Posts Tagged ‘work’

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March 7th, 2010  Posted at   Engagement, Family Stuff, Mommy stuff
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Okay, okay, so apparently people think I’m lost and gone forever, abandoning the blog. :( Perhaps… Reality is just that my life is racing at warp speed and I can barely find time to breathe right now. So here’s the update:

    Health


Except for a flareup in January, my pain is being managed quite well with the Zonegran and Cymbalta. I’m trying to sleep, eat well, take my vitamins and drink plenty of water.

    Love


Purchased my wedding dress. :) Long, princess-like, with rhinestone pickups and a beautiful fitted bodice. Made me cry.

Purchased the Save the Dates in December. They are still sitting in the dining room waiting for me to have time to hand address them… Yeah. My love is sweet, considerate, amazing and Pumpkinhead adores him. I’m happy. And I think happy people blog less.

    Work


My boss just got canned. Yee-haw! Not sure if this will work out well or end up being a bad thing but more guidance and direction will be welcomed. Micro-managing not so much. We will see how it shakes out… Lots of exciting projects right now but my “promotion” and new exempt status have lead to me working 10-12-hour days routinely. I’m pretty beat but enjoying the challenges. We’ll see how it goes…

    Pumpkinhead


I took the whole week of Spring Break off only to find out that Pumpkinhead would prefer to spend that time on the truck with Chapin. Fine! ;-) Seriously, though, it is fine.

Pumpkinhead is doing amazingly well in school. His math scores are amazing, which surprises me because he is also fantastic at reading and typically people seem to only do well at one or the other. Or at least I did… Math just kills me. But he is thriving, little smartypants. The only downside is that he loves books so much that he will sneak books into bed and stay up reading. I’m getting t the point where I’m threatening to remove his bookshelves from his room. I hate that!! But he needs sleep, too. We’ve started giving him a 30-minute warning for bed and allowing him to read, then telling him “lights out.” Hopefully he will start to obey and not get lost in book world. I understand — did it myself — but I do need to be the mama.

    Family


Parents are happy in Dubai. They are returning in May for my brother’s wedding and have decided to take back the car they gave us. Then they are kicking out the people who are living there for free, have told my brother and future SIL that they cannot, in fact, move in, and are going to leave it empty until my wedding and then look into renting it out. We’ll see how that goes. Love the family drama!

That’s all for now.

January 25th, 2010  Posted at   Engagement, Law School, Women in Law
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One of my law school classmates who took time off before I left to have a baby has recently returned. Quite frankly I was surprised. Not sure why. The Washington Post today reported that college enrollment is through the roof. My former classmates are telling me that jobs are scare and competition is worse than ever.

As for me, while I may continue to be stressed over work, I still don’t regret missing the stress of law school. My career may be insane but I have professional development opportunities ahead, potential for moves elsewhere (you never know…) and a lot of interesting challenges on the horizon. Personally, I am so in love and happy. Pumpkinhead and I are both truly blessed with a most wonderful man.

January 18th, 2010  Posted at   Women in Law
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Colleague got a warning letter as her performance review. From a guy who used to be her peer and has only been supervising her for about 60 days. About “issues” from before he was her boss. Nice…

I, on the other hand, successfully negotiated a bit more of a raise (roughly equivalent to a guaranteed 5 hours of OT/week at my current salary or a 20% raise, but I’m moving from a non-exempt paralegal to an exempt “professional”… hmm.). I have also negotiated a new title. I just don’t know what that is yet.

In the meantime, I have about 70 hours of work per week, no replacement for my fired friend/colleague in sight, and just a leeeetle stress. But it’s time to start pushing back, setting boundaries, etc. Okay… it’s past time.

In the meantime, networking, professional development, etc., and doing the best I can on my major projects are my main goals. I have a weeklong seminar and certification course scheduled in southern California in April that should move me towards my goals for this year. Will reevaluate in 2011.

