I can't believe they're doing this to me -- AGAIN!!

The BBQ Pit
1

So much for company promises.

First some history:

I started with my present company back in 1996. At the time, I was a customer service representative. I was always one of the top performers in the department and was acknowledged as a good person to speak to customers. Later on, when the company started doing customer service on the web, I was chosen to lead the email customer service department. Again, I did very well, at first doing the job myself and when it became to much for one person to handle, trained several people to work with me, with myself acting as supervisor.

In 1998-99, I took some IT courses and in June of 1999, joined the company’s website development team, leaving behind customer service forever.

Or so I thought.

Last year, due to a tight budget situation and extremely difficult circumstances (we were closed for six weeks due to the 9-11 attacks – we’re about two blocks away from the WTC), they asked me (and another former CSer now in the web development team) to help pitch in and spend a few days answering customer emails. Natuarally, we were not too thrilled about it, but we went ahead and did it anyway. Part of the deal, however, was a promise that we wouldn’t have to do this again.

Fast forward to this morning, when I was informed that I would be transferred, again, to the CS department for the holidays. Last year’s promise, you ask? Well, the person who made the promise left shortly after the holidays last year and so that promise is out the window.

Part of the problem may be the fact that I’m good at CS. I guess that’s the punishment for doing one’s job well. What’s the saying? No good deed goes unpunished…

Of course, this makes no sense. They’re taking a highly skilled IT worker off staff to do a job that they could hire someone to do for $10/hour. Never mind the fact that this should not have been a surprise to them – it’s not like the holidays are a surprise. Never mind the fact that to do the job I may have to travel twice as far with no convenient rail connection to it. Maybe they’d like me to wash some windows and empty the trash while we’re at it. And this little tidbit of news comes only a week after being informed that there will be no raises for the second straight year!

[sub]Calm down, Zev, calm down…breathe deeply…in…out…in…out…in…out…[/sub]

OK. Clearly this is not a good situation. I had hoped to leave customer service behind forever. From a career standpoint, this is a step backwards. I’d rather spend the time learning new technologies and/or improving programming techniques. In addition, I still have projects to do, but these will simply be delayed.

Not only is it not good for me, it’s not good for the company. It really makes no sense to take me off the job here to do a job that could be handled by someone else for a lot less money. There are competent people in the department who could train new hires (I know, I trained some of them myself!). They could even hire workers from a temp agency (which they’ve done in the past).

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I’m not ready to risk my job over this. I still have a need for a job and the IT job market in New York is not at it’s best. Needless to say, I’m not a happy camper.

Zev Steinhardt

2

That’s no good. Could you try making these arguments to the person who made the decision?

3

I’m going to display some ignorance here, so there can be a silver lining from you getting an opportunity oto dispel some.

If the job requirements are driven by e-mail, why does it matter where you’re working from when you’re doing it? Do they need you under the eye of a particular supervisor? Are they making you be the supervisor?

4

Those are good questions, which are yet to be determined.

The CS dept. is housed in the other facility. I may be able to do the job from here (downtown Manhattan), but that’s still up in the air at the moment, as are most of the details.

Zev Steinhardt

5

But, in any event, I wouldn’t want to do it, even if I could do it from here.

Zev Steinhardt

6

I feel for ya, man, but I can kinda see where they’re coming from, even though it’s short-sighted to the point of being stupid. Sure, they could hire someone for $10/hour, but that’s $400/week in addition to what they’re spending. They’re already paying you, so the extra cost just isn’t there–in the short run. Their decision to delay your projects is going to hurt them in the long run.

7

Just be sure not to forget the cover for the TPS reports.

Sorry Zev, you story has a bit of an “Office Space” ring to it.

I’ll never understand the short-sightedness of some people in regards to staffing decisions. Sure, they get the CS job done without hiring someone else, but it costs than in both monetary ways and in employee goodwill.

It’s never a good idea to take a talented, dedicated employee and screw with their career, just because you don’t think they’ll quit. They might not this time, but as soon as the market opens up and jobs are more plentiful, they will remember getting the short end.

One the bright side, I’m sure that they will remember how you helped them out of a pinch and they’ll repay you by helping you out come payraise time. What? A second year of pay freezes. Oh well.

Shark

8

What would happen if you simply refused? In a nice way, of course.

9

I don’t know. And, unfortunately, I’m too much of a chicken to find out.

I’ve have, however, made my displeasure known.

Zev Steinhardt

10

Well, G-d go with you, Zev, whatever you decide to do.

