A Case Of The Mondays: Vent Your Work Spleen Here

[DeLurker]

12 hours ago, backformore said:

She may have had good intentions.

You're much more charitable than I would be in this situation.

[backformore]

11 hours ago, bilgistic said:

That's really weird and must've been so awkward!

1 hour ago, DeLurker said:

You're much more charitable than I would be in this situation.

Thanks for the feedback.  I was second-guessing my reaction, so I'm glad other people see it the same way.  People at work often show a recent photo of their dog, or their kid, on their phone.  I can glance at it, and say "Aww, cute!"  but that takes a second.  I don't feel like listening to a SONG on your phone, especially one about grief.  I tend to keep my emotions to myself at work, and was resentful that she was pushing something like that on me.   

I've often had a weird reaction when co-workers want to get too close, too fast.  I don't want best friends at work, I don't want to share my emotions with you.  I've been around long enough that I know how that can backfire. 

[bilgistic]

Nooo, just because you work together doesn't make you friends. My ex-boss and coworker (boss's little buddy) gave me so much shit because I wouldn't "friend" them on fucking Facebook. I don't want to see your dumb vacation pictures!

Granted, my definition of friend is someone you can call in the middle of the night for anything. Coworkers can become true friends, but it's very rare in my experience. I've had only one in over 20 years of post-college working. We were friends for 14 years and eventually drifted apart.

[Bastet]

I am still friends with three people I worked with twenty years ago; we became very close working together, and socialized a lot then, and then as we one by one went our separate ways job-wise, we stayed friends, but obviously spent far less time together.  We only get together as a group four times a year (for each of our birthdays), and then I'll get together with each of them individually maybe once more a year.  So, not among my close friends - I define that very tightly, and there are only three of them - but friends; we talk about our lives.

In other jobs, though, there has usually been one person I socialized with outside the office one-on-one, and we've pretty much always gone out occasionally for happy hour as an office group, but they're not really friends - they're people with whom I enjoy/enjoyed working and also enjoy occasionally socializing with, but we don't discuss our personal lives and feelings in the same way I do with my friends.  It's more chatting about what's going on in the world, books/movies/TV shows we like, etc. and just knowing the basics about our lives.

[hoosier80]

Dip just said oh I assigned it to you (the item that she reassigned to herself) for review.  No sorry, no nothing.  Been on a tear since boss ripped her a new one that she's not performing up to par; wanting to write procedures (and has zero clue about how shit works, so go figure that out), grabbing tasks to work on before anyone else gets a chance.   Taking most things (well the easiest ones) to say, look, look, look how hard I work!  Yeah, whatever.  I'm so going to talk to boss about her saying she was senior and supervisor.  Hell to the no on either.  And if he concurs with the Dip, then I'll just say, well whenever there's a major issue, do NOT come to me.  

The whole have to be best buds with co-workers is BS.    Usually, thank God, I am working at home when we have a team meeting.  I put my phone on mute and pay half attention as it's a fake lovefest with the people there.  Gag.  Some are smoke buddies, who go out for their 8 or more breaks per day; some are just fake as shit, who would sell others down the river if they thought they'd get ahead.  So they can skip the whole we're good friends crap.  

[announcergirl]

11 hours ago, hoosier80 said:

Dip just said oh I assigned it to you (the item that she reassigned to herself) for review.  No sorry, no nothing.  Been on a tear since boss ripped her a new one that she's not performing up to par; wanting to write procedures (and has zero clue about how shit works, so go figure that out), grabbing tasks to work on before anyone else gets a chance.   Taking most things (well the easiest ones) to say, look, look, look how hard I work!  Yeah, whatever.  I'm so going to talk to boss about her saying she was senior and supervisor.  Hell to the no on either.  And if he concurs with the Dip, then I'll just say, well whenever there's a major issue, do NOT come to me.  

The whole have to be best buds with co-workers is BS.    Usually, thank God, I am working at home when we have a team meeting.  I put my phone on mute and pay half attention as it's a fake lovefest with the people there.  Gag.  Some are smoke buddies, who go out for their 8 or more breaks per day; some are just fake as shit, who would sell others down the river if they thought they'd get ahead.  So they can skip the whole we're good friends crap.  

