I’m beginning this blog because I truly believe I’ve reached
my breaking point at work. Oh, I know I’m
lucky to have a job; the economy is terrible, I shouldn’t complain, blah, blah,
blah.
I get it. I know I’m
lucky to have a job, or at least I’m lucky to have a paycheck and some
benefits, paltry though they may be. I
don’t, however, think I’m so lucky to work in a place that’s likely going to
cause me to wind up in a mental institution.
I don’t think it’s lucky that in spite of doing a lot more work I haven’t
had a raise in four years. I don’t think
that’s lucky at all.
I’ve been in a support position for about ten years now, and
I’ve reached the point where I’m rather desperately wishing life gave you
do-overs. I’d do it over and go to
school for something else. I have no
idea what, just not something that would land me where I’m at now. Unfortunately life doesn’t give you do-overs,
so here I am.
So, here’s my little bloggy about all of the things at work
(past jobs and present hell hole included) that drive me nuts, push me to my
breaking point, and make me faithfully buy a lottery ticket every week. I’m hopeful that if you’re in a similar position
we can commiserate some. Misery loves
company, right? Or, if you’re in a position
where you have support staff, I sincerely hope you’ll learn some things. You really don’t want to be the object of
this much silent animosity.
So, for the first tale of an angry admin we’ll start with
being a mystical being capable of rare and mysterious feats such as adding
paper to the copier, picking up documents off of the fax and printer, and the
highly specialized skill of being able to walk to another department within the
building.
Rare and Mysterious
Skills
Let me start off by saying that every place I’ve ever worked
in this capacity has never added support staff positions at the rate they add “higher
up” positions. They’ll add multiple “higher
up” positions without adding so much as a single part time support staff
position. Sometimes they even eliminate
a support staff position in the process of adding more “higher up”
positions. It’s always “understood” that
because of this the higher-ups will be responsible for doing a little more of
their own clerical or support work. Of
course, it’s never understood by the higher-ups themselves. No, they keep right on calling you down the
hallway to go pick up something off of the printer for them, or pulling you off
an urgent phone call you’re making on behalf of another higher-up to walk
something to another department.
This is especially annoying to me when the person who can’t
walk across the hall to another department to drop their own paperwork off
likes to tell you how athletic they are.
Umm, really? Even with my
life-lifelong love affair with carbohydrates I can walk across the hall. I would assume that a highly educated, very
athletic person would be able to as well.
Let’s not forget the rare and mysterious skill of being able
to find all misplaced items. That client
file that you alone have had for six months and is buried somewhere in the pigsty
you call your office? Sure I can put my
hands on it, from the other end of the office.
We wouldn’t want you to stress yourself by actually opening your filing
cabinets, or moving some of the debris on your desk. Of course not. It’s much easier to get on the intercom asking
me where it is.
Then there’s the rare and mysterious skill of being able to
add paper to the copier. It’s harder
than it looks, you know. And it’s not
like the “add paper” light flashing gives you any clue what you might need to
do. Of course, even if you do figure it out, it’s not like you can find the paper that’s sitting right next to the
copier. No, you need to start
frantically yelling for the one support person, who is across the hall
delivering someone else’s paperwork to another department that “something’s
wrong with the copier”.
So what about you? Do
you have any rare and mysterious skills like these?
