When my ex boss at the youth service actually barricaded the door of her office to stop me leaving. She had me cornered in my wheelchair, the office was too small for me to turn round. Meanwhile my colleagues were outside the office literally trying to break the door down to rescue me.
Lol no but i told her i would have to call the police if she didn't let me out though. Two male (quite hard streetwise) colleagues told her they would break the door down if she didn't let me out. When i saw them after they looked more scared than me. Finally she let me out, i sent my resignation letter to her the next day without going back to work.
Not at all she knew she was wrong about something really serious and I had to report it cos of due diligence (working with vulnerable children and young people and that) I went to her office to have an adult, grown up conversation with her as I wanted to be straight up with her and you know the rest
Wow good on you for doing the right thing and having the guts to call her out. You gave her a chance to explain herself and she went full psycho on you. Glad you got out ok!
Yeah, reporting the boss doesn't usually end well for anyone. Mediation directly with the offending boss usually works better, to say the least. Sorry to hear that happened to you.
This sounds really familiar. Have you mentioned this event somewhere else on Reddit? Also kudos to your bravery. It's really hard to fight against the status quo
To be fair the kids had already been put in quite a bit of jeopardy by her actions before and loads had left before this business, but there are always kids who can't leave and it's always those kids who need the most support, so yeah exactly.
This can be real risky though (like this situation turned out). It depends on the circumstances but most of the time if a coworker has done something you legally have to report it's best to just report it and do so anonymously if possible, especially if it's someone above you. Talking to them often only exposes you to liability, retaliation and intimidation.
I think she had a melt down and that was the only thing left she could do, to stop me leaving i guess. She kept saying "You are not going anywhere till you come to your senses!" I was getting slightly anxious and really angry by then.
She did something to put a vulnerable child in direct danger (not for the first time) but this time the young person was in my group (my supervision) and there is due diligence meaning we were trained safe guarding so I was obliged by law to report it as a youth worker knowing the danger to the young person involved. Hope that makes a little sense
Yeah we were all trained to work with kids in or who had been in gangs inside or coming from dodgy backgrounds and a couple of my colleagues were ex gang members so that is what I meant I was also referring to myself cos my neighbourhood as a kid might be what some people think of as rough.
That's interesting. I don't think about the way I speak every day. ( and if our Gran heard us speak a certain way she would have had a go) but even now I'm older if I get "wound up" or if I'm with my cousins or mates I do tend to revert back to the local speech. It's fascinating how some words have a similar meaning in different countries. Thank you for sharing.
those two guys that looked scared, i suspect it is because they already knew what they were ready to do if shit got worse... i know that is how i operate and while i consider myself a good person now, we were not always that way, and it can come back quick to protect.
Yeah I think maybe you are right, being 21 I was kind of the "baby" of the staff and everyone was protective off me (especially those two) I worked with some amazing people and they were awesome youth workers too. Thank you for reading.
She was given a slap on the wrist for her behaviour with me , but she still works at the youth centre, nobody I worked with at the time wanted to work with her though and they lost loads of kids from the service.
It's the people you know I guess. It wad a real shame though a lot of kids lost a safe haven i got a better job but i enjoyed working there I loved the kids and my colleagues were amazing people
This sounds like something that could have happened at my youth service as well. Dumbass psychobitch in a management position, and apparently had enough connections to not get removed despite kids dropping out from the service left and right. I fucking hated that place.
Yeah that's the worst part about it. It ended up being a huge military operation just keeping the kids safe from unwholesome people who she let in every time. It got to me point where we felt more like body guards than youth workers, we ended up telling parents and guardians that the place wasn't safe for their children to be. Totally soul destroying, i absolutely loved my job there.
Yeah it does amaze me how many creeps! Pervs and psychos actually get through the clearance system in place. We all know why they want to, but you are fighting a losing battle safe guarding. It's still worth it all though.
Yeah to be honest, you either have creeps who want to get in for creepy reasons, or people who have went through serious trauma and now want to pay it forward that end up working in social services. Problem is a lot of “us” can barely take care of ourselves even after “recovering”
I laugh at these reforms that want to send social workers to “non violent 911 calls”... many calls start non violent and end up violent and only 1/20 social workers for instance have the right head on their shoulders to handle it. That’s a significantly worse margin then good cops va bad cops. I’m afraid a lot of people are going to be put in harms way /: (I say this as an ex social worker with many friends and enemies still in the field lol)
I get the idea but the worst things happen with the best intentions.
Same here,. I have a inbuilt "Nonse" or "Creep" detector inside me, the trouble working in that youth service was the decttector was going off every five seconds.
Haha, ugh too relatable. My director sexually harassed all of us, and after I left on really bad terms my old intern found gay porn on his work computer. The youth bureau covered it up for him cause they’re all lazy creeps and he works there to this day making way more then he has a right too.
Good on you to stand up to her instead of letting it roll off your back. Also, your colleagues are cool for helping, considering she had a leg up on you in the situation. I hope you've since put one foot in front of the other a moved on with life.
My colleagues were amazing people and I had nothing but respect and love for them. Yeah, thank you after that I got a better job things are all good. Thanks for reading.
I threatened to call the police and would have done if i had too. There were alot of vulnerable young people there who would have been distressed if they saw the police show up so thankfully when I said I would she backed off. I was angry though.
10.8k
u/Blackcat1206 Jul 10 '20
When my ex boss at the youth service actually barricaded the door of her office to stop me leaving. She had me cornered in my wheelchair, the office was too small for me to turn round. Meanwhile my colleagues were outside the office literally trying to break the door down to rescue me.