Insubordination or Insolence?

I got more time off. An additional
one day suspension on Tuesday September
9th, 2008 for insubordination on Friday
August 8th, 2008. The only problem with
that is I was not insubordinate because
I did not refuse a direct order. If I
was accused of insolence, well I suppose,
an employee calling one's supervisor Hitler
and a piece of shit, would be seen as
insolence, by some, but not HR. It's
seen as insubordination.

A little research on the net informed me
of the difference between insubordination
and insolence. Insubordination is an
intentional refusal to obey an employer's
lawful and reasonable order. Insolence
is an employee's derisive, contemptuous
or abusive language, generally directed
at a superior.

So what do you think? Was I insubordinate
or insolent?

My next post will be about a recent incident
involving a window salesperson and his
refusal to accept my in writing canceled order.
I canceled my order only a few hours after
agreeing to purchase windows. Short of calling
the cops on this guy, the steps I had to take
to get rid of my window stalker. Stay tuned.

Consumer Protection Act -Part I

I speak to a Ducana Windows sales
rep on the phone. We agree on a time
and date for the sales rep, I'll
call Joe to meet at my home. Joe
arrives at my home promptly on
Friday August, 29th, 2008. He was
just as pleasant in person as he
was when I spoke to him on the
phone. He appeared to be a nice
guy. While he was in my home my
opinion of him later dimmed, but
I'm not going to post why.

There were two men doing work at my
next door neighbour's home. One of
the men knocked on my door while Joe
was still in my home and asked that
my husband move his vehicle. Joe had
his car parked half on my neighbour's
driveway and half on my driveway. I
told the guy, he's not my husband, he's
a sales rep from Ducana. I asked Joe to
move his car. He did.

So we wrapped up the order and Joe left.
A couple hours later, I head out. I return
a few hours later. The two workers are still
at my neighbour's. As I'm walking up my
driveway, the older of the two, calls me
over. He points to the work that he
and his partner were doing for my
neighbour. He then asked me how much Ducana
was charging me for the windows. I tell him
and a knowing look passes between him and
his partner. Then he tells me that he and
his partner put in the windows in my house.
He said it was Ducana Windows that they
replaced. He said that Ducana was charging
way too much. He then gives me an estimate
of how much they would charge. Of course
it's much lower. I ask the name of the company
they work for and the older gentlemen says,
Northstar, as in NorthStar Vinyl Windows and
Doors

The NorthStar workers mention a government
program. They tell me that I could get $30.00
from the provincial government and $30.00
from the federal government for each window I
replace. My neighbour overhearing the conversation,
(that's what she said) comes out of her house
to add to the discussion.
They tell me that all the window businesses know
about the government program and the Ducana rep
should have told me. They suggest that I cancel
my order with Ducana. And that's exactly what I
did.


FYI


Did you know that under Ontario's
Consumer Protection Act, if you make
a purchase or sign a contract in your
home and then change your mind you have
within 10 days to notify the company
of your change of heart. The 10 days
is referred to as the cooling off
period. It's best you do so in writing
by fax or registered mail. Once the
company has been notified, it has 15
days to return your money.

Ministry of Small Business and
Consumer Services
http://www.gov.on.ca/MGS/en/ConsProt/050451.html

It's Not Over

Click on picture to enlarge.








I was hoping the incident that occurred a
at work a few weeks ago was done. See my
post of Friday August 8th, 2008, titled,
"Suspended". I was suspended on the Friday.
The day before the supervisor that suspended
me approved my request for vacation the
for the following week.

Since I was suspended I didn't know if
my vacation would be cancelled in light
of the suspension. I was not
contacted by anyone from work so I had to
figure it out myself.

I decided that the best way to determine
whether if I was still on suspension was
to wait and see if my vacation pay was direct
deposited into my account. If it wasn't,
I was still on suspension. I did receive my
vacation pay which told me that, the week of
August 11th I was not on suspension. The
following week, the week of August 18th was a
layoff week.

Wednesday, I'm summoned to a disciplinary
interview with human resources. It's the
first contact I have with a union rep.
in regards to the August 8th incident. At
the end of the interview I know I am in
trouble because there's no proof that
this rule, no sleeping on breaks, is not a rule.
And HR is looking to administer more discipline.

Well actually there was proof but it was behind
a glass case and my impression was no one had
copy it or access to a key to get it but HR.
So I took pictures. I took pictures of the
Company's rules of personal conduct for employees,
posted few feet outside HR's office.

Later at home I uploaded the pictures to my
computer and printed off the clearest one of
the bunch and faxed it over to the union rep.
I asked the rep in an accompanying letter to
present the rules to the supervisor and the HR
rep. ask which of the rules listed was I breaking
when the supervisor woke me up to tell me
I can't sleep on my break.

The following day I learn that the rep. is
not in. This morning I fax a copy of the
letter I sent to the rep. and a copy
of the picture of the Company rules to the
HR rep. The union rep is in today and appeared
with another rep to tell me that the fax
of the rules came out blurry and asked if
I had another copy on me. I said, "No." I
said I'd bring another copy in on Monday.

I asked how they prove their cases without
a copy of the Company rules. The rep.
responded that the Chair probably has a copy
but he's not in today . I suggested that the
rep use her cell phone camera to take a picture
of the posted rules. She said, "No" She
wanted a copy of the rules. So I don't
know.

I've Moved.

I'm in my new home. In the end everything
worked out, thankfully. There were a couple
of incidents that occurred that could have
caused me some problems. One of which I'll
mention, the other I won't.

When I went to pick up the keys for my
new house the lawyer's assistant handed
me some papers with the keys. Earlier
that day, August 15th, the closing date,
I met with the lawyer and signed all the
papers, including for receipt of a cheque.
When the assistant handed me the papers I
immediately looked for the cheque. Guess
what? There was no cheque.

Thankfully,I checked before I left the
office and in front of the assistant, rather
than wait until I left the office. The
assistant said she forgot to cut the
cheque. I waited a few minutes while she
cut the cheque. When I received the cheque
I left. It was a relief to get the cheque
because if not, it would have created
another headache that I'd have to deal with.

After you've left your lawyer's office, how
do you prove that you did not receive a
cheque that you signed for? I've asked myself
this question a number of times. Had I not
discovered the cheque missing until I got
home, my first thought would have been it
wasn't included with the documents and keys
given to me by the assistant. But on
further thought, the cheque could have fell
somewhere. I simply lost the cheque.

I think that if I discovered that the
cheque was missing after I left my lawyer's
office, I would just assume the cheque
fell sometime after I left my lawyer's office.
So I would just contact my lawyer and tell him
that I lost the cheque and ask if he would put
a stop payment on the lost cheque and cut
me another cheque.