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Friday, September 18, 2009

Et tu, Brute?

This is going to be long. *sigh* I have a lot to get off my chest.

How do you get over the feeling of being betrayed by someone you perceived as being a friend? When you have to interact with this someone EVERY DAY? When that person is your boss as well?

I've been with my company for 10 years. Yes, a whole decade. Yay for me sticking it out...but there's been some rough patches, for sure. I have dealt with some really bad managers, gone through both clinical and post-partum depression, gone to work sick, had deaths in the family, had a miscarriage, been dependable and all that through everything. Never missed a beat. Rarely ever used sick days. I even lost vacation time when I couldn't take it. I should have known that it was going to be a rough ride 5 years ago when I had to fight and claw my way to get promoted from "Assistant Manager" to "Executive Assistant Manager". After that, I was promptly put into a new-store opening (which is a ridiculous amount of work), had a baby, came back to a different store that had to be relocated (which is a ridiculous amount of work times 100). Was then moved to a store that was being remodeled. More crazy work. I figured this meant that I was doing well. I really should have known better.

Last Jaunary, when our company announced that we were expanding to Erie, my hubby jumped at the chance to move back to his hometown. I didn't mind either, since I lived here before as well. Our District Manager approached me about taking a lesser (read: non-management) position and I declined. I really like my job and honestly thought I did it well. So I transferred in my current capacity. I was working for a manager whom I'd worked with before, and had known for a while. I was excited! I had the opportunity to train new people, it was such an awesome experience. Since there are only 2 stores slated to open, and my husband manages the other one, obviously I'm "stuck" where I am. The District Manager moved some managers around (they do that occasionally) and we wound up with 2 "seasoned" Executive Assistant Managers. I don't have a problem with this, but when this happened, my boss essentially took all of my duties away and gave them to the other guy. I suddenly became the reset/revision bitch. All I ever was assigned to do were the resets, hanging tags/making signs, and that's basically it. No merchandising (except for putting away the stock on our weekly delivery truck). If I'm lucky, I'd get to pull the overstock out of the stockroom and attempt to put it out.

So yeah, I got to be a tad bit embittered about things. Honestly, can you blame me? It's been since VALENTINE'S DAY that I had the chance to really help set the seasonal aisle. ALL I DO are the weekly resets. It's gotten quite old.

So about a month ago, I got my annual review. I expected to take some lumps, but what I got felt more like a blanket party.

Needs Improvement.

Say what?!? Yes, you heard me right: Needs Improvement. So, how, over the course of a year, does someone who is supposedly a friend let things degrade to that point? Without EVER mentioning displeasure in job functions (passive/aggressive notes not withstanding)? To actually tell me that I have a "disrespective attitude toward the employees," which is laughable at best?? I'M the one they all come to because none of the other management team bothers to listen to them, for chrissakes. To tell me that I don't get the notes done in a timely manner??? (I'll repeat it for emphasis...ALL I WAS EVER ASSIGNED WERE THE RESETS/REVISIONS. Last I checked, magic wands are not real, and it's not that easy to complete them all in one day, especially when they're getting done by one person.)

I got hosed. Big time. By my "friend" and I now am using that term loosely.

I feel hurt. And angry. My options were left as this:

*continue in my current position and get re-evaluated in 6 months. For those playing at home, that means 50+ hrs/wk salaried, doing nothing but resets and other menial tasks that a clerk could easily do.
*step down to a brand new pseudo-management position and take a HEFTY pay cut. Essentially I would be doing inventory control and a few management tasks (refunds/exchanges, money when necessary) and would have keys to the store. Pros? Set schedule. Fewer hours, and only ONE night a week. Cons? MAJOR paycut. Doing a lot of the same things I do now. And I'm afraid that my boss will take advantage of me since I already have been a manager and know everything in the store. Oh, and essentially kicking someone else out of her job. I feel like giant jackass because of that.

I agreed to take the new position. According to Dr. Phil (I'm sorry for pirating this phrase), the definition of "crazy" is to do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different outcome. I'm not going to play crazy anymore. Honestly, if they thought the store had some morale problems before, they've certainly got another thing coming. Once this gets around the store, it's gonna get ugly. The employees LOVE me.

So, I'm going to try and stay positive about this, I mean, there's more time with my daughter and husband now. I'm going to do the best I can and make it known that I won't be taken advantage of. And I'm also going to try and remove the knife from my back and mind my P's and Q's.

1 comment:

  1. So this is Janet, and I hope you don't mind that I found this...but wow. I'm seriously pretty much crying. I have NEVER in my life met such a miserable asshole as He Who Cannot be Named. Joking aside, though, this makes me feel so bad for all of you there. He needs a wake-up call really badly. After having had a really great manager for a couple months, it's even more evident to me how awful he is. I want to say much more about this, and I realize you wrote this almost month ago, but I will probably message you about this very soon. You ARE an amazing manager, and it's a shame how you're being treated. :( Love and miss you!!!

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