7
Work Blues
Wow. I just realized that its been a very long time since I've updated this blog. I guess there isn't to much I like to keep private, or maybe its just that I've lost my inspiration to write lately. I find that lately I'm in a sour mood all of the time. Everything is bothering me, but mainly work situations.
Let me give you a run down on my wonderful job. I love my job for the most part. I get a lot of days off (never been told no when requesting a day off), I work pretty great hours and get paid very well. So what is my problem with my job?
My co-workers. Some of them I can't stand, others I tolerate, and one I loathe. They get under my skin with their inability to be able to accomplish anything without me holding their hands through everything. At this rate I should be paid for doing my job and their job. Why pay them to do something if they can't finish a task without my help?
My boss. Although he is an excellent boss (see never telling me no) he has yet to learn what office hours are. He will call me on my cell phone at 10pm at night to have a conference call with one of our factories in another country. He calls me on the weekends to ask me if I did something, if I can help him with something, if I can check my email for something. Now, I normally don't mind because like I said, I get away with a lot at the company but recently things have changed.
At the end of last year we decided to discuss raises with our CEO who was visiting from out of town. We sat down and discussed my current pay and we said that a raise would be given by the end of the first quarter of the new year. I said fine and shut my mouth about it. They took the decision to even bring up the subject I'd let them decide when it was time to give a raise (btw: I haven't been with the company very long, it'll be two years in a few months).
Well my co-worker, Not So Fabulous (NSF)had a talk with the boss about his pay. He got very upset when he found out that he was the least paid employee at the company yet has been there the longest. (How he found this out is completely beyond me!) So, NSF had a talk with the boss where he basically demanded equal or more pay then the newest employee (me). He said it was unfair that he'd been at a job for 7 years and didn't get the recognition monetarily as other people within the company.
Well here is a question for you: What if someone works in the mail room of a company for 4 years and a brand new CEO is brought to the company. Should the mail room guy get more then the CEO because of how long he has been in a company? The obvious answer is NO!
Different jobs get different pay. Someone in marketing doesn't get paid the same as someone in shipping. Someone in a manager position doesn't get paid the same as someone who is an assistant. You may be at a company longer but if you aren't moving up on the ladder why should your pay?
So after NSF and boss talks he (NSF) talks to me about it and I told him that given that he has been there for so long I do hope that he gets his raise (also expecting my raise to be equal to the work that I have done for the company). One day after the talk NSF takes a day off and my boss goes to me, "Fabulous, don't think I've forgotten you regarding the raise. I'm working on it with our head office." I said nothing other than, "Okay thanks!"
So I go on vacation and when I come back I notice that my paycheck was for slightly more money. I thought that maybe my boss finally decided to reimburse me for my cell phone expense that I had incurred when travelling for the company. Nope, NSF informed me that it was my raise. Excuse me? Seriously? You are kidding me right?
So I come into the office and the boss is here and he pulls me into the office to discuss the raise. He tells me, "Fabulous, I know that you aren't going to be very happy but with NSF demanding equal pay and blah blah blah" (Yes blah blah blah because by this point I'm blocking out what he said). What it basically came down to was that head office was not willing to give me a large increase because they had just increased NSF by 10% to bring him up to equal pay as me. Not a penny more, not a penny less. At this point I just said nothing because to be honest with you, discussing money makes me uncomfortable.
I went home and I discussed this with my husband and he was also not pleased. It wasn't the type of raise that we were expecting. He asked me why I was so upset and I told him:
1. NSF has gotten reprimanded by our boss numerous times this year to the point that one day NSF asked our boss, "Do you think that I am incompetent at my job?" (My answer is YES!!!)
2. I have managed to incorporate new systems at work which have resulted in THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of dollars in savings for our company. These savings come from printing material, graphics work, shipping, and just a better system to do things. IN DEPARTMENTS THAT AREN'T EVEN MINE! In fact, boss was so impressed that one day he pulled me into his office to say, "Fabulous, I love how you take initiative and see something wrong and come up with solutions. It shows you care about the company."
