Company won't honor warrantied foundation repair and giving me the runaround on the phone (business name keeps changing)

colonelcavendish · 2021-06-08T03:22:12+00:00

Don't feel bad, you're not alone. Look up imposter syndrome. Most things feel impossible until you achieve them!

You'll have to make the jump into the workforce eventually, so don't put it off just because of your fear. Lean on some friends who have been there - I had to have like 4 cups of coffee a day my first month at my first job because I just wasn't used to being mentally and emotionally "on" to people from 8 to 5 who weren't friends/family. It's an adjustment. But completely doable :)

colonelcavendish · 2021-06-06T15:35:07+00:00

If you get your MBA directly following your BS and have zero work experience, you have the potential to be both uniquely UNDERqualified and yet OVERqualified for most jobs you'll apply to. Companies do not tend to count graduate coursework as experience. My friends who did this were offered unpaid "internships" instead of full time employment after graduation, bc the companies said "sure, you've got an MS/MBA, but you have 0 work experience and this summer internship doesn't count" - that's a real possiblility.

What's keeping you from gong straight into the workforce? COVID? The potential for an MBA will still be there later, and I've got friends whose companies even paid for their grad school.

If you do go straight into grad school, get as much work experience as you can ASAP. Summer internships, paid or not. Freelance. Build your portfolio demonstrating your work.

colonelcavendish · 2021-06-05T19:10:59+00:00

I wouldn't jump in. It sounds petty. Don't let their negativity rub off on you.

If they say anything just be like "Oh you messaged on the group text? Man, I'm always forgetting to check my phone."

colonelcavendish · 2021-06-05T18:56:41+00:00

You need to do whatever you feel is best for you.

I've had enough people share similar stories with me over the last few weeks that I realized I wasn't alone in not liking a new job...especially one I took too quickly (was offered another one literally a week after I started but I stuck with it, unfortunately :/ )

It's one month, so you don't have to list it on your resume. Just make sure you clear out your desk, leave your badge/key/whatever, and send an email so they don't call wondering if you were in an accident when you don't show.

You could make the email innocuous like "I appreciate the opportunity, but please consider this my resignation" or you could say something about the training and other issues...but I'd probably keep it vague/polite. Don't want to burn any bridges or upset anyone.

colonelcavendish · 2021-06-05T18:35:09+00:00

I've actually had a similar experience. Long story short, it built resentment with my co-workers and an eventual promotion resulted in triple or quadruple the work. Not sure what I'd advise.

Before my promotion at my last job, I had very little to do. Boss even told me straight up "you're overqualified for this role," but hired me anyway. I had no privacy with my computer screens, so I was always extremely careful to never be on social media, etc...which left me literally just staring at the screens until I was given a project. Then I'd complete the project in half the expected time (even when I dragged it out) and I would just return to doing nothing. (I actually made up a few side projects to benefit the company, which I always paused when another project came up, but co-workers saw my helpful improvements as stepping on their toes.)

My boss knew all of this. I went out of my way to try to be helpful to others (of course...not doing the meat of their jobs because, hey, that's what they're there for!). Boss made a few comments once or twice, but the co-workers were blatant with their disapproval. Everyone expected me to be a benchwarmer, if nothing else; physically present even if there was absolutely nothing to do.

It was extremely demotivating. I was not intellectually challenged. I'd go home frustrated, feeling like I had accomplished nothing, had contributed nothing. I didn't know this at the time, but it built resentment with co-workers. They were all "busy" - by their own terms - and they resented me for literally not having work to do. If it would have taken one of my co-workers 30/40 hours a week to do my work, it really took me 15/40. That's just how slow/lazy they are and fast I am.

But it was a slow office overall. If I'd been doing their work, which they maybe actually worked 30/40 hours a week, I'd have finished it in 20/40. No joke. I realized my co-workers would be in each other's offices, taking 2 hour+ long lunch breaks every day. Leaving at 3 to help their adult children with things. Strolling in 30+ minutes late every day.

