Its official: My social, internet, and personal life is over
So, if you read my entry a few months back, I mentioned that my boss told me I was up for a major promotion--getting her job and being in charge of pretty much everything related to the canvass for our nonprofit.
Well, there's a story about that--I sort of did and did not get my promotion. At the same time. It is an interesting tale, so this will take a while:
So, back in August, my boss, the campaign director, announced she was retiring. I had to contain my emotions on this, since I really enjoyed working for her and not having her around would just seem weird and lonely.
She mentioned to me in private that, "I want to train you to have my job." So, of course, though I was sad, I was happy she trusted me to take on her position and I was willing to go that distance and live up to her expectations.
However, our President was less-than-pleased that she had told me this--he wanted to have open interviews for the position. While I also know the President well and I was sure I was his first choice (he told me once that they like to hire internally if possible for open positions) he was more concerned about how it would look if we didn't offer others the opportunity.
So, the last week in Sept, we did interviews. They allowed others who work for us to apply--me and three others did. The interview went great and even at the interview, the president said, "We will contact you soon. Very soon. Very very very soon."
While I didn't count my chickens before they hatched, I kind of assumed that meant I got it.
Considering how long this narrative is taking, I think you can guess what happened from here--I never got the call. For a few days, I deluded myself into thinking that perhaps they were busy--and then my boss privately told me that I did not get the position--it had been given to someone else.
Someone who had only worked with us for two weeks. Someone who, at the time, I was his boss.
Naturally, I felt a bit...miffed, I guess. After being told, "You are getting this job" and then when they don't deliver...its upsetting. I was told the only reason was because the person they hired was older than me (true--he is 28 and I turn 23 in a few days) and also because he had managerial experience at his previous job. While I did have supervisory experience before, it wasn't official because the little mom-and-pop anime store I worked at couldn't afford to actually pay me as a supervisor.
So, yeah, I was kind of pissed, and for a while, I considered quitting. The day afterwards even, I was too upset to go to work, so I called in that morning, saying that I heard my Grandma had a turn for the worse in the hospital (at the time, my Grandma was in the hospital, but my mom told me the night before she was being released the next day) and that I was too upset. Though it was a lie, and I did feel kind of bad for lying about my Grandma, my boss bought it, and it gave me time to think about what to do.
I have discovered a life lesson-- NEVER lie about your Grandma's health. Why? Because one hour later, I traveled back home to talk with my parents, have a bit of a pity party and decide what to do--I walk in the door and see my mom in tears. My grandma died around the time I was making that lie to my boss.
Welp, there's something I will definitely feel guilty about for the rest of my life.
So, instead of one day to make my decision, I was unexpectedly given a full week under the worst of circumstances. My grandma was a strong and feisty woman, and it turns out, she had terminal cancer for a while but refused to tell any of us because she didn't want us to worry, so naturally, it came as a huge shock. Personally, I regretted not ever taking the time to know her better (usually I referred to her as my "crazy racist grandma" and while yes, she was racist and crazy, it still hurts once you hear she's dead) and also not having gotten my book published before she could read it, something I promised her I would never give up on.
After talking with several of my extended family (and I have several to talk to--my grandma had seven kids). I decided the best course of action would be to speak with my boss and the President for the exact reasons I was denied, and perhaps bargain to get more out of this. While they did offer me a raise at first, and it was a nice raise, I wasn't sure I wanted to take it. In truth, I didn't really want money--I just wanted to see what they'd offer to keep me there.
I was actually fully prepared to walk out and quit if I didn't recieve a satisfactory answer. Not just because of this whole not-promoted thing, but also because while I was there, I worked for my boss, that was leaving. Not working for her and working for this new guy would be too weird, and I decided not to do it.
So, after that whole crisis, I got back, and arranged the meeting. The meeting actually happened a day early, impromptu when my boss was around that the President just happened to be in the office at the same time--around 9 pm at night, I guess it was good since no one else was in the office, so we could speak candidly.
I practiced what I was going to say for a week, and I knew I'd have to do it right. So, I used every trick I had learned in this job where I shmooze people to give donations for a living. I explained why I was upset about not getting them the promotion, and I thought me being denied wasn't the best thing for us, since New Guy just didn't know things vital to the job--how we train people, where the best turf was, etc--stuff that, during the winter where we usually made less money, was VITAL.
