asifkhan
17th February 2007, 05:24 PM
A few months ago I posed this story on this forum. To recap here it is:
Alhamdulillah, I hope the readers of this will feel good to hear this story, inshallah.
I have worked at a call centre for nearly 3 years. The people I work with are fairly ignorant, working class people. I'm not looking down on them, just being honest.
I am a practising Muslim, a full beard, pray salah, don't talk rubbish, don't laugh at the haram things my colleagues say etc.
Basically I am polite, but don't fit in with the 'team' culture. I don't do what they do.
About a year and a half ago my Supervisor was training new people and she started to make fun of me whenever she walked past me. Making fun of my posture (I hold my head high, lean a little forward, but nothing that is so ridiculous that it warrants ridicule), laughing at me with her trainees.
I couldn't believe it, but informally complained about it to my manager. She spoke to them with the section manager. They said they were embarrassed and wanted to apologise for any upset caused, but they denied they had done anything.
I said to my manager I didn't want an apology I just wanted to move on. I didn't think they wanted to apologise sincerely because they would have kept on doing what they had done, it was my complaint which stopped it.
Now listen to this......From then on various managers and supervisors for a period of 6 months, day in/day out would walk past my desk and say to each other very blatantly 'he's mad' and would walk past me, looking at me, and would laugh at me.
For 6 months, 4 days a week, a team opposite me during their 15 minute meetings, a bit of a distance a way, would all directly stare at me and laugh at me loudly, saying 'he's mad'.
Virtually the whole call centre on my floor would do this everyday for about 6 months.
Alhamdulillah, by the Grace and Mercy of Allah (SWT) alone, I had sabr and I ignored it. Everyday I turned up for work, my colleagues became more enraged, because they couldn't see it was having any effect.
Anyway, by July of last year my very own manager and supervisors joined in. I had never said a word out of place to anybody. I was frank when I was given feedback about my job, but polite, and that upset my manager, it seems they expected you to accept everything they told you.
By the way my job performance has always been good, that's not been an issue, they seemed to resent the fact I am well-spoken, educated, but don't kiss up to them or pretend to be interested in the rubbish they talk about.
By August, I was sick of it. I complained about my own manager, and a few other supervisors to the section manager. Everybody around the company knew what was going on.
It was me on my own against the whole company, this is the honest truth. They made fun of my posture, it offends them I hold my head high, it's called self-respect. So everytime my manager came near me when she was making gestures, I 'd raise my head even higher which I could see got on her nerves.
Other teams during their meetings started to make fun of me too. It was crazy. So I then made 3 formal complaints of harrassment against a manager, supervisor, and regular worker (she left the company later on because she couldn't handle the embarrassment). I even refused to work during team meetings if it continued.
By December, my manager left on a 1 year placement, she couldn't take it anymore. It was hilarious, by the Grace of Allah (SWT) I had defeated her. She had literally bad mouthed me with everybody at the company knowing I could see it, and she couldn't take it any longer. This was the 'mother of all upsets'.
Alhamdulillah, things improved slightly. But from December last year to March this year, my own team kept doing the same things, walking past me saying 'I'm mad', making fun of my posture (I lean forward a bit), and also making fun of the fact they think I'm full of myself, just because I hold my head high and don't say much to them.
In March 2006 I did my only foolish thing, I sent an email to my whole team telling them what I thought about them, without swear words, I told them exactly what I thought about them.
The company investigated my claims which as usual were not substantiated because they were all in it together, but I knew that would be the case anyway, I just didn't want them to have no response.
I also mentioned during the investigation 2 managers were doing these things regularly, one of which was my ex-supervisor.
I was on the verge of being sacked, but an extenuating circumstance I gave them meant I would have a final written warning on my record for a year, which would then be removed for good. That will be in March 2007.
They moved me to another team, and even to this day the same antics take place but on a much lower level. My ex-supervisor who I mentioned during the investigation, since that email, still calls me mad but much less often and she does it with her new team in the distance, she's now a manager.
