Of course, I’m serious. Hiring temps is exactly what many companies do in this type of circumstance.
Note that I said “during closing week.” It doesn’t seem like the delay in work is a big problem except then. If a temp handles Cindy’s receptionist duties, you and Annie can handle your own closing week duties, and likely much of Cindy’s, too.
AIUI the cost of Cindy’s time off is in effect being paid by you and Annie. Isn’t it time that the company paid part of that cost?
I hear you, TMC. And I don’t blame you for being frustrated. The situation needs fixing, but your boss isn’t willing to do it. That’s probably because a) the boil isn’t on his behind, so to speak and b) it’s easier to leave it as it is than to change things and have to listen to other employees bitching to him.
How is it that Annie has so much less work to do than you do? Or does she have work that can be done anywhere, including the front desk? If it’s that much easier for her, maybe she alone should cover for Cindy. Or maybe the workload needs to be redistributed.
**
Option A**: Talk to Annie. Don’t frame this as “i can’t get my work done,” as that could get repeated to the boss. Say the nature of your work requires you to be at your desk, and doing a good job is very important to you. Ask her “How can we work this out so we can both get our work done up to calibre?” Then present that plan to the boss together. Make sure she has a script to stick to so she doesn’t snark again.
If Annie’s unwilling or you don’t trust her, go to…
Plan B. Your boss isn’t willing to work on this, so you do it. Come up with a plan that would be more equitable. Maybe different people cover on different days of the week. Whatever. Prep arguments for how this will help the office as a whole: teamwork, equity, the bottom line, whatever would appeal to your boss. Anticipate objections and pre-empt them. (“I expect a few people will complain because slivery laugh you know how people can be about change, but really the impact will be minimal, and it makes sense for more people to be able to cover the front desk.”) Put it in writing, present it in person, send him a copy.
Do NOT go into unfairness or let your frustration show. This is a business, you’re a professional, and you’re appealing to your boss’s business sense, not his iffy empathy.
Another who hasn’t read every word of this and is having trouble keeping the names straight.
OP, what exactly is compelling you to man the desk/phone? Did your boss tell you to sit there? Was that a long time ago or do they routinely mention it? Or is this just an informal agreement between you and Annie to cover Cindy’s absences? What if you just didn’t go there and instead stayed at your desk and did your actual work?
A lot of people can’t stand to have a phone ringing unanswered, but perhaps if the phone rang unanswered then some light would shine on this little backup arrangement yall have that is keeping you from your actual duties.
And what about remote desktop from the phone desk, or what about forwarding the calls for the phone desk to your phone?
Nope. Not buying it. I would be hella pissed if a coworker said that when I was discussing my workload with my boss.
Anyway, my recommendation (which is probably late to the game) is to make sure you boss knows that when you’re at that desk, you cannot work on high priority jobs like AP or Closing, because you don’t have access to the files. You can “boast” about how current you are on the low priority work that you can actually do from the front desk.
Or, dare I say it, find another job. It sounds like this one is run by a bunch of chauvinists out of Man Men. And however Cindy is getting “extra” time off and for whatever purpose and no matter how much Annie doesn’t mind filling in, you do. You do not enjoy that part of your duties, so find a job where filling in for the receptionist isn’t part of the duties. You don’t get to control Cindy or her time off, you don’t get to control how Annie reacts to the situation, and you can’t control how your boss chooses to minimize the issue that covering at reception creates. The only thing you get to control is you… So, either you develop a plan to make the situation something you can tolerate, or you find a different job where you don’t have to tolerate this.
Or, if you choose to be passive aggressive, suddenly get “migraines” and need to go home every time you have to play receptionist. Your normal work will still get done at the rate it was getting done when you were covering the front desk, and they will have to find another way to deal with coverage. But I’d use that time to start looking for a new job.
'Why not? Because work takes time. I can do the work, but it takes time. But I have a solution: I will do my work at my desk, because Big Vendor wants their money, and Annie will cover ALL of Cindy’s time off. Don’t worry, she doesn’t mind sitting up there."
Yeah, this seems like a pretty simple way to resolve the issue. It sounds as if the reception work itself isn’t cutting into your productivity as much as being away from your own desk.
