Sticky Situation at Work...thoughts?

[LitWit]

Hey everyone...I have a situation that has weighed heavily on my mind since last week, and I'm not sure how to handle it. I apologize in advance for the length, but as you'll see it's one hell of a story .

I'm a 25 year old reporter for a small newspaper; the paper for which I work is owned by another paper in a town about 50 miles away (that is also where our actual printing presses are.) Our internet connectivity/networking went on the blink last Tuesday, and so I've been keeping tabs on the paper's e-mail traffic ever since through my own outlook program. I was given this duty because I am considered the most "computer savvy" among the seven other people that I work with--they include two advertising people, a layout person, a typesetter, our editor, another reporter, and a circulation manager. We also have two deliverers that take the weekly paper and other things between the two offices.

Last Tuesday night at around 9:30 pm--deadline day, as we publish on Wednesdays--I had gone home from a long day at work, only to recieve a phone call from one of the advertising people. After looking at the zip disc that contained that week's paper, she realized that an important department store ad had accidentally been omitted. She was wanting me to e-mail the ad to the other office, as one of the delivery people had already made the trip there. I then went to the office and picked up a CD that contained the file.

Problem was, once I got home and fired up outlook, I found out that the ad file was 11 meg! My e-mail (and net connection) simply couldn't handle it, and so I called the ad person after about 5 failed tries. Unfortunately, she had already left the office.

So, I called composing at the main office, who went on a tirade about how he needed that file NOW. I called both deliverers: one did not have his pager on, and the other "just didn't want to go" since he had already been there once that day. So, I then called the composing person at my paper(all things of this nature have to be brought to her attention anyway), and she went on about how someone else should take the file to the main office because she went last time. When I told her that NEITHER of us should go because the delivery people were unavailable--and especially since one of them simply didn't want to go. But, she said that she'd go, and asked me to go with her. I had stories that I had to get done myself, and so I told her this...she replied that she'd get her father, who lives near her, to go with her. But, when she showed up at my home to pick up the cd that held the ad file, she was alone and insisted on making the trip alone after I mentioned this. (Later on, I discovered that she hadn't even called her dad in the first place.)

So, the file got delivered and made it in the paper. But, when I walked into work the next morning, you would have thought that I was being led to my crucifixtion. Everyone except one of the advertising people (not the one who called me) was saying that I was an irresponsible, lazy, and manipulative person for not jumping in the car and taking the file myself. Why didn't I? Well, for three big reasons:
1.) My job is to write and report. Technically, I was going above and beyond my duties by even dealing with advertising at all.
2.)In all seriousness, the company that owns my paper has a long and established history of taking advantage of their employees. I decided a few months ago that there is a fine line between doing something unpleasant as part of the "job" and being taken advantage of, and so my actions the other night were a reflection of this.
3.) I was very angered that the delivery person's reason was that he just "didn't want to go." This wasn't the first time something like this has happened with him, either!

Before this, I felt very comfortable in my job, enjoyed what I did, and was often told that I did my work very well. Did I really mess up or am I worrying over nothing?

[ZANEY123]

Originally posted by LitWit 3.) I was very angered that the delivery person's reason was that he just "didn't want to go." This wasn't the first time something like this has happened with him, either!

i would say that is your answer. it would be there job to deliver it not yours like you said.


Zaney123

[wilder]

How does the one who signs your paycheck feel about it?

[Blankman]

Honestly...even though most labor laws do on paper protect you as an employee, most employers will take advantage of you if given the opportunity. I for one was hired as a "clerk" for a transportation company. The previous clerk was female (nothing against her mind you). Since I am male and can operate equipment I have been asked on several occasions to help unload trucks. Well dock workers make $5 an hour more than I. My scope of training supercedes that of the previous clerks, I am asked to fix printers, computers, unload trucks, load customers, etc, and have even been asked to update my CDL to drive short routes in town when needed. (Drivers make double what I make.)

In the past two weeks I've let both my dock manager and terminal manager know, "IF", I decide to do anything beyond the scope of my job, it is out of the goodness of my heart, but don't expect it, don't approach it, unless you wish to pay me more.

