by Sherrie Mickan

Created on: April 18, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I have always been a "tell the truth" kind of person. I've been working at a law enforcement agency since 1996, and have learned to burn my bridges well. To say the least, I was extremely proud to work here in the beginning; then learned how much of a good ole boy place it really was. Being naive when I started back then, I was shocked at how vicious a very middle aged woman was toward our co-workers. Then I saw that for the most part, a lot of the women were like that, and not just in that department.

After moving to a more elite area, I saw injustices handed out to people, mainly data entry people, who didn't know any better; a supervisor yelling at the top of her lungs in a (mandatory) quiet room, just to watch our reactions; receiving a certificate of thanks from another law enforcement agency, only to have this same supervisor toss it on my desk and inform me not to let it go to my head; applying for another position within the department that I had been trained for (I was the only one applying at the time) only to be told that anything could happen, such as the man who was told it would be in his best interest to apply, so he did at the last minute, and yes, he got the position. Of course I took it upon myself to make the injustices known to the higher ups, thus starting my reputation as being a trouble maker. I rocked the boat, and even the data entry people tried to tell me to keep quiet. At the time I made one dollar less than my house payment, which I was responsible for, so I moved to another department, vowing to eventually get back to this one. After numerous interviews to get back to that area, I finally realized what a joke I was to those people when they started asking me useless questions and not writing anything down.

It finally sank in when a co-worker asked me why I would want to go back to a place where people were treated so badly. They were right. I moved into a semi-supervisory position where I was going to change the world and help everyone who had a problem. Little did I know no one else thought that was a good idea. What should have been an easy task I fought every step of the way. Trying to be fair to everyone and even helping out a co-worker when someone talked rudely to her, she got mad at me, and the rude person was persuaded to try and write me up. I tried for years to right wrongs and make things easy for all, only to be beaten down. It took me three years, but I bide my time now and I do keep my mouth shut. I had to tell myself nothing would change, which was proven to me, so now I'm not at all stressed.

Learn more about this author, Sherrie Mickan.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.