Have you ever had a job that went from the best to the worst overnight?

[fieryred33143]

Just wanted to hear your experiences.

There was recently a management position open. My Director approached me to apply. I thought long and hard about it but decided not to (too much traveling involved and not really the path I wanted to go down). That left 2 people in our Department that everyone knew would apply. Of the two (M & G), *everyone* assumed that G would get the position. She''s way more professional than he is and her work is immaculate. M is not professional at all. He''s very competitive and often mocks people for things like the type of shirt they''re wearing, if they are having a bad hair day, etc. He got into an argument with my boss because they wore the same shoes (different color) and he wanted everyone to know that he purchased his before my boss did

.

Then there''s the team thing. G is a great team player. She pitches in whenever she can. M is the complete opposite. We were all working on a huge project and each had specific tasks to do. G had this project on top of a bunch of other things to do and was incredibly stressed out. M, being competitive, announced to everyone that he was complete 2 weeks in advance BUT that he was going to linger on the last portion of the project because he didn''t want to help anyone with theirs. These were his exact words.

Plus, in the absence of a manager G took over all of the review responsibilities and presentations.

We all thought for sure G would get it.

She did not. M did.

The job literally went from being the absolute best to being the worst overnight. The team that will be working for him is devestated. G is applying to rotate out of the Department. A, one of his employees, is miserable. Myself and another employee have lost so much faith in our Director''s judgment that we both are looking to rotate out (there are specific reasons for this but don''t want to make the post longer

).

Anyway, its just crazy how you can go from loving your job one minute to hating it the next over management decision. Anyone go through something similar?

 

[kama_s]

Oye. What a sudden change in dynamics. Poor ''G'' must feel so demotivated.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Yes, I''ve been there. I''m sorry you''re going through this. In my case, the job I loved changed beyond all recognition the week after I declined the kind offer of an affair with my boss. I hope your application for a rotation is successful and that you can move to another part of the company and a job you love again.

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 12/21/2009 4:15:39 PM
Author: kama_s
Oye. What a sudden change in dynamics. Poor ''G'' must feel so demotivated.

PS ate my post

She cried. I took her to lunch after hearing the news and she cried privately to me. She said that not 15 minutes after our staff meeting where it was announced, he had a staff meeting with A and her and said to her that she could continue reviewing the documents so that she can get to the next level and maybe one day replace him if he decides to move on.

Seriously?

 

[tlh]

Date: 12/21/2009 4:27:40 PM
Author: fiery

Date: 12/21/2009 4:15:39 PM
Author: kama_s
Oye. What a sudden change in dynamics. Poor ''G'' must feel so demotivated.

PS ate my post

She cried. I took her to lunch after hearing the news and she cried privately to me. She said that not 15 minutes after our staff meeting where it was announced, he had a staff meeting with A and her and said to her that she could continue reviewing the documents so that she can get to the next level and maybe one day replace him if he decides to move on.

Seriously?

M did that? Now that is trash.

 

[EricaR]

Something similar happened here, just before I started. One team member, the last person that this should have ever ever ever happened to was promoted to manager. Within four weeks of his promotion the rest of the 5 people in that department had either 1. applied for other internal jobs or 2. resigned. You would have thought that the company realized what was going on, but they didn''t. I was the first replacement hired and it was awful! I knew right away that the person I was now reporting to had no managerial experience and didn''t know what he was doing. It was a VERY long three years before I was able to move to another team.

Four years later that team is STILL in flux. There is hugely high turnover and it is blatently obvious that this person should not be managing the team. His boss HAS to see it, yet they don''t care. The only option for me was to leave the team. Sometimes upper management just doesn''t care.

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 12/21/2009 4:43:55 PM
Author: tlh

Date: 12/21/2009 4:27:40 PM
Author: fiery

Date: 12/21/2009 4:15:39 PM
Author: kama_s
Oye. What a sudden change in dynamics. Poor ''G'' must feel so demotivated.

PS ate my post

She cried. I took her to lunch after hearing the news and she cried privately to me. She said that not 15 minutes after our staff meeting where it was announced, he had a staff meeting with A and her and said to her that she could continue reviewing the documents so that she can get to the next level and maybe one day replace him if he decides to move on.

Seriously?

M did that? Now that is trash.

