A Case Of The Mondays: Vent Your Work Spleen Here

[Guest]

On ‎2‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 0:19 PM, Splishy Splashy said:

Wow and Wow. I guess I am not in the real world when it comes to jobs as I basically have only had two jobs my entire life. One is a Summer job as a Life Guard which I love and the head Guard at the pool I worked last year who was only 21 was really awesome. Then now I work PT teaching little kids how to swim at a Swim Club and I also love that job and my boss is also very awesome. I guess I have a lot of learning to do of what the real world jobs are, but I guess that is what going to college is all about and figuring out what I really want to do with my life and career. For those having difficulty with piss poor management I really hope it gets better for you all soon.

College doesn't actually prepare you for the realities of Corporate America.

The closest hint I got to what it would be like was when a former grad came to speak in one of my classes.  Standard financial advise is to have six to nine months of savings in case you become involuntarily unemployed.

This grad recommended building a three to five year "take this job and shove it" fund.   The goal being to feel secure enough in your finances to better deal with addressing corporate bullshit through lack of fear of being fired or being able to quit with less anxiety if it becomes too much to put up with.

Best advice I ever got in school.

[Splishy Splashy]

8 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

College doesn't actually prepare you for the realities of Corporate America.

The closest hint I got to what it would be like was when a former grad came to speak in one of my classes.  Standard financial advise is to have six to nine months of savings in case you become involuntarily unemployed.

This grad recommended building a three to five year "take this job and shove it" fund.   The goal being to feel secure enough in your finances to better deal with addressing corporate bullshit through lack of fear of being fired or being able to quit with less anxiety if it becomes too much to put up with.

Best advice I ever got in school.

I will definitely take that into consideration. I know once I graduate from college and hell I haven't even started yet or even finalized a major since I don't Graduate High School till June. I haven't even made my final College choice yet. I have narrowed it to 2 Schools though. After I do graduate though and do hopefully get a job in whatever field it is I choose I will start right away with a savings even if it is a very small one. I have watched both of my parents all my life and they both have enjoyed their jobs and that is what i want for myself, but if I do get a shitty boss or company I want a fallback. 

[bilgistic]

33 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

@bilgistic I'd suggest taking all the advice you are getting just in case your decision to leave goes from voluntary to involuntary.

I think there is a good chance that if they are hiring then your boss is trying to get you to stay long enough to hire two people instead of one person.  Its also possible that this additional hire is a last minute fabrication so they can get you to train your replacement.

The new hire is a real thing. It's been officially in the works for a few months. The job posting was up early this year. It took a while to find someone.

Strangely enough, I'm OK with whatever happens with my job now. It would be a relief to be terminated. I don't know what I'd do about health insurance, but I'll not worry about that until/unless I need to. I'll stay on until I find something else, or until I can't stand it anymore.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I worked from home today. The guys are falling all over themselves to compliment me, which is funny.

Now that the dust has cleared, I am surprised, embarrassed, shocked, emboldened, hurt, upset and strengthened by my actions. I didn't know I had it in me. I hate that it had to come to that.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Splishy Splashy said:

I will definitely take that into consideration. I know once I graduate from college and hell I haven't even started yet or even finalized a major since I don't Graduate High School till June. I haven't even made my final College choice yet. I have narrowed it to 2 Schools though. After I do graduate though and do hopefully get a job in whatever field it is I choose I will start right away with a savings even if it is a very small one. I have watched both of my parents all my life and they both have enjoyed their jobs and that is what i want for myself, but if I do get a shitty boss or company I want a fallback. 

I feel like I need to dial back the Corporate America is an unmitigated, universal disaster rants lest I influence your future decisions ;)

I've never actually had a terrible boss.  They've ranged from great to letting me do my own thing which is also good.  I haven't actually had a boss where I had to do more than give a periodic heads up if I thought something would come across his desk in years. 

I'm just in a cycle with my company.  I've been around long enough to know this is temporary and will get better.  They are starting to make the right decisions to fix things.  Its just its take a while to get the organization to change direction.  And if it doesn't I'll find something else. 

And that's another reason to put an importance on financial security.  Things happen in life.  There are economic downturns.  Workload can get really heavy at times before they start hiring.  Life happens and you need to take time off for medical or other reasons.  Eventually, you'll want to know you don't need to go back to your parents if trouble happens even if you know they'll be there.  Eventually they may need your support.

Its nice to have one less thing to worry about and finances are one thing that you can put on autopilot and build up over time if you start young and prioritize.

I will admit, that my parents really put a priority on this and gave my brother and I a head start by setting their own goal that we wouldn't start life with college debt.  I also lived in a state where there was a state wide scholarship for every student that maintained a certain GPA.  Not everyone is that lucky.  And my parents hammered into me and my brother about retirement funds and budgets. 

[ABay]

@bilgistic, I'm so glad you posted! I kept coming back in to see if you'd left an update. If the well wishes and support of strangers on the internet mean anything, please know you've got mine. Seriously, I'm impressed by what you did.

[Splishy Splashy]

12 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

I feel like I need to dial back the Corporate America is an unmitigated, universal disaster rants lest I influence your future decisions ;)

I've never actually had a terrible boss.  They've ranged from great to letting me do my own thing which is also good.  I haven't actually had a boss where I had to do more than give a periodic heads up if I thought something would come across his desk in years. 

