Monday, March 31, 2014

The Last Laugh: I Quit My Job & I'm Shaking Things Up

I finally resigned today. These past 3 weeks at work have been *so* miserable. My boss has been on a rampage to kick my and my employees' asses. Seriously, last Thursday after a meeting I thought all 3 of us would walk out. An opportunity presented itself recently and while it's a bit risky--consulting--it's a calculated risk. I am making enough money to cover me through the summer, buying time to figure out if I want to fully take the plunge and start my own consulting business, or look for another job. If the latter, I have the time and freedom to look for a job while I have a more flexible schedule for the summer. Work from the pool!

The last 3 weeks have also sucked cause I got rear-ended in my 16-year-old car. For me, that was the last straw. I loved that car, but I have put a lot of money into it recently and just couldn't do more. Long story short, I traded it in this weekend for a brand new car while I still had the employment history to get a loan. We had finally gotten a bonus at work, so I used that as a down payment to bring my payments down to a reasonable level since I knew I was leaving a steady income.

So I have done a lot of scheming and preparing for all of this and I feel fairly confident that I have thought through things pretty well. I have given my accountant and financial planner the head's up and have some ideas of things I can do to set up a nest egg in case things get tight. I cannot wait to soon be free. Everyone at work today said I looked like a huge weight had been lifted. Can't wait until my 2 weeks are up!

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Rant Alert: I Hate My Job

My boss has been wanting to meet for months now for a "marketing brainstorming" session, saying how it would help me, the marketing manager. Well, since I never felt that I needed such a session, and since I know this session will just create extra work that my very small staff won't be able to handle, I have been less than excited about it.

We have too much work now, and will never be allowed to get another person. Work just keeps piling up as we add more and more new projects every year, but no extra help. We can't grow revenue, which is the desire of the company, because we are simply struggling on a daily basis to get the bare minimum of work done. It is fucking joke. My boss is so short sighted that she will one day be forced out the door cause she will never get the performance that the company now requires. I just don't have anything else left to give.

For this brainstorming session, originally scheduled months ago, she asked me to prepare an agenda. I talked with my staff and we sent around an agenda prior to the session. I would never have prepared an agenda, because it was supposed to be a fucking brainstorming session! And because I just don't give a shit. So after I send the agenda as requested by her, she tells me I never should have sent it because she doesn't want people at the meeting to only focus on the items I suggested. Duh!

So the meeting was supposed to be today but got rescheduled to tomorrow. At the end of the day, my boss comes to my door and asks if I've prepared anything for the meeting. I have gathered some costs and samples to share, but I wasn't going to make the mistake of distributing them in advance again. She tells me that she has prepared an entire PowerPoint presentation. WTF? So this is really about exactly what I thought--her way to get us to do more work, and more of what she wants. Not for marketing to find out what other ideas people have. For us to find out what ideas she has to keep piling on the work.

She hasn't worked at a lower level in so many years now that she has no idea how long anything takes to accomplish. She claims that everything "takes her just five minutes." Uh. Yeah. Five minutes because now you're the big boss and people respond. In real people land, that is not the case. I work for the most useless, backwards, archaic place where nothing works, everything takes 5 times longer than it should, and everyone is completely stupid or uncooperative. If I could walk away I would, and I am trying to find a new opportunity. I'm the best manager that she's had in marketing, according to most of the staff who tell me horror stories about my predecessors. Yet she's going to run me off with her bullshit and stupidity. I can't take much more of this complete ridiculousness and one of these days, I will have the last laugh.