She's also beginning to get sick of me, because she has been humilated, because everybody knows I complained against her in the investigation. She walks around like a scolded cat, and whenever she calls me mad, I raise my head everytime, which upsets her. She reminds me of my previous manager, she looks drained.
In fact its now a bit of a comedy, because they know what I think of them and I know what they think of me. In that email I said, 'I intend to be at the company until I'm 65, I said in that email, 'you thought I would leave but you were totally wrong, ha-ha-ha the jokes on you!'
So basically, they know I am now laughing at them. What a major upset, one person defeats the whole company!
The whole experience was painful and upsetting. I used to like my manager and ex-supervisor, so it hurt when they were nasty to me. Now they have mild respect for me and they giggle loudly in the distance instead of laughing at me like they used to do.
There are so many other nasty things they did, but I have personally witnessed, if you are true to Allah (SWT) and persistently ask Him for help, and never ever quit, you will succeed, inshallah.
For a period of a year and 3 months, for every 8 hour shift I 've worked, to varying degrees I have had a lot of hassle at work. But not even once have I ever lowered my head to the kufaar at work during all of that time and to this day they cannot understand why I am still there.
I still don't feel comfortable at work, but I enjoy the job itself, its my colleagues I don't like.
My brothers and sisters there are Muslims all over the world suffering much worse than this. But I realize the kufaar fear Islam and Muslims.
I think the kufaar thought I would leave or change to be like them. Alhamdulillah, my brethren in Islam, they didn't succeed in any of those aims, and still haven't, and they never will, inshallah.
Like a t.v. presenter I don't show any emotion at work, because I don't want them to know what makes me tick, or what can hurt me.
I may be a bit paranoid now, but I can't help it.
My conclusion is the kufaar fear and hate Islam and Muslims. But I know when I turn up to work, it is Dawah, because they know Islam and Muslims are never intimidated, can never be defeated, and will never be close friends with the kufaar.
Please make dua for me and the whole Muslim Ummah. Jihad is taking place all over the world, everywhere.
Lastly, would you advise I make any extra efforts to be kind or just keep my distance as I always have. The people I work with are ****.
My attitude is as long as they continue to call me mad, which from the looks of things will be 'forever', I don't see I have an opportunity to be kind, from the perspective of having self-respect.
My ex-supervisor sometimes hovers around my desk, I ignore her and she walks off in a huff. Sometimes she is quite likeable, but there is resentment there, and for as long as she continues to call me mad, no matter how few times that is, I won't initiate conversation with her.
But if I get a chance to help I would anyway.
I can honestly say I feel I am the only sane one there and I know that sounds mad!
In the Qur'an it mentions how our Prophet (SAW) used to be called mad. I try to follow his Sunnah and I'm getting similar treatment.
Alhamdulillah, it does feel good to be Muslim, regardless of the pain the kufaar try to inflict. Now they feel what I used to feel. Alhamdulillah, hardships wipe away sins.
THE CONCLUSION
Things didn't really change and the hostility of my colleagues didn't alter. I didn't really change my behaviour but I can honestly say these people are pretty low. I felt it was clear they would never stop until I bowed down to them, which I wasn't willing to do.
I've kept my behaviour consistent throughout the year. When the scumbags call me mad, I'd raise my head but never did anything which were gross misconduct offences under employment criteria, and as ever, my job performance was always good. The customers were very happy with me but not my colleagues, obviously.
Anyway, this week, a few weeks before my name was due to be cleared of all wrongdoing, my manager takes me into a room with another manager. They tell me they are suspending me on full pay because of serious allegations made against me.
They wouldn't tell me what they were, and asked me to leave the building until they would contact me regarding the investigation. They said if the allegations were proven it may mean dismissal.
Later on that day I spoke to my section manager by phone and resigned. I explained that it was clear this was being done in order to sack me. My job performance was good, I hadn't said or done anything which would constitute gross misconduct/dismissal, my behaviour was the same throughout the year and I said I wasn't interested in the allegations made.