I'm just in a cycle with my company.  I've been around long enough to know this is temporary and will get better.  They are starting to make the right decisions to fix things.  Its just its take a while to get the organization to change direction.  And if it doesn't I'll find something else. 

And that's another reason to put an importance on financial security.  Things happen in life.  There are economic downturns.  Workload can get really heavy at times before they start hiring.  Life happens and you need to take time off for medical or other reasons.  Eventually, you'll want to know you don't need to go back to your parents if trouble happens even if you know they'll be there.  Eventually they may need your support.

Its nice to have one less thing to worry about and finances are one thing that you can put on autopilot and build up over time if you start young and prioritize.

I will admit, that my parents really put a priority on this and gave my brother and I a head start by setting their own goal that we wouldn't start life with college debt.  I also lived in a state where there was a state wide scholarship for every student that maintained a certain GPA.  Not everyone is that lucky.  And my parents hammered into me and my brother about retirement funds and budgets. 

Thank You so much for that advice. My parents have also been a great example to me with not only the way they have told me to handle my money even as a really young kid, but many other things as well. I do understand there will come a time where my parents will have to rely on me and my younger sister and brother just like my Grand Parents are doing for some things with my parents right now. 

As for college the two that I am choosing between are are given me a Full Sports Scholarship for swimming which will definitely help me financial and also my parents. I basically just have to decide if I want to go across the country to the west coast or stay somewhat closer to home. 

[theredhead77]

Last week I woke up feeling bleh and worked from home for 2 hours to see if I was going to feel better or worse (I never wake up sick, it always hits in an hour or two after waking). I told my boss that I did, what I did and and he just mum hummed me. Today I had to take my car to the shop and was going to use PTO to make up the time. I woke up really early, couldn't go back to sleep and decided to work from home for 90 minutes before I had to take my car in. I could have gone into the office but it didn't make sense, mileage or time wise.

When I got to work I told him that I worked from home and what I accomplished. Again I got an mum hum so  I offered to send him all the sent emails to prove what I did (I set up a bunch of customers with online access, we send them each an email). He told me to put them in a folder in our shared email box. So got back to my desk, rolled my eyes and did it. I sent him a note with the folder info and what else I accomplished. I also asked if I should update this mailbox on a daily basis so he can keep tabs on me. The response I got was no, I don't need to update it but any more work from home needs to be pre-approved. So I responded it wasn't my intent to cause trouble and next time I'll just go into the office at 6:30 if I'm in a situation where I'm trying to make up time (without accruing OT).  Because I know he would never answer the phone if I called him at 5:45 am.

Both times I did it I still beat him into the office. This is the same person who just doesn't show up. I swear he projects his issues onto me. I went on a business trip to Vegas (my 7th circle of hell) and he was convinced I spent the whole time partying because that is what he does when he's done working. I think he think I am fucking around when I'm working from home, not working extra hard.

[bilgistic]

Your boss and mine are the same. "We need to be able to reach you if you are working from home." Okay, freak. Our company IM shows I'm online, and I'm responding to emails. Do you want to watch me on my laptop's camera?

[theredhead77]

3 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Your boss and mine are the same. "We need to be able to reach you if you are working from home." Okay, freak. Our company IM shows I'm online, and I'm responding to emails. Do you want to watch me on my laptop's camera?

I'm reachable, company cell phone, email and internal IM. That's not the issue (I'm not sure what is. Maybe it's an HR thing). I worked from 6:30am - 8am. He'd have the same "what did you get done that early" reaction if I came into the office at 6:30am. Uh, hello, we have over 70 people waiting to be set up. So I curled up under my desk and took a nap. Duh.

@bilgistic - what you found was called your spine. You finally stood up for yourself and years of abuse and being taken advantage built up. Go through the stages of feeling your feelings. Once you complete that you'll feel like you've never felt before.

[riley702]

34 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Your boss and mine are the same. "We need to be able to reach you if you are working from home." Okay, freak. Our company IM shows I'm online, and I'm responding to emails. Do you want to watch me on my laptop's camera?

Don't suggest that. He'd probably think it's a peachy idea.

[DeLurker]

On 2/20/2017 at 5:37 AM, JTMacc99 said:

19 donuts and one packet of oatmeal and a thermos of hot water. 

Oatmeal should be plain.

[JTMacc99]

I'm usually pretty good with my work situation. I like my company. I like the people I work with. I like that my boss is supportive, even if he does things like forget the interesting things I find (never forgets the ones he finds) and makes me argue with him and prove that I'm right. I bring this up because today was my annual day to remind the EVP and SVP that there is a funky math problem with revenue recognition at the end of February's billing cycle. There they were, discussing the daily revenue report outside my door, like they do every single February 20th or 21st. And since I figured out the problem in 2013, I stood up and walked over to them to remind them that this always happens.  My boss's boss, the EVP thankfully goes "OH! Right! Thank god you remember!" and then walks off to go remind the controller who also says "Oh! Right!"  But my boss had already started working on explanations and didn't want to give up that he was right. Sigh. Eventually I had to show him the math, again, and we're good. I just had to agree with him that the things he was seeing are also true and factoring in, but they aren't the biggest issue.

