Fuck You, You Boss' Daughter Brown-Noser Freaks

The BBQ Pit
1

So I’m doing an internship this summer. I’ve been there about a month and a half. I’m in my mid-thirties so I’m already a wee bit older than most of the shlubs they get for free labor. It’s ok – I’m used to it and suck it up as I get bossed around by someone about ten years my junior. Whatever.

Well, whaddya know. About 3 weeks into my slave labor, I’m told that the boss’ daughter is going to be interning as well. Great. This basically just bugged the fucking shit out of me because since I’m older than dirt, I am trying to get my foot, ankle or toe in the door for when I graduate in six months. I thought I was going to be vying for a position against her.

Well, not really because she’s in high school. Oh. Ok. Plus, she manages to come to work about six hours a week so my 25+ hours a week don’t really compare.

So why am I complaining over six lousy hours? Because it gets to me, I’ll tell ya! I’m only human (I think). I work my fucking ASS off, drive two hours to get to the fucking place to begin with (and get home, obviously), all for 3 lousy credits at the end of the summer – POSSIBLY a recommendation; I am seriously doubting there’s any long-term potential – and she not only gets paid but people are positively wetting themselves over her “unbelievable” talents.

I spent 8 hours editing a document (100 pages). I got some thanks, a kudo, and a pat. She, on the other hand, has been praised non-stop about how great she was at editing (we edited the same document), how you “either have the talent or you don’t” and she “has it” how un-mother-fucking-believable she is and how her reputation is really getting around the company.

The Head Brown Nosesr is immediately under her father and actually does drive-bys about five times a day hoping to secure an opportunity to drool over her. When she’s not around he grunts in my direction. Mostly he just acts like he was looking for some dust on the wall.

I have no beef with her. I am just tired and cranky and jealous that I am working so hard and yet I remain virtually invisible. Plus, even though I’m so much older it, I can be quite immature and it just hurts my feelings when I hear everyone raving about her while I sit there like an old hamburger that fell on the ground with imbedded pebbles and dog hair.

2

Welcome to the business world. Don’t get too comfortable…these merry, carefree days will end all too soon.

Then it gets ugly.

3

I spent a long time in the business world, but I used to be able to go hide under my desk in my very own cube and suck my thumb. I think it’s the direct, unavoidable contact/sharing of identical responsiblities and having the feedback be so completely unbalanced that’s getting my knickers in a bunch.

4

Nepotism’s all right, just so long as you keep it in the family.

5

Good job, Sat on Cookie! We’re so lucky to have you!

6

Geat post there, too. Not a single typo and very cohesive and comprehensive. I think you really have the “knack” for posting!

7

When she’s your age and experience, she’ll get no respect either.

But she’s getting it now because she’s highschool age and yet seems to have quite a talent - you encourage that in her and she’ll go far. You, however, don’t need encouragement, they already know you’re capable.

8

Maybe, instead of trying to ignore her, you should join the chorus heaping praise upon her. Who knows, maybe what she’s doing IS good for a high school kid. In any case, at least it doesn’t make you look like you’re suffering from sour grapes, and hey, maybe daddy will notice that you like his little girl and then notice you more for your actual WORK.

Of course, pigs may start flying, too, but hey, in the corporate world, anything is possible!

9

Hey, I thought this was going to be about pro wrestlin’

10

**

When I was in high school, my mom was a real estate agent. The owner’s daughter was in my class, and when she turned 16, started helping out at the office (I don’t know if she was paid).

My mom told me of an interesting development. For the first few weeks, “Jill” was the ideal gofer: fast, efficient, and agreeable when making copies, filing, fetching coffee and so on. Then, one fateful day, she was asked to answer phones at the reception desk.

Total meltdown. Not a tantrum, according to my mom: more like a panic attack. Jill kept insisting that she could not answer phones under any circumstances. I’d be surprised if it was shyness, since she was a very outgoing person, but everyone has their inconsistencies. Maybe she knew how important it is to route calls properly, and was afraid she’d mess up. Maybe she didn’t understand the switchboard setup. Who knows. At any rate, because of this, she was dismissed, and I bet it was pretty unpleasant around their house for a while.

So give your boss’s kid a break. To you, it may look like an easy ride, but it may actually be a high-pressure situation for her. Maybe she’s being groomed to join the company when she’s old enough, and strongly discouraged from pursuing other career options.

**

Dissing the boss’ kid is never a good idea. No, I’m not accusing you of openly doing that, but your animosity may be showing whether you intend it to or not.

11

I have no animosity towards the daughter at all. She seems like a nice young woman. Part of why I posted it is because I can’t afford to have anyone there think this gets to me…even one smidge. In my position of HOPING to MAYBE get a CRUMB of real job (with pay and everything) after this is over, I realize that any attitude on my part will basically kill any opportunity. I get that.

I praise her along with the rest of the crew. That’s kinda my whole point – I’m sucked into this Brown Nose Mini-Universe and can’t do a damn thing about it but marvel at her brilliance while drudging my way through my own experience.

12

So move to a company in which you are more comfortable.

13

Using that magic wand that makes any position you want available the moment you want it? The job market is a bit tough. The internship market is pretty tough as well.

Let them eat cake.

14

Make careful notes on her clothing, and her daily dressing habits, if any. Then do some shopping.

Each day, dress a liitle bit more like her. Begin styling your hair like hers. Your goal should be that within a couple of weeks you are dressed identically to what she was dressed like on the previous day.

When she leaves, no one will notice. :stuck_out_tongue:

15

Not at all.

All it takes is a concerted effort at finding a better position.

A good place to start is by networking in the Society for Technical Comminication.

16

If you changed some of the ages and other facts around, you’d be talking about my company. We’ve had a bunch of interns and new hires start, one intern being my boss’s daughter. The difference is, she’s out of her first or second year of college, and was hired (I think) because she knows how to use some software we were interested in. I haven’t noticed that much “singing of her praises” recently, or other people looking dissed, so I have a feeling we’re not talking about the same place…

17

It could be that Jill’s like me. I’m pretty efficient, I can make copies, I can get coffee, I can be a gofer, no problem. A lot of people think I’m really outgoing.

But when it comes to phones, uh-uh. It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that phones make me nervous. I think it’s because I have a slight hearing problem that makes it kinda difficult for me to hear on the phone. Both of the retail jobs I’ve had, I hated answering the phone, and would do practically any job (including scrubbing the toilet) to get out of it.

This has basically ruined my chance of getting any kind of office work, so I’m stuck in retail. Hyperventilating and bursting into tears (as I did once when trying to make an international phone call and having trouble getting it right) is not a good trait in a receptionist.