January 7th, 2010  Posted at   Women in Law
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I cried at work today. In front of one of the directors of our three departmental groups. Lost it. Hard! Frustration, stress, exhaustion, irritation = bad, bad, bad. I am taking tomorrow off. Obviously I am losing it… :(

January 4th, 2010  Posted at   Women in Law
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Okay, I said that. And then I read this. Thank you, as always, T, for making me see things more clearly and reminding me that my life is within my own control. (((HUGS))) And even though I did indeed send you the card, I am now ordering the book!! Apparently I need it…

January 4th, 2010  Posted at   Women in Law
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I left work today remembering why I’d sworn off ever working for a woman again. And then kicking myself for being such a horrible sexist jerk. And then wishing I’d kicked the nasty bitch across the table who cut me down in the middle of a meeting I was running with a few words. Grrr. Bitch. Evil Attorney Bitch Who Thinks She is Better Than Me. Grrr!!!!!!

So Direct Boss was out today and my review was cancelled. Big Boss met with me on other items.

1. He’s impressed with my work and thinks I’m doing a great job
2. He doesn’t want to lose me
3. He also doesn’t want to lose Direct Boss…
4. So I need to learn to play nice and get along (um… this was never about me NOT playing nice and getting along – this was about the whole freaking group being dragged down by this moron. We get along fine! As long as I do all his work for him… and the rest of the group, department, other directors, come to me when they need something from our group…)
5. No they will not be hiring someone to take the place of the person they fired in December.
6. I can work “as much OT as I want!!”
7. But “set limits; say “no” and go home at a reasonable hour.”
8. Well, “don’t say “no”, say “next week.” (Apparently he doesn’t realize that if I go home earlier that means that the work I am not doing while resting gets pushed to next week.)
9. He’s going to get me the professional development certification seminar and exam/licensure I requested.
10. And he’s also giving it to the other girl they hired in his office in another city with my SAME TITLE!!!

So, at the end of the day, I have no idea where I stand, where I’m going, or what it means. Direct Boss says they are making me exempt and defining my position. Big Boss says, “Work all the OT hours you want because we aren’t hiring anyone!” Direct Boss says, “You can’t go to this seminar/take the licensure exam until your review” and then it gets rescheduled… again. Big Boss says “Schedule it!” “Oh, wait, it’s $5k? Um… send me the info.”

Shoot. Me. Now.

If you knew… if I could tell you…

I really have been pouring my heart and soul into this position. And maybe that’s the problem. Okay, fine, I KNOW that’s the problem. I care too much. I like my job. But I cannot keep managing up. I can only do what I can do. And I am burned out. Totally and completely. And today sucked.

January 1st, 2010  Posted at   Divorce, Engagement
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Have I mentioned I adore Mr. V? He’s the best. Took me out to dinner last night for my birthday with his sister and brother-in-law (and Pumpkinhead) and got me my favorite Mexican soup because he knew I was feeling crappy. Then we came home and he put me to bed with a pain pill and proceeded to play Wii with Pumpkinhead and his BIL. He woke me up at 11:45 p.m. to ring in the New Year with my two favorite boys, put me back to bed at 12:05 and let me sleep in until 12:30. :D

Today we are going to CarMax. The consequences of Chapin not paying any of what he was awarded in the divorce are really impacting me (creditors putting me up to the default rate and dropping me down to my available credit and/or closing accounts). I thought that taking the Big Ass Truck and paying on it would save my credit. Wrong… So while we can we are purchasing a 2007 Mazda CX-7 Grand Touring ($400/mo. plus $400/6 mos insurance) and we are taking the Tundra back to the credit union tomorrow ($600/mo. and $750/6 mos insurance). Then we are going to start dealing with these creditors and trying to pay everything off so that Chapin’s bad choices will stop impacting me/us.

Monday is my performance review. So. Burned. Out. Will update afterwards to let you know how it goes but I am at the end of my badly, badly fraying rope.

December 22nd, 2009  Posted at   Engagement, Mommy stuff, Women in Law
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Today sucked on so many levels.

Started off day with a call from Chapin saying he was going to return Pumpkinhead two days early, without the bag I sent or his Nintendo, at 3 p.m. when I had a critical conference call scheduled. Nice…

Got into work and dealt with some seriously arrogant “we’re so important we have no time for you” attitude from colleagues in DC. Grrr.

