Je Suis Negative Git!!

Discussion of the re-branding of CTC as Cycling UK.
SA_SA_SA
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by SA_SA_SA »

On facebook* Mark Waters and CJ said 'I can advise that Ollie Foster is a nice guy, not given to making statements such as this.' and 'I second what he said. Ollie is one of the good guys' respectively. Perhaps someone else was using his computer ?

*https://www.facebook.com/groups/911322558887222/
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gaz
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by gaz »

SA_SA_SA wrote:... Perhaps someone else was using his computer ?


Si wrote:Can we stay off speculating what happened please as we don't want another thread locked.
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SA_SA_SA
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by SA_SA_SA »

Sorry, didn't notice that..
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Psamathe
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by Psamathe »

Wondering what is happening. I had expected it to have been addressed next (working) day. But we are now a week later so it must have been sorted by now (I'd be surprised if it took a (working) week).

What was the outcome ?

Ian
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Velocio
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by Velocio »

...no news as yet ...I've been very busy out and about this week ...some of us cycle you know...!! ;) ...will let you know as soon as I hear anything conclusive :)
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Psamathe
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by Psamathe »

In the private sector something like this would have been sorted quickly and world would have moved on. The charity managers compare their salaries to the "private sector" but, put them in the private sector and, based on what we are seeing e.g. this incident, they just would not survive.

Ian
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Velocio
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by Velocio »

To: tim.boden@cyclinguk.org
Subject: RE: Action Update
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2016

Hi Tim

It has been a week since your colleague sent his offending email to me

Are you in a position to tell me the outcome of your full investigation with further clarification of what has happened, what action has been taken, and what you propose to do to redress this unwarranted slight towards me?

Kind regards

==================================================

...Matt Mallinder, Membership Director, contacted me over the weekend

==================================================

From: matt.mallinder@CyclingUK.org
CC: tim.boden@CyclingUK.org
Subject: RE: Action Update
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 11:10:30

Dear Velocio,

Further to our telephone conversation I wanted to write to you formally.

I write to you in my capacity as Membership Director, so I take full responsibility for the membership department and our communications. Please accept both my apologies for this incident occurring and for the delay in responding to this matter, which has been due to my being abroad when this occurred.

I have now conducted an internal investigation into this. There is no excuse for the phrase that was used in the communication. By way of background into the message it appears that the officer was intending to forward your response to the rebrand to another member of staff for who was responsible for collating the range of views received from members, it is evident he replied to you instead. However I see absolutely no distinction here in the insulting language used and the outcome is that officer involved is subject to an internal disciplinary procedure.

As discussed the Membership Officer involved, once aware of his actions, immediately offered to contact you to apologise. Until I had investigated and had opportunity to talk with you I asked him to hold off. Having now spoken with you and agreed that it would be appropriate I will tell him that it is okay to proceed.

As iterated on our call, I apologise again for this having occurred and thank you for your understating in the matter. By way of some recompense I am sending you a CTC Heritage Merino wool jersey with our compliments.

All the best

Matt

Matt Mallinder
Membership Director

==================================================

To: matt.mallinder@cyclinguk.org
Subject: RE: Action Update
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2016 09:12:21

Hi Matt

Thank you for your email and phone message, and thank you for apologising on behalf of your colleague. I accept your apology, and the CTC Heritage jersey ...I can see the irony ...all things considered...!!

Best wishes

Velocio
...ever cycle ...ever CTC
Psamathe
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by Psamathe »

A very weak response. Does seem the organisation operates nothing like the private sector (yet they seem to require private sector salaries, compare they "packages" with those from the private sector).

And over a week for an "inquiry" like that is beyond disgraceful. When anybody is "out of the country" there should always be others to cover their responsibilities.

Ian
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robgul
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by robgul »

... I guess they're glad to get rid of the old stock of jerseys :twisted:

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honesty
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by honesty »

Psamathe wrote:A very weak response. Does seem the organisation operates nothing like the private sector (yet they seem to require private sector salaries, compare they "packages" with those from the private sector).

And over a week for an "inquiry" like that is beyond disgraceful. When anybody is "out of the country" there should always be others to cover their responsibilities.

Ian


Weak? What did you expect, them to tar and feather the guy? They are still going through and internal disciplinary process and that could still lead to further punishment. Seems a reasonable response to me, even with the added irony of them sending a CTC top.

Also the timescale seems to be reasonable to me. Internal disciplinary procedures can be complex to follow correctly and can take time to follow therefore starting the process off has to be done correctly as well.
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Graham
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by Graham »

That sounds like a reasonable outcome to an unfortunate situation.

It is probably best that the general public don't get to hear what goes on in the backrooms of any organisation.
Who here hasn't made an unfortunate email blunder with Reply, CC, BCC . ?

Thinks ! . . . . how could I engineer an insult from Cycling UK . . . I quite fancy one of those jerseys. :mrgreen:
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by PH »

If anyone would like to call me a negative git, they can do so for a lot less than the price of a jersey.
The comment was out of order, but you will get over it, IMO the response is proportionate, I'd accept the apology and jersey and leave it at that.
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mjr
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by mjr »

Graham wrote:It is probably best that the general public don't get to hear what goes on in the backrooms of any organisation.
Who here hasn't made an unfortunate email blunder with Reply, CC, BCC . ?

Oh sure and some of them are forever archived on the web, but the lesson should be not to be so mean to people, not only to moderate one's language!

What goes on in the backroom of your organisation? In public relations terms, I'd be quite happy for the general public to hear what goes on inside the co-op, where even accidentally ambiguous language is challenged by colleagues - but you're not going to see it because much of what we discuss is commercially sensitive or involves client confidentiality.

I'm troubled that the apology leads with "the officer was intending to forward your response" which is not really any sort of explanation and does make me wonder if CUK staff have called a membership segment "Negative Git" - most likely internally informally/verbally. It probably appears on formal reports as "Strongly opposed to new brand" or something similar.
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roubaixtuesday
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by roubaixtuesday »

Psamathe,

your post is a little over the top. Seems like an entirely proportionate response from CUK to me.

I don't think a witch hunt is in order for such a transgression.
Psamathe
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Re: Je Suis Negative Git!!

Post by Psamathe »

mjr wrote:
Graham wrote:It is probably best that the general public don't get to hear what goes on in the backrooms of any organisation.
Who here hasn't made an unfortunate email blunder with Reply, CC, BCC . ?

Oh sure and some of them are forever archived on the web, but the lesson should be not to be so mean to people, not only to moderate one's language!

What goes on in the backroom of your organisation? In public relations terms, I'd be quite happy for the general public to hear what goes on inside the co-op, where even accidentally ambiguous language is challenged by colleagues - but you're not going to see it because much of what we discuss is commercially sensitive or involves client confidentiality.

I'm troubled that the apology leads with "the officer was intending to forward your response" which is not really any sort of explanation and does make me wonder if CUK staff have called a membership segment "Negative Git" - most likely internally informally/verbally. It probably appears on formal reports as "Strongly opposed to new brand" or something similar.

I would agree. It's about attitude to customers - and that can come across whatever words you use. If you allow such attitudes to exist within an organisation it never reflects well and people pick-up how they are thought of. We would never tolerate such behaviour towards people that were paying our salaries (internally or externally. That it was meant t be sent internally is no explanation atall.

Ian
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