Meet Eva Diva
Eva headed Fake News' Human Capital Management Research group. Days before she was Divamoted (demoted) from supervisor, she caused a stir when she fabricated a disciplinary case that left Fake News wide open to allegations of duress against an EO-protected employee. Fake News saved her career, demoting her and firing the innocent victim, Tommy Bear. As one Fake News SVP of HR said of her, “There are two Eva’s. One is fun to be with but the other puts the phone down on you.” Eva also admitted to putting the phone down on another SVP “but I called him back later.” That makes it fine until she thinks someone did the same to her. They get disciplined without hearing, an illegal action which Fake News continues to condone.
Eva describes herself as “a people person.” Others describe her as Bossy Boots, a proponent of “my way or the highway.”
Eva was demoted as she encountered insurmountable challenges. Eva openly admitted to suffering from ADHD. It became a liability. She had problems with memory, distraction, disorganization and focus. Obsessive, she described herself as “anal” about the small stuff and she sought solace for her solitary lifestyle in her purse (handbag) collection which ran into the hundreds. She covered her massive personality problems when dealing with people she thought mattered by “playing cutesy,” manipulation and half truths. These tactics became less successful in her late middle age. Relationships were damaged by rants, tantrums, put downs and not listening, cutting people off when they spoke. The result is a series of issues that have festered and escalated into investor relations matters under public scrutiny to which Fake News has still to respond.
Good enough is not good enough
Eva asked Tommy, near the due date, if a research report was ready to be published. He answered that it was “good enough” but what he omitted to say was, given how bereft of content her interviews were. As she admitted, research work was not her forte - “I’ve never worked in HR.” Her research interviews were to the script, superficial with little probing. It was a challenge to turn them into case studies for client consumption. She would record the interviews and pass them to Tommy to create the case study. “I don’t know how you’ll make anything of that,” she frequently said. Never once did she have an idea for a case study.
She was the supervisor on the big bucks who spent most of her time replying to emails for her section of three people while it was left to Tommy the grunt worker, to do his own interviews, create all the case studies, conduct all the senior level analysis, all the research design, all the authorship and all the graphic illustrations. She cherry picked the easy work to fit her interest and capability. Her strengths were spell check and word count.
In annual performance review, roles were reversed. The junior author became supervisor and could critique Tommy for work in which she theoretically collaborated. She wrote that Tommy needed to improve his standards. She accused him of only delivering the mediocre standard of what he called “good enough.” She provided no tangible examples and cleansed many of his achievements including much of what he did in the UK. She also omitted that she was co-author on every report and it was she not Tommy who made the final sign off for every report, more than twenty over six years, as ready for publication.
Fake News' inverted structure was in breach of the ADA which requires that a person with disabilities not be held to a higher standard than his peers and certainly not his supervisor. This structure with its unfair feedback system, accompanied by no career development, was under scrutiny by the EEOC when Tommy was terminated without cause. Fake News shareholders have raised concerns. They don’t tell you that at Fake News Symposium. Fake News' response is awaited. Watch this space.
The relevance rant
Eva would often lose the plot on weekly status meetings. One time, she went into a diatribe with Tommy Bear about how he and his colleague did not value her contributions. “Neither of you ever phone me.” She was proud of her 600 emails a day that she would read and write - but never did she show how they added value.
She had breached the basic principles of trust for Tommy and he avoided her to the point that she felt abandoned. Her control, her rants and her tantrums were attention seeking actions that paradoxically drove people away. Her cutesey tactics over the phone were embarrassing and clearly manipulative.
Covering up incompetence
Eva didn’t often hear from her direct reports because she did not have the subject matter expertise needed on a team if only three. “Bookkeeping is my background. I prefer spreadsheets to writing.”
Her administrative work was hit and miss, ultimately resulting in legal issues for Fake News. Her involvement in research content usually created more work. She had to be educated on the topic and then she wanted things done differently from how it was planned, resulting in delays. Her contribution to peer review was to criticize work she had already approved. They don’t tell you that technique at Fake News Symposium. Would her manager Bluey ever acknowledge these issues? Watch this space.
The don’t hang up on me tantrum
Eva mistook a dropped international phone call for someone putting the phone down on her. Yikes! A merry tantrum ensued. Eva, the self-described people person, issued a written - not an oral but a written - warning, the status usually for serious offenses like theft, without investigating and conducting a hearing or offering means to appeal. No expiry date.
