A long rant...about jobs, and stupid people
Most people who actually know me know why I quit my last job about a month ago. But for those of you just joining us, I will elaborate. Last February I was hired at a company that deliveries and installs large appliances for places like Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Best Buy. It was a job that I got through the Temp agency, and I was really happy about it, because after being out of college for a year, attempting to put out resumes and applications all over the place and having no luck at all, it was the first permanent thing that had come up. I was hired on under the title of Administrative Assistant, sounds professional enough, so my first day I wore a black skirt, white blouse, pantyhose and high heels…and after being there for about ½ hour, I was unloading a truck…a semi full of refrigerators, washers, dryers, ranges, and other major household appliances. You may have realized as I did at this point, something was not right.
I soon realized that it would be preferable for me to wear jeans and sneakers everyday with a t shirt, preferably plain, so that I would not get any of my good shirts screwed up. And so my employment began….For the first 2 ½ weeks, I was busy catching up on invoices, since no one had entered or filed them in over 7 months, they company was losing money because it was only getting paid for about half of the work it was doing. Once I got caught up on all the billing, I proceeded to begin doing the daily routing and dispatch for the 2 driver teams. Which basically involves looking at maps, writing out directions to peoples homes, and then calling people to tell them when someone would be making the delivery (within a 4 hour time frame) and to confirm that my directions were correct. In less than a week I had also taken over as customer service person. Because it usually involved the same thing, most of the people I called to tell them their time frame became angry at not being more specific.
After I had been there for 3 months, the company hired me on permanently from the temporary agency and I was told that in another 90 days I would be able to get insurance. This was great, all the people who yelled at me were causing me to be a bit stressed and I figured I could use insurance to maybe help pay for a visit to the doctor to get something for my ulcer. Not long after I was hired on full time, I took over doing the work out in the warehouse. I was no longer unloading trucks as much, but I had to learn how to do inventory, cycle counts (a different kind of periodic inventory), and help people who would come in to pick up their appliances instead of having them delivered, which since I was the only one in the warehouse at the time, usually involved trying to hoist 150 to 300 pound appliances into the back of someone pickup. This was of course on top of still taking care of invoicing, manual billing, customer service, and dispatch….I was running the office all by my little ole self, and still not usually getting 40 hours in a week, because my bosses did not think I needed to be there full time. Routing only took me 2 hours in the morning, I should have everything done by 2 or 3 at the latest…and I could not take a lunch break, because someone had to stay in the office, in case anyone called.
When my 90 days was up, I was more stressed out that ever, I was relieved and elated that the thought of all my hard working paying off and actually getting insurance. I was always stressed and tired and when I went to the clinic to get renewed on my birth control pills they refused me saying my blood pressure was too high, so I was hoping maybe my insurance would kick in so I could go see a real doctor and he/she could help me figure it out.
After I filled out the paper work, I waited. My neighbor Debbie moved, and the job let me borrow one of their 28 foot box trucks to help her out. It had a lift gate, and it was a lot cheaper than getting something from Ryder or U-haul, it seemed like a great idea. That is at least until it came time to take it home. My manger told me I should get some money out of petty cash and go get some oil, because he thought it might be low. I grabbed a few gallons luckily because it was pretty well empty. Eric, being my big tall sweetie was nice enough to drive it over to Debbie’s apartment, but when he got in a half drank and very spoiled bottle of milk that had been left open tumbled off into his lap. After trying to clean a few things, which basically included throwing out several clamshells of rotten food which were in the cab, we were off. It was a trip from hell for him, with the rancid smell, and the curdled milk soaking into his pants. But after we were home and washed clothes and he had a shower it was better. We got her moved and took the truck back. This was all a few weeks before Labor Day, so you can imagine how bad these guys are as housekeepers. The Tuesday when I came back to the office, they were in a panic…apparently it had not been some kind of joke when I borrowed the truck, they were always that gross. They came running into the office pleading for bleach and other cleaning supplies. Apparently someone had left something in the truck for too long, and there were maggots living in the truck now…I directed them towards the cleaning supplies and went on about taking inventory.