I totally get this situation. Dealing with something similar/sinister. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this.

[DeLurker]

13 hours ago, hoosier80 said:

And if he concurs with the Dip, then I'll just say, well whenever there's a major issue, do NOT come to me.  

Experience suggests that this deserves a "liar liar pants on fire" response.  You're the exact kind of employee I used to hire - overachievers who feel an obligation to work extra-hard to put out a fire - regardless of why there was a fire.  These folks were well compensated, but given a lot of flexibility in their hours by me - one did not normally show up until 10 - 10:30, but she regularly worked until 7 or 8 and almost always took home work on the weekends.

When I used to be co-workers with them, I did advise them that they sent management expectations too high since they always did it - no matter how inane or artificial the fire was.  They gave 120% all the time so if they ever gave 5% less it was viewed as they were only giving 85%. 

[Kelly]

Venting...

I have a new co-worker.  I was looking forward to someone else being brought on, as my work as ramped up considerably the past few months.  I am technically 'part time', but things have been more full time, and while that's fine for short periods of time, I didn't want that to be the new normal.

Our job entails a lot of small steps and there are a lot of details.  We fill out tracking sheets, that if you fill them out as you go along for each project, makes things pretty easy.  I know it can be overwhelming at first, so I was sympathetic to her stress.

Well...it's been 3 weeks now and she is STILL asking me the same questions, almost on a daily basis.  I worked on re-writing the protocol booklet with one of my supervisors, right before she was hired, so if she followed the instructions (and used her tracking sheets), she would be just fine.  When I recommend that she look at the booklet, when I'm not available to answer her questions, she tells me it's 'too confusing'.  When I try to help her - she often gets angry with me, saying that I am 'going to fast', giving her too many instructions.  I end up apologizing to her on a daily basis and it's starting to get irritating.  I am never anything but professional with her.  When I email step-by-step instructions back to her - I am TRYING to make it very clear and basic so that it's NOT confusing.  She will often write back to me that she's 'too stressed and has to log off".  Oy. 

And then she'll email our supervisor and complain she isn't getting enough hours!

[emma675]

Kelly, have you brought it up to your supervisor? I would also start keeping copies of all of her emails, just in case. You can't do her job and yours. Plus, most new people usually work hard to show they are valuable, not log off because they're "too stressed".

Edited March 26, 2018 by emma675d

[Kelly]

2 hours ago, emma675 said:

Kelly, have you brought it up to your supervisor? I would also start keeping copies of all of her emails, just in case. You can't do her job and yours. Plus, most new people usually work hard to show they are valuable, not log off because they're "too stressed".

 

Yes...he is well aware of what is going on, and he has basically said to me "give me the word and she's gone".  

She often refers to how much work she's getting/how many hours etc  Keeps telling me wants 20 hours or more.  Although this is not what was described to her when she took the job, interviewed etc  Her position will average 10-12 hours per week, and it will vary week by week.  Some weeks she may get 5 hours - some weeks she may have 15.  It will RARELY be 20. 

I am in charge of dividing up the work and right now, I am giving her projects that I know will have minimal problems so that she can get her feet wet/confidence up.  She'll tell me "...well I'm sure YOU got more to do today".  Well of course I did!  I know how to do more than she does and I'm the main person for this work!  She is just picking up the slack!

I just don't reply to her when she gets snarky.  She's in her mid 50's, but her email/skype personality is like a teenager.

I agree that her attitude is a bit strange.  I hate to think that we will need to start all over and train someone else, but honestly!  Grrr...

Edited March 26, 2018 by Kelly

[biakbiak]

6 minutes ago, Kelly said:

Yes...he is well aware of what is going on, and he has basically said to me "give me the word and she's gone".  

.Sorry but your supervisor sounds like he is a really shitty manager. He needs to address the issue with your coworker and let her know that she is not meeting expectations. His behavior is extremely unprofessional and not constructive.

