Ok, so it's about work, and it's a new manager. I also really don't want to go into too great a detail, for reasons obvious and some less so. I will say that the job is highly physical, so much that I don't really see the need to go work out because of the amount of physicality there is to my job.
So, I don't want to brag, mostly because I hate bragging to begin with, but I'm the best person in my station, work related wise; If the target times are 45 minutes for one project and 90 minutes for another, I can get them done in 30 and 60, respectively. The people I work with in my team (As my department is broken down into teams, one of each station) love working with me because I do everything in my power to make things easier on them, which a lot of people who work in my particular station don't have the experience to do. It should also be addressed that the only reason I'm seen as being so good is because we chew through employees, so someone will spend maybe a month, a week, or many times even a day before leaving.
I've been with the company for two years, and barring the first month (In which I was working two jobs and failing miserably at both of them), and have gotten sterling reviews through out it all. So much so that the company actually broke the policy of "You must wait 1 year before you can transfer to another location, and only if you're going for college" and allowed me to do it at only 10 months when I told them I was moving for college, solely because they wanted me to keep working for them. I would like to say once again that I'm not trying to brag, merely trying to keep the story straight with the type of worker I am.
So, in the daily life of my workplace, we start the day having three projects of the 45 minute variety, and one of the 90 minute variety. Without going into too much detail, the 90 minute one sucks. Ass. The facility is not equipped to deal with it half the time (Using broken equipment or plain old not having it sometimes), and with the 45 minute ones you get a small 2ish minute break between them as you shuffle around or wait for the next one to show up. Not so much the 90 minute one; it's a straight shot all the way through, and when you're done with it you have that same break before starting on a 45 minute one.
Now, the old manager didn't care who did what; whoever showed up last was stuck doing whatever was left, which 90% of the time was the 90 minute one. Everyone was fine with it; we all did it some times and it got us there on time because no one wanted to be stuck with it. Heck, we weren't unreasonable about it either; if someone was feeling iffy or anything, we would let that person get out of it if they wanted to.
The new manager? Oh god, am I enraged at this, mostly because I'm getting stuck with the ******* 90 minute project simply because I can work so fast. I show up, set up my work area, and get told to go over and get started on the 90 minute "Long One". And it's not like people are being assigned to work at certain projects, or in certain teams, but I'm specifically the ONLY GOD DAMN ONE being told which project to work on. I'm not part of the union, and due to monetary issues I honestly can't be (After bills I take away $23 a week if I'm lucky, and union dues are $30 a month), but there's no reason I should have to put up with that kind of crap.
It's not like I haven't gone the extra mile; the old manager would specifically give me a 45-er with 20 minutes on the clock and ask me to do as much as I could, and I'd get it pretty close to done. Heck, I've gotten 5 projects done in the 2 hours we have before a 10 minute break before (Though to be fair two of those usually are only half as long).
Thinking about it, my problem is that I'm not being asked to step up to the plate and perform anymore, but that it's expected of me that stepping up to the plate is starting to become my bench under the new manager. Couple that with the other employee's being asked "What, is it time for your period?" whenever they complain about something. Couple that with him constantly switching people between projects (So you'll start one, start a second one, start a third one, then go back to the first one. I would like to point out that the way I work so fast is actually striking up a rhythm and keeping to it, so that's a huge deal to me and it's highly annoying). Couple THAT with him being a micro-managing douchebag who screws over EVERYONE by not knowing what he's doing. Couple THAT with the fact that he came from a different department, so if anything wrong happens in that department we have to drop what we are doing and help THEM out because "You guys don't know what it's like over there...."
I'm about ready to just flip out, tell him to sit down, shut up, and let me do my ******* job. My old manager moved above us on the executive chain, and while I have no illusions as to her siding with me I at the very least hope she'd know the dude ****ed up somewhere down the line, as myself and her got along great. I am literally one day away from telling him to "F off!", and this is two days after a week long vacation.
Am I being stupid here? I mean, I love my job for how physical it is, and it helps me work out a lot of pent up anger and frustration from daily life, but it's starting to cause more than it's helping me get rid of, and the urge to deck someone in the face is getting higher and higher daily.
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Oath of the Gatewatch; the set that caused the competitive community to freak out over Basic Lands.
I have found that a job that annoys you at times is hardest to go back to just after a vacation, so my gut response would be to say bare it for the full week and reevaluate you feelings then. That said a manager that flippantly dismisses valid complaints is a bad manager. I have worked under managers who won't shut up and let me do my job so I know the feeling and it is very frustrating. Knowing that you do your job well yet still having a pencil pusher looking over your shoulder is one of the most annoying things to me personally. Do you have any options to move departments under a different manager or find a different job entirely?
First of all 'are you on your period' is not an appropriate reaction for a manager.
