I spilled a whole container of delicious organic (expensive) blueberries all over our kitchen floor last night. I thought the blue dots all over the orange tile looked kind of funny so I took a picture, but it doesn't look as funny on film. :) New blackberry. Hence all the pictures as of late.
Soooooooooo. I still don't feel like blogging today but I have a good hour to kill this evening before I leave work for the day so I thought this might waste some time. ;) That's a really inviting way to entice you read this post, right? "I don't really wanna write but I'm bored so here, read this drivel."
Har.
Work has been a little mentally difficult for me lately. I feel like I'm being asked to do more than other people are asked to do - and without a raise - and it's sort of getting to me. Granted, I still have freetime available to me. So it's not as if I'm up against the wire and don't have a free moment to myself (as is evidenced by this kill-time blog entry). And part of me does wonder if maybe I should just grow up, shut up, and do what's being asked of me without complaint.
The problem is that the person who's asking me to do stuff is on my same level, not above me. And she, we'll call her B, point-blank told me a couple weeks ago that she had too much to do, and assisting one of the people she assists, who we'll call D, is becoming too much for her, so her solution, she said, was to just start doing a bad job for D so that the management would get the hint that she is too busy and would give D's work to someone else. Odd solution.
The management is mostly this one ditzy lady who barely works 30 hours a week and is too busy answering her friends' phone calls to notice or care. So when B's plan to get rid of her D workload wasn't working she finally made a grand plea to this manager woman about her workload for D.The manager didn't want to deal with it as a larger issue I guess because she just assigned his work to me - but just for that day. I was annoyed because I have plenty to do myself but I got over it, realizing it's probably better just to help out when asked rather than pout and stomp about it. That action will look good come review time.
But that was last week. And since then B has asked me on no fewer than 5 occasions to do MORE of D's work. First it was because she was out sick, then it was because she was back in the office but still not feeling well, and today it was because she was busy, yet again, with other work.
Now, as I've mentioned, I recently took on another attorney of my own to assist, which means I'm now assisting three people. Most of the other assistants work for two attorneys or just one. So why can't one of THOSE people do B's extra work? Why is it me?
NOT TO MENTION, beyond assisting all three of my people, I'm ALSO the only designated person in the office to take over for the head assistant, C, who assists the big head honcho guy, whenever C is at lunch, in the bathroom, taking a day off, running an errand. (And let me tell you, this bitch is ALWAYS doing one of those things.) Because he's a big music exec and the big head honcho here, his phones are always ringing off the hook, every call must be answered or else, and he always needs something. So I do that every day at least twice a day, sometimes for whole weeks even, in addition to all my other stuff.
So basically, B asked me again today to do something for D that she didn't want to/didn't have time to do. She didn't ask management to ask me, she just asked me herself. And I didn't think it was right or fair. But I agreed to do it because I figured helping out looked better than causing a scene by saying "No," and then logging back onto Perez Hilton.(My other work was done.)
It could certainly be argued that B saw me not working and saw an opportunity to ask me to do her the favor. But shortly after that she was not-working herself.
Now, my actual suspicion is that B, who is actually a paralegal/assistant, DOES have time, but would RATHER work on the legal stuff she's assigned as opposed to the administrative stuff she's assigned. She feels above the tasks of a typical assistant. Perhaps, in her mind, she'll eventually get to quit doing all assistant tasks at all. The only problem is, in addition to her roll as a paralegal, her JOB is to ASSIST two attorneys. That's part of her job. And right now she's delegating one of them to me, and the other one - get this - is on maternity leave! For three months! So B's phones are quiet, her workload has lessened, yet she's giving me the extra stuff she "doesn't have time" to do. She has time. I promise you. Mentally, it might be difficult for her to have more than one piece of her job to focus on, but time-wise, she has time.
So I'm feeling disgruntled, obviously. Things have gotten busier than ever for me at work, my phones are constantly ringing, I answer 3 (usually 4 when C is off running errands) phone lines, assist 3.5 people (including D) and I feel like there are other people in the office who are always playing computer games or emailing with their friends.