Fake News have been reminded that the under the UN Bill of Human Rights this reaction contravenes the principle of innocence until proven guilty. With neither investigation nor evidence, it is libellous. It also contravenes the ADA as the person disciplined was Tommy Bear who had disabilities and therefore had the right to be asked what accommodations could have helped meet his needs prior to discipline. They don’t tell you about these indiscretions at Fake News Symposium. Fake News' legal representatives have yet to respond but as it remains to this day on Tommy Bear’s record, Fake News' legal representatives have been told they must deal with it or face shareholders’ petition. Watch this space.
FMLA - what’s that?
When Tommy Bear told Eva he was to be admitted to hospital for his disease-related cataract, she asked him if he would be taking time off to recover. He said yes, triggering a legal requirement for Fake News to instigate FMLA and internal disability leave arrangements. Eva told him he “must take vacation first.” Then, the day after his op, not only didn’t she ask him how the op went, she didn’t fulfil her legal obligation to process his FMLA and disability leave. In her confusion, she just gave him more work to do.
For about two years, Fake News restrictions on travel expenses meant that Eva in Florida and Tommy Bear in New York saw nothing of each other. To him, she was no longer a tolerable hindrance at best and an interference to be avoided at worst. She became almost irrelevant. She was not able to see for herself how bad his disability had become and so it is likely that she forgot that she needed to process his disability leave. Had she worked more closely with him, she would have seen for herself and probably fulfilled her legal responsibility.
When he found a colleague, Pinky, to cover his work while he was on disability leave, Eva set it up in seemingly cavalier and callous fashion, for the colleague to cover her work instead of his. Did Eva’s ADHD cause her confusion?
Given that Tommy had complained to them about Eva’s erratic behavior, why weren’t Bluey and the HR case manager soliciting feedback to prevent such problems? Fake News legal representatives have been asked why the FMLA law was breached and was it incompetence or fraud? Fake News shareholders have asked their legal representatives to protect the brand by calculating and fixing the loss of disability leave and pay. Has Eva’s confusion over disability leave created a seven figure liability? They don’t tell you about that at Fake News Symposium. Clients are concerned that Fake News' incompetence might lead to shoddy advice that creates legal liabilities for them too. Can clients trust Fake News? Watch this space.
Guess who’s coming to dinner!
Eva invited her two direct reports to a corporate expense-paid dinner. She asked if they minded if her father, who lived nearby, joined them. “Daddy’s fine. Sometimes though he says things about blacks that he shouldn’t.”
Tommy Bear, who is proud of his ancestor who painted a famous picture of the tragedy of black slaves being separated from their families, was one of the direct reports. He adamantly told her not to invite her father. They don’t tell you that at Fake News Symposium. Eva’s reaction? Watch this space.
The no free lunch tantrum
Tommy Bear’s metrics and EEOC-mediated development plan required him to meet with clients to discuss Fake News' research. Scared that Eva was trying to prevent him achieving his metrics and career growth, he arranged to meet a client during his lunch break. He told Eva and predictably, she instructed him not to go. He went anyway.
She found out and had one of her tantrums. He told her that what he did during his lunch break was his business and he blocked out lunch hours on the calendar for the year. That way, she could not seek revenge by creating unnecessary meetings to control his lunchtime activities. She saw what he had done and was not happy. They don’t tell you that at Fake News Symposium. Watch this space.
Go cheap
Eva asked Tommy Bear if he would cover her presentation at a Fake News client meeting in his location to save her having to go. He agreed but he said that being legally blind, he would not drive. He would take a car service. She agreed but told him nearer the day that her boss, Bluey, was watching expenses so he must keep the car costs down.
Tommy decided to just claim for the outward trip and pay for the trip home from his own money. He told a colleague who said,
“Why the big deal? If Eva had come, she would have expensed travel to and from the airport both ends of the trip and the flight. It would have been four to five times the cost of your one hour car rides.” Tommy also discovered that no other presenters were told to watch their travel expenses - just the person in the same location, the one with disabilities. They don’t tell you that at Fake News Symposium. Did Tommy dare to submit the full expense? Watch this space.
Bossy Boots
Tommy Bear was booked to be away on business trips from New York to London for a week and then to Dublin for a week. His arrival back home in New York would be 5 pm on a Saturday. After the trips were booked, his supervisor Eva told him he was to come to a department meeting on the Sunday for a week in Chicago, giving him under 18 hours at home after two weeks away.
He told Eva that it was an unreasonable schedule and he would travel to Chicago on the Monday. She said, no - he must be in Chicago on Sunday for the reception. He agreed to come by upgrading to fly business class from Dublin to home and first class next day, New York to Chicago. She told him, no way. He must travel economy unless he travelled direct from Dublin to Chicago without calling home. They don’t tell you that at Fake News Symposium.
