I know this is not technically camp wordforge material, BUT I need you paranoid people. I've decide that I have to start recording all of my conversations with my boss. I want to do this as unobtrusively as possible. What kind of recording device should I get? And Thank you.
It depends on if you plan on keeping your clothes on during the tapings. Why and where will you be taping, and over what medium (face to face, phone, etc)?
If you can find one, a watch. I have one that does that, no guarantee of the quality of the audio recording though.
Best Buy, get a regular Digital Voice recorder. I prefer Sony or Olympus. Make sure it has USB download capability.
Carry it unobtrusively, should be no problem. Mine have saved my ass from racial predjudice charges on a couple of occasions.
You might want to check on the laws in your state regarding recording another persons voice. In Florida to do so is illegal unless both parties consent. So if you have a voice recorder, you have to let the person know that you will be recording what they say. If they dont agree, then you are SOL.
The best I can tell through a quick search is that Oklahoma is a 1-party consent state. The farmer's bride should be in the clear. My suggestion for the recorder would be to hide it so it's as close to the person being recorded as possible. If you can, put it in a shirt pocket or something like that.
Sansa MP3 players are pretty durn small, have lots of battery life, and have a recording function. My son's is a 2 GIG'r, mine is an older model with 1G of memory. You could drop it in the breast pocket of a blouse and it would be very unobtrusive. Now for the juicy question: why does the hot teacher need to be recording the conversations with her boss?
The one problem with what you're suggesting is that the microphones on the MP3 players are usually there as an afterthought or feature of convenience. Therefore they usually suck when compared to the mike on a good digital voice recorder. And if she's having to make such recordings in the first place, clarity is going to be her best friend.
Depending on how important it is to get a clear recording, you might want to consider getting a microphone for whatever recording device that you use. The quality of recording on easy-to-conceal recorders has come a long way since micro- and mini- cassettes, but, depending upon the digital recorder you get, you can still end up getting a lot of 'room noise'. It's going to depend on the built in microphone. A recorder with a unidirectional mic is great if you're able to leave it out in the open and point it at the subject you want recorded. If you have to stick it in your pocket, you're likely to lose detail, and if you're trying to bust someone, it's all in the details. A recorder with an omnidirectional microphone can be better, but it also tends to pick up 'room noise', and anything else that's going on in your immediate area. It's very good for taking notes in a classroom because you, the person recording, knows the context of what's going on, so if you get a word or phrase that drops out, you aren't going to be too lost. If you lose a sentence here and there when you're trying to make a case against someone doing something wrong, it's not going to be of much use to you. I think your best bet is to get a digital recorder, and a small microphone like this one: Microphone Using a microphone like this will likely give you a better recording, but it's going to require a bit of intrepidity. You'd have to put the device into a pocket, then run the wire through your blouse, and clip it, facing forward under your collar, on the inside of your sleeve (which is really good because you can point it at your subject "on the sly"), or you can tape it to the back of a big pin or broach. Using a mic in this fashion is likely to give you a much better recording, but you do increase the risk of getting busted if it's seen. Depends on how much cloak-and-dagger you wanna sink into this thing. In any case, good luck with your situation, Aenea.
I can't offer any technical advice beyond what's already here but I'm sure there's a really good story behind all this.
Last fall my boss wrote me up on a plan for improvement and then tore it up a month later. Last Thursday he told me that he thinks the only reason he wrote it was because of "conflict of personality". This time, when he wrote me up, he put some things that are out right lies and I am trying to get statements from some teachers that show it is a lie. Anyways these plans for improvement can go on my employment record, and he has told me they will, but the last time he tore it up. We will see what he does this time. I've been rehired, but if what he put in this record is what he really thinks of me as a teacher he should not have recommended me for rehire, especially since I'm not tenured.
You know, there are.... other ways to deal with this kinda problem. In fact you are already in the right room for advice on the subject.
Okay. Typical Written Reprimands and an Action Plan. Typical corp-speak. Do you have to sign the reprimands or action plan? If so, and there are falsehoods on either, refuse and document on the form why you refuse. Then the ball is in his court to prove his case. If you signed them without any sort of notation, you agreed with him that they're true and he's got you over the fire.
What Elwood said. Contrary to what most bosses/managers will try to tell you, you don't have to sign an evaluation that you feel is inaccurate. My boss has tried that tactic with several of my coworkers (including two middle managers) and he had to relent when they politely told him to fuck off and HR backed them.
Now might be the time to go and talk to the EEOC. Write-ups are very subjective. Even if you sign them, the assumption that the EEOC(and agencies of it's stripe) generally make is that you were compelled to do so in order to avoid further punitive action. You don't even need to file a complaint against this guy. If you can talk with someone and explain your situation, so that you have it on record, and if push comes to shove, you have a fallback position. It always helps your credibility if you've got some documentation lined up before it's a necessity. Just makes sure you have a copy of each write up, and make notes in regard to the lies contained therein. One other thing: I don't know how it works with schools, but in many employment situations, write-ups and other subjective disciplinary can't be transferred. If there's not a lengthy papertrail of disciplinary actions against you, it's very risky for an employer to release that information. I'd be disinclined to try the recording thing. If this guy is really in the wrong (and from what you've described, he seems to be), you've got the high ground. Try taking small, sensible steps and work within the system. If the cloak and dagger thing fails, you'll be far worse off. Again, Aenea, good luck to you. There's nothing worse than a boss who likes to throw his weight around.
The kicker, my evaluations are all satisfactory, the highest I can get. Since he hasn't stepped foot in my room to do an evaluation all year, if he had tried to do anything less than top marks there would have been hell to pay I can assure you.
Only if your teacher is a hippie. And if he is....hire Shooter, or Ramen for a job well done. I do believe Shooter recently upgraded his equipment.