Indira Ghandi's grandfather told her, "There are two types of people in this world. Those who work hard, and those that take the credit for it. It's better to be in the first group, there's less competition there."

[glc]

There is a very fine line between "teamwork for the good of the company" and being taken advantage of. I don't care for people who hide behind a job description to never do anything one scrap "above and beyond", but there is the other extreme.

Who do the delivery people report to? I'd be rattling that person's cage over this. You aren't a delivery person. I don't care how many trips the delivery person has made that day - it's his JOB to do deliveries - and also be paid OVERTIME if necessary - and there's NO excuse for the other one to turn off his pager, ESPECIALLY on press night!

I've worked on a weekly paper, and NEVER got home before midnight on press night - and it was ALL clock time.

[TimPoet]

Originally posted by glc I've worked on a weekly paper, and NEVER got home before midnight on press night - and it was ALL clock time.

I thought you were a writer....

[glc]

No, I did ads, layout, and pasteup.

[TimPoet]

uhh, did you perhaps use a computer?

[Confused]

Obvious you have issues with your employer. Maybe it's time to put your resume out on the street and find out how much you are worth.
Chas

[Hpro]

Even it's not your own job to deliver things - but 50 miles aren't that far and all it took is just that you brought it over there - sometimes you expect others to cross the line - but the question is - can you cross it??
Hpro

[glc]

No Tim, this was 20 years ago, the only thing in there even resembling a computer was the typesetter.

[LawyerRon]

Xact-o knife and spray glue, right George?

ps: did you ever "cut a ruby"?

[cobra]

Dude,
I know how you feel. Everyday just about at my job, I end having to do things that are nowhere near what my job entails. My boss likes to do "favors" for people, so he can have an ace in the hole. But I end up having to do it all anyway. What gets me is, he only does certain things for certain people, if another asks for the same thing, he tells them we don't handle that.
I could go on and on, but it's useless. I work for a hypocrite, and that fact is pretty clear to all who work here.

[glc]

Ron: No spray glue - we used wax.

Not familiar with that term?

[Hpro]

Cobra It seems that you are not alone in this kind of situation... after almost 30 years again to be an employee - even good paid - I have to take things I never would have taken before - with take I mean doing too much overtime - again paid OK - but the time is gone anyway - and same as you - my boss has exactly the same Star hallucinations as your boss - may they know each other ??? LOL
But anyway sometime things only get done the right way if WE with this I mean all employed people taking the things in our own hands and do something out of our way -

Hpro

[Doobie]

I admit sometimes it does get aggravating doing jobs that are not in your job description. I used to be a Dental Liaison and sometimes they had me helping the secretary, delivering packages and any computer related work but to tell you the truth I never really did mind (well except helping the secretary because she was a real buffoon but that’s another story).

Sometimes you do have to go beyond the call of duty and that’s what employers look for. I didn’t care because I was getting paid over time and for my mileage. (Sometimes I would get paid less from all taxes taken away from OT, I was single at the time )

But I guess I can see how some people do seem to think they are taken advantage of. I used to at times but hey it’s a job, are you supposed to enjoy it 100% of the time?

Hey, guys, thanks for the replies!

Just a few things:

Doobie:
No, I'd probably be safe in saying that there isn't a job on earth that anyone enjoys 100% of the time. I doubt if there's one people enjoy 20% of the time

My concern was that I have seen what my employer will do to people if given the chance: 10 hour days or more with no breaks, very low pay (my current salary is $6.15/hr, with very limited overtime, our editor isn't paid much more), and so on.

GLC:
So true about the "fine line". I don't like to hide behind my job description, either, but like I said earlier, my biggest beef of the night was that the people who would usually be in charge of those things were out convieniently doing something else.

I've gone "above and beyond" in my job--honestly done much more than I should, and paid dearly for it--many times before, which is one reason I feel so upset about this. BTW, I didn't want anyone else on the staff who wasn't in advertising/layout/delivery to be responsible for the ad either..I've always felt that if everyone did do the jobs they were supposed to do, we'd be just fine!

