| Yes, that was a mistake. Short of unethical business practices, a new contract employee really doesn't have organizational standing to say "no" to anything. If you're a consultant and they're paying you for your breadth of experience, you can certainly advise a different path. And you can make a stay/go decision based on the organization's choice. But as a contract employee, or any new employee, you have much less invested in the organization than the people you work with do. You are reasonably expected to defer to their judgement in organizational matters. Over time that might change, but it doesn't always. In some companies, contractors are always second class citizens. It sounds to me like your PO has specific expectations, and you flipped the "loyal and cooperative" bit in the wrong direction. She might be overreacting, or perceiving it as a challenge due to gender differences. It doesn't matter, even if you are ultimately proven correct, you need to be someone she can work with and trust, and right now you are not. An apology might work. In my experience, nothing else will. |