Having said that, my real work issue right now is that I work with some really good people. One of them was recently promoted to Sr. Director, which is the title I got when I started here. She is very deserving of all the promotions she has received since she started here 14 years ago as a marketing associate.  She is the person we go to for answers about numbers. She makes my job a lot easier because her stuff is accurate and well thought out.

I talked to her last week, and she shared with me that her husband is on her case about finding a better job. We talked and I eventually asked her how much they pay her if she didn't mind telling me. Honestly, I was appalled. Even after all she has done, she's being paid 11% less than what I STARTED at. I understand that I came from outside, (and took a substantial cut to improve my quality of life,) so it makes sense I had a decent starting wage. But when she told me that for her promotion she was only bumped up 7%, I started to get angry.  

I want to go to my boss, who has been generous with me and say it's none of our business, but this is the situation and I think it's bullshit. He would agree with me that losing this person would be a very bad day for our company, especially over a few dollars she should absolutely be earning anyway. And that maybe he can go put a bug in somebody's ear to fix this situation. I am guessing it's a combination of her never jumping jobs to get the large bumps in pay, and the fact that she's mom who occasionally has to be out of the office doing mom things. But either way, I think it's crap and makes me angry.

[theredhead77]

And people say the gender wage gap doesn't exist. You're a huge ally but be careful with your knowledge, some companies have policies against sharing salary with colleagues. Of course the company default is going to say "lots of factors come into play, education, experience blah blah" but the fact of the matter is when you start at a company making a low wage every other increase compounds from that low starting point. 

She should ask for a salary evaluation.

[JTMacc99]

5 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

And people say the gender wage gap doesn't exist. You're a huge ally but be careful with your knowledge, some companies have policies against sharing salary with colleagues. Of course the company default is going to say "lots of factors come into play, education, experience blah blah" but the fact of the matter is when you start at a company making a low wage every other increase compounds from that low starting point. 

She should ask for a salary evaluation.

That is a very large part of the problem. It happened to me in the job where I grew up as a professional. When the people I had worked for left the company and then recruited me to their new place for 25% higher pay, I was immediately offered the same amount to stay.  It is fair to say I was taking less than market value for quite some time before that day.

The other factor that seems to have come into play is "you are in line with your peers", which is a statement that is both fair and complete bullshit.  Yes, a company can look at other people with that title and experience and make that comparison legitimately. But just because they are BOTH way too low doesn't make it fair. I was once told that I was only going up by a certain percentage (which was pretty much company average) but I do make a lot more than another guy who has the same title just for reference. My brain pretty much went to A) that's his problem, not mine, and B) and that's also because I'm more valuable than him.  

So yeah, I think people should be evaluated and paid based on worth. Period. Call me a crazy capitalist.

And especially since this is a company where the CEO has made a point to never have a set of layoffs specifically to reduce costs and hit financial targets. You can have positions eliminated, but we usually try to find some other role for those people. You will get terminated for being unethical very quickly. And eventually you will lose your job for generally being useless.  So in my opinion with those factors it should also be a place that rewards its best people. For whatever reason, this particular one isn't getting what she deserves and I don't like it.

[MargeGunderson]

7 hours ago, DeLurker said:

Oatmeal should be plain.

And no hot water. (Wait, is that what you meant, Delurker? My brain is slow today)

I'm a big fan of askamanager.org for workplace advice, and today's letter was a doozy: My Boss Wants 20% of My Salary From My Next Job. The comments are pretty good too (it's a well-mannered and well-moderated message board). I sometimes visit the site when I'm really annoyed at my job to remind myself how good I have it most of the time.

Edited February 21, 2017 by MargeGunderson

[auntlada]

I was going to wash dishes, @MargeGunderson, and then I followed your link. It's 25 minutes later now and time to start getting my son ready for bed.

[MargeGunderson]

Just now, auntlada said:

I was going to wash dishes, @MargeGunderson, and then I followed your link. It's 25 minutes later now and time to start getting my son ready for bed.

I probably shouldn't point out the archives to you. I think I lost weeks in there!

[theredhead77]

@JTMacc99 - I was also stuck in the underpaid because I started at such a low wage rut and had a misogynistic boss who refused to consider what I actually did and my actual skill set / education for a salary adjustment. I was at the low end of the bell curve, wanted to be adjusted to close to the median and was shot down by our VP who told me it would never happen and if I wanted more money I'd need to look elsewhere. 
I took a pay cut (in theory, because I was unemployed) for my current job and 2 weeks shy of a year I received a 20% salary adjustment bringing me to what my boss and our President felt I should be making. Since then I've also had a merit raise.

There's really not much you can do without putting both of you at risk for discussing salary. I hope she can get the compensation she deserves. It may take a frank conversation with her boss about how she started with the company as an associate making x wage and over the years, all her raises have been based on that starting salary and asking for a number closer to yours (without giving it away) as a compensation adjustment (not raise) closer to what an external hire for that role would make. Or it may take giving her notice after she finds a new position.

