Friday, February 23, 2007

Workin' for a Living


I had planned a perky little post about pickles, peppermint sticks and pomegranates. Instead, though I need to release some work-related mess.

Ours is a small shop, just nine of us to satisfy the demands of the business. Accordingly, we all were multiple hats. My hats are labeled anything related to the finances and the day-to-day operations, making sure *the office* runs smoothly.

Suffice to say, my days are pretty full, what with keeping the books, paying the bills, collecting the debts, dealing with service people, ordering supplies and being the answer lady. Since I don’t have any back-up or any assistants, any time off, means extra added burdens to the constant barrage of to-dos.

This week the captain has been in a snit. His snit is the result of multiple failures of areas under his direct supervision, sales, marketing and customer service. The guy charged with the day-to-day of these areas has fallen down on the job. In my opinion, he was never up to the challenge, but, nobody asked for my opinion. Truth be told, the captain is...well, he did allow this situation to fester for over two years.

GS has not ever shown any talent for organization, supervision or administration. He has been building, for the past 2 ½ years, a shrine on and about his desk. This shrine consists of files, mail, reports and whatever that else has come across his nose. He quite literally has stacks on his desk and on the floor around him topping off at three feet, I kid you not.
Captain, freely admits being unable to get an answer from this guy about anything, without him having to rummage through one of the various shrines. It takes hours to uncover information, if ever, often re-construction is necessary. Deadlines have been missed, goals have not been met.

The boss, the captain, shrugs, sighs and pulls his hands through his rapidly receding hair.
Thursday, the snit hit a fever pitch and as usual I’m holding the catcher’s mitt. "I’m going to ask you please to supervise the clean-up of that desk..I want you to look at and assess every piece of paper. I know I’m asking a lot, but..." The boss wants me to take on more responsibility, to enforce suggestions I’d been making to the BOTH of them for over two years now.

I started going through some of the stacks before I left work Thursday. Based on what I found, it is crystal clear that we should be looking for a trade. I don't know why it's taken so long for captain to act and I am not at all thrilled with the direction this action is taking. The trade talks may include a face the captain wasn't expecting.





6 comments:

  1. Hi Deborah,

    I have no idea how pickles, peppermint sticks and pomegranates could be put together......

    The work situation I understand.

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  2. That is just fucking bullshit!
    YOU have to clean up BOTH inept male jerkoff's fuckups?? FOR no extra money?? That is just bullfuckingshit!!!
    You should be paid extra - the same salaries they BOTH got for ignoring all the business they should have been doing... that YOU now have to do....WITH OVERTIME since you have to do your other regular stuff.
    humph.
    The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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  3. i got stuck in a similar situation at my last position...and flipped out and i was demoted.
    it is infuriating to be called in to clean up after the boys. i hope you keep your wits about you, find a way to be compensated that is fair to you, and do the whole thing with style.

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  4. ok, i am frustrated for you. our last supervisor was in over her head from the time she started, and was allowed to just make bigger messes until she finally left after nearly 3 years. And when she left, my co-workers and I were left to clean up her mess. To add insult to injury our manager blamed us for her failures. imagine that!

    i wish you all the best.

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  5. So what's happening there,
    how's it going/
    Let it there.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I meant let us know...
    (I'm watching Entertainment Tonight,)
    Sorry

    ReplyDelete

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