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The Let's Bitch About Work Thread!


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22 hours ago, Cerina said:

So my boss's meetings this week went about how I expected them to - he basically told her that she doesn't have a business to expand. She's just an agent working for herself. Which is pretty much how I feel about the whole thing as well. She said it was hard to hear. 

So we had a quick Zoom meeting yesterday where she told me all of this. I kinda confessed that I was expecting this and had the same thoughts as the new mentor guy but didn't want to tell her because I didn't think she would take it well. She was surprised actually, but she said she wouldn't have been mad at me for telling her, but that she wouldn't have necessarily taken it from me (like a "what the hell do you know!?" sorta reaction). 

They also looked at her current production numbers. She closed the same number of transactions this year as last year, but she felt more successful because she made significantly more money because the market drove prices sky-high so her commissions were much higher. That's too dependent on the market to be considered growth. They looked at the models (from the book The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, which is like the Keller Williams bible on how to grow and expand), and (surprise!) her production numbers don't justify our current organizational chart - meaning that she has no business having an Executive Assistant (me), a Transaction Coordinator (per contract lady that she's been using since day 1), and a Director of Marketing (her husband who quit his job to work for her about the same time she hired me).

The models say that at this level she should have one admin who does the transaction coordination. Then we add on another couple of agents before adding on more people to the operations side (transaction coordination, listing coordination, marketing, etc.). BUT, if things don't improve drastically pretty soon, guess who will probably be the first to be cut? Hint - not her husband or the lady who she's had for almost 5 years. 

In the Zoom meeting yesterday she did say several times "I screwed up". Don't know if she meant just in general trying to go too fast or specifically in bringing on me and her husband at the same time. We also spent a bit of time talking about the next steps and her plans for Q1 next year. At one point (and I can't for the life of me remember her exact words now), she even sorta offered me an out. She said something like "if you want to get off this crazy train, I understand", but I really can't remember exactly what she said. In the moment I was just like "we can do this. I believe we can build a business here." But then several hours later I starting thinking about it more. 

So today I'm not feeling great and completely missed a demo meeting I'd set up for us to check out this new CRM platform. Ok honestly, I set up the demo for my boss and her husband mostly. I already did the demo think several months ago when I originally wanted to switch, but anyway. Last week I set the meeting for Tuesday, then my boss told me about her last-second trip to Atlanta, so I cancelled, then she wanted it set for this morning, so I did, but then she realized she had another thing this morning, so I cancelled, then I set it for 11:45 this morning, but then today I slept in because I had a really restless night and over the course of the morning I've spent more time staring into space and taking meds than looking at my computer so I missed all the reminders about the meeting at 11:45 and had it in my head that it was at 12:45. So I missed the damn demo. (I texted an apology and told her I was going back to bed anyway because I'm feeling feverish.) 

Now I'm wondering if I should be looking for another job just to be safe. Or if I should do something stupidly noble like offering to work for her part-time until she can justify the expense of having me and I can find other part-time work to fill in the gaps. Or should I just buckle down and basically lead from behind here and show her how to make this a true business. 

I hate to just quit. I do really like her and her husband as people. And I like the flexibility of my schedule and working from home. So I'd have to be picky to find something similar. 

Honestly, it sounds like she is laying the groundwork to lay you off and/or trying to plant the idea in your head you should quit (and doesn't have to pay you unemployment). 

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Exactly what everyone has said. Look for something else, but don't give her any outs.  You might be loyal to her, but I guarantee she has no loyalty to you, and you've made it clear that you agree.

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At the risk of sounding old, I've noticed the young kids call in sick to work before big deadlines or the day something is due. I needed some data from someone to close out a study and they called in sick today and are out tomorrow for travel. Study presentation is 8 AM Wednesday, and I am "coming in to work" on what should've been a vacation day to help with the closure presentation for this study. Needless to say, I am irked. I spent the day verifying his data matched in two sources (since he didn't really want to stand behind his data on Friday), and the study leader had the file open all day but wasn't actually at his computer. 

I'm tired of being the only adult. I'm trying to step down from my lead position and I've been able to give other reasons for it, but if they don't make progress on replacing me soon, I'm going to start calling out all the 50-year old men and 25-year old men who pull this crap on a regular basis. The real reason is I can't make progress in my career because I'm too busy babysitting these grown ass men.

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Earlier this year, our company switched awards programs. It's still the same general idea: you get awarded points, which you can cash in for various things. Over the years I've almost exclusively used them for gift cards. And in the last few years, specifically for ebay cards, since I'm heavily into collecting.

But with switching systems, the items in the awards catalog are completely different. Gone are Target cards, general Visa cards, and most glaringly to me, ebay cards. It's really frustrating because I have a ton of points, and with one point being equal to a dollar, well, that's a lot of shit expensive shit I could get in one swoop instead of months of saving. But of course, it's not an option, and there's literally nothing else in the catalog I'm interested in. The best option left is Amazon, but I really don't want to end up using my awards points on random ass shit you get from Amazon. Hooray I did great on a project, let me buy some fucking batteries and clothes hangars and a tshirt.

