The day from hell at work

[perfect 39]

I started work today at 7am and sent my team an email at 7am asking if I could leave at 4. Sure...no problem. Then someone wants this huge box of documents scanned, photocopied x 3, presented nicely in a binder and mailed to a client by the end of today. Well...I take my job seriously and I spent all morning doing the aforementioned....1:00pm came and went, 2:00pm came and went, still plodding on with this urgent task - no lunch. The guy who asked me to do it told me that another box of docs was arriving and he wanted me to do the same with those - then realized I wasn't going to get it all finished by myself and asked me to request help from the President's Assistant (who wasn't at her desk when he went by). I emailed her to pass on the request - no response. The guy came back and I told him - no response -so he just went and got the admin assistant to help. Well f*** me if he didn't email me at 4:00 to say he leaves at 4:00pm on Friday and he had left the docs on his desk if I wanted to get them and finish them. So I didn't leave until 5:15 and never got a lunch break at all! Plus my son who was expecting me to leave at 4:00pm had waited for me in the car all that time.

I then get called to the office at 4:00pm and am told I am being demoted because this Executive Assistant (who is never at her desk) doesn;t think there should be two Executive Assistants (I was also one). She has always resented the fact that I have been an executive assistant for 15 years (she was newly promoted from Admin Asst last November) and when people want information or questions answered they ask me, not her because she can never answer them. She doesn't even know the diffeence between personal and personnel!! The guy who demoted me told me that only someone who supports an executive can be an executive assistant so I reminded him that I previously supported the President (who they got rid of) and still support the Executive Vice Presdent and the CFO (as well as 9 other people) so I DO support an executive. Then he just said - well it's something we have to do.

Then I get home and my husband doesn't get why I'm so upset and tells me that it's my ego! If it was anyone else he would be really supportive, but with me he's not. In fact such that he hasn't spoken to me since I mentioned how upset I was. It took me breaking my heart crying for him to even give me a hug. Now he's out with the dog on his own because he can't bear to be anywhere near me.

This company has lost 60% of its workforce since NOvember 2005 with a large RIF this week. I kind of feel like the next thing will be they will come to me and tell me I'm overpaid for an admin and force a big reduction in pay on me - basically constructive dismissal (the admins get paid $45K and as an EA I was paid $60K - there's no way they'll let that continue with the title being changed). It feels as though they're setting things in motion to get me out of the door on way or the other!

Sorry for being such a winer but I really do feel it's unjustified and setting me up for much worse in the near future and I feel so angry that having busted my backside the way I have, that the would repay me like this - I know this other EA is so happy because now she is my supervisor and can "control" me whereas before she couldn't.

Do you think I should fight the demotion, shut up and get on with things and see how it pans out or look for another job ASAP? Am I over-reacting and expecting too much from my husband?

I just want to scream right now.....

Edited June 2, 2007 by perfect

[Ban Hammer 14,460]

i think what's more important is for you to recognize the signs of a company that is having difficulty. update your resume and float it around. it does not sound like your company will be around much longer.

[Lance27 35]

Find a better paying job and then give them the finger (er resignation letter) If breaking your back / bending over backwards gets you demoted you need to find a company that appreciates you better.

On the hubby front.. thats something Id rather not interfere in.

Whatever you do decide on Good luck

[eric&gen 0]

I would start looking for another job. They sound like they are just using and abusing you.

[William33 110]

As others have mentioned, you are not getting the deserved respect.

Some jerk leaves early, as usual on Friday, on the one day that you needed to leave early? Meanwhile, dumping more ####### on your desk?

Find another job and tell that jerk to go F himself.

Best of luck in your search.

[sparkofcreation 0]

1. Yes, fight the demotion.

2. Start looking for another job.

[William33 110]

oops, I forgot about the demotion piece, because I was enraged at the callous management style there.

Jackazz management.

The demotion is the last straw in my book. If I were you, I would not walk, rather run for a new job.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Accept the demotion and fulfill your new responsibilities with grace befitting a professional.

And while you do so, look for another job. When you find one, leave.

[William33 110]

Accept the demotion and fulfill your new responsibilities with grace befitting a professional.