3. I work harder than NSF. I'm sorry but NSF doesn't get phone calls on the weekend or at 10pm on a work night to have conference calls. NSF doesn't get his emails to his telephone, NSF doesn't have his cell number written on his business cards because quite frankly, he isn't THAT important to clients in that aspect. NSF works with customers ordering things online, I work directly with the distributors and retail stores.
I had decided to send an email to my boss informing him of how unhappy I am about this situation because I'm uncomfortable speaking about it face to face because I get emotional and I don't want my emotions to show but I ran into a problem. How exactly could I word my email to where I'm not comparing my work to NSF. I would understand not getting a raise if I was performing under par but I'm not. I'm above par, I'm exceptional. Head office has noticed, Distributors have noticed, other companies employees have noticed. What basically happened is that I got jipped and only increased pay by 5% because NSF got 10% to get paid EXACTLY WHAT I GET PAID.
So I ended up not sending that email because I noticed that I got other perks (no I didn't forget about the situation because when boss told me we'd work on a bigger raise at end of year I thought I'd bring this all up to him then). The perks I get is that I've been at the job for less than 2 years and I'm averaging about 3 weeks off (vacations) and a lot of random days off here and there for being sick, going to see a hockey game, or just because I need a spa day. My boss has never told me NO to a day off whereas NSF hears it often. He's told that he can't leave on certain days because of so and so reason and all that other good stuff.
Well, the other day we were planning some shows for our industry and once again I will be required to travel. My boss asked me to put an international calling plan on my phone and have it billed to the company as an expense (I'll need to access emails and make business calls while gone). After we established who would be travelling where and when I noticed that I wasn't travelling heavily in October (ie, not at all). I checked the agenda for other shows and saw that October is a complete dead month with the exception of one show towards the end of the month. I asked boss to speak and he said sure come in.
I informed him that I would like to take 10 consecutive days off in October to go somewhere. It is somewhere I haven't been in a long time for long periods of time (I've visited but so briefly it wasn't worth the cross country flight fare). He looked iffy because when you see the dates on the calendar blacked out it looks like I'll be gone for 3 weeks instead of 17 days. He told me, "You know I never tell you no but its very hard because of it being almost the last month for our end of year (November is big promotion month and December is send gifts to our customers and some last minute paper work). October is our last working month." I offered to take my laptop and do work occassionally in the mornings or evenings so that I don't get too far behind and I would be willing to find a replacement for 2 weeks while I am gone. He tells me that I am irreplaceable (I know this already). We came on agreement for a few days less. I'll be taking a vacation for 11 days instead of 17. Oh did I mention this would be PAID, as in my pay doesn't get docked for me not being in the office (thats how our company works, no 4% vacation pay, you still get paid the same if you are here or not).
After boss left for the day NSF goes to me, "I over heard your conversation with Boss. Thats not fair. I had to work here for 5 years before I got 3 weeks vacation and you basically get it the minute you walk in the door. If he gives you the days off then I'm going to demand that he give me an extra week pay." I responded with, "NSF, sometimes things aren't always fair. Do you think its fair that my raise depended on what your raise was?" (This was the first time I mentioned this to him).
He replies, "Well do you think I was happy with it? I am making the same thing that someone who has been here less than 2 years makes!" and I shouted, "We don't do the same fucking job! You should get a raise depending on how you perform at work not based on what someone else's pay is. Also it is up to Boss to decide on if he will pay you an extra week or not but I will NOT give up my vacation because you do not feel that its fair."
He responds, "It's not fair. I've been here longer."
I respond, "Well if you feel so fucking inferior when it comes to pays and vacation why do you continue to work here? "
He said nothing.
Well, now I'm at a point that I don't know what to do. Do I send my boss that email that I've been meaning to send him, do I talk to him in person regarding it? (The reason for email also is because its very easy for him to click FORWARD and send to our CEO to see how worth it I am to the company). What it comes down to is that at the end of this year, if I do not get a raise that I deserve based on work that I've done, on what an asset I am to the company I will give in my two weeks notice. Or is that just being childish?
