Unfair warning, what to do

[nami]

My gf has been working for 10 years and had never gotten a warning. She is currently working as a receptionist in an office building. She handed the right company entry card to a guest so he could go visit that company, that card was not locked to the company floor and the guest went to another company floor. That other company talked to my gf manager to ask her to issue a written warning to her and the manager agreed.

This seems completely unfair as her main job is to hand over the right cards, which she did. What can she do about the warning besides not signing it? If it was me I would threaten then to go to Labour if they persist on issuing the warning. It looks as if the manager is just saving face at the expense of issuing an unfair warning.

[Asiantravel]

agreed she should never accept blame in that situation

[ezzra]

She should put her grievances in a letter and tell the story and that she's not at fault and that

she's an exemplary worker and she deserve a brake and send it to the manger and the HR

with a request to reconsider her reprimand and I'm sure it will go well....

[Docno]

Could she write a clear but neutrally-worded (not defensive or aggressive) formal response, signed and dated, to go to her manager and to be included in her personnel file (if that's where the warning goes). Basically, a formal explanation of what took place, her actions, and her constraints (e.g., the card was not locked to the floor). The response would not be critical of the manager (even though he seems to be mishandling this). The aim would be to include counter-information so that the warning could not be used blindly against her in future, especially if her current manager is replaced by someone unfamiliar with the situation. How realistic this is in Thailand, I don't know. It was formal practice at one of my previous employers.

[Suradit69]

She should put her grievances in a letter and tell the story and that she's not at fault and that

she's an exemplary worker and she deserve a brake and send it to the manger and the HR

with a request to reconsider her reprimand and I'm sure it will go well....

" and she deserve a brake..."

Hand brake or foot?

I doubt proclaiming that she is an "exemplary worker" will accomplish much more than to suggest she has a very high opinion of herself.

It rarely achieves anything to take the farang route to saving face ... i.e. turning red, blustering, consulting attorneys or threatening to go to the Labour department. She's not seeking revenge, but simply to explain what happened and why.

As someone else suggest a neutral explanation of the facts, verbally and/or in writing, rather than a childish outburst of indignation, would be in her long-term interests.

Edited December 30, 2014 by Suradit69

[Soutpeel]

I am more interested in why the OP is sticking his nose into his GF working life, FA to do with him

[ianf]

She should put her grievances in a letter and tell the story and that she's not at fault and that

she's an exemplary worker and she deserve a brake and send it to the manger and the HR

with a request to reconsider her reprimand and I'm sure it will go well....

My bicycle has a brake, as does my car.

The girlfriend deserves a break.

[maidee]

a niffy little letter

who cares anyway ?

get fired ? time for a new job or carreer ...

or is she supporting you too ?

[ThaiSanookGuy]

Who cares ? She walk the next door and get a new job !

[sanuk711]

You could go down to her office & demand to see the manager, then call a staff meeting, or just stand outside with a sandwich board giving out leaflets about this grave injustice, also writing copious letters to her head office & the BKK post might be another option.........

.

Anyway that's what I would do....................if I was a white knight like you............

Edited December 30, 2014 by sanuk711

[kennypowers]

I am more interested in why the OP is sticking his nose into his GF working life, FA to do with him

Errr, because he cares about her/loves her and normal couples share life experiences with each other and seek each other's advice and help. Back to the bar for you.

[sanuk711]

Errr, because he cares about her/loves her and normal couples share life experiences with each other and seek each other's advice and help--Kennypowers

And because we also love & care so much about him KennyP.........we're giving him all the good advice we can..............

Edited December 30, 2014 by sanuk711

[samsensam]

as a thai she is probably in the best position do decide on her course of action or to seek advice from a fellow thai

my ex was a lawyer working for a western owned law firm. i gave her advice as she was dealing with a western boss - her boss was well impressed with how she handled a difficult situation - most un-thai like apparently!

i would not try to advise her if she worked for a thai boss, i dont understand the intricacies of the culture well enough

[oneday]

Sounds to me like the person who PROGRAMMED the card is the one at fault or there was a technical glitch in the programming software/hardware beyond her control...something that needs to be investigated. She should NOT sign anything. NEVER sign anything admitting fault when you are NOT at fault. In addition, her manager is actually at fault by NOT investigating the true cause. She should write a complaint about her manager to the next higher level manager. It would seem that her manager doesn't have an IQ greater than a single digit.

