Kaitlyn Dietz

After the last GTM staff meeting, which I was not able to attend because they are scheduled on my day off, which I try not to attribute to me, Kaitlyn debriefed me at the front desk from her handwritten notes. One of the things she said was that some of the staff are going on clean-up outings and I am welcome to join if I want. After the debriefing, I looked into it. She said that some of the research staff are going out with Silas Tanner on the Litter Gitter boat, and she said that Matt Bernanke was also doing cleanups on his own and inviting staff to join him. Silas Tanner happened by the next day or even that day. While he was at the front desk, I asked him about the GTM group going and if there was another spot available for me. He said that there is no GTM-specific outing scheduled, but that two of our researchers had signed up for one of the upcoming Litter Gitter outings. He said the one they signed up for is now full but he told me two available outings months away. I also asked Matt bernanke next time he passed by my desk. He said he does go out occasionally and he will let me know when it looks like a good time. I replied to Caitlin by email and updated her on these two queries. Silas had giving me and two options for letter getter in November and December. And I told Caitlin I would like to accept her offer to attend the November one. Insert this email. The following week, Caitlin replied and said that I cannot. If I wanted to do that, it would need to be on personal time because it's not a GTM outing. It seems it's a GTM outing if it's research staff, but not if it's me. It seems her invitation for me to go along was not genuine. It seems she's not acknowledging that she contradicted herself. Bobby, thank goodness I have it in writing. This is par for the course with her. She twists information. Or just changes it or I don't know. I'm confused. I don't trust think she says anymore.

Kaitlyn became my manager when Stephanie retired. I was excited to have what seemed to be a professional, claire-headed person to work with. But it's not turning out to be that way. Truth is being butchered just as much with Caitlin as it was with Stephanie. I am losing my grip on reality. Kaitlyn twists the facts and it is going to look like it's me who's doing so. So I am recording the facts here, hopefully in a safe place.

Here is my answer to Kaitlin's question of what I would have done with the parking pass customer had she not stepped in today. Tammy said she paid $50 and wondered if she had signed up for a subscription. Because she said $50, I wondered if she signed up for a membership rather than a parking pass. Pass. People who come in asking to renew their membership are the vast majority of the time thinking they are renewing their parking pass. They refer to the parking pass as a membership. There was a good chance Tammy had chosen the membership path on the website rather than the parking pass path. If she did not get a receipt for her parking pass and could not find it in her premium parking account, I would want to look in little green light to see if she had bought a gopher tortoise membership instead. But those go into a queue that I don't have access to. That would require Dale or Maddie looking it up. That's why I forwarded it to Dale. Also because Tammy was desperate for a human to help her get to the bottom of this and did not want to be passed off again to fend for herself with the technology. If I followed Dale's instructions and simply gave her premium parkings customer service number, I would be passing her off again when she asked me not to. I suppose that is all I could do and I would apologize to her. Seeking truth Caitlin, what do you do when someone falsely accuses you? Dale falsely accuses me on a regular basis. Yesterday, she said I did not tell the person to call customer service because I don't want to. That's a false accusation. I give people the customer service number multiple times a week. I just did yesterday. To a different customer. The day before the iron rangers were pulled, I asked how customers can get proof that their transaction went through. If they don't get the receipt on their email or can't find it in their email. She said, now you're just inventing reasons for it to not work. That's not true. True. And every time it comes up, I feel compelled to forward those customers to Dale to prove that she falsely accused me. I did not invent that reason. Reason. I foresaw that problem and wanted to know how to help people. Here is the email chain that ensued: -------------------- From: Howard, Amy Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2025 2:46 PM To: Dietz Murphy, Kaitlyn Subject: Tammy Lampe interaction Hi Kaitlyn. This morning at the front desk, you asked me a question that I needed time to think through. I told you I would think it through and get back to you on it. I believe you were concerned about how I handled Tammy Lampe’s appeals for human help. As I think back, I’m not sure I understand your concern or the question. Do you still want an answer, and if so, can you clarify what you’re looking for? Amy Howard Florida Department of Environmental Protection GTM Research Reserve 505 Guana River