The Frame Fucktory - Outstanding Contributions

While employed by the Frame Factory, I frequently worked above and beyond the owner’s expectations.  When the workload was especially demanding or I felt that good progress had not been made during the course of a given day of work I would voluntarily put in unpaid overtime.  Annual bonuses were given to me based upon the Frame Factory's annual sales and respective net worth profit. I developed and implemented an accelerated framing program to address customer needs when orders were time sensitive.  I designed and created custom framed pieces for myself which I loaned to the Frame Factory to market the available talent and creative skills available.  I promoted the Frame Factory specifically in two articles for which I had been interviewed by the South Bend Tribune .
When interviewed for the position of assistant manager, in November of 1999, I was asked, “What skills and talents would you bring to the business?” My response, “I bring a creative, conscious and meticulous mindset. I'm very detail-oriented and work well with people. If I'm given the right tools to do the job, I'll do great work.” In hindsight, I was speaking to the ideal and need for the proper physical tools. As time passed, I came to realize that this statement also meant that I would need clear and open communication, something that I felt was deteriorating in the last three to four years. Even in that period of time, I was trying to cultivate good communication within the business, in an attempt to avoid the shortfalls that so many workplace environments suffer. Unfortunately, my attempts to create that open dialogue were met with heightened levels of resistance from Mr. Dale specifically in the planning period leading up to and during the temporary re-location of the Frame Factory in January 2009.
My daily routine included assessing the work to be completed and to create more efficiency in the process. However in my view, Mr. Dale's management style stemmed from a desire for him to have a extreme level of authority over how the business would operate on a day-to-day basis. The less the employees were in the know of things, the more that his authority enabled him to keep us working less than efficiently. This does create challenging employer/employee relations and customer/employee relations in such an environment. From my personal perspective, it not only places a level of responsibility upon each and every member of the staff to be in a defensive position within the business and also creates a mindset that makes working with customers more challenging and also less professional than would be ideal. Without exception, every member of the staff has contributed to a potential loss of existing and future business at various times.
A workplace environment should cultivate an open forum that provides a reasonable sense of purpose and allows in new ideas with a reasonable level of confidence that not only would those ideas and proposals be heard but seriously considered and acted upon. This is an ongoing process. As time passed this was becoming less frequent at the Frame Factory. In fact, some of the most progressive and creative ideas were being marginalized because they went above and beyond the expectations of Mr. Dale's vision for the business despite his encouragement to offer and propose possible changes to improve the work process. Such proposals were designed and supported by numerous employees throughout my employment. When presented to Mr. Dale, proposals were challenged to the point that the incentive to offer such contributions to the business in the future were considered a pointless endeavor. I greatly reduced the number of proposals that I developed and presented in light of this realization.
On the other hand, if Mr. Dale developed an idea or proposal, it could be questioned and challenged and yet, if he decided that it would happen according to his preference, then it would happen in that way regardless of any valid counter proposal or idea presented to him.
This type of workplace environment is not conducive to creative and innovative ideas, much less successful implementation. Such a workplace environment cultivates an unnecessary tension level for all who worked there. The Frame Factory work environment, I feel, was advancing to this level despite numerous attempts to offer ideas and proposals that had the potential to benefit the business. I feel that those tensions created specifically under Mr. Dale's authority ultimately contributed to my termination. Thank you for time.