Question by quiet_hands: Employee Harassment?
I received an email from the Vice President of the company I work for, asking me to order 20 books from Amazon for a client of ours in Pennsylvania. I couldn’t order them for a week because my boss never gave me his credit card to order them. A week later I received another email, asking me to order another 20 books for another client of ours in the Netherlands. I emailed my boss to ask him if I could use his credit card number (I had it on a membership form that he wanted me to fax before he went away on business) to order these books, and if I was allowed to use it for this purpose I needed the security code. I received his email a few days later, telling me that I should have known that I was to use his credit card number from the form and he gave me the security code. I ordered the books and had them shipped from Amazon to our respective recipients.
A few days later my boss called me into his office and asked me when I ordered the books, and I answered. Then he asked me if I shipped them from Amazon to the clients and I said yes. Then he started yelling at me, telling me that I should have had them shipped from Amazon to our office and that we would ship them to the clients ourselves. He also yelled that there was already another Amazon shipment coming to our office and I should have added the books to that shipment. He also yelled that I didn’t have permission to use his credit card for this order. I tried to defend myself by telling him that I did the research on shipping costs and it cost $ 100 less to ship from Amazon to our clients and there was absolutely no indication in the emails I received that I should have had the books shipped to our office first.
I also wanted to say that I didn’t even know that we had a shipment coming to our office from Amazon and I had the email that proved that I was given permission to order the books on his credit card.
He would not let me defend myself at all. Instead when I tried to speak up he said, “There’s a saying in this office, highest paid opinion wins. Out of the two of us, who is paid most?” Of course I said that he was… Then he responded by telling me to get out of his office.
Now, what I want to know is… Is this a form of harassment?
I’m not really looking for recourse, I just need piece of mind to know that I’m not the one who’s doing anything wrong. Ever since that incident his attitude towards me has been completely disrespectful, he’s tells me that I should be taking care of certain tasks (tasks that have NEVER been assigned to me), he’s completely condescending towards me and he always flies off the handle without knowing all the facts.
Best answer:
Answer by sahel578
Its not harrassment in any sense. But it is jerky unprofessional behavior. But you have no recourse, if that is what you are looking for.
What do you think? Answer below!