Things I've Learned in 7 Months of a Crappy Job

Your office needs one of these........






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Hell I'm not sharing! I'll get a little personal one for my cube.

Hopefully your "next job" will be sooner rather than later, and hopefully you won't need any of these "lessons".  Do not become cynical, and do not confuse your job with your life.  It's a job.  Jettison some of your stuff if you have to, but don't let yourself become trapped in this kind of environment so that your kids can wear Baby Gap and you can drive a Beemer.  It ain't worth it.  I know the Dahli Lama says that life is suffering, but he doesn't mean every minute.  Life is hard enough without self imposed pain. Get the hell out of there!

Definintely working on my next "opportunity." Job interview tomorrow as a matter of fact, cuz this place blows! So glad I have BT to make me laugh a little during the day!!

GOOD LUCK at your interview!!!

You're doing good if you've got two hours of work to do I've had weeks where I have had NOTHING to do.

Have you got your TPS reports done?

I hate to tell you this, but even small private loving liberal arts colleges have seriously deadly, knock-down-drag out office politics.

UUuummm...yea....about those TPS reports...

Why it is better to be the boss....





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"Looks like you've been missing a lot of work lately?"

"I wouldn't say I've been missing it Bob!"

LOL! Ya, those academic environs are brutal!

I recently swore off any type of work that involves cubicles, desks, telephones, and anything that smacks of "career". Way happier. Now work is secondary to support everything I really love to do. Isn't that the way it should be? Actually, I'm starting to plot out how I can drop out alltogether and move to Mexico. Either that, or trying to figure out how I can get Ron's job...

My job interview is today so we'll see how that goes! I am DEFININTELY looking for a way out, all while I have insurance and a good paycheck to support my expensive sport addiction. We'll see how it goes..>!!

I'm sorry your experience has been so bad and I hope that your interview went well.

The first job I got out of college was at a non-profit. I was hired to do something completely different from what I ended up doing, which was horrible because most of the time, I had no clue of what my responsibilities were, how to complete tasks, etc.

On top of this, the exec. director was manipulative, a liar, a horrible manager and just an overall nasty person. She and I got into an argument on the Tuesday of the last week I was there. I had designed a 36 page brochure and laid it out to her specifications which changed daily. She told me to send it off to the printer and then on that Tuesday called me into her office, then got the printer on the speaker phone and told the printer that I had screwed everything up and that it was my fault that everything was going to be held up and that the printer should just chalk this up to my "inexperience" and my "inability to handle my responsibilities and my job."

That Friday, at the end of the day, I sent a one sentence email to her and the board of directors saying that it was my last day and that I'd not be coming back.

Monday afternoon, I got a smarmy phone call from her (I didn't answer, my voicemail picked up) in which she accused me of stealing software. I called back and the secretary told me that they had found the software IN HER OFFICE.

After all of this, I quit in the middle of a pay period, so I was still due one week's worth of wages. After not receiving it in the mail, I called and spoke to the secretary. She told me that the exec. director refused to give me my check unless I came in to talk to her first and then she'd decide if she was going to give it to me.

I had to get a lawyer to threaten her to get the final check. What an awful experience...but, I learned so much from it and I landed an awesome job just about two months ago. So, keep your head up and something will come your way!

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I feel your pain in a big way. My first job out of college was exactly like they way you describe. In addition to all of what you mentioned above, we had to deal with being "new grads" and having to work twice as hard to earn any respect. Fortunately for me being in IT I left that awful place and joined a full-time consulting firm, that way I do not have to stay at one place for more than a year

Yes, that is how it is in many of the disfunctional offices these days. Politics are something that I've been blessed to have been able to stay out of (at least to my knowing). At my last gig, I know that everyone there was "throwing people under the bus" and sometimes it was me. But I kept my cool, did my job to the best of my ability, was honest about my limitations, and was very candid with my superious as to my opinions of the "problems" (one of the benefits to being an outsider is perspective).

I've had terrible jobs, and I've had great jobs. Both the terrible and the great had everything on that list... but the environment made a huge difference. When people felt good about what they were doing and were able to work together, the politics seemed silly and was easy to deal with. But when everyone was feeling insecure, it was harder to deal with.

I should also mention that I have a strict rule of never, ever, ever saying or typing anything that I wouldn't want broadcast over the company PA system. Ever. Ever. If people wanted to come to me and stir some poo, I just cut them short and said what I had to say on the matter, kept it professional, knew that they were going to warp my words somehow anyway, and let them go. I learned way back in Junior High not to trust anyone who gossiped to me about someone else...
I hope your interview went well.

Edited by madkat 2005-08-14 5:28 PM

After nearly 20 years in corporate America, it all boils down to this:

Some days you're the hooker...
Some days you're the pimp.




Edited by chop 2005-08-15 8:07 PM