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I start working under a 3 month temp-to-hire contract for BermanBraun, as an editor for Wonderwall Latino, their brand new gossip website.
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After a succesfull 3 month period, they offer me a full time contract for the same ammount of money ($60,000 a year). I make a counteroffer of $70,000, as the workload was more than expected, and we settled for $65,000.
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I was sent with a camarographer to cover the Latin Grammys in Vegas. I was in charge of producing, supervising the editing, and being in camera. Exceeded expectations, interviewing HUGE celebritles (Shakira, for example), a staple for the website for which I was congratulated for. This was a two day event, two red carpets. Slept 4 hours total, and was extremely happy to do so.
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I got a bonus of 5,000 dollars as a holiday bonus for job well done.
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I was told by Jarred, in presence of Juan, that I was an incredible employee, and that noone else in the editorial team on BermanBraun was getting such a big raise plus the promotion. The raise was 3,000. Also that they really appreciated me going above and beyond to put superb work, and working really late hours.
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Juan tells us he's leaving the company to go as the head of People en Español. I suggested that I would've like to take his place, as I was the only native spanish speaking member of the team. He encouraged me, and said that I should talk to the head of Digital, Jarred.
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Before I even had time to suggest I wanted to be the head of the team, which I had the blessing from Juan to do so, Jared announces that Brenda is our new boss. This makes her the head of three different websites: Wonderwall US, Powerwall, and Wonderwall Latino.
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This was Juan's last day as the head of Wonderwall Latino, and the first day of Brenda. This is the breaking point. During this week, when I told Brenda that my wife was pregnant, she responded with a: "I would never have babies. Having this little things crawling on you, feeding off you, and demanding attention? Gross".
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Even tho I was approved by Juan and Paco to take my sick days to take care of my son, Brenda opposes to this, as "I'm not going to be really sick". She calls Human Resources about it.
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At 5:45 PM, on a Friday, and after a whole day without taking lunch or any breaks, I decided to play an Xbox game with Paco (ex head of digital) and other coworkers. Brenda stormed into the gameroom screaming that "The day wasn't over yet" and that "I should show her that all of my work for monday was completed". That day I met all of the deadlines, I was going to work on monday stuff... well, on monday.
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I started going back to my old therapyst, Mark Reyna. He has on his notes that I was feeling suicidal going and coming back from work, feeling like driving into uncomming traffic.
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I texted
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I went to a Roberto Carlos concert to take pictures for the website, during the weekend, and uploaded a full gallery. On monday, when I was back to work, she said that was I did wasn't right because "I didn't ask for approval", and that "Roberto Carlos is not big enough for our audience": Roberto Carlos is one of biggest music acts in latin america.
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The happiest day of my life.
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After fighting with Brenda about this time that was already preapproved by Juan and Paco beforehand, I ended up taking this time off to take care of my son. Brenda argued that I shouldn't take this time off to take care of my kid, even tho I NEVER took a sick day.
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I was called a liar thru email, because of a gallery that she approved first, personally, and then said she actually never saw the "full effect of it". I said I didn't appreciate being called a liar, she responded that "she stayed by her statement, end of discussion".
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I signed the PIP and talked to Human Resources about how to fix things. She suggested that I should talk to Brenda personally. I tried, but Brenda asked for Jarred to be in the room. Then she said "You were never a good employee" without reason, as she wasn't my boss beforehand. I placed the request to take a 2 month paternity leave that night, which has a 30 day waiting period.
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The very next day they waived the waiting period, for the paternity leave. Jarred suggested that "maybe it's a good oportunity for look for another job". I dropped my computer at the office.
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From home, checked the work facebook page and their status were full of typos and grammar errors. Sent an email to Brenda and Adriana as an FYI, they didn't respond, corrected the problems, and revoked my permission as a Facebook admin for the website.
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I return from my paternity leave to find a welcoming email from Brenda reminding me that the PIP is still in place and "termination" it's an option. My work station has been moved, I'm isolated from the team. I have no phone. Brenda won't add me on IM. The whiteboard with the deadlines itis in other room, Brenda writes directions for me there. My computer doesn't work. Don't have propper ergonomics. I send an e-mail to Brenda asking how this is supposed to help, she didn't respond.
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Asked Brenda about why I was being set up for failure. She responded that "that is not a nice way to come back from my paternity leave, by questioning her decisions about the team". This is documented on e-mail.
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Tired of Brenda asking me to take lunches at my desk, and stating that "I'm the only one who asks to takes lunches", I told her that "a lunch is not a priviledge, it's a right". She got angry at me about this. As a response, I wrote an email to HR stating that I didn't want to get penalized because I was asking to take a lunch, and that what she was doing was illegal. HR responded telling me "Brenda is aware that you're entitled to your lunches, do you want me to remind her that?".
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I also stated on the email all of the problems I found with being back and setup for failure. She said that I could ask Paco or Jared about it, because "the company it's a maximum cappacity".
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