Edited February 22, 2017 by theredhead77

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, theredhead77 said:

There's really not much you can do without putting both of you at risk for discussing salary

Yeah, I'm mostly just ranting here. I would be very annoyed if she left for more money. Happy for her, but pissed that the company and me personally lost such an important person for no good reason. 

The best I can do is take an opportunity if it presents itself to tell MY boss that it would be a shame if she left for more money like [other person] did. And hope he takes it up with her boss. 

[bilgistic]

And speaking of salary and people not getting paid what they are worth...[bilgistic tap-dances across the stage...]

I'm getting a job reclassification/new title. I shall henceforth be known externally as our team's Marketing Director (go big or go home, I guess) and internally as Something Something Operations Analyst Something. I had zero to do with the naming. "Marketing Specialist" is more appropriate, but I'll cut that fart later.

I haven't gotten the word on my pay. My job reclassification will make me ineligible for overtime pay; I won't be an hourly employee any longer. My request was that my current regular pay plus OT was matched PLUS another $10K. All told, what I'm asking for is ~$32/hour or ~$67K (basically, $10 more/hour than my current base rate). I made $50/hour freelancing (with not enough steady work).

My "boss" keeps going on about the bonus I (and my coworker) got last year, which yes, was significant ($20K); however, as a bonus, it was heavily taxed. He said "with my bonus" last year, I made "double" what my peers/the other staff in my group/class did. If that's true, that's pretty shitty, because one woman's been there over 20 years. Unlike my peers, though, I didn't get a regular raise last year, which wouldn't have been taxed as heavily as a bonus.

The ridiculousness of all of this is that people who make literal millions of dollars are quibbling over giving me the extra $10K that I should've asked for before I took this job. Why do I feel like I need to apologize for asking for fair pay? Why am I being made to feel like I'm unworthy? Why am I being admonished with, "You're at the top of the wage bracket for this job"? How is that MY fault? Why is there not a "wage bracket" for "broker"; excuse me, "Vice President"?

[BookWoman56]

@bilgistic I've got to admit that was a nice bonus. But, if your faux boss keeps bringing it up, you might give him a reality check. Bonuses are not guaranteed. You cannot rely on them and budget your expenditures accordingly. And while a bonus is a nice gesture, having your salary be commensurate with what you're actually doing is much more critical. It means that if/when you get a raise, your actual raise will be a higher net amount because let's face it, if you get a 5% raise on your base salary, 5% of $67K is more than 5% of $50K. The higher salary gives you leverage if you go elsewhere; many companies look at your current salary, compare it to the salary range they have for the job, and then base their offer on your current salary plus a percentage increase to get you to jump ship. Again, in that situation, if another company wants to hire you and is willing to pay you 10% more than your current salary, it makes a difference if they're offering you 10% more than $50K or 10% more than $67K. Added to that, if you were to transfer internally, some companies look at your current salary and even though you might be transferring into a much higher paid position per their salary range, they will not even bring you up to the bottom of the salary range. The rationale there is usually that it's not reasonable to increase someone's pay by more than a certain percentage.  (That is also how it often happens that someone has been with a company for a long time, gotten a few promotions, yet is still making substantially less than what the company would pay someone who walked in off the street with the same credentials.) Finally, there's the psychological aspect of it. A salary that matches your job and performance level makes you feel better about your job and yourself. With a bonus, the subtext there is that it is something the company gave you, as opposed to something you earned. 

[theredhead77]

@bilgistic that's amazing!!! Congratulations!!

And everything @BookWoman56 said

Also: don't forget if your boss continues to abuse you, you are not obligated to stay just because they pay you more. Continue to document, including his rantings about your new pay and previous bonus. 

[JTMacc99]

On 2/20/2017 at 6:54 PM, Splishy Splashy said:

I will definitely take that into consideration. I know once I graduate from college and hell I haven't even started yet or even finalized a major since I don't Graduate High School till June. I haven't even made my final College choice yet. I have narrowed it to 2 Schools though. After I do graduate though and do hopefully get a job in whatever field it is I choose I will start right away with a savings even if it is a very small one. I have watched both of my parents all my life and they both have enjoyed their jobs and that is what i want for myself, but if I do get a shitty boss or company I want a fallback. 

I've been meaning to circle back on this for you.  I have a couple thoughts and related questions.

There are certain things you can study in school that give you hard skills that make you immediately useful when you graduate. Get good grades with an engineering degree, and you will find a nice job waiting for you. Accounting gives you a skill that will get you hired fairly quickly out of school. There are whole bunch more like that.  I chose accounting because I was in the business school, liked the first couple classes I took, and realized that it would get me a job. Eventually my career built off of that skill set but I have a creative streak that took me into related areas that is no longer accounting. I also went back to school after a few years to get an MBA, which was the right course of action for what I discovered I wanted to do AFTER I graduated college and got my arms around how things really work.

There are also things you can study that give you a good base, but don't set you up for any specific role day one out of school. An example of that would be my friend Rick who studied Economics in school.  He had good grades, and he literally went on 50+ interviews with various companies for various roles before settling into an Advertising job. As it turned out, it was a PERFECT fit for him, and he's gone on to a very successful career.  Over one long span, he was the person in charge of selling all of the advertising time for the sports division of one of the major TV networks.  In other words, he was the guy in charge of setting the $4.5 million per minute cost for Superbowl ads, and then responsible for making sure all of those minutes were sold.

