Hi, this is my alt account, not a throwaway.
I work at a mixed state-private owned telecom company in my country, i was hired into a department that focuses on linking the communities (The people) and the company itself to know where they have to solve emergencies and send technicians to fix something, the department in my state has been inactive for over a year after the previous manager was fired on the spot for insulting a manager from other state.
Anyway, 3 people were hired, a manager, me, and another girl. I was a candidate to be a manager, but it was better to hire someone with an actual college degree, so they found one (No college degree is required to work at this department, but since it was inactive, it was better to find someone with a degree to look good in HR and the capital). The one who appointed us was the regional manager, who is in charge of 3 states with this specific department, who, surprise, knows me since i was a child, because my mom worked at this company a while ago, and she knew pretty much everyone at a national level at the time.
So, we made the interviews, went through a long process to get hired, and we started working.
One thing you must know is that the manager was a political appointee, because he is in charge of the youth from the government political party in my city (Yes, the party has so many people that the young people has their own party within the party), and since the state also owns the company, this is seen as a good thing. Also, you must know that contractual positions have benefits and legal protections, so i can't be fired on the spot, although the manager can be removed by the regional manager whenever he decides to. Its what we call in my country, a “99 Position”.
Anyway, things went well for a while, and we started to go to the communities and do planning. I am in charge of 5 cities in my state, and we already visited them all.
But things started to change when…
My manager got covid, so he was out for 3 weeks, of course covid is horrible, so he introduced the sick days, but of course, we started to get behind or planning, and on top of that, the city had a month long annual fair, that got everyone busy. So, February came, he was feeling better, and started to plan again. We had 3 reunions in 3 communities from my territory, including the zone where i live in, it was important because it was to warn people about gangs steal internet cables (a nation widespread problem).
The first reunion was good. The next day, the second reunion was at my neighborhood, it was a 2pm, but i was in another critical reunion, not too far from the company place, and i told my manager to pick me up in the company car. He didn't, he went straight to the reunion, and i had to walk a lot and pick a bus, i was late, but so it was the people, my mom was there when my manager arrived, and she told me that he was getting angry that the people were late, and was shouting “Where is OP? Why isn't OP here yet? I am going to suspend this reunion” He knew very well that i was in that reunion, and i told him to pick me up. I arrived at the same time as all the people we needed, and we had the reunion. But at that time, my mom decided to stop being kind to the manager, and get into Karen mode (But of course, not attacking him directly, my mom is a plotting conspiratorial Karen).
The next day, we had another reunion in another community, it was early so, instead of going directly into the office, i told my manager to pick me up, i live kinda near to the company place, and the community we were visiting was far away.
It was about time to go, when i noticed that he was late, so i called him, turns out, he was on his way to the community, without me, and he CRASHED THE COMPANY CAR.
I said, DUCK, and started to head right away, when the regional manager calls me, asks me if i was with my manager, i told him no, and i don't know what happened, or how the car was crashed. He told me to do not go to the reunion, because some mayor accident already happened and didn't want to risk something else to happen. Needless to say, the community wasn't happy at all, but they understood (kinda) when were told about the accident.
So, my manager had no serious injuries, but wasn't in his best shape, according to him, he did put sick days AGAIN, and for the next 2 weeks, he barely was in the office, and as only going to do all the paperwork related to the accident (I go to the office every single day, he barely goes there to check mails or have meetings).
The thing is that, he was going to all the mayor political activities of the party, and he seemed well, even moving an arm he wasn't supposed to be moving at all.
My mom, and another community leader were pissed, and i was getting tired to wait for him, so i started to do the planning myself. I implemented a system thought a website to attend the community requests better, and e more efficient and transparent, i showed it to the regional manager, and he was absolutely pleased, my manager, had nothing to do with it, and even missed the presentation, for going to a political event. This system will be a mayor huge thing for us, since no one in this department did anything similar before.
And we started to do activities in the communities, starting by my own neighborhood, giving computer literacy to elders. It went very well.
Now, i know a person, who can give a mayor conference about the use of a national project planning system, will do that conference in the company place, at the conference room, that person, who is someone important, gave me his schedule, and a date and time to do the conference. I made all the planning, got all the permissions, i made the invitations, even put together a form system for people to sign up, since we have a max number of people that can enter the conference room with covid safety measures.
Well, i started to put the invitations everywhere, and then my manager called me, telling him that i cant do this without notifying him, i wanted to tell him “If you wanna know what im working at, then come to the office, you prick” but i just said, ok, “ill notify you”.
In the form system i made, i saw that when the night came, we had almost all the sits occupied, and people are going to participate in big numbers. Its going to be a success (Have in mind, my country is 90% vaccinated, and people take covid measures very seriously, i have 3 vaccine doses already).
But… my manager texted me on whatsapp, telling me to SUSPEND the conference, because, guess what, he has a POLITICAL EVENT, and he will be out of town for a few days, while HE IS STILL ON SICK LEAVE.
I didn't answer him. I showed the texts to my mom, and then she told other community leaders. Still haven't leaked to the public, but they are pissed. That was last night.
He is really willing to suspend the conference, that I PLANNED, because he wants to be present and show himself as the manager that of the department that made the conference possible. That was last night.
This morning i texted the regional manager, i explained the situation, and i sent him screenshots of EVERYTHING, he havent responded yet, but im not gonna suspend myself the conference, HE should be the one to suspend it if he really wants to.
Ill keep you updated.