[Emster23]

GF needs to be very careful regarding idiot boss losing 'face' over need to blame someone rather than come up with solution to prevent in the future. As we know it is all about sucking up to whomever is one up the ladder. If manager was clever (doubtful, but does happen from time to time) he would write her up, hand her the note then tell her to trash it.

Perhaps she should outline the steps she was told to take when visitor comes: meet, greet, ask destination, give card... please tell me how I did wrong? Should I walk each visitor to proper floor? Who will be assigned to cover reception if I were to do this?

Typical Thai companies have no procedure handbooks, most everything done on the fly. Much easier to afix blame and generally do crap job of "managing".

[ggt]

If she files a complaint...she will need to look for new work...

[Strangebrew]

Well find someone who is well known and lay a huge complement on her on how she is doing such a great job. Then have same person do the oppsite for the person who caused problem 2 right don't make a wrong but 3 left makes a u turn. Cheers

[John1thru10]

I am more interested in why the OP is sticking his nose into his GF working life, FA to do with him

I'm aware that the idea is very foreign to you, judging from many of your posts Soutpeel, but some people care about others.

Edited December 30, 2014 by John1thru10

[Soutpeel]

If she files a complaint...she will need to look for new work...

If she listerns to her farang BF who has taken advice from some on TV she will be looking for a job as well

[Soutpeel]

I am more interested in why the OP is sticking his nose into his GF working life, FA to do with him

I'm aware that the idea is very foreign to you, judging from many of your posts Soutpeel, but some people care about others.

Like your posts on the B2 John ?

[JacChang]

Sue the guest for illegal trespassing, and issue arrest warrants. They should lock him up for a week or a 200 baht fine will do. Problem solved.

[konying]

If she files a complaint...she will need to look for new work...

If she listerns to her farang BF who has taken advice from some on TV she will be looking for a job as well

Have not you learned by now that most of not all people here know thai culture and way of work without spending a single day working in thailand or with thai?!

Keep in mind that story gf told bf is her version, which is usually only 10% truth, the part about giving the card, she of course failed to mention that she possibly did not code the card or even gave a wrong card.

If only I did not have to deal with " victims" daily who consistently screw up and without a fail it's never their fault .

[dotpoom]

She should put her grievances in a letter and tell the story and that she's not at fault and that

she's an exemplary worker and she deserve a brake and send it to the manger and the HR

with a request to reconsider her reprimand and I'm sure it will go well....

If she did nothing wrong then it's not a question of "deserving a break". If you ask a boss to give you a break that is the same as saying you did something wrong but please overlook it.

Edited December 30, 2014 by dotpoom

[nami]

Just an update: she talked with the manager and didn't get any warning. It seems that the manager was just saving face in front of the company complaining and was aware she didn't deserve any warning.

Thanks to the useful posts with sensible advice. To the others, well I won't waste my time...

[colinneil]

Work is work. Social life is social life.Never to be mixed.

[canarysun]

I wouldn't take it all too seriously as it's only a job.....

[vogie]

She should put her grievances in a letter and tell the story and that she's not at fault and that

she's an exemplary worker and she deserve a brake and send it to the manger and the HR

with a request to reconsider her reprimand and I'm sure it will go well....

My bicycle has a brake, as does my car.

The girlfriend deserves a break.

A quick word to the spell check police. Your bicycle should have 2 brakes, unless it's a unicycle of course.

[saakura]

Spelling 'break' as 'brake' is NOT a spelling mistake. It is a lack of basic english skills.

[Kasset Tak]

First. This is Thailand so don't expect anything to be as back home!

Second. It's all about saving face in Thailand, remember that ALWAYS.

Third. You can help your girlfriend to a better status with her boss if you can give her ideas on how to improve the service, prevent this from happening again etc. IF she have no ideas of her own.

I had a great idea for a small but reaccuring (atleast a couple of time a day) problem at one employer before back home. It gave me a 10,000 bonus in the end!

[impulse]

I wouldn't take it all too seriously as it's only a job.....

With 10 years at the company, she's entitled to over a year of severance pay under Thai employment law, if she is terminated (with no cause).

If she is terminated with cause, she stands to lose all of that.

Warnings in a personnel file are used to build a case for termination with cause.

With over a years' salary at stake, I'd take it very seriously.