Background
After being made redundant from my prior job in a bank, I spent many months unemployed after failing interview after interview. I eventually became resigned to the realisation that I had become blacklisted at most financial services companies - I had been interviewed already and was assessed as being a waste of time interviewing again due to being rejected on the grounds of being a "bad cultural fit".
With extensive coaching from my psychiatrist, psychologists, and aspie therapy group I managed to regain some confidence and struck some luck when I interviewed at a telecommunications company. It was for an IT job that involved designing accounting/finance systems. I had an IT college degree and a finance/accounting graduate degree. That said, I had no idea about telecommunications so I spent 5 days memorising large chunks of stockbroker reports, annual reports, newspaper clippings, etc.
The hiring manager ended up acting a bit aspie himself - he spent the whole interview asking me about my iPad, asking me about my internet connection, a book I had written when I was 14, etc. The hiring manager then said I was the person for the job then told me he would ensure that I was interviewed by "easy" interviewers who he thought I would get along with (thus ensuring my selection). I was interviewed by the head of accounting and then the head of business analysis. I was then made an offer the next day which I accepted. I then started the following week.
The problem is that my manager, due to seemingly being a bit aspie himself, did not really get along with other managers. All his staff really hated him and kept complaining to HR. This resulted in him being transferred to a new area. He left me and the other team members behind. I was quite upset at the time given he did not even bother to tell me about it - I found out via an internal announcement.
Given his department no longer existed, I was tranferred to a new department - the web design team which houses all the creative designers. I immediately complained to HR noting finance/accounting has nothing to do with web design and was told to calm down - the problem is that the HR manager is the same HR manager from the bank!! He went on to say that I should view it as temporary - there is a restructure in progress.
Issue
The new manager informed me of her "expectations" which I found rather an arrogant stance to take given I had not chosen to work with her in the first place. She then revealed the "team traditions" which includes singing to "foster creativity" - she then tried to cite some "research" from a journal I did not recognise to support her case. I told her I did not feel comfortable singing but I was happy to attend otherwise. She made it clear that not singing was "unacceptable" and that "everyone needs to do things they dont feel comfortable with at times". I felt she crossed a line at this stage - thus I told her I had no intention of singing and I noted I viewed her continued directives as workplace harassment. She claimed it was "not harassment". I responded that we should see what a judge thinks once I got my attorneys involved. Long story short, it went downhill from there.
They also hold team events (bowling), drinking sessions (nearly every work day), creative events (singing events, wearing costumes in the office). My psychiatrist and psychologists have been providing me with focused guidance - e.g. participate only in the structured events such as bowling since it is predictable and refuse to participate in the unstructured events such as singing since it is unpredictable. They mentioned it is important to go to some to avoid upsetting the new manager so try to go to 100% of the structured events to make up for the unstructured event non-attendance.
One unexpected benefit is that I no longer need to work weekends and late nights. The aspie manager had very high standards and was very pushy about everything being delivered very quickly - which was stressful and left me with no personal time. The new manager is all about socialising, finishing work early to "go to parties", etc. I used the reduced workload to do study telecommunications books, try to memorise names/faces better - this is much better for my career - I am no longer half-asleep and grumpy....knowing people's names makes them like me more and knowing about the telecommunications detail increases other people's confidence in me rather than thinking I am some banking guy in the wrong job.....
A problem is that the old aspie manager has now upset the new department as well - he keeps coming to me and asking me to help him (e.g. go to the people who dont like him and tell them they should give him a second chance, etc.). New manager hates him and says that if he is ever to approach me - I should not talk to him and instead send him directly to her. I was later told by another employee of hers that I was viewed as "lacking respect" towards her - something she noted after me refusing the singing and her realising that I was still meeting up with old manager.
The whole thing seems to be a bit of a disaster but there seem to be other aspies in the office - especially in the technical accounting and technical IT areas - and they have been teaching me lots of things which has been very helpful. So my thinking is that although the whole management situation is a bit of a basketcase, I should remain as I know I find it hard to find a job + I am improving my general skillset + I have only been in the job a couple of months.
Has anyone had such a situation before? Any ideas?
03 Nov 2012, 6:59 am