[Kelly]

I actually don't have a problem with him...

[biakbiak]

5 minutes ago, Kelly said:

I actually don't have a problem with him...

That doesn't mean he is a good manager because how you have described him dealing with the new employee is atrocious.

[theredhead77]

3 hours ago, Kelly said:

Yes...he is well aware of what is going on, and he has basically said to me "give me the word and she's gone".  

She often refers to how much work she's getting/how many hours etc  Keeps telling me wants 20 hours or more.  Although this is not what was described to her when she took the job, interviewed etc  Her position will average 10-12 hours per week, and it will vary week by week.  Some weeks she may get 5 hours - some weeks she may have 15.  It will RARELY be 20. 

I am in charge of dividing up the work and right now, I am giving her projects that I know will have minimal problems so that she can get her feet wet/confidence up.  She'll tell me "...well I'm sure YOU got more to do today".  Well of course I did!  I know how to do more than she does and I'm the main person for this work!  She is just picking up the slack!

I just don't reply to her when she gets snarky.  She's in her mid 50's, but her email/skype personality is like a teenager.

I agree that her attitude is a bit strange.  I hate to think that we will need to start all over and train someone else, but honestly!  Grrr...

Who is technically responsible for her training?

What is the official expected training period?
Is she being trained a few hours here and a few hours there or was there a block of time where training was provided?
What kind of official coaching is provided during and after training?
Is there a probationary period?
Are you her immediate or dotted line supervisor? If you're not, why are you in charge of assigning her work?

[GHScorpiosRule]

So. I called the agency on Monday and told the guy (who would be my boss/supervisor) that I was interested and would like to move forward. So now comes the initiation of a background check and possibly meeting with the Regional Director. If the money is right, I want to move ahead with this opportunity. I mean, it's this agency that has put out a Salary Guide about what I should be paid, based on my experience. And in the interview last week, I gave them a number that would have me saying no.

Lazyass Recruiter informed me on Monday that he finally sent the "conversion contract" to my supervisor to review to make me permanent. I was confused, and asked how much will they pay me? He said no numbers or offers yet; she's going to review to see if she'll accept the terms. I need to call my former recruiter to find out what that means. I hope she'll be slow as molasses on this, because becoming permanent here, while nice, since I've been hear nearly a year and gotten to know most of the folks, is my last choice. Just based on the lack of structure and disorganization.

But. This morning, I got an email about meeting with the team for the law firm. Oh! The telephone interview last week went well! It wasn't really a "screening" call, but the partner wanted explanation of my job movements these past few years; My reasons were understandable and I thought I was able to convey that they were also beyond my control. When the call ended, I felt good. Then nervous, and wondering, should I email to find out if there are next steps? Then decided, if they wanted to move forward, they would let me know. So, they did!

I'm keeping a tight, very, very tight rein on my excitement. But I like that I now have options and don't have to accept one choice because I have no choice.

However, I am still applying, applying, applying.

[emma675]

GHScorpiosRule, when it rains it pours! The same thing happened with me, nothing for a few months then three job offers at the same time. It was nice to have options.

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, emma675 said:

GHScorpiosRule, when it rains it pours! The same thing happened with me, nothing for a few months then three job offers at the same time. It was nice to have options.

Thanks. But they're not offers. Yet. I have to remind myself that I'm still in the running, so to speak. But yes, it does feel good not having to feel "I have to accept this because it's the only one offering" and feel like I'm settling.

[GHScorpiosRule]

AW NUTS!

Just got an email that some "key team members" aren't available this week, and the practice group wants me to meet everyone at the same time. So the face to face is going to be next week. I suspect it's due to the Easter holiday this weekend. I told the person I've been in contact with that I am very flexible and can meet with the team at their convenience.  He thanked me for my patience, and I responded with, I understand. And I do. I'm also not stupid. I'm still in the running, and if they all want to meet me at the same time, I can accommodate them. And then convince them I'm the person they should hire.

ETA: I’m batting a thousand today! It’s the team members not available NEXT week, so the interview will take place week of April 9!

