WTF?

[rileydag.livejournal.com]

Okay, before I go off on my rant here, there is some back story.  This past July, after returning to my desk from handling a one-on-one tech call, a note was left on my keyboard.  I get notes all the time asking for help, but this is not what I was expecting.

     "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" 

     Druid, you are not welcome here.

My first reaction was, Huh?  My second was, I'm not reading what I think I am reading.  Hmm, this must be lack of sleep in play here.  I read it again.  It was real.

Now, I've been a practicing Solitary Druid for the past 5 years.  A few people here at work know what faith I have and with how the place I work has a second life as a rumor mill, I'm sure it's fairly public knowledge.  I've been down this road before at other jobs and I just dealt with it.  It's usually an isolated incident.  The one other time it was not an isolated incident, I was able to catch the person leaving notes and eventually helped him get the job he wanted.  Long story short, he was not happy with the job he had and in return for letting me help him find a new job, I wouldn't press charges.  As those Christians say, "turn thine other cheek brother".

Anyway, the note in July was not an isolated incident.  So far, counting this past Friday morning, it's been a note every two or so weeks.  When I received the second note, I did what I've done in the past.  I brought the issue up to my supervisor.  She took the note, asked security to look into the matter.  A month later, they still had nothing.  I come to find out that my supervisor had told security that being a Druid was "just a gaming thing".  I've tried to explain to her that it's not a "gaming thing", it's a religion and I don't appreciate it being harassed like this because of my faith.

So, what's happened?  Nothing.  I continue to receive notes, my supervisor doesn't take it seriously and my hands are tired from crumpling these things up and tossing them in the garbage.

I'm asking for some help here.  Any suggestions you may have would be most welcome.

Comments

[pygmymetal.livejournal.com]

Contact your HR department. Your supervisor is a moron. HR should handle these things.

*shakes head in disgust

[dr-atheist.livejournal.com]

If your supervior refuses to take it seriously, go one above him/her and report it to their manager. Also tell them why you are going above your supervisor.

[ex-prunesnp.livejournal.com]

Is your company large enough to have an HR department?

[aiglet.livejournal.com]

HR is your friend, at least in theory.

Keep all the notes you find, send e-mail to your manager every time you get one and only give them photocopies of the notes (and keep copies of the e-mails), and when you've got enough to make a case for harassment (probably something on the order of 3 - 5, with the e-mails to show that you got them over a period of time and not all at once), go to your HR department.

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

I'd get a cheap USB camera and set it up facing your desk. Hide it in a bookcase or under cover, so it isn't as obvious, but then you'd not only know who was doing it, you would also have proof.

Also, to be extra-sneaky - if you do have to rearrange things to hide the camera, change them around but don't hide the camera for a few notes at least. If the culprit notices the changes, they won't see a camera at first - and won't think to look later, in general.

Yes, I'm a very sneaky and extra-paranoid person. I'm paid to be so for a living ;0

Good luck with this nutcase, and I hope it doesn't escalate into anything worse than notes.

[inahandbasket]

doubleplusgood suggestion

[anivair.livejournal.com]

. . . and it has the added bonus of being geeky.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Plus if you find out who it is, you can make their PC talk to them in the Voice of God and scare the shit out of them.

[anivair.livejournal.com]

"RICK, THIS IS GOD. YOU'RE A BIGOT. TURN THE OTHER CHEEK, MOTHERFUCKER. OH . . . AND I SAW YOU TOUCHING YOURSELF."

hmm...

[rileydag.livejournal.com]

...I can see the humor in that, however, doing such a thing would not make me any better than the person leaving these notes on my desk.

True, to reach enlightenment you have to learn many things, how to laugh being one of them, but laughing at someone's pain, turning your heart into something cold by exacting revenge. I'm not like that.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

How would you record this? What software are you using?

[theobon.livejournal.com]

What you want is something that records changes so you don't have to watch everything.
There exists simple programs that take pictures with the webcam. Use a script to take a picture every N minutes then compair it with the last picture if it has changed enough save it else delete it. The compair function can be really simple (standard deviation in the pixel colours) or more complexe (FFT).

Just turn it on when you leave your desk (I link it with my screensaver) and then you can check the generated files when you return. It gives me a complete record of everyone who went near my desk (people in my office have a habit of borrowing things without asking, this is used to then locate my tools).

For this action the time interval would need to be rather small due to how quickly the event can happen.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

I must work on my scripting skills. As of yet I have none. Got any ideas where I should start? Language??

[theobon.livejournal.com]

I like perl and learned off of it. It has very little syntax enforcement so anything you think should work does. Makes it easy to just whip off a quick script. However it also makes it hard to read another persons script. Really best used for personal projects only.
Python is becoming big. Has a lot more plug-ins and a nice debugger. The syntax through whitespace is a little odd at first though.

If you have decent programming experience then http://diveintopython.org/ (http://diveintopython.org/") will teach you quickly. Otherwise there are piles of perl tutorials around.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

Cool thanks for the tip. From what I understand, perl with fall in line with unix. So that is the next thing I need to tackle.