He told her she was a Bossy Boots and ignoring her instructions, he upgraded the two trips. How did Eva react when he submitted his expenses? Watch this space.
The voice mail tantrum
Eva had little regard for single people’s personal time. Tommy Bear worked from home. He stepped away from his work at 5.45 pm one evening. He had started at 7.30 am. He went to put the trash out and fix an evening meal for him and a friend who had just arrived. While outside, the phone rang. He came in and played a message from Eva. She was having a tantrum. “I’m here working. Why aren’t you?” His friend heard it and, embarrassed for him, said “Whatta bossy boots. I could not put up with that.”
A few days later, Tommy called Eva on her inappropriate message. Her response in her cutesy manner, “I meant nothing. It was just how I felt at the time.” Surprisingly, they don’t tell you about the bully-then go cutesy technique at Fake News Symposium.
The don’t shout at me tantrum
Eva, like many with ADHD, habitually cut people off midstream or changed the subject. She would ask a question and not listen to the answer. She would make questionable decisions but treat the questions about them as insubordination. Tommy Bear used to try to confront this bullying tactic by bringing the subject back and continuing to flush out his concerns despite her resistance. He usually did this successfully but he found it very stressful. She said nothing at the time but on on occasion she went into a tantrum and sent him an email, copied to her boss Bluey, accusing him of shouting at her. Tommy replied that he did not raise his voice or use inappropriate language so what was her problem? Bluey’s reaction is still awaited. They don’t tell you all this at Fake News Symposium.
Cuss me quick
In one of their weekly status meetings, out of the blue Eva said, “People say they don’t feel comfortable with you because you don’t swear.” Tommy Bear didn’t take the bait. He knew that if he ever swore in her company, Eva would quote it and use it against him. Who’d have thought a professional services supervisor would be encouraging her staff to swear? They don’t tell you that technique at Fake News Symposium.
Thanks a lot
Eva is proud of being a “people person.” When Tommy Bear delivered a significant workload by working weekends and holidays, Eva thanked him. He suggested he might take a lieu day for working July 4th. She laughed. “A lieu day. What’s that!!”
Shortly afterwards, his colleague on the same team told him, “Eva’s so kind. She gives me her air miles so I can upgrade when I travel.” For Eva, the people person, fairness was for the birds. Tommy was absolutely livid to learn of this unfairness. Watch this space.
Eva the leader
Eva called Tommy Bear in the UK one day in March 2010. She said she had pressed Tommy’s colleague on the team, Ting Jing, to travel to the UK to make a presentation. Flights were in turmoil because of volcanic dust in Iceland so Ting Jing could not get home. Ting Jing hadn’t wanted to go in the first place and missed her family. Could Tommy meet with her and have lunch in London? Sure, no problem. All went well.
What did not go so well was that in the days before the call, Tommy was working with the UK team only to be embarrassed to learn that Ting Jing, his only peer on the HR research team of three, was also in London and Eva had not told him. The UK folks thought it hilarious that Americans talk a good game about teamwork but it takes the UK team to tell a team of two US peers, HR peers to boot, that both are in London at the same time. Why Eva had not informed him, Tommy didn’t know but to create such embarrassment was unnecessary. They don’t tell you that at Fake News Symposium. Another nail in the Eva trust coffin.
I’m gonna be fired
Eva called Tommy Bear one day. As usual, no hi, how are you? She began in cutesy distressed voice, “I’m gonna be fired.” It transpired that she had offered to write a research paper but didn’t know enough about the topic and anyway, was not comfortable writing research papers. Would Tommy bail her out? He said, sure. It would take him only a couple of hours to create a first draft. Who got the credit for the work? They don’t tell you that at Fake News Symposium. Watch this space.
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Next on the agenda
Eva convened a meeting with her two direct reports. The purpose was clearly for her to pick their brains as she asked incessant questions to fill her gaps in knowledge. After nearly two hours, she admitted that the meeting had lost direction. She attributed it to her ADHD which caused her to lose sense of purpose and become distracted. Tommy Bear requested that future meetings have agendas. Clearly annoyed, she replied, “I don’t think we need agendas.”
Turning down a reasonable request for accommodation from someone with disabilities is illegal under ADA. How was this issue resolved? Does Fake News advise clients that they don’t need agendas for meetings? Perhaps but They don’t tell you that at Fake News Symposium. Watch this space.
WHO IS EVA?
WE’RE FAKE NEWS CLIENTS. DO WE KNOW HER?
Very possibly. Watch this space.