Don't get me wrong - I have free time, as I said. But I feel as though there's a misconception about the amount of work I do, that somehow I'm viewed as someone who could use a little more work to do, so to complain about it or question it when I'm asked to help out might be viewed poorly. I'm also the newest assistant, having only been here a year. So maybe that's part of it. I'm not sure where my own insecurities about being perceived a slacker end the reality of the situation begins. The reality is, however, that I do my work, don't generally screw things up, and never leave for a day without having done what needs to be done that day. I'm on time every single day (B is, without fail, 15-30 minutes late every day), and I'm always helpful. I am online or doing personal stuff just as often as other people. And I feel I actually have more responsibility than some other people.
I guess my irritation is less about having more work to do for B, which is really not that big of a deal at all and usually only takes me a few minutes to complete, but is more about the power-play of her asking me to do it just because she doesn't really feel like it, the assumption that what she has to get done in a day is more important than what I have to get done, and that I can easily take a few minutes and just do her work for her. That's why we have interns, to do work we don't want to/can't do. And that's why we have a manager, to delegate work when things become unbalanced.
Basically, I'm not sure WHAT to do. There is the option of talking to my new boss, who is a great guy, and who would be understanding and maybe be irritated with the situation if I explained it to him, and who has some leverage around here. But I also feel like I don't want to act like a bratty kid and just bitch about having to do a couple extra things a day. It's more the principle of it really. It's more that B told me she was going to do a bad job so she didn't have to keep working for D. And the manager woman has her head too far up her ass to check in on the situation. Part of me feels like maybe I should just wait until my review, which should be any week now, and explain how much my work load is increased. Leverage. And part of me feels that I should express my frustrations.
Any advice that any of you may have, you who have experience in the working world, or you who have a much less child-like disposition when asked to do extra work than I, would be greatly appreciated. I need some direction here. Otherwise I'm going to bottle it up and get real bitchy and the whole thing is gonna seem a lot bigger in my head than it actually is.
I guess I did have stuff to write about...
In OTHER less ridiculous news, I had a nice quick lunch workout yesterday, which felt good. I'll go back to the gym tonight (skipped the lunch workout today in favor of a slow, meandering walk around midtown) for a lifting session and a long cardio session. I'm looking forward to it, I need the stress relief. (My sketch group is driving me a little nuts right now too, so add that to the pile of stressful things to be relieved.) I've got my improv show tonight and then I'll head home to catch the debate on the tivo.
When I got home last night Kevin had a couple slices of pizza waiting for me. (I ate one and shared the other with him.) It was so delicious and such a welcome treat. He set out all the toppings I like (parm. cheese, garlic, etc.) and lined the toaster oven tray with aluminum foil so we could heat them right up away and eat them. It was so sweet of him. He really is such a good guy. I'm not sure how I found him, but I'm keeping him.
We split a small cupcake that I brought home from a bakery for dessert. Not amazing but yummy enough.
Not exactly a salad and lean protein, but it was a good supper.
I made myself a delicious egg sandwich for breakfast this morning, had a mexican themed veggie thing for lunch, and will have who-knows-what for dinner.
The next few days will be fun - Girls movie night tomorrow night with some friends (seeing "The Dutchess"), massages with Kev on Friday, his sister's birthday and her sis-in-law's engagement party both on Saturday, and hopefully some niiiice relaxation on Sunday (after a quick biz meeting in the morning). I don't care what we do on Sunday but my vote is that it's something mostly horizontal and involving the television and a delicious filling dinner.
I'm so excited for the election. I think Obama's gonna win and I'm stoked! We're having a few people over that night, just close friends who didn't have other plans. We'll have snacks and drinks and hopefully be celebrating before midnight. You kinda gotta believe your guy is gonna win in order to have an election party or it could turn out to be a very anti-climactic party. But I have a good feeling. McCain has made a mess of things in his campaign, especially lately with all the negative attacks and his supporters yelling things like "Kill him!" about Obama at rallys. I think that scares even rightwing people, and rightfully so.
Anyway, I didn't mean to get political but I'm not afraid of my position. So there it is.
That's it! Good evening! (Still have 30 minutes to go! Grrr.)
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