Workpocalypse - The Resolution

After I was sent back to The Other Office (OO) “until further notice,” I sent an email to John in regards to his best guess on how long I might be down here. 

His response?  “No less than a month with the possibility of permanency.” Oh, hell no. I did my time as a secretary; I don’t want to do it again.   He also asked that, if I had to choose between 2 jobs – this or something else I despise – which would I choose. This question made me think that he was going to “Re-Org” (yes, I made that a verb) my job into a totally new position.  Either way, I was getting screwed. 

I sat at my desk and came up with a bulleted list of about 12 points that I wanted him to think about, and to discuss when he went into a meeting about this.  The hours of this job do not work for me. I don’t want to be a secretary. How do I still do my job. Stuff like this.  I reviewed it, edited, edited and edited it some more (the first version was REALLY angry…) before I finally sent it to him. He said that his meeting was that afternoon, and I wanted to make sure that he had time to read it before hand.

I felt better after sending it, but the next day, one of the Assistant Directors (who used to be one of the 5 Managers I assisted), pulled me aside and talked to me, not as an Assistant Director, but as a friend.  She acknowledged my feelings, and suggested that I try to roll with the changes. She was not able to give me anything definite, but she made it seem like if I sit down and shut up, things would work out how I wanted them to.  She also apologized for how horrible the whole Management Team handled this with me.  It wasn't “She’s got nothing to do so send her over there”, but it was “When we thought about who was awesome enough to be dropped into a new job with no training, there was no doubt that you were the only choice”  Okay, so that stroking felt good.

If John, or Gertie or anyone else had just SAID that in the first damn place, I think this whole thing would have been so much more palatable. But from the beginning, I felt like I had been forced over a desk and screwed hard.

After that discussion, I relaxed and just ‘went with it,’ which I don’t like to do, but had to do.  I decided that worrying isn't going to change the outcome, so I’ll just ride the 10 hours of overtime per paycheck (it pays for races! Or roof…. But that is a different post).

This afternoon, I headed to a meeting with John, Gertie, my office’s receptionist and another coworker whom I work with a lot doing Orientations.  In this meeting, our new jobs were laid out.  I would return to my office on August 12 to resume my job of Staff Assistant.  In the afternoon, I will take over for the rest of the day and handle the Orientations so that that coworker can do what she was *originally* hired to do and be a Records Clerk. Before I leave the OO, I will train a Temp to fill in until (no later than) September 30 (the end of the fiscal year). 

Now, here’s where it gets ironic. In all that chillin’ and relaxin’ I did, I kind of started liking working at OO!  So, in that meeting, I was almost upset that I didn't get to stay. I’m such a fickle bitch, I guess…

So, I ended up with a nice amount of overtime, a ‘vacation’ from the stress of working at the main office, and plenty of time to work on personal stuff (like this blog!) Now I have to move a bunch of stuff BACK to my old office by Monday!  I can’t wait to have my walls and door and peace and quiet back! I’ll miss the overtime and close parking, but I’m not a secretary and I never wanted to be one.