All in the Paperwork

It was a situation Tom never thought of and one which should’ve never happened. But once it was brought to his attention, as a supervisor, he knew he couldn’t let it stand.

A dumber-than-a-box-of-rocks van operator came to him complaining that the know-it-all woman in the front office kept changing the number of exemptions on his federal W-4 tax paperwork. He claimed more people than what he had in his household, which is perfectly legal.

Know-it-all’s changing it without Box of Rock’s consent though, was not legal and Tom politely pointed it out to her. She, on the other hand, kept claiming it was wrong of him to claim so many when they didn’t exist.

“What he claims on his paperwork is between him and the federal government and not you or this company,”  Tom told her.

She refused to listen to him and after the third alteration of his paperwork, Tom took it to his direct supervisor, Mr. Worthless. He had a habit of doing everything in his power to undercut the company at every turn when it came to the company’s local operation.

As usual, he did nothing, and in fact, he agreed with Know-it-all, letting her alter employee’s files willy-nilly.

“So it’ll be okay with you if she changed your filing information?” Tom asked.

“She has no reason to change mine,” Worthless stated, “It’s in perfect order.”

“So is his,” Tom responded, leaving his office.

Next, he went to the manager’s office for possible resolution. Mr. I-can’t-be-bothered couldn’t be, telling Tom to go back and tell Know-it-all not to change employee’s paperwork without their knowledge.

And though Tom did this, she continued to alter Box-of-rocks income tax filing. Since he wasn’t getting relief and technically being management, he acted outside the company by calling the local union representative, telling him what was going on.

Results! He was in the office within minutes, reading the riot-act to Know-it-all, Worthless and Can’t-be-bothered, informing them that he was filing a notice of intent to take action if the unauthorized alterations did not cease and desist immediately.

At first, Worthless and Can’t-be-bothered went after Box-of-rocks, harassing and threatening him with all sorts of disciplinary actions. When Tom learned of this, he confronted both men and told them that he involved the Union and that he did so because of Know-it-all’s illegal actions.

Within minutes, Tom was written up and suspended from work for three-days without pay. However, along with a three-day vacation, his pay was reinstated after going to the state and best of all, Box-of-rock’s paperwork was filed exactly as he wanted.