Edited March 28, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[Hero]

I cannot stand my manager ? She just randomly gives me something to do, but then gives no explanation on it. She gets easily overwhelmed and starts to snap at people. She's just a terrible manager and should really be fired. 

I really like working there and the pay is great. It's just that my manager makes it an unenjoyable job. 

I just needed to vent ?

[theredhead77]

20 hours ago, Hero said:

It's just that my manager makes it an unenjoyable job. 

People typically quit managers, not companies.

[Hero]

2 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

People typically quit managers, not companies.

So true! She is a very unpleasant person and not a lot of people like her. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

5 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

People typically quit managers, not companies.

Wow.  Well said.

[theredhead77]

I did not coin that phrase.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I thought for sure that the interview for next week would surely be postponed again, but I got the email yesterday for date and time: Next Thursday! WAHOO!!! And instead of like a group of 8-10 attorneys at one time (that has happened. All at once, some in a revolving door), only three attorneys, and one of them is the Partner/Team Leader I had the phone call with two weeks ago.

While I had been waiting, I got another call from another firm, and I'm interviewing with them this Friday. I checked them out on glassdoor, and the pay for paralegals is on the very low side (entry level), yet the advert said "Competitive and Excellent Benefits." So we'll see.

Haven't heard back from the agency, so I don't know if I should reach out? I mean, he/they approached me and said this position would be a good career lateral move.

And on a hair pulling/shock/anger/fear/UPSET point: when I came into the office yesterday, I learned that the laptop I use was ransom-wared. IT had to SCRUB EVERYTHING. I lost EVERYTHING I had saved on my local hard drive==my own system of files and folders that the CFO, CEO, General Counsel have sent me; the invoice, templates, All the archived emails.  And I was given a loaner, a MAC, and felt like a maroon, and really needed a Mac for Dummies, while working yesterday. So basically, today is my first day at the job, and the last 11 months or work have been ERASED. ($&^*()$&^T(*&t_)@$q&{(&^t@+$)^t*&@$^&@)$w(^tu

[BookWoman56]

There's a little bit of a weird situation going on with my team, which I hope is not going to affect me. A couple of months ago, my manager  hired a new person to replace someone who had left for a different company.  The new hire was hired because she was strongly recommended by a manager in an adjacent team. However, from my perspective at least, the new hire is seriously lacking in some skills, such as basic functions of our live meetings, which are how we conduct roughly 99% of our meetings. New hire regularly forgets to insert the live meeting link into her meeting invitations, so while there's the phone number to dial into, there's no live meeting to share the screen. It's easy enough to send an IM to everyone in the meeting and share the screen that way, but new hire fumbles this basic function nearly every single time. She also multitasks during her own meetings, as well as meetings other people are running, with the end result that when people announce they are in the meeting or they're attending as a sub for someone who can't attend, she either doesn't hear or pays no attention to those announcements and ends up looking incompetent. For example, during a recent meeting, a specific person was unable to attend and that person's manager announced at the beginning of the call, "Person A is unable to attend, so I am here on his behalf." New hire finishes taking attendance and then announces she plans to wait for person A and will ping person A to join the meeting. Person A's manager then has to reiterate that he is there on behalf of person A, who is unable to join because of a conflict. Also, within the last couple of weeks, we had a deadline to submit a document to another team, and I was waiting for a specific manager to review it for technical accuracy. This manager is notorious for not reviewing shit on time unless someone goes into his office and reminds him that he needs to do it. The manager was not responding to my emails or IMs but showed as being at his desk, so I pinged new hire and asked her to go into the manager's office and ask him to please review the 2 pages of text and let  me know if I could send it to the other team.  Understand, this was a document for the project that she is managing. Her response was to ask why she should do that. I explained the 2 pages were due that day, and she then responded that there was an upcoming meeting in about 20 minutes to lay out the strategy for a project for next year, and that meeting took priority. I nearly lost it, because the document I was working on is part of a document we have to submit to the federal regulators and was due to them in a couple of days. Anyway, these examples are typical of how she works. 