Road Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 Receptionist amy.howard@floridadep.gov Office - 904-380-8600 From: Dietz Murphy, Kaitlyn Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2025 9:32 AM To: Howard, Amy Subject: Re: Tammy Lampe interaction Hi Amy, Yesterday, I wanted to talk about the interaction overall because what I had observed earlier in the morning was 1) that you were asking Dale a question, 2) Dale was focused on fixing the Friends internet and asked that you take the information down for Tammy and she would follow-up, and 3) you took a long pause before returning to the phone with Tammy. I offered to pick up the phone to get the information from Tammy because I felt you were hesitant to continue the phone conversation. In our follow-up conversation about the interaction, I was hoping to learn more about why there was a long pause and if you needed more support (information, next steps, or anything else). Your response was that there was nothing else needed which was when I asked what you would have done if I had not offered to continue the phone conversation. It is important to respond or return to requests or conversations within a timely manner and if there was something that was prohibiting you to do so, I'd like to address it. Kaitlyn Kaitlyn Dietz Murphy, M.Sc., CIG Florida Department of Environmental Protection Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve Operations Management Consultant (OMC II) Kaitlyn.DietzMurphy@FloridaDEP.gov Office: 904-380-8623 From: Howard, Amy Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2025 4:07 PM To: Dietz Murphy, Kaitlyn Subject: Re: Tammy Lampe interaction Hi Kaitlyn. Thank you for clarifying. Our verbal communication gets blurry with mistaken presuppositions. I hope we can slow down and address those errors before answering questions based on them. I will try to do some of that here in writing. It looks like you and I saw two different things yesterday. If that security camera has audio, we're golden. In your observation yesterday, did you happen to notice that Dale asked a question followed immediately by, "No you didn't because you don't want to," followed by her returning to her office without giving me a chance to answer? Is that acceptable workplace behavior? Why isn't it part of your analysis? Do you find my quiet pause more concerning than workplace hostility? I don't remember Dale's question, but I could make a good guess based on her repeatedly interrupting you while you were on the phone with the customer. Three times, Dale asked in a forceful manner, "Did she call customer service?" I'm guessing that's what she had asked me without waiting for an answer. If that was her question to me, her self-answer is a false accusation because I give people the customer service number all the time, including that very morning, and for a while I was printing and cutting little paper copies to give to people. I streamlined it by taking a photo of the parking lot sign, printing it in color, laminating it, and enlarging the customer service number to be a prominent feature on the front desk. You seemed to ignore Dale's interruptions. You have less reason to be affected by her mistreatment. When I was hired, a Friends board member told me my position was voted for and paid for by the Friends for one year. I believe Dale has the power to eliminate my job, and her behavior indicates her desire to do so. She repeatedly falsely accuses me without seeking clarity. Stephanie also lodged many false accusations at me and declined to discuss them, again from a position capable of firing me. I'm sure it happens even more when I am not present. I have worked hard to accept that my job is unreliable despite excellent performance. I have also worked hard to detach from Dale's and Stephanie's hostility, which seems harsher toward me than other people, and certainly more frequent. You might ask Scott Eastman if he heard the two of them yelling at me in Stephanie's office while he was across the hall. I would think everyone in the Admin wing could hear it. I hope not, because that indicates systemic acceptance of a toxic workplace. Once we were alone, Stephanie asked, "Amy, why won't you sell parking passes?" That is a false accusation because I've been an ace at selling parking passes since before I was hired, and leading up to that conversation, I had even used my personal time to find ways to smooth out the transition to Premium Parking. Dale's claim that I "didn't because I don't want to" is a false accusation, lodged in an angry tone, followed by abrupt cancellation of the discussion. At this point, I will attribute 10 seconds of yesterday's pause to resuming emotional detachment from job security. Even if the security camera has no audio, I'd love to see how long the pause was that had you so concerned that you offered to take over. It feels like 45 seconds. Whatever that timeframe is, the rest of it was me contemplating how to best serve the customer without involving Dale. That thought process follows: Tammy said she processed a $50 transaction and was confused that the web pages didn't match her intentions. She asked me to check in our system for it. Many customers think their parking pass is a "membership". A $50 purchase