Monday, April 17, 2017

So I Was Passed Over

So several weeks ago, when I started my first assignment at the test scoring place, I ran into someone I sat next to at a scoring project.  She's really nice.  Trouble is, this scoring project where we met (as well as second one we were in the room together for) was at the other test scoring place.  She was looking for work, she did not hear of any assignments coming down the pike at the other test scoring place (at least not yet), and so she decided to go to the other test scoring company, where I was moonlighting (and still haven't let know about my double-dealing).  She's not the only one; I have seen several familiar faces from the other place.  But I think my secret's still safe with me.  I think.

This co-worker of mine is not doing the same project as I, so our meetings since that first were restricted to passing by each other at the break room.  However, a couple weeks ago, she told me that she was not only contacted by the other test scoring place for a job, but they were hiring her to come in early to train as an immediate supervisor.  She begins training on that today, actually; she gave the test scoring place we were both at two week's notice.  Great -- she actually would make an excellent one.  And it's the one where I elected to come in and work nights and weekends for.  I don't know if we'll be working with each other, but it'd be kind of a kick if she were my supervisor.

However, this test scoring place (though not the exact project) was the one where I had my first and, to this day, only call-up as an immediate supervisor myself.  And that was way back in 2014, three years ago.  I've been with that place ever since and obviously I'm going back again, so they want me back as a scorer (or at least they don't have anywhere else they can turn; this project I'll be moonlighting for needs hundreds of bodies).  But I was told by the person who I was working for from that '14 project that I did good at my job, and I thought that meant other supervisory positions would thus roll my way.  It hasn't happened yet, and in the meantime, my co-worker friend (who, again, is good enough and deserves a shot) has been tapped, and I think for the first time.  In a sense, I have been passed over for her.

Why is that?  I can only think back on my "work" the two years since.  Well, the projects the past two years have been tougher because they're essays, and because of that I have had to slow down and really consider the work these students are putting into it.  Maybe the slowdown has been reflected in my evaluations.  Or maybe it's because I talked back to that one supervisor a couple years ago.  Maybe she was spiteful enough to write me up.  Or ... well, maybe this is it: For last year's project I was warned several times that I was going to the bathroom too many times.  I snuck out even after being warned.  That's it.  I know I was written up for that.  And if you get written up, there's no chance you'll get hired for a higher position.

You know, I once considered that place to be the better of the two test scoring places.  That first-ever assignment, which I had been a part of for four years, the last of which as an immediate supervisor, was fun, stable and nurturing.  Everything that had been at the other test scoring place, the one I'm working at now, was alright, but couldn't hold a candle to the dynamism, the alchemy that I found there.  But then that project was either yanked or cancelled or discontinued, and there I have been shuttling from project to project, all with a certain amount of tension and indifference that made me question many times why I liked that company so much in the first place.  (Having headquarters an hour away also damages my thoughts of it.)  Since them I've been going back and forth between the two, mostly for the money but partly to see if there is anything company-wide that really differentiates one from the other.  I thought it was the practice of hiring guys to become immediate supervisors once the project started, but it seems as though both companies do that, which really blows.

But, taking this into account, maybe this test scoring place, the one that pulled that deputizing bullshit last year on me first, may turn out to the better one after all.  I will say this: Of the two places I work for, this is the one that's closer.  And if it turns out that there are no difference after all, I might chose which one's my favorite because of that.  Till then, I'll stick with these guys because apparently, I'm no longer immediate supervisor material to those guys.

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