New hire has gotten some negative feedback from our mutual  manager and now is hellbent on complaining about the manager to HR. She's asking some colleagues to share any negative experiences they've had with the manager, etc. And while she has a couple of valid points on very specific things the manager has done that should not have been done, I keep wondering what the fuck her goal is. HR is not going to fire this manager based on complaints from one solo new hire; they might counsel the manager not to repeat the mistakes she has made on those couple of points but that would be it. The manager's manager is certainly not going to fire the manager based on negative feedback from one employee. I honestly do not know if new hire is angling to get assigned to a different team, assuming there is one with an empty slot for her to fill. It's just annoying, because while I think our mutual manager is a mediocre manager at best, this new hire has zero positive things about her that I can see.  I mean, after two different people have emailed you three different times that you are now in charge of small project ABC, your response after a meeting in which that fact was mentioned should not be, "I had no idea I was supposed to be in charge of project ABC." If she starts asking me for my own negative experiences with the manager, I'm not going to respond.  I see no upside whatsoever in getting drawn into this kind of conflict. 

[backformore]

39 minutes ago, BookWoman56 said:

New hire has gotten some negative feedback from our mutual  manager and now is hellbent on complaining about the manager to HR. She's asking some colleagues to share any negative experiences they've had with the manager, etc.

Ok THAT is beyond what anyone should be doing.  If she wants to complain to HR, fine.  HR can follow up with others.   But for a NEW person to try to rally up others to back up her complaint - that's just wrong.  

Now, you said she was recommended by another manager for the position.  there's a possibility that there's an agenda there -  that the recommending manager wanted her placed in that position to get the "dirt"  on the manager she's working for. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

1 hour ago, backformore said:

the recommending manager wanted her placed in that position to get the "dirt"  on the manager she's working for. 

Orrrr, recommending manager wanted her the hell outta his/her area.

[BookWoman56]

I don't think it's a case of the recommending manager wanting to get dirt on my manager, as there's virtually no overlap in what they do and minimal contact. Recommending manager doesn't want my manager's position. And new hire has never worked directly for recommending manager; they knew each other from when they were both with a different company. I think the recommendation was based probably just on friendship rather than actual knowledge of work performance, because I can't see how anyone would recommend this new hire for the level of position she is now in. To me, it's a bad reflection on recommending manager, as virtually everyone on our team and in another team with whom we work directly has vented about the new hire, and her skills are just nowhere near what they should be. She fails to ask questions when she should and ends up making decisions without getting input from people. In general, she just does stuff that makes no damn sense. For example, she sent a document to someone who needed to approve it, asking the person to read and approve it. Then she shares the document with our team, and asks for updates/edits. WTF? You can't get someone to approve a document, then rewrite the document and proceed as if the approval is still valid. Okay, you can, but doing so is just asking for audit to rip you a new one. We have very rigid protocols around document approval, and her approach is just not going to cut it. The thing is, this isn't some specialized approval process; it's just common sense that you make all your updates and changes to a document first, and then you send it for approval.

[theredhead77]

1 hour ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

Orrrr, recommending manager wanted her the hell outta his/her area.

This was my thought - former manager was 'over' the non producer but couldn't terminate them so they just get passed around. The employee thinks their amazing and managers get stuck with a lackluster employee.

[BookWoman56]

17 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

This was my thought - former manager was 'over' the non producer but couldn't terminate them so they just get passed around. The employee thinks their amazing and managers get stuck with a lackluster employee.

I've seen that happen all too often, but in this particular case, the recommending manager had never directed the work of this new hire, so that reason doesn't apply here. Based on some comments, I believe it was just that the recommending manager and new hire knew each other while working for a different company, and the recommending  manager simply used her leverage to pitch the new hire as an ideal candidate for the position. My manager fell for the recommendation, and now our team is paying the price. It's been bad enough that we have a couple of slots now open, one for someone who has been moved to another area as part of a re-org, and one for a newly approved position, and in both cases my manager is insisting we start out with a contractor rather than going straight to regular full-time employee, so that if one of the new people turns out to be a dud, it's easy to jettison him/her. 

