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comment by goobster
goobster  ·  847 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: December 1, 2021

The drama at work increases... I had a direct, no hold barred, somewhat contentious discussion with a manager 3 levels up from me about my job. I said I had nothing to do, I had received no direction from my manager on what I am supposed to be doing, and my official job title and department are both no longer extant... but I still am a "Program Manager, Channel Sales".

He was aggravated with me for bringing this up, and I said I shared his aggravation, because I LIKE work, and having a career path, and knowing what metrics I need to hit on a quarterly basis to get my bonuses and promotions... neither of which I have had in three years, because I haven't had the same manager for two consecutive review periods during my 6-years of working here.

TURNS OUT, there is a huge reorganization of our sales department happening TODAY, several Executives are losing their jobs, and the whole department is being rebuilt from the ground up.

Confidentially, my manager told me my job is safe (I refrained from asking, "what job is that, exactly?"), so I wait and refresh my email, awaiting notice of the changes...





steve  ·  846 days ago  ·  link  ·  

not having direction at work sounds so great when you're overwhelmed... but in reality, it's terrible when it lasts any real amount of time. Sorry mate.

On the flip side - I'm glad you've still got a job, and it sounds like you may be able to build up around what you want to do going forward? (although I think I remember a loose job search in the recent past)

goobster  ·  846 days ago  ·  link  ·  

There are personalities who would just shrink back into the woodwork, try not to get noticed, and ride this out for as long as possible and see it as "free money".

I'm not that way.

I grew up working in Silicon Valley, where you ARE your job. And while I have shaken off the unhealthy aspects of that perspective and have healthy boundaries nowadays, there's no denying that I have a need to work and have a task list of things to accomplish that will provide my unique values to a project.

I like being needed and appreciated.

With this big sales re-org, maybe I get the chance to rescope my work/role, and do something where I feel needed and valued? Or maybe I find that at a new job? Either way, I'm looking with positive energy to the future...

b_b  ·  846 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I had one job right out of college that I hated. I got hired as a manufacturing engineer by Chrysler at a time when Daimler was trying to dump them to anyone who would make a realistic bid. On day one my new boss basically told me he's too busy to train me, so until he gets around to it, just make sure I look busy whenever his boss is around. They paid me $53,000/yr for doing almost nothing. That was a high starting salary for the time. Many of my classmates would have jumped at it, but I resolved to quit on day 1. I stuck it out from April to September, because I figured I could handle a summer of shit until the next gig I found started, which was graduate school. From Chrysler I took a $32,000 pay cut to pursue grad studies, and have not regretted it for a single minute ever since. There's nothing like taking pride in the work you do and feeling like you're doing something that contributes (to the world, to your sense of self...whatever, as long as you don't feel like a bump on a log).

kleinbl00  ·  845 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I had a job where the sales VP got Metrokane to pitch him on a bunch of shelving for the warehouse and it came in at like $450k. I said it looked like a lot of money so I spent a day reconfiguring everything and came up with the exact same amount of shelving from the exact same company for $200k. I then spent four days putting it up, rather than our company paying Metrokane $50k to install.

The sales VP responded by having my 6'x6' cubicle broken into three 6'x2' carels.

Same marketing guy had bought the machine shop without acknowledging that the company didn't do any machining so when I put on safety glasses and made chips nobody was willing to question who I was making them for.

So I ran a CAT5 cable back to the machine shop, moved my computer in there and made shavings for eight weeks.

God I hated that job.

steve  ·  846 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
steve  ·  846 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Either way, I'm looking with positive energy to the future...

Good on ya!