So if you're worried about finding a good paying job your first day out of college, consider some majors that give you hard skills. If you're not so concerned about that, try to find something you will both enjoy and gives you a good useful base of knowledge that you will always carry with you regardless of where your career takes you.

But either way, don't worry too much about setting your mind on a major now, or even through your freshman year in college. You will have plenty of time to discover what you like and what you are good at over the next couple of years before locking in on anything.

And just out of curiosity, what kind of majors or college studies are you considering at this point?

[Splishy Splashy]

15 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

I've been meaning to circle back on this for you.  I have a couple thoughts and related questions.

There are certain things you can study in school that give you hard skills that make you immediately useful when you graduate. Get good grades with an engineering degree, and you will find a nice job waiting for you. Accounting gives you a skill that will get you hired fairly quickly out of school. There are whole bunch more like that.  I chose accounting because I was in the business school, liked the first couple classes I took, and realized that it would get me a job. Eventually my career built off of that skill set but I have a creative streak that took me into related areas that is no longer accounting. I also went back to school after a few years to get an MBA, which was the right course of action for what I discovered I wanted to do AFTER I graduated college and got my arms around how things really work.

There are also things you can study that give you a good base, but don't set you up for any specific role day one out of school. An example of that would be my friend Rick who studied Economics in school.  He had good grades, and he literally went on 50+ interviews with various companies for various roles before settling into an Advertising job. As it turned out, it was a PERFECT fit for him, and he's gone on to a very successful career.  Over one long span, he was the person in charge of selling all of the advertising time for the sports division of one of the major TV networks.  In other words, he was the guy in charge of setting the $4.5 million per minute cost for Superbowl ads, and then responsible for making sure all of those minutes were sold.

So if you're worried about finding a good paying job your first day out of college, consider some majors that give you hard skills. If you're not so concerned about that, try to find something you will both enjoy and gives you a good useful base of knowledge that you will always carry with you regardless of where your career takes you.

But either way, don't worry too much about setting your mind on a major now, or even through your freshman year in college. You will have plenty of time to discover what you like and what you are good at over the next couple of years before locking in on anything.

And just out of curiosity, what kind of majors or college studies are you considering at this point?

Thank U for the great advice. I am the type of person that really wants to help people. So careers in fields that help others would be right up my alley like a teacher(my Mom is a Health/P.E. Teacher), I would also consider Social Work and possibly Nursing as well and maybe even taking that as far as Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner. Like you said though and my parents have said I should use my Freshman year in college to take some core classes and see what I like and then make my choice. I still haven't made my final decision on the school either. It is basically down to two schools and I will be making that decision next month for sure.

[DeLurker]

Take a good look at being a physical or occupational therapist - most reports I've read recently on growth industries list these two.

I've had to work with both and I can't tell you how much of a difference in my recovery they made, especially the physical therapists who I worked with longer.  They really need to assess where you are physically and mentally in order to customize a program that fits you and can evolve.

[JTMacc99]

29 minutes ago, Splishy Splashy said:

Thank U for the great advice. I am the type of person that really wants to help people. So careers in fields that help others would be right up my alley like a teacher(my Mom is a Health/P.E. Teacher), I would also consider Social Work and possibly Nursing as well and maybe even taking that as far as Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner. Like you said though and my parents have said I should use my Freshman year in college to take some core classes and see what I like and then make my choice. I still haven't made my final decision on the school either. It is basically down to two schools and I will be making that decision next month for sure.

You might not have lived enough life yet to get a good read from this yet, but I think you might have fun with it. I know I did. 

And from what you said above, let me be the first to welcome you to team ISFJ.

[palmaire]

14 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

And from what you said above, let me be the first to welcome you to team ISFJ.

Hey, me too! 7% of the population, unite!

[janestclair]

@bilgistic - that took some guts.  Good for you.  Your boss sounds worse than mine, which is a feat I thought not possible.  At least I might be rid of her, if my meeting goes well.    Congrats on the raise/title change.  But yeah, keep documenting everything.  

@Splishy Splashy - you've gotten some good advice here. I teach high school, including a healthcare type course, and PT and OT are hot fields right now, as is PA.  Any of them would be great options.  

I had my meeting today. It went well, I think. I did go in with a list of bullet points, but I remembered a couple that I forgot to write down as I was driving away.  Rats.  She seemed receptive to my concerns though, so we will see what happens. Cross your fingers for me.

[Splishy Splashy]

Thank You everyone. I will also look into PT and OT as they also sound like a very fun and rewarding and helpful field as well. Everyone here has given me great advice that is for sure. I really do appreciate it. Right now my focus is on what school to choose and it is down to basically 2 schools. One school is across the country and the other is more close to home. I already know what my parents think is the better choice and I am taking that into consideration. Both schools are giving me a Full Sports Scholarship for Swimming so they are pretty much equal in the benefits that I will receive each Semester. I will make this decision next month.