The problem also persisted that I had to share a bathroom with these 11 men, and not one of them could aim…Several times I was so disgusted that I actually walked to the nearest gas station to use the bathroom there because it was so gross in the warehouse. Oh, did I forget to mention we did not have a janitor, so guess who also got stuck cleaning everything…I cleaned the women’s room, I refused to go into the men’s, it was just too gross.
I continued to wait for the insurance to come through, and after about a month I called and after about a month I called the main office in Springfield and asked them about it again. They said that they had submitted it, and to give them a few more weeks and if I had not heard anything I should contact them. Good enough I though, I can go with that. A few weeks passed and one of my managers, the one who always praised my work and thanked me for doing such a great job came to me, and told me that since I was already doing the job, would I like the office manager position. I gave a resounding yes, thinking about a pay raise, and maybe a chance to actually improve the conditions in the place. Two days later I was out with a horrible stomach thing and I got a telephone call at home…from the same manager, saying that when he had suggested it, his boss had stated that being as I was female and not strong enough to unload a truck I could not be office manager. So they would just give me a raise for all my hard work…it surprised me at being $1 as these people are incredibly cheap…but I still ended up putting in my two weeks notice, it was just too much shit to handle.
In just over a week we had monsoon rains. Places were flooding; our little car looked like it was going to float away outside our house, and just walking out onto the porch would leave you soaked. When I got to work on Monday, celebrating my last week in hell, I noticed that there was dirt all over the floor, not tracked in dirt, settled dirt, and a really bad mildew smell….the entire office and warehouse was flooded, there were large puddles of standing water in the warehouse, but the 2 offices with carpet were trashed. There was mold everywhere, and when I asked my manager what he wanted me to do, he just said that I was the one going to be in the office, I should figure it out and take care of it myself…So 2 week notice be damned, I walked out. I received a call 3 days later from the manager who had offered me the office manager position, asking what was going on, saying he had never received my 2 week notice, and asking what he could do to get me to come back, I was so good at my job, he did not want to lose me. I said I would think about it, but I was feeling icky from breathing in that mold and did do much at all for a few days.
Now, a little over month has passed, I have had a few temp jobs, and I am once again employed, be it only for a year (another temp job, probably), I have been here for almost 2 weeks. I like it, everyone is really nice, it is laid back but still professional, there are 2 women's and 2 men'ss bathrooms, and we have a woman who comes in to clean and empty trash cans everyday. I answer telephones, and help with mail and some accounting, though I am still training on that. I started out at more than I was making when I walked out of my last job, and it this one has very straightforward hours, working directly under the CEO, COO, and head of accounting, it is an easy and fun job, in a secure location that requires a keycard to get into every day…I work at a fairly important place.
I was sitting here waiting for the telephone to ring earlier and playing solitaire on the computer (not a hard job, like I said) and my cell rang. I halfway recognized the number but did not realize who it was until after I had answered. It was my old manager, Mark, the one who had called me at home the last time to ask me to come back. He explained how much things had changed, he had been there for 3 weeks, they had replaced the carpet, fixed the leaking ceilings, and were painting the walls, he had started making everyone clean their trucks at least once a week, and he wanted me to come back, because I was such a hard worker, and things had gotten so much worse after I left.
I thought about it…maybe office manager, I could keep things running smoothly, maybe get a good raise to make more than I do here, this is only a temp job after all. I told him I would think about it, but I would need to talk about it with Eric. And asked him what all he had in mind, he said they were going to need to hire a new office manager, someone with experience who could get the job done…and he would need an assistant. Since I already had the experience and knew how to do everything anyway, he wanted to offer the administrative assistant position to me before he advertised it anywhere….
