(no subject)

I just got my 4th email about my travel voucher error. I'm thrilled that in this time of fiscal crisis for the Agency, that this GS-15 can make it her nit-picking mission to spend more than a day on a travel voucher. 2 14s and a 15 all get to juggle one travel voucher. During the same time, a tenuous settlement agreement was delayed over a day.

I could, should, shrug it all off. I'm being picked on and I don't know why. Well, I know some of the reasons. This is an uneducated secretary who is a master of detecting typos, clerical errors, page margins that don't fit the style manual, and the like. She's not dumb or lazy, but I'm amazed that after working her way up from mail clerk that she hasn't reprioritized at some point. I understand that I'm stuck in the middle of a couple of wars: Labor Relations had their ability to conduct hearings taken away and given to the Hearings and Appeals Branch, and they want it back. The Director is unable to find fault with my educated boss, and she actively attacks everyone in her span of control that has a degree (she must have a chart somewhere). I also have a degree, which is bad, but her real mission is to find clerical errors in his work since we keep winning cases and showing the faults of other parts of her division.

But I'm tired. I don't know why, but I can't shrug off the picking. I can't not take it personally. I think she should be follwed and stabbed. I'm turning in applications for other jobs. I came to this job because of an uneducated woman who did the same thing. It's weird, you're never in trouble, never written up for conduct, never affecting your rating...but you constantly get this pick, pick, pick...henpecking. You can't strike back, just block, defend, block, defend, all day every day. You wind up spending more time defending, documenting, and sorting emails to fend off attacks than doing your job. You are never rewarded for being right or doing good for the Agency, there is never an apology when their attack is misdirected or simply inappropriate. It's a constant battle to find something wrong, and if you prove them wrong...it's just time for them to rally their forces on something new. Is it something I'm doing that I found 2 people like this? Maybe I'm making them this way? Maybe nitpicking insecure people wind up in charge? Why not a confident intelligent person who can prioritize?

I have noticed that arrogant but insecure people surround themselves with incompetent underlings. It makes the head cheese feel secure, and they always look good on their island as being less incompetent than their gaggle. I wonder why other leaders don't notice that they keep selecting twits.