 

Oh and I got a Protagonist Personality on the survey quiz from the post on the other page.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Splishy Splashy

[JTMacc99]

2 hours ago, Splishy Splashy said:

 

Oh and I got a Protagonist Personality on the survey quiz from the post on the other page.

Did you read the Career Path page?  If not, here is the start (did I mention I love this stuff, heh):

When it comes to finding a career, people with the ENFJ personality type cast their eyes towards anything that lets them do what they love most – helping other people! Lucky for them, people like being helped, and are even willing to pay for it, which means that ENFJs are rarely wanting for inspiration and opportunity in their search for meaningful work.

[Splishy Splashy]

23 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

Did you read the Career Path page?  If not, here is the start (did I mention I love this stuff, heh):

When it comes to finding a career, people with the ENFJ personality type cast their eyes towards anything that lets them do what they love most – helping other people! Lucky for them, people like being helped, and are even willing to pay for it, which means that ENFJs are rarely wanting for inspiration and opportunity in their search for meaningful work.

That is definitely me. I want to help others.

[Guest]

20 hours ago, bilgistic said:

My "boss" keeps going on about the bonus I (and my coworker) got last year, which yes, was significant ($20K); however, as a bonus, it was heavily taxed. He said "with my bonus" last year, I made "double" what my peers/the other staff in my group/class did. If that's true, that's pretty shitty, because one woman's been there over 20 years. Unlike my peers, though, I didn't get a regular raise last year, which wouldn't have been taxed as heavily as a bonus.

The ridiculousness of all of this is that people who make literal millions of dollars are quibbling over giving me the extra $10K that I should've asked for before I took this job. Why do I feel like I need to apologize for asking for fair pay? Why am I being made to feel like I'm unworthy? Why am I being admonished with, "You're at the top of the wage bracket for this job"? How is that MY fault? Why is there not a "wage bracket" for "broker"; excuse me, "Vice President"?

Glad it seems to be moving in a positive direction @bilgistic.

Just to play devils' advocate here.  And I may be completely wrong depending on the type of company you work for.  But your boss likely does have a salary bracket too.  And there is always a ridiculous amount of HR approvals and red tape when a manager tries to get someone moved into a different bracket, create a new position, or give a pay increase.  They are trying to do all three for you and explaining about the bracket could be an attempt to explain why its taking so long rather than an admonishment.  And managers are not supposed to promise anything until they are absolutely sure they can get it done.

If the bonus is unusual for your position then someone likely went to bat for you and your coworker.  Reminding you of it could be a fumbled attempt to remind you that you are valued.  It could also be a bracket thing.  Bonuses are often given because managers aren't allowed to exceed the bracket.  Only you can really judge your bosses intent.

But, I suggest keeping an open mind.  If you are thinking about staying, you need to figure out how to start fresh and give your boss another chance.  You'll see pretty quickly if there is a permanent change or not.

Ultimately, money won't make a difference if there is just so much bad blood that you can't be happy there. 

[BookWoman56]

I believe @bilgistic's faux boss is a real estate broker in a commercial real estate firm. It has been a very long time since I worked briefly in real estate, but IIRC, brokers are generally paid commission on their sales, not salary, so there is not in fact a salary bracket. I know there are some real estate firms that use a base salary and a commission on top of that. If he is a broker getting salary plus commission, it's possible there is a salary bracket, but it's not "real" in the sense of brokers generally make the bulk of their income through commission, so the salary bracket has little relationship with what his actual income is. (Bilgistic, feel free to correct this, because I'm going from memory here on a night when my brain is pretty fried.)

My perspective on the situation is that a boss who waits until you are ready to walk out the door to decide to pay you what you are worth is not much of a boss. I know sometimes it's not up to the boss because it's company policy to keep salaries low. At one job years ago, even after getting a 20% raise/promotion one year, two years later I was in the situation where someone walking in the door with the same educational credentials I had and zero experience in the industry would be offered $10K more a year to start than I was making after 8 years with the company. They had adjusted their salary brackets to be more competitive in getting new hires, but the old hires did not get salary adjustments. I talked to HR and they confirmed that if I left the company and was gone for longer than 6 months, then came back, I'd be hired at the higher salary. It was insane. There were a lot of negative things going on at that time, and eventually I quit after a major client had offered me contract work at roughly double what my current salary was. And of course, when I submitted my resignation, I got the call from HR to come in for an interview, the substance of which was what kind of salary increase it would take to convince me to stay. I was burned out enough by that time to tell HR that it was too late to make an offer. I will say, though, that within the next couple of years, they did salary adjustments for incumbent employees as well (at least those in some roles) because a competitor opened up shop in the same city, and so my former company was losing key employees left and right who were going to higher wages. 

[bilgistic]

You are correct, @BookWoman56. He is a commercial real estate broker and his pay is solely commission based. In 2016, he made well over $3 million (before whatever bonuses or incentives he might get that I know nothing about). That figure is strictly commission from the sale of commercial property that I alone market.

Our team of three closed more deals last year than any time in the preceding nine years, even when there were five people on the team (before my financial analyst coworker's and my time there). My coworker got several bonuses last year and makes more than I do. He's 28 and male. (My boss is 35/male; I'm 42/female.) Yes, my coworker's job is different (numbers instead of words!), but is he more valuable? Does he have more experience? Absolutely not.