At first I was not sure if I should laugh or cry…I told him I would get back to him one way or another, and then my new boss walked in, saw me on the phone and waved at me not to worry about it, I could just come talk to him when I was done. I quickly hung up and went and got some paperwork for him, just more stuff I am learning about the accounting stuff. He was not even weird about me being on my phone when I was not on lunch or break. Even though this is only a temp job, I really think I should keep it, it is a little bit of new stuff to learn, but it really is a great place to work, everyone is so relaxed, and I like it here, I just hope that when my year is up I can try to talk them into keeping me around as something, even if it is not this exact job, maybe they can find something for me to do.
I soon realized that it would be preferable for me to wear jeans and sneakers everyday with a t shirt, preferably plain, so that I would not get any of my good shirts screwed up. And so my employment began….For the first 2 ½ weeks, I was busy catching up on invoices, since no one had entered or filed them in over 7 months, they company was losing money because it was only getting paid for about half of the work it was doing. Once I got caught up on all the billing, I proceeded to begin doing the daily routing and dispatch for the 2 driver teams. Which basically involves looking at maps, writing out directions to peoples homes, and then calling people to tell them when someone would be making the delivery (within a 4 hour time frame) and to confirm that my directions were correct. In less than a week I had also taken over as customer service person. Because it usually involved the same thing, most of the people I called to tell them their time frame became angry at not being more specific.
After I had been there for 3 months, the company hired me on permanently from the temporary agency and I was told that in another 90 days I would be able to get insurance. This was great, all the people who yelled at me were causing me to be a bit stressed and I figured I could use insurance to maybe help pay for a visit to the doctor to get something for my ulcer. Not long after I was hired on full time, I took over doing the work out in the warehouse. I was no longer unloading trucks as much, but I had to learn how to do inventory, cycle counts (a different kind of periodic inventory), and help people who would come in to pick up their appliances instead of having them delivered, which since I was the only one in the warehouse at the time, usually involved trying to hoist 150 to 300 pound appliances into the back of someone pickup. This was of course on top of still taking care of invoicing, manual billing, customer service, and dispatch….I was running the office all by my little ole self, and still not usually getting 40 hours in a week, because my bosses did not think I needed to be there full time. Routing only took me 2 hours in the morning, I should have everything done by 2 or 3 at the latest…and I could not take a lunch break, because someone had to stay in the office, in case anyone called.
When my 90 days was up, I was more stressed out that ever, I was relieved and elated that the thought of all my hard working paying off and actually getting insurance. I was always stressed and tired and when I went to the clinic to get renewed on my birth control pills they refused me saying my blood pressure was too high, so I was hoping maybe my insurance would kick in so I could go see a real doctor and he/she could help me figure it out.
After I filled out the paper work, I waited. My neighbor Debbie moved, and the job let me borrow one of their 28 foot box trucks to help her out. It had a lift gate, and it was a lot cheaper than getting something from Ryder or U-haul, it seemed like a great idea. That is at least until it came time to take it home. My manger told me I should get some money out of petty cash and go get some oil, because he thought it might be low. I grabbed a few gallons luckily because it was pretty well empty. Eric, being my big tall sweetie was nice enough to drive it over to Debbie’s apartment, but when he got in a half drank and very spoiled bottle of milk that had been left open tumbled off into his lap. After trying to clean a few things, which basically included throwing out several clamshells of rotten food which were in the cab, we were off. It was a trip from hell for him, with the rancid smell, and the curdled milk soaking into his pants. But after we were home and washed clothes and he had a shower it was better. We got her moved and took the truck back. This was all a few weeks before Labor Day, so you can imagine how bad these guys are as housekeepers. The Tuesday when I came back to the office, they were in a panic…apparently it had not been some kind of joke when I borrowed the truck, they were always that gross. They came running into the office pleading for bleach and other cleaning supplies. Apparently someone had left something in the truck for too long, and there were maggots living in the truck now…I directed them towards the cleaning supplies and went on about taking inventory.
The problem also persisted that I had to share a bathroom with these 11 men, and not one of them could aim…Several times I was so disgusted that I actually walked to the nearest gas station to use the bathroom there because it was so gross in the warehouse. Oh, did I forget to mention we did not have a janitor, so guess who also got stuck cleaning everything…I cleaned the women’s room, I refused to go into the men’s, it was just too gross.
