Review = crap

So I recently had my review here at work. Last year I swear we had one every 4 months but this year has been a bit of a nightmare so my boss decided to only do 2 reviews for 2008. A 6 month and a yearly. So I guess you could call this the 6 month review. Anyway, it was not a bad review per say but it was by far the worst review I've had since I started here.



At every review we are given a sheet of paper with 16 categories. Every category has 5 ratings from high to low. High Achiever, Very Strong, Meets Standards, Progressing, and unsatisfactory. Now in the past I've always gotten on average 14 very Strong's, 1 High Achiever and one meets standards. A pretty good review if I do say so myself but this time I got 1 High Achiever, 2 Very Strong's, 7 meets standard's, and 4 Progressing's. Not so great but not awful either.


The problem that I really have with this review is that my "ratings" don't really match my performance. According to the stats also listed in my review I am essentially the #2 ranked rep in all areas but 1 and I have improved in all areas but one from my last review. How on earth does that earn me a bunch of below average marks?


To make things worse there is also a comment section to my review where my boss can put whatever she wants. I had neglected to actually read this section while I was in the review but afterwards I sat down to look it over and I was blown away. She actually put in my review that I'm a gossip. Now granted I have occasionally partaken in some of the office gossip but who hasn't? And I certainly don't think I'm anymore responsible for it than anyone else and how on earth she could put something that is essentially hearsay in my review? I just don't understand.


She also goes on to say that I spend 45 minutes to an hour having coffee in my co-workers offices every morning. While I have been guilty of chatting over coffee with co-workers from time to time it's certainly not everyday and if it's such a big deal why wait until my review to bring it up? Why not talk to me about it months ago?


What really irks me is she likes to address things like this in a group setting and not on a one on one bases until reviews. She'll send out an email to the whole staff all passive aggressive like about how we should all be more mindful of this or that. But since she never says it specifically to you. How the hell am I supposed to know you're referring to me if you don't say, "Hey Lori, stop doing whatever."