In addition to documenting, you must know what to do with the documentation. Be prepared to point out the obvious. If you do not point it out or give these snakes wiggle room, they will escape and not be held accountable.

Thank you Thor. I appreciate any information given on this topic and so do many other silent ATF agents out there. If anyone else has tips on this topic, please post them. Even if agents are not posting comments, they are reading the information on this site. The more prepared we can be individually, the more effective we can be.

I would like to thank all of the CUATF members who posted on this topic. This section is particularly helpful for agents in the field that are dealing with EEO issues with management. It has been especially helpful to me. This site lets working agents out there know that they are not alone. Management wants us to feel isolated and insignificant and this site gives agents across the country hope. Real street agents with pride in the agency and their work, despite our uninspiring leadership, will keep this agency alive. To all the agents out there that are disgruntled with management, I say to you; -Don't let them stop you from working good ATF cases. If they close one door, open another. -Don't get down on yourself and know that you are NOT alone. -Don't ever forget how proud you really are to be an ATF Special Agent. -Don't forget that no matter how management tries to twist, lie, and "forget things"(to name a few things they are know for) at the end of the day the truth will always be the truth. -Don't give management too much credit, the real working street agents are the real investigators and we are very good at what we do. -DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT! -Don't use it as an excuse to work road kill cases because management won't give you any trouble. I am saying this to you from one agent to another who has personally experienced a great deal of problems with management for working ATF cases. If you give up, the cycle will continue. Is it really hard to think a step ahead of our "60% club" managers????? We know they are going to stab us in the back BEFORE they make poor decisions and blame it on the working agent to try to save themselves. To Management; The working agents of today are what will make you a better manager (that is if you are interested in that). Yes, you may have to call some shots and holly crap you might not know what to do, if you let real agents work. If you are so afraid to makes mistakes that you want to take your ball and go home, maybe you should not be in management. Everyone makes mistakes, even management. As agents we are not expecting you to be perfect. We are just asking that when you make a mistake you own up to it. (I know most of you are laughing at this point). By being in management you have taken a step forward to take on some of the responsibility of facilitating our agents work in producing good case work for this agency. You stepped up, so step up. Don’t be afraid of good hard working agents. It may be outside of your comfort zone but we are what will help you grow as a supervisor. Would it be asking for too much, if you don’t know the answer to something, for you to just admit that you don’t know the answer? By the way, we aren’t selling used cars here. The old fake it until you make it, could cause someone to lose their life. An ego is a terrible thing to have as a manager which could also have grave ramifications for all parties involved. If your agents wrote evaluations on YOUR performance, what do you think it would say? (Oh nothing bad, because then you would retaliate) Seriously, I would like to challenge you to get to know your agents. I bet you could find something that is good in each one of your agents. If you do know them and you can’t find something good in them, make them good at something. You are a supervisor, right?