What I don't get is why people turned so hostile toward ME but not much at all was said toward the delivery person who didn't want to go--in fact, people were DEFENDING him!

[LitWit]

Guys, the above post from "Moonlight_Armada" is from me, I posted from a different computer than my own and didn't realize that another PC-Mech account was still logged in at the time!

This just hasn't been my week, has it?

[morriswindgate]

The next time this happens get a copy of WinRAR and then compress the file into multiple parts with an executable that are small enough to E_Mail. THen the person on the other end simply downloads all the parts to a folder and then clicks on the executable to reassemble.

[TimPoet]

1. Litwit, I like your moniker...

2. If the way you presented your case is an honest portayal then I tend to support you. You simply must have fair boundaries or you wouldn't fulfill your job requirements on one end of the spectrum nor escape burnout on the other.

3. I think I know exactly why the other staffers treated you as the pariah. It sounds like you work in a sick, dysfunctional company and you broke the "rules" of refusing to be treated like anything but a man. They might be spineless weasels who are anxious and threatened by a mature person.

So walk tall and proud. This is America in the 21st century, not the 17th we are all free citizens not serfs... who knows you might make vice president or publisher.

[Harry]

First of all, I don't want to inflate your ego but you aren't as computer as savvy as you might think you are. File splitting is one of the very first priorities you learn when you use a computer on the net or you couldn't send large files over the net. And I could never in a billion years have got along on the Internet without doing so. Winrar is an excellent program as Morris mentioned.

Secondly, doesn't anyone anywhere at that paper have an FTP site specifically to load up large files. If I were there, I would specifically ask them how it is possible that they don't.

Thirdly, there used to be a number of sites that would let you upload very very large files for short periods of time like a week or two. I used to use a website called Whalemail.com for doing just that. Then someone could easily download the file from there.

The issue is not to have people go around wasting their time all hours of the night delivering crap when the technology is there to do this or what's the point of having the technology in the first place. Also, it doesn't seem like you or anyone else there were really interested in the solution to this problem as do you really think it won't happen again that someone won't have to email a large file. You know it will.

As far as blaming you for the mishap or expecting you to go above and beyond the call of duty. That's what working in an office and especially a newspaper is all about. Every element of the lowest form of humanity can be found in offices and especially newspapers where egos are included on top of everything else. The object of most people who work at a newspaper is to prove you are better then the next person which often means that people will be sure to make you look bad so they will look better.
This is especially the case if your skills are good. It's all the more reason for others to go on the attack.

And many of the people who are successful in the newspaper business are successful because they are good and clever con men with highly inflated egos not because of their talent. When you understand that, then you will understand that to stay in that business and to succeed in it, you have got to be a lot tougher, clever and more defensive and that working hard is less important then the former.

To describe this kind of psychological zoo would take a whole different forum. And there are so many different levels of it. A lot of people find it very hard to work in such negatively charged surroundings.

[doctorgonzo]

Litwit, you did as much as you could do. It is one thing to do favours for people; it is quite another to do another person's job.

I also disagree with you, Harry. Being "computer savvy" is a relative term. I know my way around computer just fine, and I have never heard of a site like whalemail. FTP is an option, but there is no guarantee that the recipient will know how to get a file that way. Ditto for filesplitting. Most people's knowledge of e-mail is simple: you click on the attached file, and that's it. No recombining large split files, or anything complicated. If LitWit had spent two hours trying to talk the e-mail recipient into using one of these methods, it may not have worked anyway.

The way I see it, LitWit did a favor by taking over the computer duties. Perfectly fine, because there isn't anybody whose job it is to be an IS person. But delivering? It sounds like you have two people to do that, and you don't have to pick up their slack.

When you understand that, then you will understand that to stay in that business and to succeed in it, you have got to be a lot tougher, clever and more defensive and that working hard is less important then the former.