[theredhead77]

I've been in my new role for 7 months (can you believe it?!) and as I've gone about my trainings and meeting everyone i've said to direct all communications / questions regarding the department I'm running to me and stop sending them to the person who had been helping out before I took the position. This other person is very good at their job; however, I'm changing things up and need to be point. This week someone [who knows better] emailed this other person about a complicated set-up. This person sent the account manager information, prematurely. Now the account manager is upset that we can't accommodate the set-up because the customer isn't actually our customer - we act as a third party. Had he come to me first I could have prevented his headache. Hell, had she sent it to me and not answered the account managers question I could have prevented the headache.

Then today a  different account manager else sent someone else a set-up request - the whole thing should have come to me. I set up the person because they said everything was accurate. Wrong. Customer calls, they don't have access to their locations, random people have access to the wrong locations and they can't buy the products the account manager said they would be and their pricing is wrong.

If people just send me the info, like they are supposed to, all these headache and poor customer experiences could be avoided!

[GHScorpiosRule]

I have to admit, this interviewing on my own without going through an agency is HARD. Especially since I've used an agency and had two very good head hunters for nearly a decade.

So. Agency called, and I'm meeting with "higher ups," one of which is someone I worked with last Spring on temp assignments, so I know him. I'm not really nervous, because, hey, they approached me, and I've been with this agency for nine years.  They're the ones who put out the salary guides, and state what I should be paid. So, I gave them a number which would be a deal breaker for me, and what I'm asking is the mid-point of what I should be paid. And I didn't add the 33% that I should, since I work in DC. I meet with them next Tuesday.

The interview I had today went really well. And just as I thought, they can't afford to pay me what I asked for, but they offer excellent benefits. But, I pointed out to them, I bring in years of experience, and even mentioned the salary guide--if only to point out I'm asking for what's fair. However, since it seems there is a lot of overtime involved here, it can offset the salary. But they really liked me, and the senior associate/paralegal coordinator said they would need the approval of the partners/pay committee (that's made up) who would approve what I'm looking for. It's a mid-sized firm. I wouldn't be the ONLY paralegal, which is a plus; AND they told me they like that I'm Senior, so I could train/help the more juniors. Yeah? Then pay me what I'm asking. It wasn't a fixed number, but a range. I'm flexible; But I won't take pay that is something given to someone who has no experience. I should hear something next week for a final interview, if they want to move forward.

Then I have the final interview with my number one choice. The partner I had the telephone interview with two weeks ago will be there, along with two partners. I got me my questions to ask them, and I'll be fiddling around the 'net to see if there are any demos I can play with, to get an idea, so I'll have that in my corner.

I really, really, want to be able to have a full-time job by the end of this month.

And I don't know that I should be concerned, but my supervisor told IT to hold off on creating a back up server for my work, so that IF I should get hacked again, I would have a place where my work could be retrieved. Which makes no sense. I'm on tenterhooks now, thinking, where can I save this? Because not all the files/documents/contracts I work on, should be uploaded to the database. These are documents that I review/redline/compare, save to my local hard drive; then send the final product to the attorneys. and THAT version gets uploaded. She's been silent all day today, so she probably took a PTO as she was sounding bad yesterday with a cold.

[bilgistic]

@GHScorpiosRule, What's the name of the placement agency, if they are national/regional? If they are local, ignore my question. :)

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

@GHScorpiosRule, What's the name of the placement agency, if they are national/regional? If they are local, ignore my question. :)

They're national.  Robert Half Legal.

Edited April 6, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[bilgistic]

Ah. I've never had luck with their creative arm here here (design, editing, etc.). Glad you have had success with them.

[GHScorpiosRule]

5 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Ah. I've never had luck with their creative arm here here (design, editing, etc.). Glad you have had success with them.

I'm sorry to hear that. And yes, I was very fortunate, and I credit the recruiters I had.