[wyrdlinks.livejournal.com]

Perhaps (if it's a Windows PC) ConquerCam (if I recall the spelling) - it can FTP to a standard FTP server, and can be configured to take photos on motion detection or at standard intervals. We (my employeers) looked into it when we were considering how to deal with our reception area being unmanned for periods of time.

[anivair.livejournal.com]

If I were in your shoes (and as a fellow druid and a sysadmin I certrainly COULD be in your shoes) here's what I'd do.

First, I might try to scedule the notes and catch the person myself. I assume there is no video surveylance there?

If I had any suspects I'd tell my supervisor. You might also point out that the company is responsible for maintaining a workplace free of harrasment and you are not currently in one.

Failing that, you are being harrased. I'd file a complaint with the police. If it bothers yoou that baddly, they can certainly succeed where your boss has failed. Though it woulds to me like you're intentionally getting no help from your boss. Sounds like she doesn't really care about hte issue (having worked corporate security I suspect that if they really cared they'd have tracked this person down).

[guinevere33.livejournal.com]

And stop throwing away the notes! Keep them, along with when they appeared. That way once you catch the perpetrator they've left a paper trail.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

That and you have a handwritting to work off of. Unless they are smart enough to have someone from home write them. Even people who write with their non dominant hand, have tells of the original handwriting.

Time to cast

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

I second this. Contact HR. Also, we had an incident at an office I worked at. Someone was writing on the walls of the bathroom with icky things. Obviously they can't put a camera in the bathroom, so we rigged one in the celining just outside of the door. We were able to narrow it down and eventually catch the artist.

Just a secondary idea.

Also are you in a locked 'secured room'? That would narrow it down as well.

Either way a complaint should be filed and make it known to HR that your boss isn't taking threats seriously. Then I'd start posting pents every where just to freak anyone else out. Thank the gods California is a more liberal state.

Can't you imagine a good way to get back at them up? Every time they start something, make a rash appear? Let me know if you need some help eh?

[linguafranca.livejournal.com]

I'd go to your supervisor's boss and continue on up until you get results, and/or contact the department of labor.

[samwize.livejournal.com]

Email her and tell you've recieved another note and that your workplace feels threatening because of your religion and their inaction. Threaten to call a lawyer if they don't do something about it. Carbon copy it to a private address (NOT BCC. Make sure the boss sees the other address.)

Oh, and copy the note before you send the email.

(I am not a lawyer, so you prolly want to talk to one at some point.)

[igz00.livejournal.com]

might have a problem with a lawyer if said supervisor has been taking all the notes... but definitely save/copy all of them from now on

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Agreed with all these peeps. Go to HR. Technically the one note you posted here counts as a death threat. I'm sure HR would love to hear about that.

my 2cents

[candb.livejournal.com]

I agree with the rest, though I'd go one step further and get a signed statement from your supervisor on his views of the situation (that might stop it right there) and then take his claim to the HR department. That way, the supe has the opportunity to change his/her tune and take it seriously, or you have written proof to HR that he thinks its crap, and they can nail them for not doing their job. Hell, if you can figure out who the security person they were talking crap to also to sign a statement that the supe was saying it was a gaming term, they can get him/her to for negligence.. I'd pull out all the stops. signed anything (in my experience) really kicks out a lot of the BS. They don't want to put their name on anything they don't want to back up.. if they don't want to sign something, then climb up the food chain.. their supe/HR/upper management.
goodluck.

[blackrat.livejournal.com]

Everyone got here before me!

I am sorry to hear you are having to deal with that crap - I agree wholeheartedly with the suggestions given already; make HR aware of the situation, and Mr.Hidden-Camera seems a rather good idea also.

Document everything as best you can.

Best of luck!

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

Thanks - and I'm a miss, although can't tell from the profile I guess. Here's me in a dress doing archery in the SCA, for proof tho ;0

[blackrat.livejournal.com]

You ain't the camera though ;)

[blackrat.livejournal.com]

This will (probably) help make more sense of my calling the camera "Mr.Camera" - a slice of the "Red Dwarf - Smeg Ups" transcript from here (http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/trinity/410/smegup.html)...


Rimmer: Look at it! All our possessions, all our valuables. Between fire, flood, and impact

damage we've lost damn near everything! (Walks off to cockpit)

Kryten: Well at least Mr. Guitar, (to Cat) Mr. Guitar. (Begins to play as both sing)

Kryten and Cat: Oh, Mr. Guitar, you're a sad old thing...

Kryten: (to audience) You see, everything for me is Mr. (points off camera) Mr. That

(points to Cat) Mr. Cat (points up) Mr. Microphone (points down) Mr. Rather sad knob!

(Cat laughs)

(It's funnier if you see the video...) ;)

Hope this helps people think I'm not totaly barking. ;)

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, I just wasn't sure if you meant me or the camera. And I'd forgotten about that episode till you mentioned it.

That reminds me, I really should look into getting Red Dwarf on DVD. I need a good laugh.

"I'm gonna get you, little fishie!"

[abstrak-tokatl.livejournal.com]

ya, supervisors to us are like us to customers. they downplay and avoid the issue to solve the problem in their capacity as dictated by the rules.

i was thinking, maybe you should put some Nichean quotes on their desk once you find out who it is. just for fun.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

OH yeah, document document document.

