What a week this has been… and it’s only Monday!!! After putting up with a lot of infantile abuse from my upper management things seem to be heading South. I used to feel that the entire organization was plotting against me and wondered if it was just me. But now, I have definite confirmation that my sanity is still somewhat intact! My new co-worker (and I think she was also hired to be my supervisor) has been experiencing all the abuse herself for a few weeks now and seems to be in the brink of walking out of here! I had somewhat managed to contain my frustrations and turned myself into “one of them” (as I call most of the employess around here who act like complete zombies) so as to avoid getting an ulcer. I even managed to enjoy my days as long as I had my MP3 collection and a good set of headphones at hand. All my zen-like concentration has now been flushed down the drain, thanks to the latest paranoia from upper management: military-like schedules, no flexibility what-so-ever! Now, I drive 1.5 hours each way to work every day, passing through the George Washington bridge, F.D.R., and Triborogh bridge. Assuming that traffic is standard or even controllable is very naive. Assuming you can garantee someone you’ll arrive day in, day out at the same time is also naive. Even when I leave 1 hour earlier I still can not make such claim. Well, the latest paranoia revolves around their demand that we, lowly consultants, be here on time and not a single minute later or else… The else part was not explained yet. I have been “pretty good” these last few months, managing to arrive if not before 8:30am at least no later than 8:50am. I have also stayed after 5:00pm to make up for any missed time. Obviously they don’t have to be flexible with me (or anyone else) and someone could even tell me “tough luck” as has my manager told me today. But is it really unreasonable to be 5-10 minutes flexible? Is it really worth the trouble of making your employees feel like slaves? So much for wanting to be part of a team!
As I was typing this post my co-worker was called off to a closed door meeting with our manager and director. Approximately 10 minutes later she comes back with the look of someone who’s been pushed against the wall by a bully. Choking her disgust back she told me she was forced to give them her final stand. “What if we cannot accomodate your needs?” they asked. “I’ll just have to find a new job then!” she replied.
Bravo!!! Bravo!!! Maybe they’ll come for me next…