You might think that because this is a health-care-oriented company they'd be different from other businesses. However, this place ends up being just as corporate-headed as the rest of them. They're so cheap we have to bring our own Kleenex to work. They're so crazed about TAT (Turn Around Time) that my job gets very difficult and very important frequently.
Yet, we have these strange office parties where we're not allowed to use "I have work to do" as an excuse to avoid them. I'm not a very social person so I just like to go in, do my job and go home. My department got a keen speaking to when we blew off one of these social gatherings in favor of work. The other day we had one of these little "social events" and my boss sent us all emails encouraging us to go because she'd know who went and who didn't.
The thing is our department is a call center. If anyone in my department steps away from their desk customers end up waiting longer for service. So much for TAT.
This week is some sort of admin assistant appreciation day/week. Now, TheWife was taken to lunch and given a gift card for her work. This sounds perfectly reasonable to me. We get a week's worth of srupid events. Today we'll be playing bingo over the PA system.
I shit you not.
BINGO.
What? Are we in summer camp?
How about a $10 gift card at Amazon, or a paid hour off? Or just leave us the hell alone so we can do our jobs? Remember our jobs? Helping people get their tumors tested?
Later today I get to teach my boss's boss how to do my job. This is rich. The official story is that they're trying to make the process work more efficiently--which, I'l admit, is a good idea. The thing is, "management" (who ever they are) almost called last Friday my last day. Which was disappointing, but, ultimately, I understand I'm a temp so it's cool. The other thing is that they like me and I do my job well. Yet they seem to be having trouble justifying keeping me on.
So, now, everyone is asking me about my job. The other day I had a complete stranger introduce herself and ask if I could show her a portion of my job. I'm a temp(whore) so I say "Sure! Have a seat!"
Then I get an email asking me if I'd "accept" an appointment with my boss's boss to teach her how to do my job on Thursday. No "hey, can you teach me on Thursday?" request (her office is maybe 30 feet from mine), no personalized email request that would take all of 30 seconds to send, just a cold Outlook appointment email.
So, you can probably understand my confusion. In my ideal corporation, the boss already knows the jobs of those under him or her. In my ideal corporation, workers are happy because management respects them and rewards them and doesn't treat them like children. (Bingo today, what's tomorrow? Arts -n- Crafts??)
Please note that this has nothing to do with pay. It's all in how you deal with people and the way this corporation deals with me and my co-workers is kind of confusing and, IMHO, counter-productive.
Anyone care to enlighten me as to why we're treated like children or perhaps why my boss needs the guy at the absolute bottom of the totem poll to teach her how to do what I do?
Maybe it's my history in high school ROTC where they taught us about leadership and accounability that is screwing me up now. They taught us something I've lived by for my entire adult life: Never ask someone else to do something you wouldn't be willing to do yourself.
Of course, the corporate world is all about doing exactly that. Ah well...
Orignal From: Corporations Are Weird
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