Yes!

I couldn''t believe it. I think that''s why she cried to me, out of frustration and anger.

I can''t believe our Director made this decision. The only thing I can imagine that he does when we all are not paying attention is kiss some major booty. That doesn''t surprise me from the Corproate world but it does surprise me from our Director which is why we are questioning her judgment. I was offered a position elsewhere and I asked her opinion because I respected her judgment. She told me it wasn''t the right fit for me and laid out what she felt was a better career map to pursue my end goal. I trusted this and even though I made the decision to stay based on other factors, this conversation with her playbed a big role.

Now I feel stupid for trusting her as a mentor, especially if she goes and makes this kind of mistake.

 

[tlh]

Date: 12/21/2009 4:48:29 PM
Author: fiery

Date: 12/21/2009 4:43:55 PM
Author: tlh

Date: 12/21/2009 4:27:40 PM
Author: fiery

Date: 12/21/2009 4:15:39 PM
Author: kama_s
Oye. What a sudden change in dynamics. Poor ''G'' must feel so demotivated.

PS ate my post

She cried. I took her to lunch after hearing the news and she cried privately to me. She said that not 15 minutes after our staff meeting where it was announced, he had a staff meeting with A and her and said to her that she could continue reviewing the documents so that she can get to the next level and maybe one day replace him if he decides to move on.

Seriously?

M did that? Now that is trash.

Yes!

I couldn''t believe it. I think that''s why she cried to me, out of frustration and anger.

I can''t believe our Director made this decision. The only thing I can imagine that he does when we all are not paying attention is kiss some major booty. That doesn''t surprise me from the Corproate world but it does surprise me from our Director which is why we are questioning her judgment. I was offered a position elsewhere and I asked her opinion because I respected her judgment. She told me it wasn''t the right fit for me and laid out what she felt was a better career map to pursue my end goal. I trusted this and even though I made the decision to stay based on other factors, this conversation with her playbed a big role.

Now I feel stupid for trusting her as a mentor, especially if she goes and makes this kind of mistake.

I wouldn''t second guess your decision. I think it was sound based on where you are right now in your life. But I do think that something else is at work here that maybe everyone else doesn''t see. Perhaps the director feels a more cutthroat approach would work best... who knows?

But I have to say based on M''s comment to G - I don''t really think I''d be looking up to this person for any career guidance. what a shock! I''m sorry fiery.

 

[Mara]

unfortunately management can totally make or break a job. and if management is bad or even worse, non existent and you don''t get support from your manager it can be really difficult. but in a lot of corp environments...change is constant. you can''t look back and think ''gee that was so great''. or else you will get depressed.. you just have to live in the moment and be ready for the next change.

 

[Matata]

Oh yeah, been there and understand the disappointment. However, my predicament had a happy ending. I reported directly to a VP who was beloved by the organization. When he retired, a donkeybutt was recruited to replace him. Only two people at the organization liked donkeybutt when he came to interview -- the president and her designated successor. Entire organization put up resistance to donkeybutt''s hire and I was seen as the ringleader of the revolt (I wasn''t, unfortunately someone else beat me to it). Donkeybutt''s first priority upon arrival was to get rid of me so he gave me my own department -- Human Resources. Around the same time we got a new president (not the past president''s designated successor). Donkeybutt was incompetent and demonstrated it on a daily basis. He thought he could wash his hands of me entirely if he got me assigned to report directly to the president. Wellllll now, whaddaya think happened when the prez asked me what we should do about the overwhelming incompetence of Donkeybutt? Adios baaaaaaaaaabeeeeee

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Fiery- to answer your question, YES- I've had a job that went from the best to the worst overnight.

Went thru a number of re-orgs a couple of years ago while at my previous job. The first was the one that hit me like a ton of bricks- was told by my boss (who worked out a different office) that our department was no more and that I no longer reported to her. My new supervisor was the Regional Director in my office. I was basically reporting to a peer. And not just any peer, this person wasn't exactly respected in our office (or industry for that matter). I was devastated. What made it worse was the way management handled the situation. Everyone was told to "get over it and move on". True, it should be business as usual but their insensitivity just rubbed me the wrong way. I ended up leaving about a year and a half later (after a 2nd re-org), and only two people from my old department (of 10) still remain at the company.

