Okay, where should I start? I just had to get this out of me or I am probably going to go crazy.
In October of '04 I got a job while still going to school (graduated in December); so I was like Great! I already have a full-time job and haven't even graduated yet. My job was at a small family owned construction company (me and a secretary are the only non-family members). When I was first hired the owner of the company said I would be doing project management type of work. He showed me Microsoft Project Manager and also a monthly project report book they give to the owners (people paying for the buildings). He also specifically mentioned that the last guy they had in this position was more in the role of a superintendant (yelling at workers, working on site, etc), but that that would not be my job since they were looking for someone to run the program and such; that is why they advertised the job in my field (CIS). He also mentioned that while working if I have paperwork and such to do that I could just come back to the office (I would be working at a job trailer) and finish it there. He also said that they would provide a car once they saw that things were going to work out and I decided I was going to stay.
So... I said awesome, sounds like a great job and the pay was more than triple I was getting at my part-time grocery job while working at school. It's salary BTW.
The first few weeks was cool, met new people learned some things about construction (I've never done anything with construction) and everything looked like it was going good. However, things started to get worse and I started to realize what kind of place I was working in. I don't know if it's because of the type of work, but people here have nasty attitudes and I'm about on my last nerve. I am usually a very quiet person, work hard, and any manager I have had has liked me a lot. My last grocery job I got a raise everytime and when I left I was at max pay.
Let me give you a little bio on the two people I work with (names changed of course
Jimmy - the main guy out at the job. He runs most of the company's jobs and seems to be about equal with the owner (it seems more of a partnership between the owner and Jimmy). At first he was real nice and we went out to lunch the first couple weeks, but then I guess that wore off and he started being a real pain in the butt. He has an extremely bad temper where he goess off BAD when he gets mad (yelling, jumping, even throws stuff once in a while), but 5 minutes later he is fine and acts like everything is fine. It used to just be the people we work with that he treated that way, but now he also does it to me, hence this essay. He just has no respect for 'his' employees and it's just no excuse the way he treats people sometimes. However, like I said, 5 minutes later and he's cool as can be.
Sam - the son of the owner. This kid is a little older than me and has macho man thinking. He is always right (must learn this from Jimmy) and if you try to use logic on why he is wrong, he won't listen. He used to be really cool with me too, but lately he has been acting like a pain in the butt and he acts like he's my employer. I work WITH him... not FOR him. Whenever he gets around the guys working on the job he always has some comment trying to make me look stupid or feel stupid and then when we're by ourselves he acts like we're buddies or something. I guess it's the typical 'I'm nice to you only for you to do something for me.' We went out to eat a couple times, but then his uncle started working at a job close to us and now I guess he's too good for me and has started going to eat with him everyday. He even asks Jimmy to eat with them while I'm standing right there and they all go out to eat while I go by myself to grab something to eat. The company is more of a big clique (sp?) than a company... everyone is family and I'm the big outsider.
So back to the job.... after a few weeks things started getting into a routine and I started to understand how things worked. One of my biggest complaints is the stuff that I do here now. I was hired because of my computer "expertise" and yet I use the computer to type minutes and print out faxes and such. The rest of the time I'm doing stuff that would be considered a superintendant's job, which it was not supposed to be when I was hired. Some of the things I have done include cleaning the job site (sweeping, putting drywall in dumpsters, taking out large trash, etc), digging post holes to keep the job doors open, unloading trucks, moving door frames around the job, and making sure the building is closed up every night. I joke around with my girlfriend, trying hard to keep myself positive, that I get paid to get exercise and get a tan. so from everything I can gather, what they really needed was a secretary and a day laborer to do their dirty work. Half of the stuff I do, Sam is supposed to be helping me, but ends up having 'bigger things' to work on which I usually find him just talking to the guys on the job. He always tries to make it sound like he's so important and working hard while half the time he is just BS-ing around.
I am just getting on my last straw and don't know how much longer I can go doing this. I went to school for four extra years to get a degree in computers and here I am being used as a cleanup man. The money is good, but every day I go to work I wonder what I am going to get yelled at for today. It's just that there is so many things that were said in the initial interview that is like night and day to what I am doing now and I know if I said anything now then it would either be ignored or it would get turned around somehow to make it seem like it was my fault.