They have a feature where you can suggest items for the catalog, and in response to my suggestion they said "We'll do our best to see if the catalog team can accommodate your request. Please note all items offered within our catalog depend on what is available through our vendor network; therefore we are unable to guarantee your submission's addition, provide a timeframe, or notify you if your suggestion is incorporated." So, literally, no help at all.

I know I know first world problem. But it's annoying as shit.

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I dunno, I feel like those sites are shady as hell, and they're never a 1:1 trade in dollar amount. I thought about getting an Amazon card and using it to buy an ebay one, but not only does Amazon not sell ebay cards, they also don't allow you to use their own gift cards to buy OTHER gift cards. I've yet to find a store/company that allows it

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By the way, after 2 days of working my ass off on that trade study presentation, they canceled the meeting at 3pm the afternoon before the 8 AM closure presentation, and it was probably because they asked me to incorporate some 40-year old data as a comparison point and I said there wasn't time. So I got Wednesday off anyway, but I'm so pissed that 2 guys called in sick and left me hanging, and that they canceled it after I showed some backbone on a last-minute ridiculous request. I doubt that data point mattered.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So you guys know how I regularly watch my boss's videos of her meetings with her business coach, right? 

Well today she told him that she's decided to let me go. Big surprise there, right? 

I'm equal parts relieved, panicked, and a little peeved that it's not me making the big decision. 

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Just make sure you make her do it, and make her do it on her own schedule. Don’t do anything that could possibly be construed as quitting or giving her reason to fire you. Get that unemployment.

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41 minutes ago, Cerina said:

So you guys know how I regularly watch my boss's videos of her meetings with her business coach, right? 

Well today she told him that she's decided to let me go. Big surprise there, right? 

I'm equal parts relieved, panicked, and a little peeved that it's not me making the big decision. 

That really sucks...

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I've already been putting feelers out for another job. My sister has a realtor she's used 3 or 4 times now (who was also my sister's camp counselor back in the day), so I'd asked her to mention my situation to her realtor to see if she knows anyone hiring. The realtor lady said she herself was interested in talking to me, so that might be something. 

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Well I was let go today. 

It wasn't that bad. I believe she genuinely didn't want to do it, but she had to because she literally couldn't afford to keep me. She did tell me several times that it had nothing to do with my performance. 

She's going to actually pay me for the month and wants to help me find another position on another team. So I guess that's about all I could ask for at this point. 

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I’m glad that she waited until after the holidays. I once got laid off on December 26, and it made that entire week suck. It sounds like she has big dreams but really needs to figure out how to run a business, but hopefully she’ll help you find an even better fit.

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So I contacted the recruiter that found me for Ashley because I figured that they already have 5+ hours of video of me being interviewed, so maybe we can cut to the chase a bit. Today they sent me a text about a possible Office/Operations Manager position for a real estate team with offices in Houston, Galveston, and Austin. They need someone who can work remotely but also travel between offices when needed. It also pays $10-22k more than I was just making. 

I have an appointment to speak to the recruiter about it in more detail later on today, so we'll see. 

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Sounds like a job that's custom made for you. 

 

I got cut from consideration for the job I had applied for. But I'm going to choose it as a win. It's developmental, which means it's only 6 months, no raise, and mostly just resume padding, with a break in claim handling. And it would've been great, but I'd rather get a job with a raise and a permanent move from claims, and if something had come up in the next 6 months, I would've been blocked from applying. So I'm a little disappointed because I actually was enthusiastic about the work, but there are going to be better opportunities, or I'll be able to apply again in 6 months.

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We've had some upper management shuffling that had some resolution today. They picked the right guy, and the guy I was worried they would pick, ended up leaving the organization in search of further world domination, which I actually predicted would happen if he didn't get it. So a little sigh of relief. I think this will be less stressful for my career, even though I had a good rapport with evil manager, I didn't trust him at all. I think we both knew we were alliance building for mutual benefit, but he definitely could have just benefitted and left me without anything.

Happy 2022 (so far).

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Since this makes the 2nd agent I've wasted 7 months working for because they weren't prepared to or equipped for having an assistant, I think I need to update my resume to focus more on my skills and their potential. I can definitely shift the focus to my skills but how do I make their potential apparent to employers?

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Is the issue that they have difficulty letting go or delegating tasks to you, or are they so disorganized that they can't hand off tasks to you?

Have you tried framing yourself as a Chief of Staff role, rather than an assistant? At my company, many of the executives have Chiefs of Staff and that is different than, let's say, an organizational assistant or administrator (which is really just the fancy new word for secretary). Chief of Staff is more strategic.

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Micromanagers piss me off so bad. I have bosses that do that at the second job and I want to murder them.  Nine times out of ten the tiny details they're sweating and bitching at you about implode and we have no back ups and no flexibility when it goes pear shaped.

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