Well, contrary to perhaps common belief, things are not on autopilot at my job. Not sure if I give much of an impression of my job satisfaction other than this vague notion that I have an uneasy truce with "the man" until I feel I am ready to strike out into a more personally satisfying venture. Truth of the matter is that, in terms of my day-to-day activities, I actually enjoy working with maps & data (regardless of how lame that sounds). I am relatively well-taken care of (certainly in comparison to past jobs), and have about as much job security as one can reasonably expect from a large company in this day and age.
But I just had this incident occur which has pissed me off beyond belief. I've been seeking a promotion over the past year, but constantly getting the runaround from my boss. Meanwhile, two co-workers that are basically in a similar position as me (albeit with a different direct supervisor) just were promoted.
The maddening thing is that not only haven't I gotten a similar promotion, but I have been unable to even get me a concrete answer as to what would be expected of me if I want to get to "the next level," whatever the hell that would be. There's a lot of other little bogus things surrounding the situation, such as the fact that I've taken on most of the work of a guy that left the company a few months ago and have been putting in (for me) a decent amount of overtime, and that I feel a lot of work I do isn't recognized by my higher-ups because it's done in partnerships with other groups-something that others in my team don't really do. But I guess thing I really can't get is how I've been unable to get any kind of straight answer from my boss for such a long time, and then how, suddenly, these two other guys are moved ahead. I would suspect that maybe I'm not doing that great of a job after all, but I've always gotten good reviews and in every review period I make it a point to ask my boss what he thinks I can improve on.
I'm befuddled, but for the first time since working here (especially in light of my recent drop out of grad-school) , I'm seriously re-evaluating whether this is where I should be working, even in the short term. I won't do anything rash or stupid, but the only conclusion I can draw from this whole weird situation is that, somehow, this whole idea that I'm on a different wavelength than everyone else around here has manifested itself as a barrier to my advancement. That would be crazy. Crazy bad.
Anyway, I will be talking to my boss today and raising the issues point-blank. Not sure what he can possibly say that will remedy this situation, other than to promote me on the spot. I'll be sure to follow-up and post what happened, though.
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11 comments:
Interesting.
We've had some issues here where one of my bosses will hold a grudge for a ridiculous long period of time based on a single occurence at some meeting, and hold that against someone. They never TALK to that person about it, just stew about it and act in an insanely passive-aggressive manner.
Basically, passive aggression is SOP here.
It sounds like that could be at work there. I eagerly await the results of your meeting.
Dan, I know some people who take care of problems. All I have to do is to make a few calls. :) Just trying to lighten up a very serious and stressful moment for you.
Try this on for size. First off I'll give a bit of background on my position. I am essentially assistant-chief editor, without the title. When the Chief Editor is on vacation, most of his duties fall to me. If there are any problems on the morning shift they are left to me to take care of. Any special projects are brought to me to edit (because I am better than my coworkers, and I say this without ego). If there is anything that needs to be done NOW it is handed to me because I am faster than my coworkers. I was fine with that. I always received the maximum raise, all of my reviews have been super positive (averaging over 13 on a scale of 14). Until...
I recently came across a coworkers pay stub. This was not intentional, but it happened. I saw that she makes more than me, and it rally started to eat away at me. I took the issue to the Chief Photographer, not mentioning who's pay stub it was, and asked if anything could be done. He said he would do some checking and see what he could do about it. At our next meeting he said he asked if the pay stub belonged to a DIFFERENT coworker, which leads me to believe that he makes even more than the person who's stub I saw. Now I am starting to get pissed. Keep in mind that both of these individuals have worked here for about half as long as I.
Cut to the chase. The Chief Photog argued on my behalf for a raise larger than the current maximum, once my review came around (which was at the beginning if January). Can you guess the outcome? The news director flatly refused to allow more than the current 3% max. I would have required an 8% raise to catch-up to the coworker who's stub I saw. As soon as things settle down around here I am going to make finding a new job priority number 1.
really, not rally.
I can sympathize. I am flirting on under & around the minimum of the range for my pay class, knowing full well that if someone were hired off the street, they would be making more than me.
Not the first time it has happened. Aaron, do you or do you not remember a situation where a certain floor director (who happened to play bass), essentially responsible for the morning floor crew, was making $7.25/hr after two years of full time and a certain new cameraman (who played lead guitar) was suddenly hired at $7.65?
What the fuck?
We need to get out, man. Shall we discuss "going into business" once again?
Cory, are you going to call in your Amish hookers?
I appreciate the moment of levity. I'm headin' in for the meeting where all hell is going to break loose in about 45 minutes.
Most of the scenarios I have run through in my head end with me sweeping everything off the desk in a snowstorm of paperwork and the clanging of a 1970's area phone crashing to the ground, then exlaiming "This is Bull-Shit!"
Well, loyal readers. This much-awaited update will have to wait till tomorrow. In a perfect example of what's been going on for the past year, my boss pushed the meeting back to tomorrow.
No fucking way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would call my Amish hookers, but unfortunately they don't have phones.
Funny Cory!
I await....
Faith had a similar situation at EGA that was a small part of her leaving. She found out that our 'office manager', a generally nice woman, 27, and with no college education who is marginal at her job, was making only slightly less than Faith, who has a 5 year professional degree.
It's insane I tell you, insane.
It is not what you know, it's how good you are at kissing ass! A truth in today's world.
Well, just emerged. I pretty much had it out with him. Not a battle, but me just explaining exactly how frustrated I am, why I'm frustrated, and how it's got me questioning what I'm doing here.
He said he felt really bad I'm feeling like that, and begged me not to compare myself to the other two guys who are "in a totally different situation" He also tried his best to explain that I'm not that far off from the legendary "next level," and pledged to work more closely with me to figure out what I need to do.
At the conclusion, I told him that my frustration remains, and that my morale has taken a serious hit.
I'm going home for the weekend now. I need a little time off and I'm going to go pick up a little girl that (usually) appreciates me for what I'm worth.
Look for an upcoming related post called "Outta Here?!?!?"
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