I continued to wait for the insurance to come through, and after about a month I called and after about a month I called the main office in Springfield and asked them about it again. They said that they had submitted it, and to give them a few more weeks and if I had not heard anything I should contact them. Good enough I though, I can go with that. A few weeks passed and one of my managers, the one who always praised my work and thanked me for doing such a great job came to me, and told me that since I was already doing the job, would I like the office manager position. I gave a resounding yes, thinking about a pay raise, and maybe a chance to actually improve the conditions in the place. Two days later I was out with a horrible stomach thing and I got a telephone call at home…from the same manager, saying that when he had suggested it, his boss had stated that being as I was female and not strong enough to unload a truck I could not be office manager. So they would just give me a raise for all my hard work…it surprised me at being $1 as these people are incredibly cheap…but I still ended up putting in my two weeks notice, it was just too much shit to handle.
In just over a week we had monsoon rains. Places were flooding; our little car looked like it was going to float away outside our house, and just walking out onto the porch would leave you soaked. When I got to work on Monday, celebrating my last week in hell, I noticed that there was dirt all over the floor, not tracked in dirt, settled dirt, and a really bad mildew smell….the entire office and warehouse was flooded, there were large puddles of standing water in the warehouse, but the 2 offices with carpet were trashed. There was mold everywhere, and when I asked my manager what he wanted me to do, he just said that I was the one going to be in the office, I should figure it out and take care of it myself…So 2 week notice be damned, I walked out. I received a call 3 days later from the manager who had offered me the office manager position, asking what was going on, saying he had never received my 2 week notice, and asking what he could do to get me to come back, I was so good at my job, he did not want to lose me. I said I would think about it, but I was feeling icky from breathing in that mold and did do much at all for a few days.
Now, a little over month has passed, I have had a few temp jobs, and I am once again employed, be it only for a year (another temp job, probably), I have been here for almost 2 weeks. I like it, everyone is really nice, it is laid back but still professional, there are 2 women's and 2 men'ss bathrooms, and we have a woman who comes in to clean and empty trash cans everyday. I answer telephones, and help with mail and some accounting, though I am still training on that. I started out at more than I was making when I walked out of my last job, and it this one has very straightforward hours, working directly under the CEO, COO, and head of accounting, it is an easy and fun job, in a secure location that requires a keycard to get into every day…I work at a fairly important place.
I was sitting here waiting for the telephone to ring earlier and playing solitaire on the computer (not a hard job, like I said) and my cell rang. I halfway recognized the number but did not realize who it was until after I had answered. It was my old manager, Mark, the one who had called me at home the last time to ask me to come back. He explained how much things had changed, he had been there for 3 weeks, they had replaced the carpet, fixed the leaking ceilings, and were painting the walls, he had started making everyone clean their trucks at least once a week, and he wanted me to come back, because I was such a hard worker, and things had gotten so much worse after I left.
I thought about it…maybe office manager, I could keep things running smoothly, maybe get a good raise to make more than I do here, this is only a temp job after all. I told him I would think about it, but I would need to talk about it with Eric. And asked him what all he had in mind, he said they were going to need to hire a new office manager, someone with experience who could get the job done…and he would need an assistant. Since I already had the experience and knew how to do everything anyway, he wanted to offer the administrative assistant position to me before he advertised it anywhere….
At first I was not sure if I should laugh or cry…I told him I would get back to him one way or another, and then my new boss walked in, saw me on the phone and waved at me not to worry about it, I could just come talk to him when I was done. I quickly hung up and went and got some paperwork for him, just more stuff I am learning about the accounting stuff. He was not even weird about me being on my phone when I was not on lunch or break. Even though this is only a temp job, I really think I should keep it, it is a little bit of new stuff to learn, but it really is a great place to work, everyone is so relaxed, and I like it here, I just hope that when my year is up I can try to talk them into keeping me around as something, even if it is not this exact job, maybe they can find something for me to do.