I'll tell you what I did do. When a nasty manager was calling me mad, while talking to my manager, who sits diagonally to the right of me, I did say to my colleague opposite, 'I heard a song on the radio the other day, it goes the winner takes it all, the loser has to fall, it's simple and it's plain why should I complain'.
Or I would say to my colleague while I was being called mad by that manager, 'how do you spell loser?' He'd reply, 'why do you want to know?'
I'd reply, 'I'm just writing a poem, that's all'.
When that manager was calling me mad directly opposite, I did that. Beside these childish indirect responses of mine, for the rest of the shift I never said anything to anybody. I avoided them during breaks too.
I told my section manager my complaints are never substantiated so why should I hang around to hear allegations from colleagues who are themselves guilty of calling me mad all the time, they still haven't stopped and when it comes to the company value of honesty they don't follow it.
I told her I didn't want to work for a company where some managers/employees think it is acceptable to attempt to humiliate their colleagues just because they don't want to talk to them.
I highlighted how the customers were happy with me and that my colleagues were calling me mad just because I wasn't saying much to them. I told her they were childish and if anybody had mental issues to resolve it was them, not me!
I also stated I didn't want to know about the investigation because I was no longer an employee of the company and it was no longer my concern.
They have now decided to drop the investigation because I resigned with immediate effect.
I advise you my brothers and sisters never work for a call centre. The low of the low work there, these people are truly some of the worst I've met. I've never had this experience at any other company before.
The company I worked for is a major company. I am seriously thinking about writing a book because other employees in the past have also voiced their concerns about management at that place.
The good news is I have a reference, from a brother I know in HR, 3 years full-time experience to put on my cv, a car I bought, a website I set up, and well over £10,000 saved up.
The only way they could get rid of me was by all plotting together to come up with some fake allegations to investigate, confirm and then sack me with.
But, Alhamdulillah, even at the end I still managed to resign, rather than be sacked!
Jazah kallah khairun and thank you for all of your support. I am now applying for jobs and I hope to find a much better job next, inshallah.
May Allah (SWT) help the whole Muslim Ummah, Ameen. It has been an emotionally draining experience my last job. But Alhamdulillah, for 2 years one Muslim held off the entire company!
Alhamdulillah, I hope the readers of this will feel good to hear this story, inshallah.
I have worked at a call centre for nearly 3 years. The people I work with are fairly ignorant, working class people. I'm not looking down on them, just being honest.
I am a practising Muslim, a full beard, pray salah, don't talk rubbish, don't laugh at the haram things my colleagues say etc.
Basically I am polite, but don't fit in with the 'team' culture. I don't do what they do.
About a year and a half ago my Supervisor was training new people and she started to make fun of me whenever she walked past me. Making fun of my posture (I hold my head high, lean a little forward, but nothing that is so ridiculous that it warrants ridicule), laughing at me with her trainees.
I couldn't believe it, but informally complained about it to my manager. She spoke to them with the section manager. They said they were embarrassed and wanted to apologise for any upset caused, but they denied they had done anything.
I said to my manager I didn't want an apology I just wanted to move on. I didn't think they wanted to apologise sincerely because they would have kept on doing what they had done, it was my complaint which stopped it.
Now listen to this......From then on various managers and supervisors for a period of 6 months, day in/day out would walk past my desk and say to each other very blatantly 'he's mad' and would walk past me, looking at me, and would laugh at me.
For 6 months, 4 days a week, a team opposite me during their 15 minute meetings, a bit of a distance a way, would all directly stare at me and laugh at me loudly, saying 'he's mad'.
Virtually the whole call centre on my floor would do this everyday for about 6 months.
Alhamdulillah, by the Grace and Mercy of Allah (SWT) alone, I had sabr and I ignored it. Everyday I turned up for work, my colleagues became more enraged, because they couldn't see it was having any effect.
Anyway, by July of last year my very own manager and supervisors joined in. I had never said a word out of place to anybody. I was frank when I was given feedback about my job, but polite, and that upset my manager, it seems they expected you to accept everything they told you.
By the way my job performance has always been good, that's not been an issue, they seemed to resent the fact I am well-spoken, educated, but don't kiss up to them or pretend to be interested in the rubbish they talk about.
