Mobile madness
I forgot to charge my work mobile over the weekend.
I didn't actually realise that it had run out of battery and had gone to sleep. I should have - the silence was rather unusual, but in between one cat deleting my entire and might I add completed report (not backed up, of course), another cat fighting another cat, the strange cat from next door wandering and starting a fight and stupid estate agents, I didn't have time to ponder the golden silence.
So at 7pm I discover this fact. Off I toddle to charge it up. Power on, lights on, phone is back. And there is the little tape. A message.
Someone loves me! Or do they?
"Please can you call the office as soon as possible".
Words to strike fear into the heart of the person who hasn't called the office all day. Because she didn't know they wanted her. Because she forgot......I'm sure you get the picture.
I know what it is about - no panic is necessary, as far as I know! I requested a work programme be sent to me to start my review tomorrow, and they weren't sure if they had the one I needed. Since it isn't in my inbox I guess that they don't have it.
So I have to wait until 9AM to clarify this (assuming I am right and it isn't something else) and then I have to get hold of someting so I can at least make a start. Bugger bollocks. Not helpful at all, but pretty much my own fault.
Or is it? They knew I was at home and they have my home phone number, so if they wanted me, they could easily get me. Hmmm. I don't feel so silly now, and that niggly little worry worm has gone away.
The last place I worked has really screwed with my mind. Lets just call them ABC.....that sounds suitably made up, don't you think?
It was impossible for me to please my manager - she found fault with me for everything except my work. It started as soon as I qualified and then technically was more qualified than my manager, her manager and his manager as well. It made things very difficult - I would get a bollocking for leaving at 5pm instead of 5.30 when doing returns processing, but everyone else was allowed to and it was standard to leave at that time. Or I would receive phonecalls at 5.28 just to check I was still working, even when away on audit alone.
I was so relieved to leave. I used to dread getting up every morning, because I knew she would try to find something to complain about, however petty. But even now, every time I see the office on my phone, I automatically think "what have I done now?"
I'm not perfect - no-one is. I have been known to bend the rules a little, but it got to the stage that even if I followed the rules to the letter, they would be interpreted differently just for me. I was given some leave for my exams, but when I passed, the leave was retrospectively changed to unpaid and it counted against my bonus, which, surprise surprise, I didn't get.
My manager out and out lied in my appraisal - she told me that a colleague had had a problem working with me. I spoke to him immediately after - I am fairly sure she didn't realise that we were friends - and he told me he had said no such thing. He made a formal complaint against her, based not only on the lie that she told but that she had no right to repeat such things if true, but her manager blew it off.
Several complaints were made against her on my behalf - I didn't know at the time, but all were blown off. She has had many complaints made in the past, but her manager, nice though he was, was there for an easy ride to retirement and had no wish to make any waves.
After the Edinburgh fiasco, that was it. Time to go. They had no idea that I had already been attending interviews and that my letter of resignation was on my laptop ready to print off the next time she pissed me off. I had saved sufficient to leave without another job - proof of just how much I loathed the place. I knew it was only going to be days.........
I was called in to see the department head who asked me to leave, based on the Edinburgh incident. Having already made my decision to leave I wasn't in the slightest bit bothered, just cross that they had got there first. However, because I didn't make the anticipated fuss (did they really think I was going to beg to stay?!) I was paid for a month's notice.
I had grounds for unfair dismissal if I wanted to pursue it. I chose not to. My contact with the place had been severd, and that was worth far more than any money I might have won. A friend resigned a few days later. She had planned to anyway, but what happened precipitated her exit.
So there you have it. I have worked for a successive line of lunatics - one manager at a temp assignment didn't permit talking in the office at all. Not even to discuss clients. Not even to offer to make tea. Most definitely not the place for me. Then when I was training, there was the partner who liked to pinch the secretaries bottoms. And the one with the glass eye. And the Welsh one.
Where did I go wrong? Is this the lot of an accountant?
Stay tuned. I might figure it out one day.
(And if not, I am meeting an old colleague for a drink next week. Maybe he will have some insights)
posted by DMouse007 @ 3/22/2004 09:49:00 PM
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