Let me give you a run down on my wonderful job. I love my job for the most part. I get a lot of days off (never been told no when requesting a day off), I work pretty great hours and get paid very well. So what is my problem with my job?
My co-workers. Some of them I can't stand, others I tolerate, and one I loathe. They get under my skin with their inability to be able to accomplish anything without me holding their hands through everything. At this rate I should be paid for doing my job and their job. Why pay them to do something if they can't finish a task without my help?
My boss. Although he is an excellent boss (see never telling me no) he has yet to learn what office hours are. He will call me on my cell phone at 10pm at night to have a conference call with one of our factories in another country. He calls me on the weekends to ask me if I did something, if I can help him with something, if I can check my email for something. Now, I normally don't mind because like I said, I get away with a lot at the company but recently things have changed.
At the end of last year we decided to discuss raises with our CEO who was visiting from out of town. We sat down and discussed my current pay and we said that a raise would be given by the end of the first quarter of the new year. I said fine and shut my mouth about it. They took the decision to even bring up the subject I'd let them decide when it was time to give a raise (btw: I haven't been with the company very long, it'll be two years in a few months).
Well my co-worker, Not So Fabulous (NSF)had a talk with the boss about his pay. He got very upset when he found out that he was the least paid employee at the company yet has been there the longest. (How he found this out is completely beyond me!) So, NSF had a talk with the boss where he basically demanded equal or more pay then the newest employee (me). He said it was unfair that he'd been at a job for 7 years and didn't get the recognition monetarily as other people within the company.
Well here is a question for you: What if someone works in the mail room of a company for 4 years and a brand new CEO is brought to the company. Should the mail room guy get more then the CEO because of how long he has been in a company? The obvious answer is NO!
Different jobs get different pay. Someone in marketing doesn't get paid the same as someone in shipping. Someone in a manager position doesn't get paid the same as someone who is an assistant. You may be at a company longer but if you aren't moving up on the ladder why should your pay?
So after NSF and boss talks he (NSF) talks to me about it and I told him that given that he has been there for so long I do hope that he gets his raise (also expecting my raise to be equal to the work that I have done for the company). One day after the talk NSF takes a day off and my boss goes to me, "Fabulous, don't think I've forgotten you regarding the raise. I'm working on it with our head office." I said nothing other than, "Okay thanks!"
So I go on vacation and when I come back I notice that my paycheck was for slightly more money. I thought that maybe my boss finally decided to reimburse me for my cell phone expense that I had incurred when travelling for the company. Nope, NSF informed me that it was my raise. Excuse me? Seriously? You are kidding me right?
So I come into the office and the boss is here and he pulls me into the office to discuss the raise. He tells me, "Fabulous, I know that you aren't going to be very happy but with NSF demanding equal pay and blah blah blah" (Yes blah blah blah because by this point I'm blocking out what he said). What it basically came down to was that head office was not willing to give me a large increase because they had just increased NSF by 10% to bring him up to equal pay as me. Not a penny more, not a penny less. At this point I just said nothing because to be honest with you, discussing money makes me uncomfortable.
I went home and I discussed this with my husband and he was also not pleased. It wasn't the type of raise that we were expecting. He asked me why I was so upset and I told him:
1. NSF has gotten reprimanded by our boss numerous times this year to the point that one day NSF asked our boss, "Do you think that I am incompetent at my job?" (My answer is YES!!!)
2. I have managed to incorporate new systems at work which have resulted in THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of dollars in savings for our company. These savings come from printing material, graphics work, shipping, and just a better system to do things. IN DEPARTMENTS THAT AREN'T EVEN MINE! In fact, boss was so impressed that one day he pulled me into his office to say, "Fabulous, I love how you take initiative and see something wrong and come up with solutions. It shows you care about the company."