By August, I was sick of it. I complained about my own manager, and a few other supervisors to the section manager. Everybody around the company knew what was going on.
It was me on my own against the whole company, this is the honest truth. They made fun of my posture, it offends them I hold my head high, it's called self-respect. So everytime my manager came near me when she was making gestures, I 'd raise my head even higher which I could see got on her nerves.
Other teams during their meetings started to make fun of me too. It was crazy. So I then made 3 formal complaints of harrassment against a manager, supervisor, and regular worker (she left the company later on because she couldn't handle the embarrassment). I even refused to work during team meetings if it continued.
By December, my manager left on a 1 year placement, she couldn't take it anymore. It was hilarious, by the Grace of Allah (SWT) I had defeated her. She had literally bad mouthed me with everybody at the company knowing I could see it, and she couldn't take it any longer. This was the 'mother of all upsets'.
Alhamdulillah, things improved slightly. But from December last year to March this year, my own team kept doing the same things, walking past me saying 'I'm mad', making fun of my posture (I lean forward a bit), and also making fun of the fact they think I'm full of myself, just because I hold my head high and don't say much to them.
In March 2006 I did my only foolish thing, I sent an email to my whole team telling them what I thought about them, without swear words, I told them exactly what I thought about them.
The company investigated my claims which as usual were not substantiated because they were all in it together, but I knew that would be the case anyway, I just didn't want them to have no response.
I also mentioned during the investigation 2 managers were doing these things regularly, one of which was my ex-supervisor.
I was on the verge of being sacked, but an extenuating circumstance I gave them meant I would have a final written warning on my record for a year, which would then be removed for good. That will be in March 2007.
They moved me to another team, and even to this day the same antics take place but on a much lower level. My ex-supervisor who I mentioned during the investigation, since that email, still calls me mad but much less often and she does it with her new team in the distance, she's now a manager.
She's also beginning to get sick of me, because she has been humilated, because everybody knows I complained against her in the investigation. She walks around like a scolded cat, and whenever she calls me mad, I raise my head everytime, which upsets her. She reminds me of my previous manager, she looks drained.
In fact its now a bit of a comedy, because they know what I think of them and I know what they think of me. In that email I said, 'I intend to be at the company until I'm 65, I said in that email, 'you thought I would leave but you were totally wrong, ha-ha-ha the jokes on you!'
So basically, they know I am now laughing at them. What a major upset, one person defeats the whole company!
The whole experience was painful and upsetting. I used to like my manager and ex-supervisor, so it hurt when they were nasty to me. Now they have mild respect for me and they giggle loudly in the distance instead of laughing at me like they used to do.
There are so many other nasty things they did, but I have personally witnessed, if you are true to Allah (SWT) and persistently ask Him for help, and never ever quit, you will succeed, inshallah.
For a period of a year and 3 months, for every 8 hour shift I 've worked, to varying degrees I have had a lot of hassle at work. But not even once have I ever lowered my head to the kufaar at work during all of that time and to this day they cannot understand why I am still there.
I still don't feel comfortable at work, but I enjoy the job itself, its my colleagues I don't like.
My brothers and sisters there are Muslims all over the world suffering much worse than this. But I realize the kufaar fear Islam and Muslims.
I think the kufaar thought I would leave or change to be like them. Alhamdulillah, my brethren in Islam, they didn't succeed in any of those aims, and still haven't, and they never will, inshallah.
Like a t.v. presenter I don't show any emotion at work, because I don't want them to know what makes me tick, or what can hurt me.
I may be a bit paranoid now, but I can't help it.
My conclusion is the kufaar fear and hate Islam and Muslims. But I know when I turn up to work, it is Dawah, because they know Islam and Muslims are never intimidated, can never be defeated, and will never be close friends with the kufaar.
Please make dua for me and the whole Muslim Ummah. Jihad is taking place all over the world, everywhere.
Lastly, would you advise I make any extra efforts to be kind or just keep my distance as I always have. The people I work with are ****.