[theredhead77]

I also had no luck with their IT or creative arms in CA. The IT "recruiter" tried to get me into recruiting when I was seeking Business Analyst work and the "creative" recruiter had no interest in passing my resume to a marketing job I would have been perfect for, since my most recent work history was in IT (but they were looking for technical marketing) - I could literally tick off the qualifications. I wouldn't have ended up with my current amazing job if they had done their jobs but it soured me on them. As did all the "if you know of anyone this job would be perfect for please pass this on..." emails

[theredhead77]

Sent out my monthly department newsletter. We had a great month, noticeable growth. Attached to the email is a dashboard with revenue broken down by account rep, store, district, manager, etc...

I receive an email from a manager asking if I can send him the info broken down by district. I replied back it was in the dashboard or the application used to pull numbers. I refrained from telling him it's also in at least 3 of the revenue reports he receives on a monthly basis. 

Use the tools you have to do your job! I swear, the learned helplessness our account managers have (and this person is a former account manager who was promoted), is out of control. We have two different departments to do all their admin work, work that they should be able to do.

And I found out that one of my counterparts, who has been in my current role for twice as long, has no idea how to do the core functions of this job. When his admin (my previous role) goes on vacation the person who is training to be my admin has to cover. In the rest of the company, the person in my role covers for the admin when they go on vacation, and the admin should be able to run the show, minus business decisions, when the person in my role is on vacation. What is he doing all day long? Who knows. What do I do all day long? Come in, get customers access / provide customer support, manage the orders, run reports on the business, create newsletters, try and indirectly influence other departments to help grow the business, think I should go eat lunch, actually eat lunch an hour so later, repeat for the rest of the day (minus the lunch part), try and leave at a decent hour, leave an hour after that.

[emma675]

My first week at the new job is in the books and it went well. Everyone I have met so far, including execs, have been incredibly nice and happy with working at the company. And while it's still an open office, I'm in a "senior cube" with very high walls and a little seating area with a book case. It's still not an office like I've had in the past but it's better than the giant room with desks and no walls that I was in before at the job from hell.

I was recruited through a search firm for this job, which was new for me. I've found all of my own jobs except one before this; the firm that set me up with this job had really nice people and did the salary negotiations for me (with direction from me on what I would accept). But they were kind of sloppy with background research--they were calling my references and checking my college credentials this week! After I had already started the job. It was very weird.

Edited April 9, 2018 by emma675d

[EighteenTwelve]

I'm on vacation this week and next week, but on Friday I was told (via surprise lunch) that I won a work award that's apparently a Big Deal.  Today I logged into my work email just to find out if the Mothership was going to tell me I won this award, or if they left it up to my very sneaky office.  I found an email that said they want to take my picture for the award ceremony.  Unfortunately I had an hour to get half an hour away, and I'm on vacation so I hadn't done laundry yet.  I found something to wear to have my picture taken in, dashed out the door, encountered my elderly neighbor who wanted to complain about the weather, and missed the only bus I could have taken to get to work in the next hour.  I did finally get there, mostly by almost running for almost a couple of miles, and then discovered that I had misread the email and they want to take my picture tomorrow.

[GHScorpiosRule]

So, the interview with RHL went very well; basically this position is that I would be their Paralegal on Retainer to firms who require a para, be it for two weeks or two months or a year. In between jobs, I'd be working with one of the directors, going with him to meet with clients, and also to get a feel for what the clients need, and since I am a paralegal, I'd be more familiar with what they need as I know the jargon/speak the language, so to speak. I get the best of both worlds here: still get to work as a paralegal, avoid the politics/not having enough support working for the firm, be able to widen my network and also let fellow colleagues who are looking for work, know who is looking and what they're looking for. Specifically for those who are just becoming paralegals and/or who don't know how to market themselves. If we can reach an agreeable salary number, then I will say yes.

I've got the final interview with the other firm on Thursday. I also reviewed them on glass door, and 98% of them are positive. The negative ones aren't the paralegal ones, so I'm not too concerned.

Edited April 10, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[Quof]

A colleague wrote to me today "your delusional."

I wanted to respond that his slur is contrary to our professional Code of Conduct. 

