Job Vent

[the chi]

Aight, I finally found a job after the move. Thought it would be great, things would be good, and all would be well with the world.

Immediately after being hired I started hearing horror stories about the individaul I work with. From people who dont even WORK HERE. No big deal I thought, I'll decide for myself.

Fast Forward- So over the last month I've been here, everything everyone said about "it" is true. One minute I am told to do things one way, the next day I am told thats wrong, it needs to be THIS way and I was never told to do it the other way.

Okay. I can forget sometimes, surely my bad.

Let me also add in that we are expected to work all week and 5 hours on Saturdays. I got it set up so that the Saturday person gets that 5 hours off on Friday. Cool, right? At least we dont have to work a full 6 day work week.

So yesterday I am working the afternoon by myself. My job requires me to leave the office and show people available units. I am also supposed to be in the office and answer the phone. The boss felt I was unable to do my job and came in to sit with me since I was by myself.

I am informed yesterday that:

1) I MUST NEVER LEAVE THE OFFICE
2) I MUST SHOW PEOPLE APARTMENTS WHEN THEY COME IN

Now, another thing to consider is that when we work Saturdays, we work alone. And the SAME RULES APPLY.

Can someone PLEASE tell me how this is supposed to work exactly?

[Homeslice]

Is this an apartment lease coordinator job? I've heard those jobs can get very political, with a lot of backstabbing going on. And that the head person is typically promoted because of a beaming personality, not for any proven managerial skills.

[Avatard]

Get a small personal recorder. When given instructions, record the conversation. When you are told the next day that you were never told to do things a certain way, hit play.

Frankly, if I had to defend myself against such unreasonable/crazy works requests, I'd look for employment elsewhere.

[the chi]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

Is this an apartment lease coordinator job? I've heard those jobs can get very political, with a lot of backstabbing going on. And that the head person is typically promoted because of a beaming personality, not for any proven managerial skills.

In this case, while not political, the owner loves this person and despite running off 30 employees in less than a year, they are still golden.

Originally Posted by Avatard

Get a small personal recorder. When given instructions, record the conversation. When you are told the next day that you were never told to do things a certain way, hit play.

Frankly, if I had to defend myself against such unreasonable/crazy works requests, I'd look for employment elsewhere.

I am trying, it took me months to find this crappy job. Good idea too, I am actually going to keep a log as well, dated and timed with every stupid time that something happens.

Oh and let me add, in addition to these small issues I am dealing with, other employees (and I am witness) are abused, talked down to and blamed for this persons actions!

[marko138]

Seems like your documentation isn't gonna make a bit of difference.

[Avatard]

Originally Posted by The Chi

In this case, while not political, the owner loves this person and despite running off 30 employees in less than a year, they are still golden.



I am trying, it took me months to find this crappy job. Good idea too, I am actually going to keep a log as well, dated and timed with every stupid time that something happens.

Oh and let me add, in addition to these small issues I am dealing with, other employees (and I am witness) are abused, talked down to and blamed for this persons actions!

If the computer on your desk (I'm assuming here) has a mic, just open sound recorder. A flash drive makes a handy repository for your "audio logs". Save as 11.025 Khz Mono to save space. This quality should suffice for human speech.

BTW...Little sound recorder trick: The default 60 second max can be overcome by recording a silent 60 second file, copying and pasting it back onto itself, and saving as a "template" wav file. You can then use that file (I usually make it 6 minutes long) as a starting point for your recordings...just make sure to "save as" another file name.

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Avatard

Get a small personal recorder. When given instructions, record the conversation. When you are told the next day that you were never told to do things a certain way, hit play.

Frankly, if I had to defend myself against such unreasonable/crazy works requests, I'd look for employment elsewhere.

Originally Posted by Avatard

If the computer on your desk (I'm assuming here) has a mic, just open sound recorder. A flash drive makes a handy repository for your "audio logs". Save as 11.025 Khz Mono to save space. This quality should suffice for human speech.

BTW...Little sound recorder trick: The default 60 second max can be overcome by recording a silent 60 second file, copying and pasting it back onto itself, and saving as a "template" wav file. You can then use that file (I usually make it 6 minutes long) as a starting point for your recordings...just make sure to "save as" another file name.

I would STRONGLY suggest not doing this. Recording a "private" conversation without the consent of all parties is illegal in Florida. What is private? That is for a court to decide. What that means to you is the potential of long and costly litigation and potential criminal charges before your conversation is deemed private or not.

You could very easily go from a shitty job to a very shitty civil/criminal case. It isn't worth it to try and make a shitty job somewhat more tolerable. It will wear you out but keep looking for another job while muddling through this crap.

[Avatard]

Well, I didn't mean to suggest that one should record the conversations with any litigation in mind - just in order to clarify that you had received conflicting instructions.

Perhaps as you are being told what to do, you should just write it down while saying "let me make a note of this, so I don't forget"...just to be safe, in light of what Goof2 has said.

[Kerry_129]

Exactly what I was thinking re: recording an unknowing party. Besides - what exactly would it accomplish? It's not as if an unreasonable person if going to say 'Oh, OK, my bad' if they are busted in their contradictory statements - I'd bet it would most likely just enrage them and end your employment, if not on the spot then soon (over any trumped-up reason). A log makes a bit more sense, since you can show them you are writing down their instructions and then refer back to it with them when given contradictory info. But that's still sounds as if it's probably pointless, since a highly disagreeable person won't be swayed by logic or documentation - especially if 'it' has the owner in their pocket and doesn't have anything to fear from being 'outed'.

Sorry to hear of the difficulties - but keep looking & good luck!

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Avatard

Well, I didn't mean to suggest that one should record the conversations with any litigation in mind - just in order to clarify that you had received conflicting instructions.

Perhaps as you are being told what to do, you should just write it down while saying "let me make a note of this, so I don't forget"...just to be safe, in light of what Goof2 has said.

Recording "private" conversations without the consent of all parties is illegal in Florida, no matter what you intend to do with the recordings. Recording them for clarity or litigation is all the same. The act of making the recording on its own is what violates the law. The best rule to follow is to avoid recording conversations with anyone, in any state, without getting them to first consent to the recording.