Complaint Review: e-builder - Plantationt Florida

My performance was stellar until I began working with Michelle LHeureax, at which time nothing I did, literally, was right. Michelle works closely and enjoys a very close relationships with Brian Norusis, my boss, who then began accusing me of many things that I very honestly, flat out did not do. She went so far as to laugh in my face when I explained something technical part of my field. She was dead wrong but talked to me in a pejorative, condescending way. I told Brian about it. Not only did he not do anything, he became enraged and took her side telling me he was disappointed in me because I was whining and that I was just paranoid. When this commenting about problems in my performance started, after beginning working with Michelle, I asked him if he was getting the information from her which he flat out denied acting bewildered. Then he accused me of something that only she could have said too many revisions in my documents when with every single other person there had been 2 revisions and a final, but with her 15 or more most of which were trumped up things, things she had failed to make clear and then blamed me for, or things for which she was simply wrong. At any rate, at that point I had effectively caught him and he knew it. Only she could have said that and I had the full paper trail to prove it. Moreover, I am an expert in my field if I had a too many revisions problem I could not have enjoyed the outstanding reputation in the field I have enjoyed for 13 years. That is academic. At any rate, when I told him I knew Michelle must have said that, and I had the paper trail to prove it, at this point he began copying the HR person others then told me he fires people extremely easily and that meant I would be fired. Please note that my first quarter review he stated and I quote I cant find anything negative to say. The VP says you walk on water. At that point I had only worked with the VP not him. I effectively had two bosses who shared my time. Ironically, after walking on water, 1.5 months later I am fired. Moreover, at the end, Brian stated I had Michelle doing my work and this is evidence that I cant be trusted and had a major trust problem with EVERYONE on the team. Michelle had failed to let me know what had to be done in time, and I had received conflicting information as to what to do then I was blamed. My position left no room for autonomy every minute was stitched in with no room for flexibility so if anything goes wrong you cannot recover. The last straw was this work that I had Michelle doing first of all she failed to tell me that the work needed to be done. Second, the manual he is referring to, that Michelle stated one day before it was due it was a mess four chapters of that manual, she wrote and the others the trainers wrote, including  one person who is known for being a top expert at the software. And moreover, the President and his brother personally shook my hand and sent me IMs on this same manual that it was the single best the company had ever had. (I still have these Ims I sent them to my husband, only to be fired about 3 weeks later because according to Brian I have Michelle doing my work on this manual that despite the fact she had months to tell me that the content was a mess, she did not do so, and that she and other subject matter experts had written. I was supposed to check the subject matter experts works, that the President had said was stellar, intuiting that work done by experts, never criticized, and applauded by the President, was a mess. it is my firm belief that Michelle set that up because she did not trust me to do the upcoming client and wanted to do it herself, so she pulled a fast one and Brian as he always does, believed her and not me. Michelle is tall blond and thin. (smile)

Under Brian,  I received constant conflicting confusing instructions, or instructions given at the last minute. I could not react and was blamed, and then I could not defend myself because I was told I was whining. Somehow, Michelle, however, could go behind my back and talk to my boss about me but that was not seen as whining. I should note that one time I caught her I saw her go over to Brian and tell him something about me. I looked dead at her. She turned around and saw me and got startled. So I know she was doing it. Somehow I am supposed to intuit that a manual I get from subject matter experts,, no one has criticized (Michelle herself reviewed it with the first client Columbia, and never stated its content was inaccurate. She had 1.5 months to tell me it is a mess. )Plus she is calling her own and another co software expert's  content a mess. So when I was told about it one day before it was due, that it was a mess, this was a complete surprise to me since the President congratulated me on that same manual and the subject matter experts had written it. And I will also add, the kinds of changes she was making to it were superfluous and unnecessary. I highlighted one and had a copy in my desk. She was trumping things up.

Michelle never trusted me from day one and it is my firm belief this was racism, as I am excellent at what I do even at that company. Just like she was wrong about the technical grammar item, but talked to me like I was stupid, saying I never heard THAT before and she was simply dead wrong, she was wrong about me in general she couldnt trust me.

That is a true irony. I attempted to explain to Brian that a tech writer will not correct content given to them by a subject matter experts and I backed it up with the foremost authority in my field a site of 10,000 tech writers all the heavy weights where I posted the question and have referred to that site literally 1,000s of times in my 13 year career, as does any good tech writer. Brian exploded and told me I dont care what is on some message board! I was not given clear instructions, in fact I was constantly and repeatedly given conflicting information and then blamed for it. When I attempted to give my side and prove it, I was told I was whining and paranoid, and Brian blew up saying he didnt care about some message board. He knows nothing about my field. I stood up for myself, refuted the charges he had made against me, and told him how what he recently had accused me of, no one could have said but Michelle. At that point he began copying Human Resources on my emails, one of which was me reaching out to tell him how I was being harassed by Michelle.

I have 13 years outstanding experience in my field. There was no reason I could not have been trusted etc. by Michelle, and no reason I could not have been successful in this position. As for whining a writer is criticized left right and center by everyone, all the time; it is literally impossible to be a writer and be thin-skinned. I am no stranger to constructive criticism so I do not accept that I was whining. But if someone repeatedly accuses me of things that are patently false,  I will defend myself which I did. But when I did I was fired. Brian Norusis was guilty of listening to one side and forming an opinion again no trust- no benefit of the doubt. I was replaced by another person who abandoned the job after 1 month.

The programmers reviewed/QA'd my work and no one had any problem with tons of revisions. Not one single person. And no one said my work was a mess. I could not be where I am in this field were the things Michelle was accusing me of true. I cannot think of one thing she was happy with with respect to my work. I have been in the workforce 30 years. There is no way I could be a total zero as Michelle would have one believe as I said, its academic that this could not be so. But Brian willingly believed the things she was saying about me. Michelles opinion of me was colored, I believe, by prejudice. I simply cannot see what else it could be. She did this with grammar too she was worried about my grammar. I scored 97th percentile on the GRE . I have done textbook review for Prentice Hall and St Martins Press (English text books) and possess a Masters degree in the field - plus I graduated from an Ivy League school. But somehow I could not be trusted. The day she laughed in my face, when she was DEAD WRONG about a grammar point but condescendingly said to me I never heard THAT before. note that she then tried to recant somewhat, but would not let me explain it to her. She just shouted over me stating OK OK YOU MADE YOUR POINT!, yelling and raising her voice. I should note she yells at people all the time demonstrating a complete lack of business maturity, and a lack of professionalism. However, Michelle can act this way and do these things with impunity.

It is my firm belief that Michelle simply set me up and tricked me telling me info at the last minute so she had to do it because I would not have time to do it - with no notice. And when I told Brian he blew up, flatly denied it and fired me. I will add that any company that would allow someone to be railroaded like this just because of trumped up lies and an inability to trust someone for what I believe to be racist and other silly reasons is not a company I would like to continue with in any event.

Brian Norusis regularly talks to people with this militaristic style and fires people when he gets caught in his lies this is poor employee relations and an abysmal excuse for a management style.