Ordinarily id say, just go and ask to be rotated through, and that you're burning out in these long *****ty ones. But this manager does t seem receptive to that, but I recommend just asking anyway. You can always lodge a complaint with whatever passes for HR.
I can move to any department I want in house (And have been told I'm quite the oddball for not doing so, as I have seniority over half the building and can kick someone out of anywhere should I choose), but the problem is that every other department in house is even more frustrating to me than the one I'm in.
As for other jobs, I could do that and it's crossed my mind more than once since I got here, especially since when I transfered I lost my weekly bonus ($120 just for showing up every day) because of the location and, I kid you not, "There are three colleges in the surrounding area so we don't need to worry about keeping people" (-Human Resources Manager for the STATE). Not to mention the hours are killer, but I always get weekends off. It's not really something I want to do though, because despite my takehome (Which is more of a problem of me being in a two bedroom apartment by myself than the jobs' hours/pay) I get free dental, medical, and local discounts :/
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I say give it the full week then reevaluate your position and move on if that's what you feel is right for you. Coming back from vacation can really highlight the parts of your job you don't like but it is best to give such an important decision time. I also agree with Jay13x that you manager should not make comments like that and if it continues you should definitely report said manager to whatever form of HR you have. Sorry in advance if you have no HR function I've been there too it can suck.
I am sorry to hear you are having troubles at your job. Unfortunately the world is littered with individuals in management who often are quite terrible at properly handling the position. The only thing I could suggest (assuming the manager is any sort of reasonable at all), and especially if you are the top worker there (and even the new manager would recognize not wanting to lose you), would be to request a time to be able to sit down with the new manager and talk to them about your current unhappiness in how things are being run and your request of how things could be run better to keep you from burning out. Don't tell the manager what you have considered doing, as that likely wont end well for all involved. Best to temper the anger and frustration and try to give the manager a chance to fix the situation, and if they are simply completely unwilling to do so, and are being unreasonable in the situation, the only other option you could have, would be to go over the new managers head and take your complaints either to, as others have mentioned, your work's version of HR, or if your old manager is in a higher position in the company and would have the ability to do something about the problems with the new manager, speak with them about it to see if anything can be done.
As far as the union side of things. While the union dues may be $30/month, wouldn't you get higher pay for the benefit of being with the union or other sort of representation benefits for being a part of the union which would help give you some sort of greater leverage in cases where you felt you were being exploited as one of the better workers and not having the manager otherwise willing to listen to your suggestions/complaints and how they are running things? Sometimes the costs of joining a union can outweigh the benefits, but in this situation it may be something to look into in case no other options exist that would result in what you are after with your current job and position.
If nothing inevitably works, then the options you would have available to you would either be to stick it out if you feel the pay/benefits/etc are worth the frustration of dealing with a bad manager for the time being, or, look around the area to see if any other jobs would be out there that you would feel qualified enough to do well, with similar pay/benefits that you could move to (but don't burn your bridges at the current job or leave the current job until you have the other one lined up so as not to leave yourself in position to where you could end up jobless).
From the managers perspective, it could simply be that you are a victim of your own success at the job. The manager recognizes that you are the hardest/best/most organized worker and thusly views it as being the best way to allocate resources to have you continually put on the 90 minute jobs.
Anyhow, I wish you luck in dealing with this situation and hopefully the manager will be willing to hear you out and you wont need to consider going over their head in order to get something done.
So today I was allowed to take a 45 minute job and they sent someone else to do the 90 minute job. It took them two hours. We went on break and came back, only for the manager to look me dead in the face to say "And that's why you're doing the 90 minute jobs from now on".
Well, I get sent to another department and find my old manager out there helping out, and I strike up a conversation. Thinking about it, I ask if it would be possible for me to help out the other departments till the end of the week and then go back to my own next week. She flat out tells me she can't do that, especially with us bringing new people in on Friday. She kind of shot me a look and asked why I suddenly want to change departments, as she thought I liked being up there and had never brought up moving before, so I told her what he just told me.
She kind of chuckled and said "Yeah, I heard him say that too, and immediately told him he can't do that. We'll probably let you be the floater tomorrow, and I'll see what I can do."
From the managers perspective, it could simply be that you are a victim of your own success at the job. The manager recognizes that you are the hardest/best/most ORGANIZED worker and thusly views it as being the best way to allocate resources to have you continually put on the 90 minute jobs.
While I can appreciate that, I also must say that both as a Worker Drone and an old Manager In Training you don't de-insensitive people from working; If the bar is a 6/10, and all you're going to do is punish the guy working at a 9, why should he continue to work at a 9? That leads to increased worker irritability and reduced profits.
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Oath of the Gatewatch; the set that caused the competitive community to freak out over Basic Lands.