Then, I offered my solution to the job. We once had two campaign directors. So, make two campaign directors now. We could work together to do what's best for the company, he on the paperwork stuff and me on the know-how-this-job-works stuff. I explained how we had already worked together on turf before and we worked together well, and my experience certainly deserved that chance. And finally--the fact that I wasn't mad about not getting more money, but i just wanted a chance to show them I could do way more for them then what I was currently doing.
My President then said, "Damnit, this is why I hate arguing with people I trained personally."
He explained that, while all good reasons, they couldn't afford to pay two campaign director's salaries. That the job was extremely hard, and took up much time, and that one would have to be 100% dedicated. I looked him in the eye and said again, I didn't care about money, but I had always strived to give over 100% and had always done what I could (worked extra days, helped out in the office) to give more to the job, and I just wanted a chance to prove myself.
Amazingly, somehow, this worked. Three days later, I got a call saying they were going to offer me a promotion. Now, I didn't get all I wanted; I wanted the job of co-campaign director, with the same salary and expecting to work in the office most of the time. Their decision was to make a new position for me, called "Canvass Director". Because they couldn't afford two campaign director salaries ($35k a year) they offered me ($25k) to do arguably more work, but its a different job than the one I applied for those weeks back. Instead of mostly office work (I do that too) I will be going out on turf with our new recruits, training them, and then also raising money for the company in my spare time.
Though I did privately "side-eye the less pay-more work omg they're paying me .70 for every dollar this dude makes" thing, I did take it. I wanted a chance to prove myself, and I wasn't going to get promoted at all at first, so I took what I could get. I start officially tomorrow, doing office stuff (hiring and setting up interview times, mostly) in the mornings and going out to canvass/train in the afternoons. And I'm happy about this--even if it is ungodly amounts of work, I am one of those people that likes being challenged.
Though, the hours are a bit ridiculous. 9 am office start time, and canvassing is from 4-8. And, I only get one day off a week. But hey, I'm on a salary, so whatever. My old boss (who is gone now--she called me yesterday and I had to stop myself from crying when she gave the final goodbye--she's moving, and they had to leave two days early so we couldn't say bye in person) hardly ever got days off and worked long hours, so it comes with the territory.
So, I will probably never have much time for hobbies again, but strangely enough, I'm happy. So, I guess its a good thing it all worked out in the end.
Though, currently, according to our President, I don't have a desk in the office at the moment. This will have to be changed.
Well, there's a story about that--I sort of did and did not get my promotion. At the same time. It is an interesting tale, so this will take a while:
So, back in August, my boss, the campaign director, announced she was retiring. I had to contain my emotions on this, since I really enjoyed working for her and not having her around would just seem weird and lonely.
She mentioned to me in private that, "I want to train you to have my job." So, of course, though I was sad, I was happy she trusted me to take on her position and I was willing to go that distance and live up to her expectations.
However, our President was less-than-pleased that she had told me this--he wanted to have open interviews for the position. While I also know the President well and I was sure I was his first choice (he told me once that they like to hire internally if possible for open positions) he was more concerned about how it would look if we didn't offer others the opportunity.
So, the last week in Sept, we did interviews. They allowed others who work for us to apply--me and three others did. The interview went great and even at the interview, the president said, "We will contact you soon. Very soon. Very very very soon."
While I didn't count my chickens before they hatched, I kind of assumed that meant I got it.
Considering how long this narrative is taking, I think you can guess what happened from here--I never got the call. For a few days, I deluded myself into thinking that perhaps they were busy--and then my boss privately told me that I did not get the position--it had been given to someone else.
Someone who had only worked with us for two weeks. Someone who, at the time, I was his boss.
Naturally, I felt a bit...miffed, I guess. After being told, "You are getting this job" and then when they don't deliver...its upsetting. I was told the only reason was because the person they hired was older than me (true--he is 28 and I turn 23 in a few days) and also because he had managerial experience at his previous job. While I did have supervisory experience before, it wasn't official because the little mom-and-pop anime store I worked at couldn't afford to actually pay me as a supervisor.
So, yeah, I was kind of pissed, and for a while, I considered quitting. The day afterwards even, I was too upset to go to work, so I called in that morning, saying that I heard my Grandma had a turn for the worse in the hospital (at the time, my Grandma was in the hospital, but my mom told me the night before she was being released the next day) and that I was too upset. Though it was a lie, and I did feel kind of bad for lying about my Grandma, my boss bought it, and it gave me time to think about what to do.