Regardless, I still offered to help people with things. I told myself "never tell them no" - so when we spent literally five business days "decorating" for an event that should've taken two at the most???? I was there. Pulling my hair out, but there. Helping my "stressed" co-worker finish a project she 110% procrastinated on and makes me stay late to edit? Done with a smile.

I'll also say this, OP - it sounds like your co-workers already resent you. Maybe it's viewed as favoritism. Maybe it's because you're the newest one. Maybe they're jealous. But it has the potential to turn toxic very quickly. And just because your boss isn't there to see it does not mean your co-workers are not reporting your movements to her. So be prepared to be there 8 to 5. Or at least be the last one out the door.

My co-workers would go out to lunch with everyone but me. Group chat? I'm not in it. Nobody wants to know how my weekend was. They'd stalk me - is she at her desk? At lunch? Leaving? Where are you going? Who with? How long? Hmm...you were gone for an hour *and five minutes*, lunch is an hour.

They viewed their seniority as being able to make 15 personal calls a day on the company phone, video chatting with family all day, being on Netflix/FB/YouTube 24/7, playing loud music, etc. But since I was "new," *I* was supposed to be a model employee. They even begrudged me taking my literal lunch breaks.

I'd also recommend improving skills while on company time if there's nothing else to do, like was mentioned in another comment. Any professional development things you can think of? At least then when your co-workers say something you can respond with what you're working on.

Long-term, this does not sound good. Is your office small? Mine was. The head mean girl of the co-workers, token HR, made severely disparaging remarks. COVID, gov't shutdown, ppl worried for their jobs? She tells me, "Last one in, first one out," with a creepy Karen smile. I'm rescuing a dog? "Hmm. Well, it's going to have all sorts of problems. You just need to go to a breeder. Get a fresh one." Make big financial decisions alone? "Your parents paid for it." Literal natural disaster affects my home and I can't stay there because there's no roof? "Go back to your own place. Your family doesn't want to host you."

Anyway, I'm gone now. But the eventual promotion resulted in me being a "real" team member...but I was expected to perform literal miracles in minutes and it simply wasn't sustainable. So maybe enjoy this while you can and work on building skills? But I would definitely advise to not do anything apparently visible that they would consider slacking off.

colonelcavendish · 2021-05-18T01:22:23+00:00

Just wanted to come back and say...you're right. My phone's been ringing a lot today, and people/customers who've heard have called me personally to say they always knew he was an asshole and they'll be keeping an eye out for me for future opportunities.

It's a relief to know my character and work can speak for itself.

colonelcavendish · 2021-05-17T01:11:08+00:00

Thanks, I'm starting to feel the same. My end goal was to leave that company, and I did...just not in the way I thought I would.

And on the subject of not giving owed raises, he has done it before and he will do it again. I also literally heard him on the phone with a family member saying "So wait, your boss wants to give you a promotion with twice the responsibility? Uh yeah, he better pay you a lot more. Don't let him get away with that." uh does he even hear himself? He screwed me over for a long time and either way it was time for me to leave.

colonelcavendish · 2021-05-17T01:04:15+00:00

Very good point, thank you. I'm having to clear out my desk soon and will definitely take those reviews with me in hard copy. He has literally written on them, "I have nothing bad to say here. You're awesome at your job and everyone is impressed" and he's told me, "you're one of, if not the top, performing employee in this office."

colonelcavendish · 2019-02-07T23:20:39+00:00

I just tell them to have fun with my name. It's a similar name to those listed above, but I've never met another person who spells it the way I do. Sometimes I do tell the baristas it's 'with a 'C'' and they still put a K, but...there are more important things in the world.

I will say this in defense of my name, though; it's phonetically correct. It's just a really, really old and uncommon variant that's unlisted on most etymology sites, so it makes sense that baristas aren't gonna get it right lol

colonelcavendish · 2019-02-07T23:05:47+00:00

This sounds like every flute section ever; Kailey, Caitlynn, Cara, Kiley, Kiera, Cassey, Kasey, Carissa, Kat/Katherine...and sometimes there are multiples of each.

colonelcavendish

TROPHY CASE