Ok, the title was supposed to be a little sarcastic, but I do honestly love my job. The people I work with are some of the best, smartest people in the world. They are hard working and dedicated and funny. Sometimes funny, ha ha, sometimes funny, strange.
The problem I am having, however, and have been having for quite some time is that I don't work FOR them. I work for a company in California. Virginia? New Mexico, according to my W2. Who knows?
I am a contractor. The big company contracts with my little (although not by much) company and the little company hires people to fill the positions. There are bonuses for both companies this way. The big company is not concerned about paying for my retirement, my vacation, my sick leave or any other fancy benefits. The little company gets to charge the big company my salary PLUS enough to cover all of that PLUS enough to make a tidy profit.
So, the people I work WITH work directly for the big company.
The problem is my immediate supervisor, called a Task Leader. When I first became a contractor (2000) I worked in the same room as my Task Leader. He was a great guy; he signed my timesheet. Really. That was it.
I, myself, was the task leader on a different contract from Jan 04 - Nov 05. I signed timesheets and kept up with scheduling. When I first became task leader, there were about 10 people on the task. By the time I was replaced (best thing that ever happened to me!) there were only 2 of us on the contract.
The problem is that our actual supervisor lives in Jacksonville and only gets over this way once in a while (not very often). This is obviously not an ideal situation. Plus she is an unknown entity. The man who was our supervisor before had been for YEARS and we all knew him. (Didn't necessarily trust him, but knew how far to go.) This lady? Who knows?
So, the problem is that the Task Leader has decided she is God, Almighty. Things will be done her way, even though her way makes no sense and she chooses to be out more than she is here. Plus she is trying to tell even those who are in charge that things are going to be HER way. Worse, they are LETTING HER GET AWAY WITH IT.
And I don't know what to do about it. While there are plenty of people whom I trust, they are not in a position to help get rid of her. And there are those who think she hung the moon!
So I come to work and I do my job (and a damn fine one, if I do say so myself!) and I try to keep my mouth shut. But it gets more difficult by the day. She changes things from week to week, or day to day, or sometimes minute to minute. She is trying to turn some of the others on our contract against me, I do.not.know.why.
Luckily, I have been here for a while and I am well liked. And my skills and the job I am doing is appreciated. I just wish there was something I could do to either (a) make her NOT the Task Leader or (b) just get her off of my back.
For now, I will continue to plug along.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Tough situation and my only comment would be to document everything that happens. Figure out a way to make sure the things the new task leader does are documented and especially the irrational things that don't add value to the process.
I don't know the business but I have found that getting a supervisor or manager to put things in writing sometime makes a difference.
Good advice and some I have been following since last July. Unfortunately, some of the things she does (like leaves early or not show up at all) I don't have time to keep an eye out for.
The rest of the irrational stuff, I keep track of.
I could tell you horror stories about my passive-aggressive boss who has yet to realize that he has not been in the Marines for over 14 freakin' years!!!!!
However, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the day that I can get hired by one of the big companies and do something I like for a different idiot boss. Gotta love the life of a contractor!!
Post a Comment