Friday, May 2, 2014

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing - The Return.

I’m afraid I'm going to gripe a little bit so bear with me. Remember a few months ago I told you all about my employers deciding to exploit make use of my past experience as a reporter and putting me on a special assignment to write a white paper? Sure you do! This, as I mentioned, resulted in my being unceremoniously pulled from my desk, my duties and even the building and being shipped off to the Central Office where I and the other three members of the team would spend our days toiling away on the deserted top floor.

Then, of course, the HR girls were taken away too. I never mentioned this but, at my old desk, I was surrounded by the pretty girls from HR (Seriously, it’s like baring a resemblance to a porcelain doll is one of the hiring criteria for that section). I wasn't in HR, mind you. That was just where they had room to seat me that was closest to my department.

I'll admit I didn't mind this too much.

Still, aside from all that and me having to spend four times as much in transportation costs (No, I wasn't being compensated for this), it actually wasn't so bad. The team got along and, while progress was slow, we were actually starting to get the thing going. The whole point of us being transferred was to prevent us from being distracted by anything else. We were supposed to focus on the white paper and the white paper alone and get it done as quickly as possible.

For two months we battled traffic, parking issues (the other three drove) and the lack of decent lunchtime dining options (there are places you can get food but they’re all very far away). The people on the ground floor didn't like us very much, even though we all worked for the same government ministry (related to aforementioned parking issues) and sometimes the air conditioning on that floor broke but we persevered.

Now, we’re back. As of two weeks ago our long trips to Central came to an end and we were called back to base. You’d think I’d be happy now. Right? Now that it’s all over I get to return to my desk, resume my work and patiently endure the HR girls’ cooing over how much they love each other’s hair/shoes/outfit/etc. I would have been happy, if that were the case. See, the project isn't finished... I think. In fact, things are getting more and more confusing.

Let me explain.

Recently there has been some reshuffling of senior positions at the Head Office which forced our team leader, a Divisional Director, to have to return to base to assume some new responsibilities. With him being called back it made no sense to leave the rest of us there so they brought us in as well. The project isn't over. We’re just continuing it at Head Office... in the middle of all the distractions they wanted us to stay away from...

This, in itself, is annoying but the real problem is that the entire project has become an afterthought to the great big heads upstairs and no one is really taking it seriously. The team leader is too busy with his new responsibilities and they've separated all the members of the team as far away from each other as they could. However, since it hasn't officially been declared dead, I’m stuck here, one floor below where my real desk is, plugging away at it, wondering if there’s even a point. Added to that, they’re slowly starting to squeeze other tasks that have nothing to do with the project into my portfolio.

Then I saw an email from someone in the division wondering when I was planning to meet with her and officially assume the duties of my desk...

I don’t mind being given something to do. Don’t get me wrong. What I do mind is being taken from a division where, at least, I had some experience (and something nice to look at when I got bored) and being put in one where I had almost zero usable skills. While it is true I felt a little overwhelmed from time to time, at least I knew enough to fake it when I had to.

Helping write the white paper was an exception. This division I've been dropped into now deals with things like creating policy and a whole host of things I have never dealt with or have never been trained for.

Still, everything’s up in the air at this point. Just as I have been receiving little-to-no information on what’s going on, I think it’s safe to assume I’m not the only one and a lot of them don't really knows I’m only here on loan. In the end, I may end up being left alone to finish what I was sent here to do and go back to my “home”, surrounded by the pretty HR girls just one floor above.

I hope...

13 comments:

  1. You need a pair of ruby shoes "there's no place like home, there's no place like home". Just make sure they're really awesome ruby shoes so the girls in HR can coo over them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HA! Good one.

      You really think they'll notice?

      Delete
  2. There are times when I remind myself of the many months when I applied and applied and obtained zero call backs for jobs and when I do that I suddenly find great comfort in any job scenario... You know what I mean? I still say - ah man Vinny, this is bullshit! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You potentially get to create policy, be the invisible hand of societal protocol and you're against it? Run with it. Whenever they catch up to their paper work nightmare, you will have padded your resume to the point where you will be hired at whatever job to which you apply. Anxiety shmanxiety, you're creating experience out of imagination.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm pretty sure that's what got me into this mess in the first place.

      Delete
  4. Since you seem to be getting split between two jobs what you need to do is get yourself on two different payrolls. Collect two paychecks each week. And then when you eventually retire you'll get two retirement parties. It will be great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wait... I can do that?! Well, maybe this won't be so bad after all.

      Delete
  5. It's a shame they are wasting your intelligence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! It's bad enough they already don't seem to appreciate my dry, cynical wit. Honestly, I don't know how I'm supposed to fit in with these people.

      Delete
    2. Humor is a sign of intelligence.
      Scientifically proven.

      Delete

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