My attitude is as long as they continue to call me mad, which from the looks of things will be 'forever', I don't see I have an opportunity to be kind, from the perspective of having self-respect.
My ex-supervisor sometimes hovers around my desk, I ignore her and she walks off in a huff. Sometimes she is quite likeable, but there is resentment there, and for as long as she continues to call me mad, no matter how few times that is, I won't initiate conversation with her.
But if I get a chance to help I would anyway.
I can honestly say I feel I am the only sane one there and I know that sounds mad!
In the Qur'an it mentions how our Prophet (SAW) used to be called mad. I try to follow his Sunnah and I'm getting similar treatment.
Alhamdulillah, it does feel good to be Muslim, regardless of the pain the kufaar try to inflict. Now they feel what I used to feel. Alhamdulillah, hardships wipe away sins.
THE CONCLUSION
Things didn't really change and the hostility of my colleagues didn't alter. I didn't really change my behaviour but I can honestly say these people are pretty low. I felt it was clear they would never stop until I bowed down to them, which I wasn't willing to do.
I've kept my behaviour consistent throughout the year. When the scumbags call me mad, I'd raise my head but never did anything which were gross misconduct offences under employment criteria, and as ever, my job performance was always good. The customers were very happy with me but not my colleagues, obviously.
Anyway, this week, a few weeks before my name was due to be cleared of all wrongdoing, my manager takes me into a room with another manager. They tell me they are suspending me on full pay because of serious allegations made against me.
They wouldn't tell me what they were, and asked me to leave the building until they would contact me regarding the investigation. They said if the allegations were proven it may mean dismissal.
Later on that day I spoke to my section manager by phone and resigned. I explained that it was clear this was being done in order to sack me. My job performance was good, I hadn't said or done anything which would constitute gross misconduct/dismissal, my behaviour was the same throughout the year and I said I wasn't interested in the allegations made.
I'll tell you what I did do. When a nasty manager was calling me mad, while talking to my manager, who sits diagonally to the right of me, I did say to my colleague opposite, 'I heard a song on the radio the other day, it goes the winner takes it all, the loser has to fall, it's simple and it's plain why should I complain'.
Or I would say to my colleague while I was being called mad by that manager, 'how do you spell loser?' He'd reply, 'why do you want to know?'
I'd reply, 'I'm just writing a poem, that's all'.
When that manager was calling me mad directly opposite, I did that. Beside these childish indirect responses of mine, for the rest of the shift I never said anything to anybody. I avoided them during breaks too.
I told my section manager my complaints are never substantiated so why should I hang around to hear allegations from colleagues who are themselves guilty of calling me mad all the time, they still haven't stopped and when it comes to the company value of honesty they don't follow it.
I told her I didn't want to work for a company where some managers/employees think it is acceptable to attempt to humiliate their colleagues just because they don't want to talk to them.
I highlighted how the customers were happy with me and that my colleagues were calling me mad just because I wasn't saying much to them. I told her they were childish and if anybody had mental issues to resolve it was them, not me!
I also stated I didn't want to know about the investigation because I was no longer an employee of the company and it was no longer my concern.
They have now decided to drop the investigation because I resigned with immediate effect.
I advise you my brothers and sisters never work for a call centre. The low of the low work there, these people are truly some of the worst I've met. I've never had this experience at any other company before.
The company I worked for is a major company. I am seriously thinking about writing a book because other employees in the past have also voiced their concerns about management at that place.
The good news is I have a reference, from a brother I know in HR, 3 years full-time experience to put on my cv, a car I bought, a website I set up, and well over £10,000 saved up.
The only way they could get rid of me was by all plotting together to come up with some fake allegations to investigate, confirm and then sack me with.
But, Alhamdulillah, even at the end I still managed to resign, rather than be sacked!
Jazah kallah khairun and thank you for all of your support. I am now applying for jobs and I hope to find a much better job next, inshallah.
May Allah (SWT) help the whole Muslim Ummah, Ameen. It has been an emotionally draining experience my last job. But Alhamdulillah, for 2 years one Muslim held off the entire company!