But more than that, I wanted to ask "My delusional what?  Oh, did you mean 'you're'?"

[GHScorpiosRule]

And then comes...the BOOM! and not a good one. more inside politics; company brought in a new counsel, who brought her OWN assistant, so my contract will end by month's end. but my supervisor is hoping that the other arm of the company can merge me over to their side. She'll make sure there's no gap, and keep me on...so latest, first week of May. I'm HOPING that I'll have an offer from one of the three firms before then.

I'm trying to think positive--because at least I've interviewed in three places, and they've all been positive. And bringing in that other General Counsel means my supervisor, who is also GC may also lose her job. And they just presented this to her as a fait accompli last Thursday. But she's still going to make sure I'm not left drifting in the wind. And she assures me it's nothing I did or my work, and that I can use her as a reference. Which relieved my mind.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I've noticed something in the last few interviews I've had. HR/Scheduler will let me know what time the interview is, yet, at the end of the email, will ask me to show up 15 minutes BEFORE the interview. Which, makes no sense. For me, it's not a big deal, because I always show up 15-30 minutes early, because one, I don't trust the Metro system here, because something ALWAYS happens; and with so much construction going on, I like to give myself plenty of time, so when I arrive, I can quickly make sure I look presentable and am not huffing and puffing.  And I've already completed their job applications which they've sent me before the interview.

I could understand this request, if I hadn't been provided with an application to complete before the interview. It reminded me of one of my retail jobs I had when I was looking for extra money--they'd schedule me for 6:00 PM, but the assistant manager would tell me to show up and clock in at 5:45. That's not what it states on the roster. You want me on the floor at 5:45? Then that's the time you put on the fucking roster. Of course, due to health reasons I had to quit after a short time, but that just peeved me.

[Moose135]

21 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I've noticed something in the last few interviews I've had. HR/Scheduler will let me know what time the interview is, yet, at the end of the email, will ask me to show up 15 minutes BEFORE the interview. Which, makes no sense.

Depending on where you are interviewing, you may need time to check in with security, get a visitor pass, and such, plus get to the interview room.  I tend to get there early for interview too, it just makes good sense to get there early and wait, rather than rush to get there on time.  But HR asking you to get there a little early isn't a bad thing.

[BookWoman56]

I just participated in a small group interview this morning, which started a few minutes late because my manager had to go downstairs to the security desk and retrieve the visitor. The building has pretty tight security, and one major rule is that visitors are not allowed to wander around by themselves; an employee must accompany any visitor at all times. So asking the applicant to arrive 15 minutes early may be one way to ensure there is time for what @Moose135 described. 

[theredhead77]

When I was helping HR interview for my replacement she told me that she does take into account the arrival time of the employee, are they early, right on time or... late.

I'm always super early and I'll park on the street or in the back and relax for a few minutes, then go park in the lot and walk in, no more than 15 minutes early and no less than 10 minutes early. 

Edited April 11, 2018 by theredhead77

[Quof]

Being early allows you to observe the office culture - people who don't notice you, or realize why you are there, do a lot of talking as they walk through the lobby.    I once observed the person who would interview me (I knew what he looked like, he didn't know who I was) bitching to a coworker about his assistant as they walked past me.   Not cool, dude.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Yes, the interview I have tomorrow is one where there is strict security, but not the others. I've been to those buildings before--downtown DC-nowhere near The White House or a government building or anything similar that would require such scrutiny.

I read once that if one shows up 30 minutes early, it's bad. I disagree. Sometimes you just can't predict what will happen if you're taking public transport especially. I remember one time a few years ago, the Metro had to suddenly single track, so that doubled the commute time, so I left an hour earlier than I normally would have. Better Early than Late, is my motto.

[emma675]

During a previous round of interviews the recruiter always included a sentence about "business attire clothing". I was interviewing for a senior position and I would never not dress appropriately but that sentence was in every single email. I figured they had people who had come in dressed inappropriately (which says more about their recruiting process than me) and she just stuck that sentence in every time. They may say 15 minutes early due to something similar.