My co-worker was one of the first people I saw at my desk at The Fourth Department. I didn't expect her there; she should only be back there to fill in one of the three positions that are regularly filled back there, and they were all, you know, filled. That's when she told me that she was "helping me out."
I suspected as much, but she confirmed what I thought could have happened when I came in in the morning: That my boss saw that I was working more than he thinks I should be and he was going to put a stop to it. I should be more generous and say that she was there to "help me out," but there was an obvious ulterior motive on his part, which I am still, frankly, pissed about.
But let me go back to what specifically happened in the morning. A little later into the day, my boss flitted in and told me his "plan": My co-worker is going to come in when I come in first thing in the morning and we are going to do Fourth Department work together for a couple hours. This is supposed to happen Tuesdays and Fridays. What work she did ... well, that was the most immediate of the things that I hated about this move. What I was going to do first was all the stuff I communicated out Monday. Any answers I got from clients overnight I was going to look at, process, and send over to the lab. That is stuff I have always felt was best done by one person. And now I have another person coming in to "help me out?" I don't mean any disrespect to her; she's only doing what our boss told her to do. But I was at a loss as to how she could help. I actually had to think for a bit before deciding that she should be doing the new work (stuff I didn't touch and therefore wouldn't, frankly, fuck me up). I was afraid that me telling her to do that wasn't enough to last her two hours. Hell, I was too busy trying to catch up with my own work, but it felt as though she wasn't just waiting for me.
First of all, I am very upset that my boss pulled this move without giving me a head's-up. I could have better planned on to what to do if I knew beforehand. I know that something similar has been going on when it comes to parceling out work when my supervisor started stepping in. But plopping my co-worker next to me and essentially ordering that we start working together when I didn't have the faintest goddamn clue about this was, tbh, a dick move. The mental switching of tracks alone took time and mental energy that I needed to do the job at hand, and I didn't like that I needed to stop and think of things I don't think I needed to stop and think for.
Mondays are a shitshow. There is so much work that is piled up from the weekend that that day is the busiest and heaviest. It just is. So yes, it stands to reason that any spillover work into Tuesday could be shouldered by another person. With that being said, there could, and I want to emphasize could, be a second person to do the work on Mondays instead of Tuesdays. (And by the way, I don't get why I might need to be brought in to help on Fridays.)
And with that being said, I want to say that, while I appreciate her help, and she did help, I didn't need my co-worker's help yesterday/Tuesday. I left a few minutes short of eight hours yesterday/Tuesday. In that quick spiel in the morning, my boss actually encouraged me to leave early. For some fucking reason he threw out an hour early. That would have meant I "should" have left at 4:30. He went ballistic once he saw that I worked ten hours on Monday, and so I do not want to venture a guess at all as to how he feels about me doing "only" eight hours yesterday/Tuesday.
Anyway, if it were just myself yesterday/Tuesday, would I have stayed late? Yes. Hey, it's just the work in The Fourth Department. I remember being stressed and overwhelmed when I started off. But you know what? I got used to it. Like I have said many times before, I hate change until I adapt. Also like I have said many times before, this position has gotten way easier for me once I knew how most of the processes are supposed to work and remembered to whom I need to talk to to get the information I need. That is the vast majority of the work, and the source of my throw-my-hands-up frustration when I started this position. That is over and done with. This job isn't hard. It's long, but it's not hard. And I wonder if my boss understands that I hold this distinction -- or cares.
So I guess I need to get real and get down to the brass tacks of this: I have come to enjoy the extra money I get from working in The Fourth Department. Let me state this: I do not milk my time here. Despite what I know my boss believes, I am busting my fucking ass every goddamn hour back there trying to get the work done as best as possible -- but yes, I take my breaks and my lunchtime, too. My co-worker and supervisor get the work done sooner. As I have said many times here in WAF before, I don't know how the fuck they do it, but I know that I like how I do my job, and I am proud of my work, and I sure as shit will not change ... and, I will get paid for it.
And I think that's the crux of this matter to my boss. He is under enormous pressure not to give me OT, and OT is what I have been racking up for many months now. So he imposes this move. It may be to "help me out," but I think my boss and I both know that if he weren't under so much pressure to cut costs, he would let me do things my way. So, what he is doing to force me to take stuff off of my plate represents, to me, another change. And not only do I hate change, but I hate this type of change, the type that is also going to take money out of my wallet. I have gotten used to doing this position all by my lonesome. Frankly, I relish it now. (More on this on my next blog post.) I have gotten used to the long hours and the commensurate pay that goes along with it (although I should check my pay stub today at work to be sure I am getting paid for all the hours I have worked). That is being taken away from me. And while it is a massive blow to my pride and my manhood, I really don't appreciate the "obvious ulterior motive" I have been talking about all this time: To make sure I work only 40 hours and therefore not be paid time-and-a-half.
The time to "help me out," frankly, was back when started in The Fourth Department, when I was so angry at this job that I wanted to launch my head into the monitors because I was staying ten hours at work. But that didn't come. I was left to fend for myself, and while I was and am stressed out, I finally did fend for myself. And now he's unhappy that I have settled upon my way of doing it. I guess one could say that he was waiting for me to understand the job to the point where he thinks I should be doing it all under eight hours. To which I say: Bullshit, if you think you can do the job that fast you are either doing a shitty job or I've been praying to the wrong god all this time.
I have nothing to apologize for. So frankly, I am afraid my temper is going to get the best of me. This overtime situation is coming to the fore. This is my last day of the week in The Fourth Department. From here on out, I am doing this only half of the week -- another change from what I am used to (although, to be fair, I was told in advance this was the plan all along). That will allow my boss to tell me to leave early on a Thursday or Friday, presumably, just so I don't work overtime anymore. I am really going to chafe if/when he tells me that, and on top of this bullshit move he pulled on me yesterday/Tuesday (I stammered out an, "Yeah, I understand," and I shouldn't have said that, but I wanted to not pitch a fit right there and scream, "You just fucking pulled this out of nowhere, man, and I don't appreciate it" instead), I really might snap at him. I might say, "If you think I'm working so slow back here, maybe you should be honest with me and tell me I'm not working back here any longer. How's that?!" I hate how he is now nosing in on this cozy situation I have finally figured out for myself. He ain't fucking leaving me alone, and that is costing me both my autonomy and my paycheck.
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Partly because of the work in The Fourth Department and partly because I am mourning the impending part-time change (or change back) away from The Fourth Department, I am going to one of my favorite speakeasies after work today/Wednesday, regardless of how stressful the day is or isn't. After all the bullshit I got and will get piled on me, I think I am entitled to a drink or two.
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