If you are put on more difficult/strenuous tasks because you can do them better/faster than your peers than you deserve more money as compensation. I know it can be difficult to talk to your supervisors about this but I think it is what you should pursue if you intend on continuing to work there. I know the workplace is rarely "fair" and the argument you would have to pose would be that it is unfair that you work 50% faster yet get paid (I assume) similarly to your coworkers in unfair but I think if they value you as an employee they may be able to work something out to where you are either given a more equal workload or compensated justly for an increased workload.
If you are put on more difficult/strenuous tasks because you can do them better/faster than your peers than you deserve more money as compensation. I know it can be difficult to talk to your supervisors about this but I think it is what you should pursue if you intend on continuing to work there. I know the workplace is rarely "fair" and the argument you would have to pose would be that it is unfair that you work 50% faster yet get paid (I assume) similarly to your coworkers in unfair but I think if they value you as an employee they may be able to work something out to where you are either given a more equal workload or compensated justly for an increased workload.
See, I don't need the increased pay though. I mean, it would be nice (Everyone agrees), but I view my job more of as a workout I get paid to do; that's why I got as fast as I am in the first place. No matter what, I leave that building sweating. I even used to do the 90 minute job daily of my own volition, simply because I knew that if I did it 19 times no one would say "No" to me not wanting to do it the 20th. The problem I have isn't my workload, it's that I was already working above the bar and the Supp decided he wanted to raise the bar even further, but for no one else.
But anywho, my message was heard loud and clear; I went to work in another department today, my replacement was two(!) people, and I STILL had to be asked to return to my department in order for them to finish on time. Time will tell, however.
Thank you all for your advice, I'm glad I wasn't getting angry with it for nothing.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Oath of the Gatewatch; the set that caused the competitive community to freak out over Basic Lands.
So, I don't want to brag, mostly because I hate bragging to begin with, but I'm the best person in my station, work related wise; If the target times are 45 minutes for one project and 90 minutes for another, I can get them done in 30 and 60, respectively. The people I work with in my team (As my department is broken down into teams, one of each station) love working with me because I do everything in my power to make things easier on them, which a lot of people who work in my particular station don't have the experience to do. It should also be addressed that the only reason I'm seen as being so good is because we chew through employees, so someone will spend maybe a month, a week, or many times even a day before leaving.
I've been with the company for two years, and barring the first month (In which I was working two jobs and failing miserably at both of them), and have gotten sterling reviews through out it all. So much so that the company actually broke the policy of "You must wait 1 year before you can transfer to another location, and only if you're going for college" and allowed me to do it at only 10 months when I told them I was moving for college, solely because they wanted me to keep working for them. I would like to say once again that I'm not trying to brag, merely trying to keep the story straight with the type of worker I am.
So, in the daily life of my workplace, we start the day having three projects of the 45 minute variety, and one of the 90 minute variety. Without going into too much detail, the 90 minute one sucks. Ass. The facility is not equipped to deal with it half the time (Using broken equipment or plain old not having it sometimes), and with the 45 minute ones you get a small 2ish minute break between them as you shuffle around or wait for the next one to show up. Not so much the 90 minute one; it's a straight shot all the way through, and when you're done with it you have that same break before starting on a 45 minute one.
Now, the old manager didn't care who did what; whoever showed up last was stuck doing whatever was left, which 90% of the time was the 90 minute one. Everyone was fine with it; we all did it some times and it got us there on time because no one wanted to be stuck with it. Heck, we weren't unreasonable about it either; if someone was feeling iffy or anything, we would let that person get out of it if they wanted to.
The new manager? Oh god, am I enraged at this, mostly because I'm getting stuck with the ******* 90 minute project simply because I can work so fast. I show up, set up my work area, and get told to go over and get started on the 90 minute "Long One". And it's not like people are being assigned to work at certain projects, or in certain teams, but I'm specifically the ONLY GOD DAMN ONE being told which project to work on. I'm not part of the union, and due to monetary issues I honestly can't be (After bills I take away $23 a week if I'm lucky, and union dues are $30 a month), but there's no reason I should have to put up with that kind of crap.
It's not like I haven't gone the extra mile; the old manager would specifically give me a 45-er with 20 minutes on the clock and ask me to do as much as I could, and I'd get it pretty close to done. Heck, I've gotten 5 projects done in the 2 hours we have before a 10 minute break before (Though to be fair two of those usually are only half as long).
Thinking about it, my problem is that I'm not being asked to step up to the plate and perform anymore, but that it's expected of me that stepping up to the plate is starting to become my bench under the new manager. Couple that with the other employee's being asked "What, is it time for your period?" whenever they complain about something. Couple that with him constantly switching people between projects (So you'll start one, start a second one, start a third one, then go back to the first one. I would like to point out that the way I work so fast is actually striking up a rhythm and keeping to it, so that's a huge deal to me and it's highly annoying). Couple THAT with him being a micro-managing douchebag who screws over EVERYONE by not knowing what he's doing. Couple THAT with the fact that he came from a different department, so if anything wrong happens in that department we have to drop what we are doing and help THEM out because "You guys don't know what it's like over there...."
