Politics.

Arnie Herz

Arnie Herz, Esq.
Author, LegalSanity
Attorney at Law


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