Email with CC to yourself and a email outside the company incase of some random termination.

Take photocopies of all notes and show the original note to boss but let them keep the photocopy. Hell maybe someday someone will get finger printing??

Document date and time you find the notes - email that to boss, cc you and cc outside email.

You are officially working in a hostile environment. Good luck!

[pfloyd.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's a minstranslation of the original line, "Thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live," not witch.

(This was an argument that a former gaming group member who's a born-again-born-again said would justify him killing me. What a bonehead.)

Everyone here has the right idea. Take it up the chain of command. This is religious discrimination. Take it up with WADL and WARD, too.

Translation...

[rileydag.livejournal.com]

...I know, kind of funny that they can't even get the quote right. Oh well.

THANK YOU...

[rileydag.livejournal.com]

...all for your your suggestions. Well, I've gone to my supervisor's supervisor. Up the chain so to speak. I've asked him for a written report of what was done to look into this matter. I want the report signed by the person(s) who did the looking and what not. We'll see what happens. As for documenting everything, I've got all the communications so far. Yup, one little email. (shrug) From now on, I guess I'll be keeping a library of notes, however, I can't keep it here. Knowing these folks, they would find it in my office and say that I'm the one leaving the notes. Go figure.

The camera I thought about, except where I work it's against the rules to have a web cam or a camera phone. Security looks for those things and confiscates the cameras. If you have a camera phone, they make you check it with them and you can pick it up when you leave for the day.

I'll keep trying and again, thank you for everything!!!

Re: THANK YOU...

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Motion sensor and airhorn?

[ximinez]

Lawyer up. Then give all the notes to him/her.

[polarbee.livejournal.com]

I'd say this definitely falls under Hostile Work Environment and is federally prohibited. Wave federal law under your supervisor's nose. Plus all the other good suggestions above. :)

[rustymarble.livejournal.com]

I work in HR and I would HIGHLY recomend going to HR with the issue. Religion is a protected "class" and you should not be harassed for your religion.
Definitely keep a log of the notes and what day/time they appeared. If you have any friends nearby (ie: not likely the culprit) ask them to keep an eye on your desk when you're not there and tell you if they see anyone stop by. They can be "witnesses" to HR and help out down the line.

The one thing I would tell you is that unless they are physically harming you, the most HR can even do is probably just a written or verbal warning, with escalations up to a termination.
Good luck, it's a tough situation to be in.

[taleya.livejournal.com]

Keep 'em, save 'em, note when they happen.

Talk to security and let them know that it's NOT a gaming thing. Write a massive email to your supervisor, pointing out that you are receiving death threats at work (I'd take "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" as a death threat!) and point out that you are considering involving the police. Also point out that you do not appreciate your religion being considered a "gaming fad"

Then CC the whole thing to your supe's boss, the HR manager, etc etc....

(I did something similar at work once....emailed a huge four page email regarding graveyard conditions and saying my supe wasn't interested in any solutions we'd come up with....and added "I will probably lose my job over this" Now they pretty much can't fire me for that email, because it would smell damned suspicious, and we have laws down here about that shit :D)

Talk to a lawyer

[yduras.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't go to the police until (if) HR blows you off. But you might want to talk to an Employment Law lawyer (http://www.lawyers.com/find_a_lawyer/search/results.php?termtype=1&newsearch=Y&searchtype=Q&site=111&eid=&prevpageid=00000&personalaop=760&personalterm=&businessaop=&businessterm=&country=1&city=Decatur&county=&province=&state=11&x=57&y=10) who offers free consultations. "Thou Shalt Not Suffer..." is technically a death threat and there's no excuse not to take that seriously.

And absolutely, file everything and document anything. Quit throwing stuff away.

[buckaction.livejournal.com]

that's total fucking harrassment, and religious discrimination - doesn't matter what your belief is, your company is legally obligated to provide a discrimination free working enviroment - and you are being discriminated against - by an anonymous coward no less.

If your direct supervisor isn't doing his job, then do what others have suggested, go above him, and make it known that you have brought it to his attention and were blown off.

Keep the notes, and keep a record of the time span during which the notes were left (note down the approx time when you left your desk and when you came back), and where they were left - keep the notes themselves as well.

If your higher up's don't do anything about this, don't be afraid to threaten them with a discrimination lawsuit - like i said, they are legally obligated to provide a discrimination free work enviroment/be an equal oppurtunity employer. and if they fire you in retaliation, you can then also sue them for wrongful dismissal (and you'll win - it's not a fast or easy fight, but you'll win).

Update

[rileydag.livejournal.com]

Well, we had the HR meeting. If another note is left on my desk, I am to contact internal security. HR will have my office treated as a crime scene.

Do I believe they will actually do something? Yes. The HR rep that was at our meeting basically, politely informed us that we all have been handling the issue incorrectly. That being said, I do feel a lot better about the whole situation.

Things that the HR rep asked me to do mirror many of the suggestions that all of you were kind enough to offer. Hopefully, this individual will be caught soon and I can stop feeling like I need to watch my back.

Again, thank you all for all your help!!!