I'm about ready to just flip out, tell him to sit down, shut up, and let me do my ******* job. My old manager moved above us on the executive chain, and while I have no illusions as to her siding with me I at the very least hope she'd know the dude ****ed up somewhere down the line, as myself and her got along great. I am literally one day away from telling him to "F off!", and this is two days after a week long vacation.
Am I being stupid here? I mean, I love my job for how physical it is, and it helps me work out a lot of pent up anger and frustration from daily life, but it's starting to cause more than it's helping me get rid of, and the urge to deck someone in the face is getting higher and higher daily.
Ordinarily id say, just go and ask to be rotated through, and that you're burning out in these long *****ty ones. But this manager does t seem receptive to that, but I recommend just asking anyway. You can always lodge a complaint with whatever passes for HR.
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As for other jobs, I could do that and it's crossed my mind more than once since I got here, especially since when I transfered I lost my weekly bonus ($120 just for showing up every day) because of the location and, I kid you not, "There are three colleges in the surrounding area so we don't need to worry about keeping people" (-Human Resources Manager for the STATE). Not to mention the hours are killer, but I always get weekends off. It's not really something I want to do though, because despite my takehome (Which is more of a problem of me being in a two bedroom apartment by myself than the jobs' hours/pay) I get free dental, medical, and local discounts :/
As far as the union side of things. While the union dues may be $30/month, wouldn't you get higher pay for the benefit of being with the union or other sort of representation benefits for being a part of the union which would help give you some sort of greater leverage in cases where you felt you were being exploited as one of the better workers and not having the manager otherwise willing to listen to your suggestions/complaints and how they are running things? Sometimes the costs of joining a union can outweigh the benefits, but in this situation it may be something to look into in case no other options exist that would result in what you are after with your current job and position.
If nothing inevitably works, then the options you would have available to you would either be to stick it out if you feel the pay/benefits/etc are worth the frustration of dealing with a bad manager for the time being, or, look around the area to see if any other jobs would be out there that you would feel qualified enough to do well, with similar pay/benefits that you could move to (but don't burn your bridges at the current job or leave the current job until you have the other one lined up so as not to leave yourself in position to where you could end up jobless).
From the managers perspective, it could simply be that you are a victim of your own success at the job. The manager recognizes that you are the hardest/best/most organized worker and thusly views it as being the best way to allocate resources to have you continually put on the 90 minute jobs.
Anyhow, I wish you luck in dealing with this situation and hopefully the manager will be willing to hear you out and you wont need to consider going over their head in order to get something done.
So today I was allowed to take a 45 minute job and they sent someone else to do the 90 minute job. It took them two hours. We went on break and came back, only for the manager to look me dead in the face to say "And that's why you're doing the 90 minute jobs from now on".
Well, I get sent to another department and find my old manager out there helping out, and I strike up a conversation. Thinking about it, I ask if it would be possible for me to help out the other departments till the end of the week and then go back to my own next week. She flat out tells me she can't do that, especially with us bringing new people in on Friday. She kind of shot me a look and asked why I suddenly want to change departments, as she thought I liked being up there and had never brought up moving before, so I told her what he just told me.
She kind of chuckled and said "Yeah, I heard him say that too, and immediately told him he can't do that. We'll probably let you be the floater tomorrow, and I'll see what I can do."
While I can appreciate that, I also must say that both as a Worker Drone and an old Manager In Training you don't de-insensitive people from working; If the bar is a 6/10, and all you're going to do is punish the guy working at a 9, why should he continue to work at a 9? That leads to increased worker irritability and reduced profits.
See, I don't need the increased pay though. I mean, it would be nice (Everyone agrees), but I view my job more of as a workout I get paid to do; that's why I got as fast as I am in the first place. No matter what, I leave that building sweating. I even used to do the 90 minute job daily of my own volition, simply because I knew that if I did it 19 times no one would say "No" to me not wanting to do it the 20th. The problem I have isn't my workload, it's that I was already working above the bar and the Supp decided he wanted to raise the bar even further, but for no one else.
But anywho, my message was heard loud and clear; I went to work in another department today, my replacement was two(!) people, and I STILL had to be asked to return to my department in order for them to finish on time. Time will tell, however.
Thank you all for your advice, I'm glad I wasn't getting angry with it for nothing.
"If you don't hit your adversaries wile they're down, they might get up again." --Whipkeeper
"Victory favors neither the righteous nor the wicked. It favors the prepared." -- Lay of the Land