I'm sorry to hear about your issues, Fiery. I hope that things improve in the new year!

 

[that_someone_special]

Once... yes. I then promptly quit that night. I was way too young to put up with that crap and was still in school.
They asked if it was them. I said... "*shifty eyes* nooooo........... I''m just quitting my job, unannounced,of 5.5 years because I thought it would be fun" I mean, I put a 10 day notice in though. And I was being all too generous.


Stick it to the man!

 

[bee*]

I''ve definitely experienced that. We have a new partner in our clinic and he is driving every crazy. He has no management skills at all but the thinks that he is superb. The job itself and the other staff members are great but he''s destroying all morale in the company. Sorry to hear what happened Fiery. I can''t believe that he got the job over the other girl.

 

[noelwr]

absolutely!

the people you work with and report to absolutely affect the way you feel about your job. if I don''t like a person I have to directly report to, I usually try to get into another team (this is easy for me because I''m on a project and all teams are understaffed).

what is also frustrating is sometimes when you have to work with other people who are not in your team, but you still have to liase with them and so forth and they have to question everything you do and write long e-mails... in which time they could have just met with me and finished the task.

 

[oddoneout]

I got a new boss. I almost everyone left due to this new boss. The company didn''t notice/care. For the next 4 years I was there new employees couldn''t stand her and there was an extremely high turnover. This boss was incompetent, didn''t do her job at all, stole sales, hired her friends, talked on the phone all day to her friends, took credit for things her employees did even though she did nothing, etc. Truly professional. She was still there when I left. I had no idea how she got and kept her job.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I mean no disrespect for PS''ers in management roles, but a lot of times people are promoted into management positions because they incompetent. I know it sounds strange, but it''s true. I think we can all agree that the worker bees are doing the bulk of the important work and the managers are "overseeing" it all. When someone is incompetent or can''t be trusted in a public/customer-facing role, management is a good spot for them because it''s more hands off and administrative.

 

[April20]

Yep. Been there, done that. I was part of a team that I loved. A job I loved. A company I loved. For SEVEN years. Never once thought about leaving. Not once. We had a big shake up and they merged our team with another. The leader of this new team didn''t even want the job and didn''t know how he should even be doing it. He had favorites. They formed a clique and were positively rude to everyone else. I was miserable. And everyone else in the office hated them too. I finally decided that I was going to need to leave. The job I loved was gone. I say I got lucky because a round of layoffs came around. Out of five managers, they kept the two the made the least amount of money. That left them with one decent person and one horrific person, but that was their decision. I was really hurt at first because I wanted the decision to leave to have been solely mine, but then I realized how much they were paying me to go away and I got over it.

I was able to find a permanent job within about 6 months and I couldn''t be happier. It opened career doors for me that wouldn''t have been there otherwise.

It''s easy to get comfortable in a job and not really chase the opportunities you should. When management changes happen for the worse, I think it can force us to pursue things we''ve been too scared to pursue and open new doors for us.

I''m sorry things are nasty with your job right now. I hope you can find a niche you love again.

 

[joflier]

I''ve often looked at my own company and just stood back and scratched my head, thinking "are they really that stupid?" The answer I have come up with is, yes, they are. There''s just something that gets inside of the corporate world that somehow makes management level people make some of the most bizarre, puzzling, and sometimes downright bad decisions. I''m so sorry. There''s nothing worse than having to deal with something like that. I''ve gone through a similar situation in the last month, and it''s rough. There was a guy that was in charge - and he is a very talented and intelligent person. He worked very hard at making his section of the business a great success, and it was! One day, they called him into the office and said, here meet your new boss, we''re taking away your leadership position. Not only was it a shock to us, but it was heartbreaking to him. It''s a poor decision on their part, and it was made unfairly (that''s a different story that i''ll skip)
My advice for you is what my advice to him was. It is this; to at least give it a chance. Don''t throw in the towel right away - give it a little time and see where it leads. Then, if it''s as bad or worse than you planned - then it''s time to make changes!! Don''t make a hasty decision when your emotions are still raw. Let the dust settle first. Ugh - I''m so sorry your going through this. I completely understand - it''s a scab on a pretty fresh wound for me. Good luck - and good luck to your friend M. I hope she can find something that would have been better for her anyhow.