I have discovered a life lesson-- NEVER lie about your Grandma's health. Why? Because one hour later, I traveled back home to talk with my parents, have a bit of a pity party and decide what to do--I walk in the door and see my mom in tears. My grandma died around the time I was making that lie to my boss.
Welp, there's something I will definitely feel guilty about for the rest of my life.
So, instead of one day to make my decision, I was unexpectedly given a full week under the worst of circumstances. My grandma was a strong and feisty woman, and it turns out, she had terminal cancer for a while but refused to tell any of us because she didn't want us to worry, so naturally, it came as a huge shock. Personally, I regretted not ever taking the time to know her better (usually I referred to her as my "crazy racist grandma" and while yes, she was racist and crazy, it still hurts once you hear she's dead) and also not having gotten my book published before she could read it, something I promised her I would never give up on.
After talking with several of my extended family (and I have several to talk to--my grandma had seven kids). I decided the best course of action would be to speak with my boss and the President for the exact reasons I was denied, and perhaps bargain to get more out of this. While they did offer me a raise at first, and it was a nice raise, I wasn't sure I wanted to take it. In truth, I didn't really want money--I just wanted to see what they'd offer to keep me there.
I was actually fully prepared to walk out and quit if I didn't recieve a satisfactory answer. Not just because of this whole not-promoted thing, but also because while I was there, I worked for my boss, that was leaving. Not working for her and working for this new guy would be too weird, and I decided not to do it.
So, after that whole crisis, I got back, and arranged the meeting. The meeting actually happened a day early, impromptu when my boss was around that the President just happened to be in the office at the same time--around 9 pm at night, I guess it was good since no one else was in the office, so we could speak candidly.
I practiced what I was going to say for a week, and I knew I'd have to do it right. So, I used every trick I had learned in this job where I shmooze people to give donations for a living. I explained why I was upset about not getting them the promotion, and I thought me being denied wasn't the best thing for us, since New Guy just didn't know things vital to the job--how we train people, where the best turf was, etc--stuff that, during the winter where we usually made less money, was VITAL.
Then, I offered my solution to the job. We once had two campaign directors. So, make two campaign directors now. We could work together to do what's best for the company, he on the paperwork stuff and me on the know-how-this-job-works stuff. I explained how we had already worked together on turf before and we worked together well, and my experience certainly deserved that chance. And finally--the fact that I wasn't mad about not getting more money, but i just wanted a chance to show them I could do way more for them then what I was currently doing.
My President then said, "Damnit, this is why I hate arguing with people I trained personally."
He explained that, while all good reasons, they couldn't afford to pay two campaign director's salaries. That the job was extremely hard, and took up much time, and that one would have to be 100% dedicated. I looked him in the eye and said again, I didn't care about money, but I had always strived to give over 100% and had always done what I could (worked extra days, helped out in the office) to give more to the job, and I just wanted a chance to prove myself.
Amazingly, somehow, this worked. Three days later, I got a call saying they were going to offer me a promotion. Now, I didn't get all I wanted; I wanted the job of co-campaign director, with the same salary and expecting to work in the office most of the time. Their decision was to make a new position for me, called "Canvass Director". Because they couldn't afford two campaign director salaries ($35k a year) they offered me ($25k) to do arguably more work, but its a different job than the one I applied for those weeks back. Instead of mostly office work (I do that too) I will be going out on turf with our new recruits, training them, and then also raising money for the company in my spare time.
Though I did privately "side-eye the less pay-more work omg they're paying me .70 for every dollar this dude makes" thing, I did take it. I wanted a chance to prove myself, and I wasn't going to get promoted at all at first, so I took what I could get. I start officially tomorrow, doing office stuff (hiring and setting up interview times, mostly) in the mornings and going out to canvass/train in the afternoons. And I'm happy about this--even if it is ungodly amounts of work, I am one of those people that likes being challenged.
Though, the hours are a bit ridiculous. 9 am office start time, and canvassing is from 4-8. And, I only get one day off a week. But hey, I'm on a salary, so whatever. My old boss (who is gone now--she called me yesterday and I had to stop myself from crying when she gave the final goodbye--she's moving, and they had to leave two days early so we couldn't say bye in person) hardly ever got days off and worked long hours, so it comes with the territory.
So, I will probably never have much time for hobbies again, but strangely enough, I'm happy. So, I guess its a good thing it all worked out in the end.
Though, currently, according to our President, I don't have a desk in the office at the moment. This will have to be changed.