I have as much commercial real estate experience as my boss does. I have twice as much work experience. I'm just not a broker (and never want to be). Therefore, in the eyes of the company, I'm less valued. Sadly, this isn't just in our office; other company offices in our company are other CRE companies have the same issues (wage disparity, lack of promotion for women).

Without me, my boss couldn't do what he does and make the money he makes. To train a new person to do all I do would take...a while. It took me about six months to get a good handle on all my job responsibilities. My job was two jobs in the previous five-person team days.

Anyhoo...

I still don't know about my potential salary increase, but my boss did check in with me today about it without even being asked. He hasn't heard from the middle manager (in another office) who has to approve it or whatever. It's so preposterous that presumably he's saying "give her an extra $10K or she's walking", and our director is backing that up, but some guy in accounting is going, "Well, we sprang for an extra half-hour of drinks every night this year at the "Top 275 Producers" free trip to the Mexican resort*, so we really have to dial back on paying people what they're worth."

*Yes, this is a real thing, and yes, my boss gets to go.

[hoosier80]

@Bilgistic, good for you for standing up for yourself.  I would just say make sure you get everything in writing.  I have been promised stuff before, then a new management team came into play, and well, we don't know what was said previously - so I was screwed over big time.

My boss pretty much does not give a shit unless his feet are held to the fire.  We've transitioned from one corporation to another and yet another (company bought out this unit, then that company was bought out - all within 1 year - same job though).  So lots of jobs and processes had to be moved from one company network to the other.  For at least two special processes (one that took over a year to set up at old company) which I was concerned about, I had sent over all the documentation to the worthless transition team over a year before it was required.  We had meetings about it.  I saved all of my emails.  Of course, they delayed it all, putting it on a Day 2 list.  The Day 2 list is usually a joke, meaning, we'll get to it when we get to it.  Yeah, now the idiots have closed out one item, but we've never ran the process yet.  So I have to get that done soon.  Whatever.  We had one person leave the team/company, so we (and I'm saying really me) had to take on those responsibilities.  My dipshit co-worker has the attention span of a gnat, never writes anything down, so it's always I forgot how to do that.  Long talks with boss about them.  Oh and one self important asshat got himself a worker bee (technically on this team), so yeah there went our replacement for the person who left the company.  The req is still out there but, yeah it's gone.  Now, they've forced out someone else on the team, who is on par with the dipshit, but just rubbed someone the wrong way I guess.  Cool thing is that they're going to another department.  The great plan now is to find a generalist who can help out with everything.  Right.  That will never happen.  Plus, then I'd have to train the new person as well as do all the regular stuff.   The dipshit is at retirement age, but wants to continue to "work".  The problem is, they only want to do things in their comfort zone; one system which they are considered to be the expert (which is really a joke - if you ask a lot of questions, and I do - they don't know squat), is going away this year.  That was the entire reason why they were retained.  The only good news is that the boss now sees the dipshit's limitations clearly, as they were tasked with compiling monthly stats; they sent out the stats without reviewing them to upper management.  The numbers did not make any sense, bad formatting, just overall bad.  Not once, but two months in a row.  Now boss is doing it, after having egg on his face.  But, he now asks me how the dipshit is doing - he has done seen the light!!   And, if I feel slightly sick, I just work from home.  Sadly, if I were really sick, the dipshit couldn't handle some of the stuff I've been doing; I asked about having dipshit do some of this next year and was told an emphatic NO.  I almost said you had better make sure I don't get pissed and quit, or get really sick, or get ran over by a truck - because you'd be screwed.  We are staffed so thin as they want to bump up profit margins now, but damn.   Sadly, I did not win Powerball.  I had my speech all prepared.  I would have filmed it and posted it here for all to enjoy. 

[theredhead77]

I think I shared that I took my car to the shop on Monday so decided to work from home for 90 minutes. Got my hand slapped for it. Guess who didn't show up today and isn't answer his phone again.

I'm really, really tempted to say something to his boss since I feel like MY boss is doing this to play head games.

[zxy556575]

My company just let about 15 people go today, out of the blue. Nobody even told their direct supervisors beforehand! The company was sold several months ago, so this is a fairly new management team who I bet didn't even know most of the people they fired. What a crock.

I'm retired but currently working for them a few hours a week as an independent contractor -- got an email from one of the new VPs saying he needed to talk to me tomorrow. I kinda sense how that conversation is going to go!

[theredhead77]

@Lord Donia that blows! Here's to not awful news tomorrow!

[DeLurker]

What was the breakfast treat choice today @theredhead77?

[zxy556575]

12 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

@Lord Donia that blows! Here's to not awful news tomorrow!

Thanks for the well wishes. :)

Unsurprisingly, the two chuckleheads who talked to me didn't have a clue what it is I've been working on, but my services are no longer required anyway. Whatev. I'm an independent contractor and that's been a PITA with regard to taxes, anyway.

[Moose135]

Sorry to hear that, Lord Donia, hope something comes along for you soon!

