Life has been...different...lately.

I always thought that when people joked about state employment they were just exaggerating. There was no way that it was as bad as they described. There had to be people who were invested in their jobs and worked at a normal pace, right? Not everyone could be a clock-watching Union member biding their time until retirement, right? At least the people I would be working with would be committed to their jobs, right?

Right?

Apparently not.

I should say now that there are several people in my office that are great to work with and have taught me a lot. They've been nothing but supportive and work hard every day. I enjoy working with them and would happily do so anywhere.

But now, the Dark Side:

There are a number of people I am required to have interaction with who do nothing but drag down my day. They spend more time whining about their jobs than doing them, and getting what I need from them is like pulling teeth. In the last three weeks I've had the following occur:

-- After placing a recycling bin next to the trash can near the fax machine I was told, "you don't have jurisdiction over us - you can't MAKE us recycle!" and then was forced to play hide and seek with the recycling bin for a week (please note that state agencies are required to recycle).

-- Been informed by one person in Payroll that he will not use e-mail. WTF?!? He requires that all communication be sent to him via Post-It. POST-IT. If it doesn't fit he wants it on multiple Post-Its. How is this allowed??

-- Multiple people have advised me to "pace yourself" or "slow down" because I work too quickly and continuously run out of things to do. I'm not going to slow down just because everyone else is working at a snail's pace. Speed the fuck up.

-- After touching a file on someone's desk, a Supervisor was informed that I "went through" that person's desk. After explaining that I glanced at the contents of the folder because the owner of said person's desk would not get back to me via e-mail (see above) and I thought I could get the answer I needed from the folder. Everything was fine after my discussion with the supervisor, but it was truly a mountain out of a molehill.

This is a sampling of the major BS that I've dealt with since starting my state job. It really emanates from a group of just a few people, and the majority have been great, but dealing with just those few can really fuck up your day. In addition the pettiness - and downright meanness - level is unbelievable; it reminds me of junior high school.

I really want to do well in this new position, but it's been a while since I've been the low person on the totem pole. I'm not used to having to ask for permission to do everything, and I've never worked in such a process-oriented organization before. It's hard to keep from stepping on toes, especially in a place where people can hold grudges against you forever. My office mate actually took two months off after starting due to workplace stress from workplace relationships.

I know I'm making this sound like a terrible job, but it's really not. I'm enjoying the work. I've always loved what I've been hired to do, and I'd love to make a career of it. I'm not heavily supervised, I'm given a lot of freedom to take breaks and lunch when I want, so my schedule is my own. Most of the people I work with are great, and have been extremely supportive.

At this point, I'm going to continue on and do my best to keep the drama to a minimum. Hopefully things will quiet down as time goes on and I settle in.

I'm counting on it.

Posted by: Ensie at 07:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 672 words, total size 4 kb.