Professional Workplace Dilemma Paper
Alicia Huff
GEN 480
June 19, 2012
Alexander Dunham

Professional Workplace Dilemma Paper Although everyone experiences a dilemma in the workplace at least once in their life, the most important aspect of the dilemma is to learn from it and gain some knowledge and wisdom that can be used the next time you are faced with dilemma within the workplace. Furthermore, while experiencing these dilemmas in the workplace we have to ensure that it is not a repeat deal. Meaning that you are a confrontational person and always have issues with other employees, because you gossip too much or your just plain old not doing your job and causing other people to get in trouble because they have to pick up your slack. Or maybe there is a fellow employee who is looking to get a promotion as a manager soon. Currently he or she is doing some shift leading from time to time. However, you notice that sometimes while he or she is shift leading he or she takes advantage of the little bit of authority that they have been granted for his or her eight hour shift. Now you have brought the change in the shift leader’s attitude to the attention of your managers. You have explained that there is a little abuse of authority with, yelling, name calling, snatching things from other employees hands, not giving lunch breaks, gossiping about other employees to their employee friends who happen to work there, and so forth. The managers state that they will look into it and handle it, not to worry. This is where it all begins. I worked for Lowes Home Improvement Store for about a year. I enjoyed working there. I liked working with the public, making customers happy, giving them my input on their home improvement needs and them actually taking my advice. It made me feel really good. Some customers were so happy with some of my suggestions and advice, they would bring me pictures of the new changes that they had made to their home on the account of me telling them how to decorate their living room, garden, or kitchen cabinets. It was a great place to work. Because of my ambitious attitude towards my job, and my noticeable work ethic, because I too wanted to advance and work my way up the chain of management, the shift leader with the attitude decides that she wants to make me her target. I noticed that on the shifts I worked with her, I would miss my lunch break and there were complaints about me being late, which were not true. She was taking away my lunch breaks on purpose and pretending like she forgot, although I would remind her. One evening we had an argument because of some trash that needed to be cleaned. But there was lack of communication her part, on purpose, so I could get yelled at. At Lowes, at the end of each night, the return desk at the front of the store has to be cleaned. Some of the items that are returned have to be placed back on the shelves or taken to the back of the store to be written off as damaged merchandise. Moreover, she and I spoke with some of loaders that work in the store to carry or transport heavy merchandise. We spoke to the loaders about moving the heavy merchandise to the back of the store. They agreed to move the merchandise because it was too heavy for me to move. Once everyone was in the back of the store in the break room to clock out, she yelled at me in front of all the other employees that were still at work about the heavy merchandise that was supposed to be moved to the back of the store by the loaders for a damage write off. I told her that the loaders were supposed to move it and she agreed to have them move it. She acted as if she and I never had that conversation with the loaders. Her attitude became very aggressive as she embarrassed me in front of the other employees. I told her that her attitude was inappropriate and that she should not speak to me that way. In addition, I told her that if she had any issues with me or objected to something that I did, that she should pull me to the side so that we can discuss it in privacy. She continued to yell at me and tell me that I should not tell her how to do her job. She also stated that she was going to request a write-up from one of the managers. This upset me because I did not do anything wrong. In the midst of all this, one of the loaders came over and said to me that they were getting ready to move the merchandise and she stopped them and told them that I was going to do it and that it was my job, although the merchandise was too heavy. And we had just had a conversation with the loaders and they agreed to help me. The loaders were just as confused as I was. I continued to get angry at the manner in which I was being treated by the shift leader. I asked her why she told the loaders to leave the merchandise for me to move when she and I just had a conversation with the loaders about moving the merchandise because it was too heavy for me to move. She acted as if she, I and, the loaders never had this conversation. I became furious because I never did anything wrong, and was only going off of the agreement we had earlier about the loaders moving the merchandise. She and I got into a shouting match and a manager came over and asked us what was going on. She continued to explain while lying on me and by that time she had told the loaders to go home. I was so upset and I was yelling. She made me look completely bad. She made me look as if I refused to do my job and as if I was the aggressor. Ultimately, she got what she wanted. I was written up that night after my shift for insubordination. I cried because I was so upset. I was cursing at her and yelling because her manipulation got me in trouble when I was totally innocent and she set it up so I would get in trouble. And because of her position and her being a shift leader and already being in her manager training classes she had the upper hand. This incident involving this shift leader upset me to no end. Ultimately, I handled the situation wrong. She caught me off guard because I never thought that an individual would go through such great manipulating lengths to have another employee fired. Once I was written up, the next day when I came to work the store manager fired me. I was in shock. Once I was fired, I called the corporate office to find out what I could do about this situation. The corporate office said I had the right to an appeal, so that was my next step. I requested an appeal, and within in 48 hours I was granted my appeal so management could hear my said of the story. I was able to get the loaders, and some of the other employees that happened to hear our confrontation that night at work. The store manager was also able to pull the video recordings of the store that night, in the front of the store when we had the initial conversation with the loaders and the end result that happened in the break room at the end of the night when everyone was clocking out from work. Once the store manager and the other department managers listened to my side of the story and the loaders side, which supported my claims, all the managers then had a meeting that lasted about two hours. While in this meeting they watched the tapes and the loaders and I story checked out. The managers realized that she was lying and was making everything up. They could hear the conversation that she and I had with the loaders regarding the heavy merchandise. They also heard the conversation in the break room and how she spoke to me and how fast she sent the loaders home so they could not hear what was going on. That day because of my appeal efforts, the shift leader was fired for harassing me, and lying to management and causing a confrontation with her and I. Although she was wrong and started all the problems that happened that night, after management reinstated my job with Lowe’s Home Improvement, I was punished for my role in the confrontation. The way I handled myself, because I lost control and was yelling causing a scene in front of the other employees, was inappropriate. I could have handled the situation differently. In conclusion, although she caused a great deal of problems for me, I should have conducted myself in a more professional manner. Instead of me getting angry and expressing my anger in front of the shift leader and the other employees I should have just waited and went to management like did for the request for the appeal. Had I handled the situation that way from the beginning I would not have been punished for my actions, because there would not have been any actions for punishment. Overall, in this situation I learned how to handle conflict involving management and my co-workers. There are different methods for handling conflicts within the workplace. But the golden rule is to never lose your cool and always uphold a professional standard because you never know who is watching.