What to do after I signed a blank sheet of paper given to me by my manager?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I work as a teacher in a kindergarten for almost two years now.

Last week, my manager called me to sign a warning letter about a small issue that is not my fault and not part of my job description. I refused to sign and my manager told me to discuss this the next day. The next day, I met my manager and after some discussion she told me "do not worry it is not a big deal, just sign this paper and I will write the warning paragraph later".

I have signed a completely white paper - not even a warning form; it is a completely blank piece of paper! Yes, this is the most idiotic and stupid act that anyone could do. I have now realised how dangerous what I did is. I don't know what I should do now?

My manager is not an ethical person; she has a high desire to feel important. She always wants to feel that all teachers are following her orders. I do not know what she is planning to do with this or if she is really planning to do something bad with it.

Shall I speak to HR about this case although I do not have any evidence?

manpreet 2 years ago

Yes you are in danger.

However, anything your manager does (like printing a new letter over the signature) is fraud, and quite the bad variety too.

As she was doing what she was doing in the capacity of your manager, this is now the problem of your school/company/district or whatever the organisation is where you work.

HR is not your friend but in this case they will (or at least should) be your ally. To be a bit safer you could make it sound like you are just asking a question ("(describe in detail what happened), hey what was this about?", that way you get both documentation and can stay on polite footing with HR. I'd recommend dropping by the office after the email too (if that is not too weird for a teacher in your district/area) just to chat up.

Do this now, get this on paper, leave the kids to twiddle their thumbs if you must.

Ok, maybe not leave the kids (as per comment) but I'd suggest getting at least a short "hey I have a question I'm very worried about, I'll email once I have time, mind if I drop by in the afternoon?" out of the way. Sociopaths have a tendency to proactively discredit their victims so you need to be ahead of that.