matches the Gopher Tortoise membership price, so it was possible that Tammy had gone that route on our website. I wanted to check that possibility before pawning her off with another phone number to call. She was not in LGL; however, per my past experience, new Friends memberships are held in a queue that I can't see, so I was not able to see if that's what Tammy did. It would require a Friends employee to see the queue. Early on, when I approached Maddie with parking issues, she repeatedly said it's not her job. I haven't seen anything change. I forwarded Tammy to Dale so she could look into it. Although Dale hates for me to forward parking issues to her, this common occurrence redeems me from one of her earlier false accusations. The day before the iron rangers were removed, I asked Stephanie what to do when customers aren't able to find any confirmation of their purchase. I know our customer base. I knew it would be a common problem, and I had no answer for them. Stephanie gave me no guidance. Rather, she asked me, "What do you recommend?" I had already spent days working through the parking bugs and confusion and still didn't have a good answer for that. The customer service number was useless on a bad cell signal. Maddie said my response should be, "Sorry, I can't help you." That is the opposite of a good receptionist and poor PR for GTM. When I asked Dale how to help people who can't find an email confirmation, she said, "Now you're just inventing reasons for it to not work." Again, she said that in an angry tone and walked into her office with no interest in my defense, my predicament, or my previous support. Now that it happens as often as I expected it to, I feel more justified in forwarding those instances to Dale. I guess I'm hoping to disprove her accusation that I was sabotaging her when I was seeking a solution in advance. In Tammy's case, Dale could check the LGL queue and then give Tammy the customer service number. It's an acceptable solution because Tammy was doing this from home with a phone signal, but would require assurance that we are still here for her. Tammy called back soon after I forwarded her to Dale. She said no one answered, she was denied for voicemail, and at her wits end. Giving her yet another number to call would add to her frustration. From my perspective, you observed (1) me looking for Maddie to check LGL, (2) Dale coming out of her office to bark a false accusation and go back in, and (3) me pondering how best to proceed. You stepped in apparently concerned that I had left Tammy on hold for too long. Again, I'd love to know how long that was. You offered to take over and you seemed comfortable involving Dale, so I welcomed your offer. You often say you want to "support" me. I would appreciate acknowledgement of workplace hostility, pursuit of truth, and perhaps a performance evaluation based on public and coworker feedback. I hope this explanation provides better understanding and a foundation for improving our communication. Amy Howard Florida Department of Environmental Protection GTM Research Reserve 505 Guana River Road Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 Receptionist amy.howard@floridadep.gov Office - 904-380-8600 From: Dietz Murphy, Kaitlyn Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2025 4:12 PM To: Howard, Amy Subject: Re: Tammy Lampe interaction Amy, I appreciate you sharing more background on the parking pass challenges and your perspective on Tuesday, especially as I was multi-tasking by counting money and trying to answer Dale's question about the internet, only observing bits of the full interaction- which is why I wanted to sit down and have the conversation with you afterwards. I respect the need to take a moment to collect thoughts, I often do that too. The only reason that I brought that into our conversation was that to me it seemed long. Regardless of the length of the pause, I would like to move forward. While I have been at the GTMNERR for many years, I am new in my position and do not have all background or understanding of things that have happened prior to me taking my current position. I have come into this position with a blank slate, learning processes along the way and striving for strong working relationships with open communication. For DEP OPS positions, we do not have annual performance evaluations, however, I hope that by having monthly check-in's and the workplan that we established, that those provide spaces that we can have these conversations. As your supervisor, I truly do want to support you and your role at the front desk. I've reviewed the notes that you've written and shared in the Front Desk manual regarding parking passes and spoken with Dale about the best process for moving forward. I am drafting a up-to-date step-by-step document (knowing what we now know about the functionality of PremiumParking) and troubleshooting steps to follow for future challenges. I am still working on this, but wanted to respond to your email as soon as I could. Kaitlyn Kaitlyn Dietz Murphy, M.Sc., CIG Florida Department of Environmental Protection Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve Operations Management Consultant (OMC II) Kaitlyn.DietzMurphy@FloridaDEP.gov Office: 904-380-8623