I'm gonna have to quit another job

The BBQ Pit
1

After a few weeks of starvation and unemployment, I finally found a job.

This job sucks. It was advertised as a “research assistant”. I was told that I’d be doing research- mostly legal research- for a book by a prominent economist. It seemed pretty sweet. The pay was great ($12.00 an hour). They wanted somebody able to work independently. I pictured myself hanging out in libraries researching, writing and otherwise working for this author. It would be fun and look great on a future resume.

After a few days, it became apparent that I was more of a personal assistant. He works with several people, mostly young college students, but he “doesn’t like them to talk to each other”. I was put in charge of planning his mom’s birthday party, refinancing his house, networking his computers, transfering car ownership on the other side of the country, resolveing bank accounts and otherwise doing random tasks.

This was okay, too. I’m nowhere near qualified or knowledgeable enough, as a fresh college graduate, to do half this stuff. Sure, he’s creepy and old. And sure, working in a “home office” with some guy in his bathrobe is a bit wierd, but I enjoyed all the responsibility I was given, the flexible hours, and the pay.

But the deal is that he doesn’t want somebody to actually do this stuff. He wants somebody to listen to him rant. He’s a bit delusional. And since it’s his house (not, say, an office) he’s free to be as wierd as he wants. And I have to listen to him. And when he wants something done, I have to do it his way, which rarely makes sense because he can’t hold on to a thought for more than five seconds. And then I get in trouble (and yelled at) whenever I can’t get anything done because his wierd ideas on how to do tings don’t actually work.

And he wants me to do things that just can’t be done. He wants me to solve everything without his input- which means I almost never have the important information I need to get stuff done. And he expects me to have a supernatural understanding of what issues are important to him when I am talking to somebody on the phone. I spend half my time calling people over and over again- until they are mad at me- asking them endless inane questions that probably seem perfectly logical to him (They don’t have a meat tray? Well did you ask if they use paper plates?) but which don’t follow any logic that I can be expected to follow and which don’t even matter since half the stuff he tells me to do doesn’t actually have to be done and he forgets it all anyway. And then, when they don’t give him the expected unreasonable results, he wants me to call them, complain to their managers, and otherwise harrass them for acting perfectly reasonable.

Which would be okay, except I get yelled at when it all doesn’t get done to his speicifcations, and told that I’m wasting his time and money. But he’s the completly unorganized freak. I just do what I’m told and make as many resonable judgment calls as I can (but remember, I get in trouble when I guess wrong). I can’t win. And it’s set up that way. Because I’m not there to get stuff done. I’m there to validate his bizarre whims. He’s just some rich guy who can afford to have a bunch of kids hang around so he has somebody to talk to and manipulate other than the bank employees, individuals, hotel owners and other innocents that he makes me harrass. And he has no problem pulling as many mental trips on me as he wants to, and since it’s his home and his wierd life, he can’t be expected to conduct himself in a reasonable proffesional manner.

And I can’t handle it. I can’t handle a job that makes me cry. I get tense just thinking about having to go back. And I get tense thinking about quitting because he’s already pulled so many wierd mental trips on me that I feel obligated to him. I’m on edge and it’s getting unbearable.

I hate the idea of qutting another job. I hate the idea of being unemployed, especially when I was making so much money. Enough money to do more than merely survive. Enough to save and travel, even working part time. But I just can’t keep doing it. I should have never taken it in the first place. Fuck.

2

You live in California right? Santa Cruz area? How is $12 an hour enough to save and travel while working part time??

Anyways, a lot of your job aspects sound like mine. Impossible demands, expected to read the boss’s mind, no feedback, get yelled at for doing something EXACTLY how you were asked to do it because the boss decides she/he doesn’t want it done that way anymore (this is when the mind reading skill becomes necessary), ect. ect.

I cried plenty when I first started my job, but I stuck it out and it got better and it’s a damn good job that’s taking me places I want to go.

If it’s worth it in the long run, stick it out. If not, just quit. You don’t need a job that’s making you miserable if you’re not getting something significant out of it.

3

even sven, are you looking for another job right now? My advice is to leave as soon as you find something else. It sucks to dread going to work. It sucks even more to be yelled at. No one should ever be yelled at in a work environment.

Good luck to you.

4

I think the solution is simple. Ignore him and do stuff your way, with a lot of ‘yes sir’ and ‘right away sir’.

Then pee in his cereal. Every day. (Joke, don’t really do this, it is very very funny I mean wrong)

5

While this bit of information that I’m about to give as advice is almost totally useless, on the bright side its free:

You are more attractive to prospective employers when you are currently employed than when you are unemployed. You have a better chance of being hired if you are working currently.

Right. See? Told you it was useless. Now back to more important questions: Do Poptarts & Coffee qualify as breakfast?