That seems odd to me; every office I’ve ever worked in has had a central server for file storage, and/or a laptop assigned to each employee that can be used at any desk. Sounds like your office needs to update into the 1990’s.
(Oh, and Cindy’s days off are none of your business. I would suggest you stop pulling at that thread.)
And there’s your problem. Do this in writing, and not in person.
Writing has greater impact
They have to reply in writing… If they try to address the problem verbally, tell them you need an email because “I’ll forget, otherwise”
An email keeps Annie out of the loop, keeping her from undermining you. If your boss loops her back in, tell him that what Annie can do is between him and Annie, and what you can do is between him and you, and she should not be determining what you are capable of doing.
Annie is undermining you to get on the boss’s good side. She is not going to help you.
This right here shows that you’ve been trained in, and are stuck in the Karpman Drama Triangle. There have been a lot of supportive and helpful posts in this thread, but you’re getting fixated on the the posts telling you that there’s a problem in blaming the person who isn’t your responsibility, even if their behavior is highlighting the problem that your company has with staffing a particular position. So - two problems - what a co-worker is doing: not your bailiwick. How the company is handling that problem, which directly affects you - is your bailiwick. Deal with the problem that specifically affects you, and get away from the problem that you have no control over (and also, incidentally, many people around here have been on the other side of that problem, and had to worry about losing their job vs taking care of their health or their kids)
Fuck that shit. These people are crabs in a bucket, and they are trying to drag you down to their level.
To be all feminist about it, they are trying to suck up to the patriarchy by getting you to conform to traditional gendered behavior. Or maybe they know if you’re successful in getting off the front desk rotation, they will be forced into doing it (more).
One way or the other, whether you are “too aggressive” is between you and your boss. It is not between you and your co-workers. They are not being helpful, they are trying to drag you back down into the bucket.
She wasn’t trying to “lighten the atmosphere” She was trying to make herself look good by playing super-worker. “I can do it, there must be something wrong with her if she can’t”
Again, not your friend, not trying to help you, trying to look good in an environment that rewards drama.
I don’t think you’re the villain, but I do think that you’re both the victim of some very awkward and uncomfortable cultural issues between bosses and employees and perpetuating them by focusing on another employee who got approval to do what she does rather than the manager who gave it.
You’re clearly running up against the cultural convention that women who speak clearly and firmly are “aggressive” or “mean”, which is totally unfair and that sucks. I am sorry you have to deal with that shit. You’re also getting some bullshit from Annie and your Boss here.
But I also agree that the only way to resolve this is to have a frank conversation with your boss. Ideally without Annie there to minimize you. “Boss, you asked why I can’t do X while also manning the front desk: here’s the reason.” Ideally, go in with a few proposed solutions. Most bosses like proactiveness like that. Maybe “buy me a laptop so I can do my work when customers aren’t yelling at me and I’d get ~40% (or whatever) of the time at the front desk back in useful work” or “here’s a rotating schedule so everyone can share in the front desking” or “Annie mentioned that she doesn’t mind being at the front desk. Maybe she can cover for Cindy until the work for Big Vendor is done”.
If that doesn’t work: I don’t know. When my boss asks me to do something new I basically always respond: “Ok, I’m currently doing X, Y, and Z. Where does the new thing fit priority-wise in relation to those.”
Sounds like your “buddy” Annie just stabbed you in the back.:(:mad:
But no one here thinks you are the villain, just that you are blaming the wrong person.
Yeah, but then the boss might think it’s the perfect opportunity to have Too Many Cats cover the front desk AND do every last bit of her assigned work, as well. It’s every manager’s dream.
First off - I would be upset about this situation. But I would hope that at some point I would either decide to take SOME action in response, or figure a mindset to avoid it gnawing at me. And, if mgmt. doesn’t care to do anything about it, there’s really nothing you can do other than complain - and likely bear unpleasant consequences.
I would try to document the reason this reduced my personal production - at least in a CYA e-mail to my boss or something. But it can be tricky to avoid being viewed (fairly or not) as a whiner.
