Fair Tactics or Abuse of Power:

I am not one for gossip or for spreading rumors about others to get back at them when a wrong has been done to me; however a recent experience I had made me questioned the quality and true nature of leadership in the workplace. I believe leadership takes character and unfortunately in some individuals that quality is in very short supply. Well on to my story I work for a big company that employs a lot of people yearly, and I am what it is considered “the little guy” at the bottom of the food chain, in other words underpaid and overworked. On one of my recent work shifts and to my misfortune I was not feeling to my full capacity due to the fact that I hadn’t been feeling very well the day before what I mistook as a regular head cold. When I arrived to work that day I was able to talk and even if a little under the weather I was perfectly fine to perform my job. After almost two hours I began to feel worse, my throat closed, I could not speak, and I was in a lot of pain. Since there was no means of communications because there was no phone, no radio, and no one near my location at work I could not let anyone know I was not feeling very well. After a while I was able to approach another coworker and in a piece of paper write her a message asking for help and telling her what was wrong with me. When my leader arrived to the scene not only he looked disgruntled and upset he began to lecture me on my bad judgment and even told me I would get a notation on my record for showing up to work sick when I knew I could not speak. Since I was not able to talk because of my throat I couldn’t even defend myself at the moment. Once I left work that day I went immediately to my doctor and he diagnosed me with bronchitis and tonsillitis. Nevertheless I got my performance notation on my record and in the report there were even included misleading and untrue statements about me that never took place. Needless to say I have never been able to look at that person the same way, first because of the way I was treated, second because of the unfairness of it all when others have been in my position and have gone about their business consequence free, and third because I thought there was more consideration for others and unfortunately I was sadly mistaken. Consequently I have been paying a lot more attention to my surroundings and by coincidence not too long ago I was the receiving audience in the tale of two other incidents involving the same individual. The first one happened to an elderly coworker that after being on the clock by mistake was 5 minutes late to the morning announcements which in no way affect his job performance because work itself had not began yet. He as well as me got a notation on his record which not only affected his perfect record for several years but has left him in such an emotional state that now he rushes for the morning announcements disregarding everything else for the fear of being punished again. The other incident happened to a coworker that had been addressed about her appropriate foot wear which she failed to correct and even if it was her responsibility this same individual disregarding any tactful approach and in front of others addressed her in not a very nice way and sent her home which in turn force her to wait the remaining of her shift outside waiting for her ride to finish. Of course I have tried to get statements from this people but in reality in the current economic recession everyone is afraid of losing their source of income and security so I am left with the unfairness of it all and what I think about it. What do you think, Tell me your story?