Just to give an example of a few of the things that pop up, here are two from today:
- I ocassionaly run prints on a big plotter they have at the office (usually at night after work since I can't leave the job during the day) and today the owner's wife called Jimmy today telling him that the plotter ran out of paper and toner while they were printing something yesterday. So I get in trouble because of this... I guess I'm supposed to be psychic and know when the toner is empty (shake it everytime? I don't know...) It's like anything that happens that I've touched is automatically my fault... the way I see it is I would treat it like a roll of toilet paper; whoever it runs out on changes it. Don't complain about it, just do it. I've changed the plotter paper over five times, but do I go complaining that I had to change it? Why would I change the paper when it still has some left on the roll, they'd probably get mad because I'm wasting paper then. Also, they said that the photo copier machine (which is never used) was out of paper in the plotter room and I need to make sure it always has paper. I've never touched the thing, but it's my fault now??? Argh...
- Number two of my day - me and Sam leave for lunch (separately of course) and about 20 minutes into my lunch he calls and said Jimmy is mad because someone is at the trailer dropping something off and it needs to get unloaded. Sam has the nerve to say that I need to hurry up and get back because the guy is waiting and he'll help out whenever he gets done eating... yeah right. So I go back early from my lunch and get the guy unloaded and Sam shows up 30 minutes later and asking if the guy was unloaded okay. I was about to go off right then, but I held my tounge. From what I can gather, he's pretty much a spoiled rich kid. (He bought his house with cash when he was 25, which was probably around a 200k house)
So this is how my job has been going and right now I'm trying to decide whether the money is worth the hassles. I'm young and I could use the money so so far I've been putting up with the abuse in order to try and save some money.
Am I just being a baby and not used to 'the real world' yet or am I being fair in my reaction?
If you read all this, then you're amazing!
Oh yeah, cliff notes:
1. Started new job, seemed to be like a dream job.
2. Little things started popping up and job started getting worse.
3. Employer starts treating me badly and has no respect sometimes.
4. I end up doing crap jobs and doing nothing like I was promised.
5. I start getting mad at job...
6. Post here.
In October of '04 I got a job while still going to school (graduated in December); so I was like Great! I already have a full-time job and haven't even graduated yet. My job was at a small family owned construction company (me and a secretary are the only non-family members). When I was first hired the owner of the company said I would be doing project management type of work. He showed me Microsoft Project Manager and also a monthly project report book they give to the owners (people paying for the buildings). He also specifically mentioned that the last guy they had in this position was more in the role of a superintendant (yelling at workers, working on site, etc), but that that would not be my job since they were looking for someone to run the program and such; that is why they advertised the job in my field (CIS). He also mentioned that while working if I have paperwork and such to do that I could just come back to the office (I would be working at a job trailer) and finish it there. He also said that they would provide a car once they saw that things were going to work out and I decided I was going to stay.
So... I said awesome, sounds like a great job and the pay was more than triple I was getting at my part-time grocery job while working at school. It's salary BTW.
The first few weeks was cool, met new people learned some things about construction (I've never done anything with construction) and everything looked like it was going good. However, things started to get worse and I started to realize what kind of place I was working in. I don't know if it's because of the type of work, but people here have nasty attitudes and I'm about on my last nerve. I am usually a very quiet person, work hard, and any manager I have had has liked me a lot. My last grocery job I got a raise everytime and when I left I was at max pay.
Let me give you a little bio on the two people I work with (names changed of course
Jimmy - the main guy out at the job. He runs most of the company's jobs and seems to be about equal with the owner (it seems more of a partnership between the owner and Jimmy). At first he was real nice and we went out to lunch the first couple weeks, but then I guess that wore off and he started being a real pain in the butt. He has an extremely bad temper where he goess off BAD when he gets mad (yelling, jumping, even throws stuff once in a while), but 5 minutes later he is fine and acts like everything is fine. It used to just be the people we work with that he treated that way, but now he also does it to me, hence this essay. He just has no respect for 'his' employees and it's just no excuse the way he treats people sometimes. However, like I said, 5 minutes later and he's cool as can be.