And while you do so, look for another job. When you find one, leave.

Gupt, you can be so Diplomatic!!

Your advice is good.

[eric&gen 0]

If you do quit make sure you give them the middle finger before you walk out the door lol joking.

[JoeMama 0]

If you do quit make sure you give them the middle finger before you walk out the door lol joking.

Bend the finger just a little when you do it. It gives it a little more attitude!

Edited June 2, 2007 by JoeMama

[homesick_american 1]

i think what's more important is for you to recognize the signs of a company that is having difficulty. update your resume and float it around. it does not sound like your company will be around much longer.

Agreed. Plus, why would you want to work for a company that treats you that way? Dust off the resume, get another job, and tell them to shove theirs up their a$$es.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I can remember two times when I had any experiences remotely similar.

• 1995, when I had started working for a certain company (in downtown Atlanta) on the promise that they would start GC sponsorship; when I asked (2 months into working) when they would start it, they dumped some tasks on me which had been deemed needing of custom-design--and asked me to "shoehorn" them to their applications. Needless to say, I quickly gave them a resignation
  
• 2000 August; I had already stated I would be leaving for the LEF (North American) Summer Retreat; the day before, the company's "site supervisor" (barely literate, he would never write down end-client specs--which caused much delay in implementations). I resigned from there after returning from the Retreat--one year later, they were driven out of the end-client site (and this "site supervisor", who had caused it, was still on staff at that point)
  

So, I'm with the look for another job, resign, and flip-bird on the way out.

Edited June 2, 2007 by CherryXS

[broma25 2]

Accept the demotion and fulfill your new responsibilities with grace befitting a professional.

And while you do so, look for another job. When you find one, leave.

This is probably the best advice and what I would do.

Good luck

[slim 1,533]

Then someone wants this huge box of documents scanned, photocopied x 3, presented nicely in a binder and mailed to a client by the end of today.

I was paid $60K -

I don't see the problem here. You get paid $60K annually to do office work that a temp could do.

Simmer down.

Oh, wait. Now I see the problem. You're mad because soon you're going to have to work a lot harder for your $60K.

That's the problem with companies. They believe paying someone $7.50/hour is going to get them the same quality of work that someone with 15 years experience would give them. You take your job seriously and try to do it well. Someone else will not do that.

However, in the big scheme of things, you're working in an office... doing paperwork and stuff, so embrace your demotion! If you're company's going bust, let them go bust! Don't let your hard work keep driving their profit margins up. Just go in every day and do a really $#!tty job. If they say "you used to do such good work." Then all you have to say back is, "well, that was before I was demoted. If you'd like to see work like that done again, go talk to that b!tch up at that.... oh wait, she's not there.... well, the b!tch that supposed to be working under, I mean, ah, AT that desk over there, after all, SHE'S the executive assistant. I'm just an admin assistant. "

Do all this while you're lining your next job up, of course! Have some fun on the way out! Just for giggles, next time they ask you to do all the photocopying, scan HALF the pages (the bottom halves!) and blame it on the copy machine. Leave whenever you want, and when they ask why you left early, say "didn't you get the memo? Yeah, I sent out a memo at 7:00 letting everyone know about that. I'll make sure you get another copy. Actually, you should ask that b!tch up at that desk... she'll be back in a minute... she's the executive assistant, so she can definitely get you what you're looking for." From now on, route everything, I mean EVERYTHING, to the "Executive Assistant" for approval, citing "oh, she handles that now, she's the "executive assistant" and everything has to go through her now. I'm not really in a position to do those kind of things anymore...."

And then play Tetris and eat cheese poofs while your boss is walking around asking about TPS reports.

People! We take our jobs WAY TOO SERIOUSLY!!! It's a common American trait, one built on greed and fueled by credit card debt, so why do we do it? Sit back, relax, and realize what it is you want to do with your life. Are you really doing what you said you wanted to do when you grew up? None of us are. So if you're not doing what you wanted to do when you grew up, what's the difference between doing it in a bad job, or another bad job? Next time... put the big box of papers on the "executive assistant's" desk, and leave at 4:00.