That may be true, but things are accomplished by the people who actually work, not those who take advantage of it. It would do for pretentious bosses to be reminded of that once in a while. There are going to be layoffs where I work, and of course there are people who are looking to weasel out of the cuts by kissing ass or stabbing others in the back. I choose not to participate, and ask that decisions be based on the quality of my work. If they know what they are doing, that's what they will base their decisions on and I will have nothing to worry about. If not, if they think that people's "connections" or deftness with a stiletto can lead to thousands of lines of computer code, then they are doomed and I should leave anyway.

LitWit, you seem to know what you are doing and you went further than most people would. If your boss doesn't see that, the only thing you can do is leave.

[eshort]

I sympathize with you!!!!

I have worked a government job for 32 years: I have more "pre and "on the job" training than 99% of the othetrs.

My present position= QA specialist--this entails revewing insurance clams to ensure proper amouint/quality of medical and work history documention was obtained--and--that said information was properly used to render disability decisions.

I offered to understake and "aditional" job duty/responsibility--which amounts to being an agency wide (200 examiners) "vocational consultant"--a intragency resource for examiners having difficulties rendering a decision.

But--I am paid ONLY for the Q.A. job..nothing "extra" for the "vocational consultant" job which takes aup about 50% of my time on average workweek..and required "extra" training to remain current with policy/regulations and various labor resource materials.

When contract was renegotiated" in 2000, I asked for a $$ upgrade stating I really "do" two distinct jobs which require more knowledge/training/and output than the "QA" position.

My request was rebuffed by the agency director!

Fortunately- my 'QA" job WAS upgraded.....but..the other 5 QA" people-who do NOT do "vocational consultant" tasks receive the same pay as myself..I still think this is unfair..but what r my alternatives?

Crux= sometimes u have to "biute the bullet" and accept extra duties and bulls...., to retain a job whuich u basically like and feel is being reasonably renumerative!

PS--much earlier in my career at same agency: I was a unit supervisor" who was harasses unmercifully by my "Regional director"--this harassment was always done behind closed doors with no witnesses--so how can one prove it?--I finally quit that supervisory position and moverd to a lower paying position in same agency....but..to this day--I wonder how one can deal with a harassing supervisor/situation such as this??!!!!

[Carl Price]

Originally posted by eshort PS--much earlier in my career at same agency: I was a unit supervisor" who was harasses unmercifully by my "Regional director"--this harassment was always done behind closed doors with no witnesses--so how can one prove it?--I finally quit that supervisory position and moverd to a lower paying position in same agency....but..to this day--I wonder how one can deal with a harassing supervisor/situation such as this??!!!!

At a much earlier job, we had a supervisor like that. no one could prove the harrassment until one of the supervisors wore a wire when he was called to the office. Its not expensive. A small tape recorder and a small microphone attached to your tie should do it. By the way the supervisor was demoted to a position that he had no power in.

Carl

[TimPoet]

Originally posted by Harry First of all, I don't want to inflate your ego but you aren't as computer as savvy as you might think you are.

uh, Harry, take it easy on the guy... "He" didn't say he was computer-savvy, his office considered him as such, if you check out his initial post, so they made him the impromptu IT guy.
And I believe you meant you didn't want to deflate your inflated ego, n'est pas?

Originally posted by Carl Price At a much earlier job, we had a supervisor like that. no one could prove the harrassment until one of the supervisors wore a wire when he was called to the office. Its not expensive. A small tape recorder and a small microphone attached to your tie should do it. By the way the supervisor was demoted to a position that he had no power in.

Yeah, I got a supervisor at work whom I will never go into a room alone with for any reason. If he has something to say to me, he can say it in the presence of another mgr. or we can go to the Human Resource Dept.... Of course, I do have an tiny digital recorder.

[Confused]

I'm having a hard time understanding where some of you guys are coming from. Whenever I preceived things as being unjust I put my resume on the street. Keyword in preceeding sentence is "preceived". I wonder why everyone except one person was having a problem with LitWit actions. Remember, they can only do to you what you allow them to do.
Chas

[Fuze]

litwit, I mean this in the most un-hostile way as possible....

if you really make 6.15 an hour... can you really support yourself to a sufficient standard?

[LitWit]

Wow, more replies...