Sam - the son of the owner. This kid is a little older than me and has macho man thinking. He is always right (must learn this from Jimmy) and if you try to use logic on why he is wrong, he won't listen. He used to be really cool with me too, but lately he has been acting like a pain in the butt and he acts like he's my employer. I work WITH him... not FOR him. Whenever he gets around the guys working on the job he always has some comment trying to make me look stupid or feel stupid and then when we're by ourselves he acts like we're buddies or something. I guess it's the typical 'I'm nice to you only for you to do something for me.' We went out to eat a couple times, but then his uncle started working at a job close to us and now I guess he's too good for me and has started going to eat with him everyday. He even asks Jimmy to eat with them while I'm standing right there and they all go out to eat while I go by myself to grab something to eat. The company is more of a big clique (sp?) than a company... everyone is family and I'm the big outsider.
So back to the job.... after a few weeks things started getting into a routine and I started to understand how things worked. One of my biggest complaints is the stuff that I do here now. I was hired because of my computer "expertise" and yet I use the computer to type minutes and print out faxes and such. The rest of the time I'm doing stuff that would be considered a superintendant's job, which it was not supposed to be when I was hired. Some of the things I have done include cleaning the job site (sweeping, putting drywall in dumpsters, taking out large trash, etc), digging post holes to keep the job doors open, unloading trucks, moving door frames around the job, and making sure the building is closed up every night. I joke around with my girlfriend, trying hard to keep myself positive, that I get paid to get exercise and get a tan. so from everything I can gather, what they really needed was a secretary and a day laborer to do their dirty work. Half of the stuff I do, Sam is supposed to be helping me, but ends up having 'bigger things' to work on which I usually find him just talking to the guys on the job. He always tries to make it sound like he's so important and working hard while half the time he is just BS-ing around.
I am just getting on my last straw and don't know how much longer I can go doing this. I went to school for four extra years to get a degree in computers and here I am being used as a cleanup man. The money is good, but every day I go to work I wonder what I am going to get yelled at for today. It's just that there is so many things that were said in the initial interview that is like night and day to what I am doing now and I know if I said anything now then it would either be ignored or it would get turned around somehow to make it seem like it was my fault.
Just to give an example of a few of the things that pop up, here are two from today:
- I ocassionaly run prints on a big plotter they have at the office (usually at night after work since I can't leave the job during the day) and today the owner's wife called Jimmy today telling him that the plotter ran out of paper and toner while they were printing something yesterday. So I get in trouble because of this... I guess I'm supposed to be psychic and know when the toner is empty (shake it everytime? I don't know...) It's like anything that happens that I've touched is automatically my fault... the way I see it is I would treat it like a roll of toilet paper; whoever it runs out on changes it. Don't complain about it, just do it. I've changed the plotter paper over five times, but do I go complaining that I had to change it? Why would I change the paper when it still has some left on the roll, they'd probably get mad because I'm wasting paper then. Also, they said that the photo copier machine (which is never used) was out of paper in the plotter room and I need to make sure it always has paper. I've never touched the thing, but it's my fault now??? Argh...
- Number two of my day - me and Sam leave for lunch (separately of course) and about 20 minutes into my lunch he calls and said Jimmy is mad because someone is at the trailer dropping something off and it needs to get unloaded. Sam has the nerve to say that I need to hurry up and get back because the guy is waiting and he'll help out whenever he gets done eating... yeah right. So I go back early from my lunch and get the guy unloaded and Sam shows up 30 minutes later and asking if the guy was unloaded okay. I was about to go off right then, but I held my tounge. From what I can gather, he's pretty much a spoiled rich kid. (He bought his house with cash when he was 25, which was probably around a 200k house)
So this is how my job has been going and right now I'm trying to decide whether the money is worth the hassles. I'm young and I could use the money so so far I've been putting up with the abuse in order to try and save some money.
Am I just being a baby and not used to 'the real world' yet or am I being fair in my reaction?
If you read all this, then you're amazing!
Oh yeah, cliff notes:
1. Started new job, seemed to be like a dream job.
2. Little things started popping up and job started getting worse.
3. Employer starts treating me badly and has no respect sometimes.
4. I end up doing crap jobs and doing nothing like I was promised.
5. I start getting mad at job...
6. Post here.