Raced to a mid-day doctor’s appointment with Mr. V only to be told that an issue that is impacting us cannot be fixed easily or soon and that basically I have to wait. Have I mentioned that patience is NOT my virtue?!?!?

Walked in the door to my boss calling from his vacation to bitch me out. Spent 30 minutes on the phone with him and then had to hop on two subsequent calls, which took pretty much all afternoon. It was 7:30 p.m. before I was finished with my work (from the couch) and headed to a Chinese buffet with Mr. V and Pumpkinhead.

Then we come home and get a knock on the door. “Oh, I have a delivery for [Mr. V] but he has to sign for it.” Me, thinking it was a Christmas thing, was all happy telling him to come to the door. Um, no…. Process server delivering notice from court that he has to respond to a petition from a debt collector for a past due debt. Merry Christmas!

Good things
1) Pumpkinhead is so freaking cute, happy to be home and excited to make cookies for Santa
2) Sent my resume to a friend who has good connections in my field. Maybe she can actually hook me up?
3) I got like four books free on my early birthday present (Kindle)
4) Unlike last year when I had to convince a coworker to send out my 30th birthday party invitations and my boyfriend was like, duh, my sweet fiance has already planned dinner out with friends for my “special day.” My kind of man!

December 12th, 2009  Posted at   Women in Law
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To answer Shels, no, no promotion or bonus. Not sure if/when/if ever that will happen. However, I did put my resume on Monster this week just to see what is out there. I love the work I do and really enjoy my job. But I am extraordinarily over-extended and rather than getting help, I’m just getting more work.

This month alone I am coordinating rollout of a new policy in 18 languages to 50,000 people in 96 countries… by mail. I am also working on development of two training modules related to those policies, each of which have to be completed and sent out to employees in January using a new training system that the company’s employees are unfamiliar with (oh, and the IT department is being outsourced the very WEEK my boss is planning to roll out our first course…). I am responsible for our worldwide employee hotline (receiving reports through online system and sending them out to the proper investigators in each location and following up to close out the cases). I am working on follow-ups to a company-wide questionnaire. I field, respond to and translate questions from our Latin American locations because I am the only Spanish speaker. On top of all that I am designing websites and file repositories for my department and each of its three composite groups and working with IT on rollout of a new software package. Then this week I get an e-mail from Big Boss asking me to work another 15 hours per week through the end of the year on yet another major project.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Big Boss. I love my job. I want to succeed, impress, do well. And I am thrilled that he recognizes that I can do more than my title. But, DAMN, I have way too much on my plate right now. Sigh… And the items above are just the big things – don’t include the daily assistance to the five attorneys in my group on various initiatives because, after all, I am a “paralegal”. Um… yeah, sounds like it, huh? I need the title and pay that go with the work I do. Believe me, I have told him. Hanging in, hanging on, hanging out.

October 19th, 2009  Posted at   Women in Law
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Forget everything I said yesterday. My boss met with me today and things just went downhill from there. He categorized my To Do list into “early week, mid week, late week, next week and next month”. Of course all of the Big Boss’s priorities are NEXT MONTH!!! And the attorneys? Fuck ‘em. He says I should tell them to come back later and report them to him if they come to me so he can redirect them. He also says they should take on a lot of my duties themselves. Nice… And I shouldn’t work more than 8 hours a day. So basically I’m being demoted, disregarded and screwed.

THEN he comes into my colleague’s office where we are meeting to review a project and drags in our third coworker. Announces he is setting schedules for all of us. Wants us to tell him where we are at all times, when we will be back, etc., so that he can ensure the attorneys have coverage. Um, what did you just tell me?!? Says he wants to know if we take time off when we will make it up.

Then, when I ask him about the professional development exam Big Boss said they would cover, he said “Maybe we can consider it next year.” I asked him about our conversation back in February in which he asked me to travel to promote our program’s initiatives. He basically denied it (again) and said he can’t really speak to the future.

FINALLY, he told me Big Boss’s big project would have to be done when I can “fit it in”. Which, considering my workload which, fuck him, is NOT going to fit into 8-hour days, means “do it on your own time, sucka!”

I am so fucking depressed. Big Boss said to give it a few weeks. I will. But damn. :(

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