Friday, January 22, 2016
Faint praise, indeed
Yesterday, my boss told me I had done "a hell of a job" putting a complicated requisition together.
Anytime I hear anyone told that they're doing "a hell of a job", all I can think of is then-President Bush telling Micheal Brown, the head of FEMA, that he had done "a hell of a job, Brownie" handling Hurricane Katrina. That, as people were drowning in their homes.
But! I really did do a good job on that req. The previous requisition had ended up in the weeds, so I had some cleanup to do. A little backstory: The boss was out of the country for the past month and a half. And when he went, he just ... went. He didn't bother to get his work in order before he left, he didn't inform most of our clientele that he was going, he just left. And left behind one snot of a mess for me to try to sort out while he was gone.
We were in the middle of overseeing a major construction project with many contractors, a requisition (which my boss had prepared) in the works, and the out-of-town financing bank arbitrarily deciding that they were only going to pay the contractors (and us) 90%. Just because.
It was fun!
No, it wasn't. It was terrible. My boss left me in an awful position. It was a week before Christmas, and I was scrambling with the owner of the project and our local banker contact to get those contractors paid in full. I've never worked so hard in my life.
But I learned a ton. And I got those contractors paid. And ...
I really don't want to work here anymore.
It's not just that the boss is racist, although of course that's a huge part of it. It's also that the boss just doesn't seem to care anymore, and is in very poor health, and is already planning to swan off to the Continent again in March for a month or so.
If he doesn't care, why should I?
And one part of me says, oh hell, just stick it out. The job is easy (well, most of the time), the pay is fair, the benefits are fine, why leave? If and when the boss drops dead or pulls the plug on the company, at least that way I'll be eligible for six months' unemployment while I'm looking for my next gig. If I quit, I won't get any unemployment.
ANOTHER part of me says, well, just start looking around. I've updated my resume and references, dusted off my linked-in profile, and could just totter over to the local, state-run job service to see what's up. Keep working here, but start sniffing around to see what's out there. Because what if there's a great job, just waiting for me, except I don't know about it?
Look, I get it. No job is perfect. Work is work, after all. And I know I've talked before about leaving here, but then stuck it out. But I'm increasingly wondering if it's time to take a look around. Because I'm really, REALLY not looking forward to March.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Samesies. It is becoming obvious to me that I work for bastards. In many ways, the job is still a good one -- I like my coworkers and students, the pay is good, and while the hours are going to be untenable as I age, for right now, the 60 hour a week workload for 16 weeks at a stretch is still doable. But, I work for bastards and much of what drew me to this specific job is being mismanaged away. It's a contentious place with exceptionally low morale. I've spent my adult life happily avoiding having to carry water for unethical and incompetent people and I really don't want to start now. But I'm 51 years old. I have a smart kid almost through high school who I'd like to put through college. So...do I start looking in my field, knowing that it's unlikely that any job I get in the future is going to have the same rate of pay? Do I take all the skills that I've developed and go do something else? Do I just stay put and thank god I've got decent enough wages to keep paying my bills until my kid's out of college? Lots of questions.
Bridgett, yep, it's hard to stay in a place once you don't like/trust the management.
I tend to be a cautious person financially, so it's difficult for me to walk away from a sure (for now) thing. And sometimes I wonder if this is all just some midlife crisis or something. Unlike you, I don't have anybody else depending on me, so there's less pressure from that aspect. I dunno. It's a mixed bag. Sometimes I just think maybe it's time to shake the sh*t out of the bag. :)
I've gotta say, having this place to vent is AWESOME. Thanks for listening!
I say start looking around and March seems a perfect time to start interviewing. This guy sounds the type to leave you high and dry one day. Of course I quit my job over an obnoxious so and so, I knew the day was coming and I made peace. And I could afford to do so, I have a lot less money but my sanity is intact.
There's this wonderful thing called a "vacation". You go someplace you've never gone or that you want to go to. While you're away, your everyday life kind of melts behind you and for a while, you're able to forget it. It's highly recommended. And, I kind of hesitate to mention this - and I agree that FMC is right about waiting until March, but she does have the advantage of having a partner to help out. So don't be hasty. Are there are lot of industries/businesses where you live?
fmcetc., yep, I am quite sure that this dude would have no qualms whatsoever about one day just saying, "welp, I'm done, good luck finding a new job!"
and Becs, a vacation sounds AWESOME right about now. Sunshine, warm sand ... aaaahhhhh. A friend of mine is trying to get to CA today for a planned vacation and not having much luck. Looks like she might be able to get out tomorrow, maybe Monday. That's the problem with trying to leave the Great Frozen Northeast this time of year!
There are jobs in my field in this area. I am confident I could find something in my pay range without a whole lot of trouble.
Post a Comment