[Guest]

My workplace has been picked up by a trickster spirit and flung full speed at a Super Moon.  We bounced off into a sun that then proceeded to go Super Nova and form a black hole that sucked us through a wormhole into a throwback Thursday universe where every catastrophe  challenge my company has ever faced over the last twenty years occurs simultaneously.

Just when I thought there was nothing new that could happen because everything that could happen has, the guy from Spinal Tap showed up and turned it up to eleven.

I've reached that moment where the absurdity of it all is vastly amusing to me.

[emma675]

I'm so happy I found this area of the site!

Can I vent about my boss's boss? She's a woman who has a live in nanny, a husband with a fantastic job, a dog walker, a housekeeper and only needs 3-4 hours of sleep a night, and expects the rest of the team to follow her lead. I've had this job for 4 months now and I've had to talk myself out of quitting at least a dozen times so far. She requested I bring a coworker up to speed on a project I'm working on Tuesday afternoon; I had jury duty on Wednesday and had 9 meetings on Thursday, so I was booked until about 4pm. She started emailing and im'ing me at 3:30 on Thursday, asking what was taking so long to respond, why it wasn't a simple email, why my coworker was still waiting to hear from me. I shot her and the coworker an email apologizing for the 36 hour delay <eyeroll> and setting up a meeting to bring her up to speed. That wasn't the end of it. My big boss sent me a series of emails at 3:30 this morning saying I wasn't responding as quickly as I should, I take too many notes on things and on and on. Then she called me at 7:30am to talk further. On a day I was off on scheduled PTO.

We're in Marketing. We're not curing cancer. In my 20's this would have broken me and I would have been devastated at not living up to expectations; I'm 40 now and I'm pissed. Life is too short to deal with jackasses like her.

I've never left a job before having put in at least 2 years, but this one might be it. It's a great company, international and well known, and I thought it was going to be a great opportunity, but in 4 months I've been sick 5 times and work 60-70 hours a weekly regularly.

Has anyone ever left a job so soon? How did you explain it when you were interviewing for a new job?

[bilgistic]

Welcome!

I left a job after a week, but I never told another potential employer about it. I was in the throes of a deep wave of depression (I have lifelong, horrifically bad depression, but I have a baseline, and then I have dips and caverns), and for some stupid reason, took a full-time job when I was out of work, freelancing when I could, but also doing intensive therapy and trying to get the meds right again.

So...that doesn't really apply.

I lost a job (the United Way job in 2002-2003) after 1.5 years. I wanted to grow my position and my supervisor wanted me to stay right where I was, under her. I was frustrated and underemployed, and HR and I mutually agreed I should leave. I asked for severance pay and got it. Everyone I worked with--including my supervisor--was gone within six months after I left. Revolving door.

You can explain that it's not a good fit, and the reasons didn't become apparent until you were there a while, and leave it at that. You can say you are looking for the next place to be where you will be settled for years to come.

Like me, you've paid your dues and don't need to kiss ass anymore (if you ever did--I sure didn't). I keep hearing that employers now value a work/life balance, and you don't have balance working that many hours. I don't, and I'm gone "only" 11 or 12 hours a day.

[theredhead77]

3 hours ago, emma675 said:

I've never left a job before having put in at least 2 years, but this one might be it. It's a great company, international and well known, and I thought it was going to be a great opportunity, but in 4 months I've been sick 5 times and work 60-70 hours a weekly regularly.

Has anyone ever left a job so soon? How did you explain it when you were interviewing for a new job?

If you're not a chronic job hopper no one will bat an eye that you are looking to leave after just a few months. And if they do you didn't want to work there anyway.

 

16 hours ago, DeLurker said:

What was the breakfast treat choice today @theredhead77?

I ended up picking up a bagels and they disappeared. CF even partook!

[MargeGunderson]

On 2/24/2017 at 8:41 AM, DeLurker said:

What was the breakfast treat choice today @theredhead77?

I came here just to find out! I'm vaguely disappointed that your coworker didn't throw a giant hissy fit.

[emma675]

I've spent this afternoon updating my resume and applying for a few jobs. I forgot how draining searching for jobs is and more than likely I won't hear back from 99% of those I apply for. But at least it's a start.

[theredhead77]

On 2/6/2017 at 0:32 PM, theredhead77 said:

Woman next to me is a teeth sucker / gum popper. I want to move so bad, I am so sick of having to blast music in my head phones to block out her disgusting noises. I started just playing music. If she says anything I'll just tell her I didn't realize she could hear my music over all her self-created noise.

Today I found out this department (which is also super disruptive with their seemingly endless "celebrations") is moving to a different part of the building. I cannot wait for the constant stream of teeth sucking, lip smacking, gum popping and chewing to end.

[Quof]

I have a coworker who clips her nails in the office.  Periodically, I will hear the sound of the clippers.  She's clipping all 10 nails, not just "oops, I broke a nail, let me fix it", so it's clearly part of her planned routine grooming.   I am 2 offices away, and I can still hear it.  I don't get up to see whether she is using the garbage can, or just letting the clippings fly. 

But the question remains - Why in the Hell would someone do that?

[auntlada]

I do it occasionally because that is when I remember to do it. I don't know why I can't remember at home. I usually try to do it when no one else is in the office, though, or else I go to the bathroom.