11

Thanks. At this rate, it looks like He’s going to be doing customer service… :smiley:

Zev Steinhardt

12

That’s nuttin. I taught for six years and my salary at the ned of my sixth year was the same as my first. No fancy math, no adjust for inflation. The dollar amount was the same. Adjusting for inflation it came up to a whopping 29% pay cut. Talk to me in 4 years :wink:

As for projects being delayed, that’s simple. Have you do the CS gig, then they have an ‘emergency’ and insist that the project deadlines must hold. Win-Win for the company… :wink:

Seriously, I have sympathy. I work as a Statistician and my last company had me (and others) stuffing enveloped for 3 weeks (!) before Christmas. My God, doing that for 8-9 hours a day for 15 days drove us up the freaking wall.

It wasn’t like we were busy but they pulled my second paragraph on us after Christmas resulting in long days for a while. We tried to tell them about ‘temps’ but it fell on deaf years.

I imagine that it makes some logical sense to do this. However, I do not think they understand how much people dislike doing such grunt tasks. One woman, who always dressed very professionally, was wearing t-shirts and jeans with holes in them by the second week projecting how valuable she thought she was stuffing envelopes. It really does lower morale considerably and creates ill will. If asked to do that too many times, I would look for another company for which to work.

It would be different if some higher-level people would pitch in, like a VP doing CS beside you or stuffing envelopes for three weeks. However, they are way to ‘busy’ which further fans the lower morale and ill will.

13

correction:

It wasn’t like we were busy…

should have been

It wasn’t like weren’t were busy…

14

Zev, the instructional part is how the deal brokered with person “A” was null and void as soon as that person was out of sight. Institutional memory no longer covers individual favors.

Another way of saying that is you’ve got to look out for number one. The job market sucks right now, so I wouldn’t advocate making too many waves – but keep your options open!

The number one thing is not to lock yourself into a schedule where you have no room to train yourself or look for a new job. Being too beaten down and harried to look for a new, less harried job is a career death spiral. Avoid that, and long term, you’ll be fine.

-Ace

15

That’s a shame. I hope it doesn’t last long, and you’re able to get back to doing what you want to do soon.

For what it’s worth, in the future, get all promises in writing, make sure the original is put in your HR file, and insist on having a copy for yourself. That will at least give you something to show the higher-ups if such a thing is contemplated again.

16

This is not the action of a TEAM player. If the company needs help, employees should gladly help out the TEAM. What kind of low-life, soon-to-be-unemployed-or-at-least-never-promoted scum employee would pull out a document saying he doesn’t have to help the TEAM when the TEAM needs it. There is no ‘I’ in TEAM. When the TEAM needs help, you pitch in!!! [Carry on ad nauseum]

Funny that some TEAM members get company Lexus’s and other don’t. Aren’t we all part of the TEAM?

Also, this OP reminded me of a friend of mine who was put in a similar (but not so drastic) position of helping out in an area where he was promoted from a couple years earlier.

Because of one ‘emergency’ after another, he was spending considerable time doing this. He was assured that he was still considered a higher level employee. They then ‘temporarily’ moved him full time back into that position all the while assuring him that his higher salary was safe.

There was then some turnover and his salary was dropped because they don’t pay someone what he was doing that much money. He had to quit and move to a different company.

Bottom line…Always try to avoid ‘grunt’ tasks without looking like you are not a TEAM player. Try to maneuver someone else into doing it or to be selected to do it. You get no reward for being the grunt but could lose status. Nobody remembers but people get use to you doing grunt tasks. Career hurter.

The secret is that it is perfectly acceptable to be incompetent at some tasks. This goes against the grain with many people that like to be good at everything they do.

Be super competent/on-the-ball with important tasks. However, grunt tasks that do get assigned to you it is fine to mess it up badly so long as they are near worthless tasks. Asked to photocopy 1000 booklets? Jam that printer. Break the printer cartridge. Mess up the pages. They’ll never ask you to do it again and your colleague will have to do more because she did a good job. So, while she is photocopying next time, you’ll be working on important, more glamorous, career building stuff.

17

Remember that next time you see an executive that looks like a moron because he can’t do a simple task well. He could be much smarter than you instead…

18

Naaaah! He probably really is a moron!

19

Zev,
Maybe you don’t even have to go to your current office. If it is email based, maybe you can telecommute a day or two. No more cost to them, less bother for you. (or do you like to get out of the house each day?) Tradeoff, since it is a temp thing.