6

I never understood how people could work in this type of job. I think I’d go insane. $12/hr is not nearly enough to take emotional abuse. I don’t know that any amount of money is. Try to find something else before you quit, though, even if it’s just a low-paying temp job. The market is really tight right now and it may take a little time before you find something permanent.

7

Choking are we ?

:smiley:

8

I worked for a lunatic in his home for exactly half a day. Fuck that, I’m out of here. He was unreasonable and his priorities were fucked up. Get another job anywhere and lose this jerk. CRYING FROM A JOB IS NOT ALLOWED. Poor you. I feel for ya.

9

Quitting another job?

Suck it up until something better comes along. Rarely are things as bad as one thing. Should help you develop some spine, stand up to him.

10

IANAL, but I would question whether this is true.

You are an employee, he is your employer. Surely the vast majority of employment laws in your state apply to you regardless of whether you work in his home or in an office.

I’d check out your local legal aid organisation or department of labour for advice.

11

I agree that terrible as it is, you shouldn’t quit until you’ve got something else lined up (if that’s possible).

On the other hand, I have to tell you that this whole situation reminds me of a book I just read - The Devil Wears Prada about a recent college grad. who takes a job at “Runway” Magazine as a personal assistant to the editor. Sounds just like your sitation…

12

Well I quit. Fuck it. The kinds of people that deal with rich men’s insecurities get paid a hell of a lot more money than me. If I change careers and become a dominatrix, I’d be doing the same thing but for a lot more money and I’d get to do the ordering around.

I’ve just got to call the guy and point him to the email where I explain to him how to finish up all the work I’ve been doing. He can deal with it, I’m sure. Or have some of his legions that I’m not allowed to talk to do it.

At least I’m nicer than the last guy who quit, who walked in perfectly happy and five minutes later stormed out saying “You are too intense and it is freaking me out”, never to be heard from again.

I’ve got enough money to pay next month’s rent, and eat for a while as long as I keep it cheap. I guess it’s back to the job search. I had quite a few prospects (from two weeks of looking) when I took this job, so I’m not overly worried yet. And I’ll have time to paint. I’m hoping to advance my painting skills to the point that I can make money off of it. I’ll survive.

13

What ever you do, don’t waste the Peace Corp’s time with an application.

14

Hey, I did that job right out of college! But I worked for a Fortune 100 company as an executive secretary.

Unless the situation is actually abusive or unhealthy, I’d hang on until you can find something different (and it won’t necessarily be better), but give yourself an attitude adjustment. Do the best you can with the information you’ve got, say “yes, sir” and let it roll off. When he starts yelling at you, realize it isn’t you, don’t yell back, and daydream while he rants (it will be good practice if you ever have a demanding toddler - in fact, its good practice for dealing with all the unreasonable people in life.).

Add some perspective. You aren’t a 19th century maid, expected to wait on your employer 24 hours a day and provide sex on demand in exchange for basic food and shelter. You aren’t working in the diamond mines in South Africa. You aren’t working your fingers to the bone to avoid starvation on the South Dakota prairie at the turn of the century.

15

I don’t want to be too mean but, even sven, this is real life. No one deserves to have someone yell at them in the work place. There is certainly no excusing that behavior. I just know that many have experienced a whole lot worse when they were just starting out. Work can be unpleasent and stressful in the beginning. That’s why you are paid to do it. When you have put in your time and gained experience, you have more power to call the shots.

Haj

16

By the way, the oblique one is very correct here. If that old dude made you cry, you’ll have a very, very hard time surviving even the first day of Peace Corps “boot camp.”

Haj

17

There’s a purpose to joining the Peace Corps! even sven’s job was totally pointless! I’ve worked plenty of horrible jobs that would have been infinitely more tolerable if I had the motivation that comes from knowing there was some reason for what I was doing. Do you honestly think that even sven chose not to continue working for some crazy old man just because it was too demanding for her? I suspect she quit because it was pointlessly demanding, not because the work was too hard. Maybe it the old man were a master artist and she were his apprentice she would have stayed, because there would have been a point to it all!

18

Bah, you did the right thing. Personally I would have dragged it out a little longer. For me there comes a point with my employer that if they are acting like idiots I care less and less about the job. Eventually I go in not caring if I get fired, quit, or flip out. I’d happily tell my boss that he’s acting like a turd and either stop it, or I’ll file a complaint against him.

19

Oh c’mon. When you’re someone’s employee, it doesn’t matter if you think it’s pointless or not. The point is that they’re paying you to do shit that they don’t want or don’t have time to do. I’m a senior level engineer and I have to do pointless shit everyday. Boo hoo.

You’ve clearly never heard of what goes on in the Peace Corps’ initiation class. It’s a six week long (or something, I forget the actual length) pointless mind fuck. It’s to see if you can handle yourself in a very frustrating environment out in the field. I still maintain that if you can’t handle some old idiot without a breakdown, there is no way you can handle the PC.

Haj

20

Reminds me of the job that Elaine had for a while on “Seinfeld”.