Courtney
... and the Dynamic Duo!
Excuse me for a minute, but I have to rant about my job to somebody. Anybody!
I work in the Registrar’s Office of a large college here in Edmonton. I moved down here in September, after working in the Facilities Management office for a year prior. I moved because the job could offer me a more permanent job as well as benefits.
However, they didn’t say taking the job would involve babysitting 35 menopausal women and a handful of people my age who can’t think beyond their desk.
I was hired as an assistant to the Registrar and Associate Registrars. I was to take minutes and aid them in their daily activities, which includes setting up meetings, arranging catering and on occasion, arranging travel. That was the job in a nutshell, nice and straightforward.
On any given day, this is what I actually do:
To add even more fun to my day, the Dean lost her Administrative Assistant. You know what that means? Starting next week, I spend my mornings doing all the admin work for that office, and then I spend my afternoons doing my job here, plus the Calendar stuff. That’s two full time jobs that I have to cram into one day, plus organize that other office. I guess it’s in a state of disarray and I have to figure out how to align it with this one. In addition, I’m also redesigning our application forms, transcript paper, certificates and diplomas so I have to shove that job in my day somewhere too.
And yes, this is the very same job that denied me vacation for my wedding. I asked for 3 weeks off and was given the “generous” offer of one day before and 2 days after – one of the days is a stat holiday and everyone gets it off. The wedding is out of town, and the week leading up to the event is full of hair trials, meetings with vendors to confirm everything and make sure everything will go off without a hitch. The two weeks after is a honeymoon. This is no surprise to my bosses, because I told them the exact days I wanted off before I was hired. They said it would be no problem then, and no… it’s a problem.
Sorry for the length, but MAN! I feel better! Who else feels overworked and grossly under-appreciated? Is this a normal aspect of the workforce, to be expected to do much more than any one person should be expected to? I’ve worked in this office since September, and I’m completely burned out.
I work in the Registrar’s Office of a large college here in Edmonton. I moved down here in September, after working in the Facilities Management office for a year prior. I moved because the job could offer me a more permanent job as well as benefits.
However, they didn’t say taking the job would involve babysitting 35 menopausal women and a handful of people my age who can’t think beyond their desk.
I was hired as an assistant to the Registrar and Associate Registrars. I was to take minutes and aid them in their daily activities, which includes setting up meetings, arranging catering and on occasion, arranging travel. That was the job in a nutshell, nice and straightforward.
On any given day, this is what I actually do:
- 7:45 am: Arrive at office due to carpool. This gives me half an hour to eat breakfast, grab some tea or whatever and wake up a bit before my day is supposed to start.
- 8:00 am: Without fail, someone jams the printer and can’t comprehend how to fix it, so they call me.
- 8:05 am: A printer runs out of paper. Rather than walking halfway across the office to grab a package and refill it themselves, they walk all the way across the office, tell me, follow me to the paper area, watch me grab a few packs and then follow me to the printer in question. At this point, they stand and watch me as I refill the printer because if I don’t, no one will.
- 8:15 am: I’m officially on the clock, so I check and respond to any emails that require immediate attention. I flag those ones that can wait a bit and quickly reorganize the inventory shelves. Yes, I have to do this every day because no one in the office knows how to put things back where they find them. I also check the inventory because very few people actually tell me when they’ve used something up.
- 8:30 am: Nearly every day, someone spills coffee or tea. Rather than grabbing a rag to blot up the mess, they call me and ask me to call our maintenance people to deal with it. Most times, I blot up the excess myself and then dab at it with a damp cloth so the carpet doesn’t stain. I then put a request to Maintenance to quickly clean that area of the carpet, “but don’t worry, I’ve removed the majority of it”.
- 9:00 am: I collect any outgoing mail and remind people to seal their envelopes. Yes, some people have decided it’s far too much work to seal their own envelopes.
- 9:30 am to 12:00 pm: This is when I actually do my job. It varies, but most mornings, I take minutes, deliver important documents for my bosses and generally make myself useful. At the moment, I’m also working on an Academic calendar which involves harassing various departments to submit their program pages, editing (because they don’t want to pay an editor because it’s a “useless step”), and clarifying. In this time, there’s always another paper jam to fix and a “Courtney! The printer is flashing and I don’t know why!”
- 12:00 to 1:00 pm: This is supposed to be my lunch hour, but I usually have to eat my lunch at my desk because I’m so busy smoothing problems that I fall behind in my actual job. When I do manage to sneak away, I come back to a pile of papers on my desk, chair and generally littered all over my desk. If I’m REALLY lucky, I also have a few voicemails from people telling me about empty toner, jammed printers and various other problems.
- 1:00 to 4:30 pm: I do mail again, remind people to seal their envelopes and distribute documents. I set up meetings, quickly reorganize the office and work like a devil to do my normal job so I’m not behind the next day. Every second day or so, I field a very stupid question. My favourite one is, “Can you bring my mail to me rather than putting it in my mail box? It’s a waste of time for me to walk all the way over here.”
To add even more fun to my day, the Dean lost her Administrative Assistant. You know what that means? Starting next week, I spend my mornings doing all the admin work for that office, and then I spend my afternoons doing my job here, plus the Calendar stuff. That’s two full time jobs that I have to cram into one day, plus organize that other office. I guess it’s in a state of disarray and I have to figure out how to align it with this one. In addition, I’m also redesigning our application forms, transcript paper, certificates and diplomas so I have to shove that job in my day somewhere too.
And yes, this is the very same job that denied me vacation for my wedding. I asked for 3 weeks off and was given the “generous” offer of one day before and 2 days after – one of the days is a stat holiday and everyone gets it off. The wedding is out of town, and the week leading up to the event is full of hair trials, meetings with vendors to confirm everything and make sure everything will go off without a hitch. The two weeks after is a honeymoon. This is no surprise to my bosses, because I told them the exact days I wanted off before I was hired. They said it would be no problem then, and no… it’s a problem.
Sorry for the length, but MAN! I feel better! Who else feels overworked and grossly under-appreciated? Is this a normal aspect of the workforce, to be expected to do much more than any one person should be expected to? I’ve worked in this office since September, and I’m completely burned out.