3. I work harder than NSF. I'm sorry but NSF doesn't get phone calls on the weekend or at 10pm on a work night to have conference calls. NSF doesn't get his emails to his telephone, NSF doesn't have his cell number written on his business cards because quite frankly, he isn't THAT important to clients in that aspect. NSF works with customers ordering things online, I work directly with the distributors and retail stores.
I had decided to send an email to my boss informing him of how unhappy I am about this situation because I'm uncomfortable speaking about it face to face because I get emotional and I don't want my emotions to show but I ran into a problem. How exactly could I word my email to where I'm not comparing my work to NSF. I would understand not getting a raise if I was performing under par but I'm not. I'm above par, I'm exceptional. Head office has noticed, Distributors have noticed, other companies employees have noticed. What basically happened is that I got jipped and only increased pay by 5% because NSF got 10% to get paid EXACTLY WHAT I GET PAID.
So I ended up not sending that email because I noticed that I got other perks (no I didn't forget about the situation because when boss told me we'd work on a bigger raise at end of year I thought I'd bring this all up to him then). The perks I get is that I've been at the job for less than 2 years and I'm averaging about 3 weeks off (vacations) and a lot of random days off here and there for being sick, going to see a hockey game, or just because I need a spa day. My boss has never told me NO to a day off whereas NSF hears it often. He's told that he can't leave on certain days because of so and so reason and all that other good stuff.
Well, the other day we were planning some shows for our industry and once again I will be required to travel. My boss asked me to put an international calling plan on my phone and have it billed to the company as an expense (I'll need to access emails and make business calls while gone). After we established who would be travelling where and when I noticed that I wasn't travelling heavily in October (ie, not at all). I checked the agenda for other shows and saw that October is a complete dead month with the exception of one show towards the end of the month. I asked boss to speak and he said sure come in.
I informed him that I would like to take 10 consecutive days off in October to go somewhere. It is somewhere I haven't been in a long time for long periods of time (I've visited but so briefly it wasn't worth the cross country flight fare). He looked iffy because when you see the dates on the calendar blacked out it looks like I'll be gone for 3 weeks instead of 17 days. He told me, "You know I never tell you no but its very hard because of it being almost the last month for our end of year (November is big promotion month and December is send gifts to our customers and some last minute paper work). October is our last working month." I offered to take my laptop and do work occassionally in the mornings or evenings so that I don't get too far behind and I would be willing to find a replacement for 2 weeks while I am gone. He tells me that I am irreplaceable (I know this already). We came on agreement for a few days less. I'll be taking a vacation for 11 days instead of 17. Oh did I mention this would be PAID, as in my pay doesn't get docked for me not being in the office (thats how our company works, no 4% vacation pay, you still get paid the same if you are here or not).
After boss left for the day NSF goes to me, "I over heard your conversation with Boss. Thats not fair. I had to work here for 5 years before I got 3 weeks vacation and you basically get it the minute you walk in the door. If he gives you the days off then I'm going to demand that he give me an extra week pay." I responded with, "NSF, sometimes things aren't always fair. Do you think its fair that my raise depended on what your raise was?" (This was the first time I mentioned this to him).
He replies, "Well do you think I was happy with it? I am making the same thing that someone who has been here less than 2 years makes!" and I shouted, "We don't do the same fucking job! You should get a raise depending on how you perform at work not based on what someone else's pay is. Also it is up to Boss to decide on if he will pay you an extra week or not but I will NOT give up my vacation because you do not feel that its fair."
He responds, "It's not fair. I've been here longer."
I respond, "Well if you feel so fucking inferior when it comes to pays and vacation why do you continue to work here? "
He said nothing.
Well, now I'm at a point that I don't know what to do. Do I send my boss that email that I've been meaning to send him, do I talk to him in person regarding it? (The reason for email also is because its very easy for him to click FORWARD and send to our CEO to see how worth it I am to the company). What it comes down to is that at the end of this year, if I do not get a raise that I deserve based on work that I've done, on what an asset I am to the company I will give in my two weeks notice. Or is that just being childish?