From the bottom to the top:

Fuze:
Well, I never said that I was rich In all seriousness, though, it is hard....and that is my real, honest-to-goodness salary. I do live in an area where the cost of living isn't that high, thank goodness, but....it doesn't exactly help morale around here.
Even our editor doesn't get paid squat!
And by the way, no offense taken, btw!

Confused:
I have been considering doing just what you suggest, have for some time. I do enjoy the actual work that I was hired to do, because writing is in my blood. I guess what I was asking in
in my original message was how to survive until then and still be able to keep a "good face" in the industry.

TimPoet:
Thanks for the defense--you're absolutely right, the OFFICE people thought that I was the most "computer savvy" and so I was indeed given the computer duties by default. Many of the people I work with are from the "old school" and don't understand the ins and outs of e-mail and file splitting as well as they probably should, but then again, It's not my job to be their computer teacher, either!
Oh, I'm female, by the way!

Harry:
I think you may have misunderstood some parts of my original post. Normally, we *would* have the technology to send large files, but the sole reason I was given computer duties in the first place was because our network was on the fritz. The person who gave me the file said that it was "not that big" and that I should be able to send it without any problem--I thought that she would know enough about e-mail to know that you just can't send very large files over "regular" e-mail. I was wrong

Please don't take this the wrong way, but your post came across as being just a bit condesending. I can see your point, honestly I do, but I'm sorry, I have to take offense at your statement:

"many of the people who are successful in the newspaper business are successful because they are good and clever con men with highly inflated egos not because of their talent"...

Uh, you do know that you are talking to someone who has done quite well for herself in "the newspaper business" don't you? I've recieved many compliments on what I've wrote, and love the actual reporting work--to me, that's a form of "success". It's just the crap inside the office that is worrying me.

You are correct that this isn't an industry for wimps. But at the same time, we're not all deceptive little people--I certainly don't like to play "con man" games, nor do I have an "inflated ego". If I did, what would be the point in making my original post in the first place?? In short: No sweeping generalizations, please!!

[Harry]

If I'm being condescending, I'm being condescending about your naivety. The fact that you have written good stories is not all there is to life at a newspaper. You go to work every day and live with those people around you. Those people are not so interested in you and your stories. They are interested in themselves and their stories and their success. You may be an obstacle in their way. The attention you gain from your successful stories can result in resentment on their part. Bad mouthing, spying, sabataging or anything imaginable is not out of bounds to some of those people.

Internal politics is also something you will be surprised about. Decisions about your job or the work you are assigned to do may have no rhyme or reason. Lots of decisions may be based not on your work but on someone elses agenda or emotional impressions and whether or not people like you or like someone else better.

Decisions may also be based on closed door politics by your co-workers who have influenced the executive decision makers. Sometimes these co-workers are people you have confided in and they have used their personal knowledge about you for their own personal benefit. Sometimes, impressions can be made by just one word you said and all kinds of wrong and false assumptions that people make of it.

Managers and excutives are often times very removed from the work of their staff. They have their own work and problems and are not really interested in your work peformance just as long as you get your work done. On a work performance level at a newspaper, don't expect anything from anyone and that you are irreplaceable but on a personal likability level, things may work out a lot better for you. Succeeding at likability is probably one of the most complex things you can possibly do especially if you have a lot of adverse forces to contend with. It's all very much like a soap opera.

If you are really interested, try to do an investigative piece on life inside a newspaper - the part that excludes job performance. Interview at least 100 people and focus on those people who have more experience and a greater understanding of the insides of a newspaper office and then you will begin to understand a lot of the underhanded things that go on and that you can't exclude the people around you from the influence they have on your every day work life.

[TimPoet]

Originally posted by LitWit Oh, I'm female, by the way!

Originally posted by LitWit Harry: ...I have to take offense at your statement: "many of the people who are successful in the newspaper business are successful because they are good and clever con men with highly inflated egos not because of their talent"... Uh, you do know that you are talking to someone who has done quite well for herself in "the newspaper business" don't you? ...In short: No sweeping generalizations, please!! [/B]

Originally posted by Harry If I'm being condescending, I'm being condescending about your naivety.

Wow... Harry, Harry Harry.