Goodbye Garbage Crew

Week before last, after the eight "garbage crew" (as we have been calling it) people were called into the supervisors office at work I did a lot of thinking about the situation and why I was in that office, steps away from a pink slip. I worked really hard to learn all I could in my field and there I was... I felt that the position I was put in a year ago, and the work I was doing, was something an entry level person could be doings so how could I ever show them what I am capable of?

A couple of days later I emailed my supervisors and managers and told them about the radiation treatment that I had to have and that I will need several days off for it. A while later I received an email from my manager asking me to come by her office. I didn't know what all that was about. It could have been anything! When I walked in her office she said "I'm really not supposed to ask this, but what's going on with your treatment?" She and I have never actually sat down to talk about my cancer and how it was discovered, so I told her in a nutshell what was going on.

She and I chatted for a while and before I left I said "While I have you here, I wanted to talk to you about some things." From there I told her how I felt overlooked and that with the job I was doing there was no way I could ever prove my worth and that it was work I was doing 14 years ago! I said "Have you seen my resume??" and she said "Actually, no... someone else hired you." I told her my background and experience and basically said that the company has totally wasted a year when I could have been doing something much more productive and worthwhile. I said that I understood that it was business and they had to do what they had to do.

Once I left the office I felt like a load was lifted off my chest. All the frustration with my job was suddenly gone and it felt good. If they made the choice to lay me off, so be it. My one big concern was my health insurance. Losing that would be horrible, but at this point there was nothing I could do.

The next day my manager called my extension and asked me if I knew Excel. I said that I know the basics and she said "okay, thanks!" That was odd. Later, I was walking down the hall and she popped out of her office and asked me again "So, you know the basics of Excel?" and again I said I know the basics. Hmmmm.

Around 3:30 I was getting ready to leave and she called me again and asked me to stop by her office before I left for the day. When I went in she started telling me that someone in administration had put in her notice and they needed to fill the position immediately... like tomorrow. She said this is the reason that she kept asking me if I knew Excel. The position is being the Accession Auditor for the entire building and all the clients... then she asked if I was interested. She said that after our conversation the day before as soon as she heard the position was available she thought of me. Wow. I told her that I was not an Excel guru or anything, but I definitely learn fast... and with that, the job was mine. It happened so fast that there wasn't any time to think about it!

For the past week I was supposed to be in training. The first day the person who is leaving spent about an hour with me while I took notes. That's the only time I have spent with her. She has some family illness happening so she's in and out of work so my training has been... well, nonexistent. Her last day at work is this Wednesday so I am going to pin her down to make sure she teaches me (most) everything I need to know before she leaves me high and dry! I think only one of the client managers knows how to run the accession audit reports besides her. Every time I go over to her desk to train there's always something happening and a reason why she can't spend time with me. It's frustrating. I only have three more days and time is running out! It's so frustrating!

The second day of my "non-training" I was at my desk (I haven't moved yet) working down some of the old work that I had and I heard "Pam!!" from behind. It was one of the client managers. I turned around and said "Yeah?" and he said "What are you doing??" in a really loud and gruff voice. I held up a report that I had been working on and then said "I'm on my break right now" and he said "Why aren't you training??" and I said that I was waiting for S. to come in... he then said "Well, after you're done with that you need to come see me because we have more important things you could be working on"

WHAT??

My first thought was "Who in the hell does he think he is talking to me like that?" He was a client manager and not my boss! Secondly, I cannot help that no one can train me but her!! Third, I was on my break! I was so mad a the way he barked at me that I went to my boss but he wasn't in his office! I didn't want to go to T's office because I thought I would explode.

After waiting about 15 minutes and counting to 10 a million times while taking deep breaths, I finally went into T's office and stood in the door and said hello. I said "Before we get started I wanted to address the way that you talked to me back there. You were within earshot of about 15 people and I wanted you to know that you humiliated me and embarrassed me. I am not a child so you do not need to yell at me." He looked like a deer in headlights and asked me to close the door - the president of the company's office was right next door.

I went on to tell him that I was working on a report and at the time he came up I was on my break and that there was another way he could have approached me. He could have walked around the unit and come to my actual desk to speak to me instead of yelling across the wall. I was so mad!

T. apologized and said he didn't realize he was doing that and if I wanted him to go to my unit and let everyone know that I wasn't in trouble he would. I said that wasn't necessary. He said that as my supervisor he just wanted to know what I was doing... my what?? I said "No... D. is my supervisor" and he said "No... I am" Um... oh! or rather Uh, oh!

I told him that no one told me that I was reporting to him! He said they restructured the way the audits were being handled and that I was now under him. He said "Can we just start over?" and I said no problem and we shook hands. oopsie! He asked me if I was going to go to HR over the incident, which I thought was odd. I said "Noooo. I think we can handle it."

So... that was my first encounter with my new boss :) I always seem to make a grande first impression!

I'm excited to be out of the billing aspect and about learning something new! I really needed a change because I was so burnt out on what I was doing. Hopefully my trainer will actually spend some time with me in the next few days so I'm not left hanging!

Does anyone know where I can take a crash course in Excel for Dummies?