W/o going too long, here’s my work-view:
Relatively early in my career, I realized a lot of my cow-orkers were doing things that never occurred to me, like using religious comp time to attend baseball opening day. Or not producing their “share” of the work. It sorta pissed me off. But I eventually realized that just about every employee figured out their own personal workplace “scam.” Maybe taking too many breaks, or just hanging around chatting. Or using sick leave to play golf. Or whatever.
I decided that instead of getting upset about other peoples’ scams, the approach was for me to decide upon MY OWN scam. So I decided upon long lunches during which I ran/worked out. I never got called on it, but if it ever happened, I intended to say that I would shorten my lunches, BUT ALSO reduce my output. (I’m fortunate that I was always able to be one of the top producers, w/ limited effort.)
After reaching that decision, I no longer understood why my fellow workers complained about the least productive folk. Instead, I considered them my favorite employees, because they made me look good by comparison, even if I were exerting mediocre effort.
Just offering what worked for me.
Your management seems really bad. My condolences. And unfortunately (for your mental health), you sound like you have a decent work ethic. Sounds to me as tho your best option might be just to assume that this time of year is going to be a total pain in the ass. Suck it up, and figure out how you can tweak things in your favor over the rest of the year.
She’s mad at Annie because she made a flippant response to her trying to work out the problem. The boss wouldn’t have laughed if she said it sincerely. She wasn’t even talking to Annie, so Annie wouldn’t have had any reason to say anything.
She’s mad at Cindy because, despite no sign of any legitimate reason, she took off during crunch time, knowing there would not be additional help. And the OP is one of the people affected by this. Everybody I know who works would be all apologetic about having left their coworkers in a lurch, and give at least some explanation.
And both of them have done that thing where they tell their female coworker that they are “too assertive” and come off as “bitchy.” They’re playing into that patriarchal system that pits women against each other and delegitimizes them.
Boss may also be a sexist asshole, but he’s not doing it alone. The other two seem to be playing into it. She has every reason to see them as part of the problem.
Unfortunately, while I can see why she’s upset at these people from her descriptions, I have no experience in anything like this, and so I have no advice to give. However, I also believe that you also can’t give good advice if you don’t understand where the OP is coming from.
So I hope that my attempt at mediating and clarifying will help.
My experience has been different. Perhaps a MAJORITY of employees gives a shit about how their actions affect their cow-orkers, but by no means all or even most.
I’ll second this. It’s clear that your management does not value your contribution as much as you believe they should. The economy is pretty good right now – find an employer who will appreciate your work.
On a more depressing note – when the economy goes sour (as sooner or later it will), if management decides to let either you or Annie go, it’s a pretty good bet they’ll keep Annie. After all, she’s shown that she’s willing to pitch in wherever she’s needed.
Yes and no. I mean, job descriptions often do have that sort of verbiage, but it’s good advice for OP to take a look at job titles/descriptions for herself Annie and Cindy vs the other thirty or so people in the office. Because in most offices , only certain job titles are going to cover for the receptionist and in a thirty or so person office, it wouldn’t be at all surprising for there to be only three people in the sort of job titles that can appropriately cover for the receptionist - I mean you might have an accounting clerk cover the phones, but not the accountant. And it’s not going to go over well if the OP proposes that the accountant take a turn covering the phones.
If they have job descriptions. It’s not at all uncommon for an employer of this size to not have anything more than a vague single paragraph that they used five years ago when recruiting for the job, and even that for only some of the jobs.
I’ve worked in government all my life. Do people in the corporate world use “Sorry, that’s not in my job description” as a reason to get out of doing something?
If your boss asked you to run the reception desk for the indeterminate future, wouldn’t you at least ask for an explanation given your job description?
There are some special tasks that make sense to assign to an employee, while there are other tasks that would be straight-up crazy. I think an employee should tread carefully before playing the “not in my job decription” card. But I think straight-up craziness should always be questioned.
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That’s why I said job descriptions/titles - lots of places don’t have written job descriptions, but only the tiniest business doesn’t have people doing different jobs. And if Annie is the accounting clerk, and the OP is the payroll clerk and the other 30 people in the office are the accountant and buyers and salespeople and the owners- well, Annie and the OP are more than likely going to be the only people covering for the receptionist.