I kid not. Seriously, I kid not.
I figured it out my first week there. And I did not even work a full week!
Keep in mind, I got recomended for this job through a former client of mine who did not renew his contract with my former company due to their treatment of me. This former client is one of the most intelligent and caring persons I have ever know. He is also a bit picky but in his profession he has to be picky. He simply can not afford anything less then perfection.
I was honored that Len would think of me when Virgil told Len that he needed a new gal in the office. See, Len took his office and moved into Virgil’s office. While they did not combine their separate businesses, they combined their business space into a suite. They both have the same type of business.
So I went on my first interview. Virgil and I hit it off great. He was very outgoing, very precise and I could tell he could be a challenge but I was not overly concerned considering my past co-workers/bosses. I am simply used to working for big personality types who can be overbearing at times. Does not phase me. Virgil told me he liked what he saw immediately and hired me on the spot. He said normally he would do two or three interviews but not with me. He upped my asking salary and offered benefits at my second month progress meeting. He told me I would never worry about staying late or working weekends. He did diss Helen a tad saying that I would take her spot as the office manager. He told me he knew I have no training in this business but was setting me up with classes, training and a group of go to people for help. Anything I needed would be taken care of no matter what. Any expenses would be paid for by Virgil.
Looking back, I should have trusted that voice that told me this was all too good to be true. But no, I took the job. Mostly for the money and for working with Len again. I should have questioned why his other two longer term employees had left the company.
I got fingerprinted (which I paid for myself and have yet to be reimbursed). I got the legal and corporate clearance needed to work in said business and went to work December 6th. By the end of the next day I knew things were effed up. Effed up bad. I had walked into the most impossible situation ever. When your boss who turns out to be Helen, the person he told me I was replacing is still there…well her first sentence to me was this, “I have only been here a few months and have no idea what I am doing. Virgil is going to make you cry and when you do, you can come talk to me.”
Yep. The other gal in the office had a longer relationship. She was there for four months. Her first hour with me pretty much had the same tone as my first day with Helen. I learned that Janice only works three days a week. And none of us trained at all in this field. We were all promised we would get training when hired.
I quickly learned that Virgil will bark orders and demands for things he needs immediately or else…then only to ask you why you are giving him those very things minutes later. Then the lectures would come about wasting his time and mine.
By the start of the second week my computer was still not there but I was organizing notes and working off the computer in the conference room. At one moment and of course that was the moment Virgil chose to walk by, he saw I was sitting staring at my notes. He told me that if I had nothing to do then he would have to fire me.
WTF? Really? REALLY???!!! I am not there for even a week and am told THAT? I knew things were not going to go good.
Then they all had some powwow and decided that instead of having everyone doing a bit of everything, each of us gals would be in charge of one particular part of the business.
I never got the training. I never get answers from Virgil when I need them. He never lets me finish a sentence. He criticizes my soft voice by saying he can not tolerate me being so sheepish. (I am not sheepish and I am not intimidated easily). He stands over me when I type and corrects every little typo as I go along. Yeah, who can type perfectly with THAT hanging over your shoulder. He did not like that I did not type an address on a letter he was dictating to me (was going to add it after the dictation, duh!). Things like that.
But here is what took the cake. Literally. Said client was having a birthday. Friday, five minutes before it is time to go, he tells me to order a blah blah blah kind of cake from Grocery Store down the street. I ask if it is on the same street as our address. He says yes. This is very important because I do live on this side of town and am not familiar with the area at all. So I call the Grocery Store that is listed with the same street name as our business.
Turns out that was wrong. He had told Helen to pick up the cake at the OTHER Grocery Store. It is down the street but not on the same street! Helen was pissed, realized she had the wrong cake and now whatthefuckdowedonow!? I mapquested the store I ordered the cake from and went and picked it up. Amazing I did not get a ticket for my speed. I got the cake back, Virgil knew nothing was amiss and us gals shared the smaller “mistake” cake. Thing is, I paid for that damn cake out of my own pocket. I even gave him the receipt. He never acknowledged it and I have yet to be paid.
He also had Helen tell me that he made a “mistake” with my salary and that he would still keep paying that amount but forget bonuses and any benefits for the first year. I was no surprised by this point. Everything else up to this was just all going wrong. A huge clusterfuck.
All I can say is what a nightmare. I dread my job. I hate it actually. Len has apologized over and over again for putting me in this situation. Len hinted one day that Virgil is talking about letting me go. I of course sobbed over that seeing how hard I was trying but also acknowledged Len is right. This is an impossible situation. Virgi got mad at me last week for not getting something out on time. Never mind that daily I told him I needed answers only he could provide before I sent out the paperwork. And I documented everything on the office calender for all to see. I just forgot to put it in the spreadsheet everyone looks at…and Helen got in trouble for not reminding me.
He will help me in anyway. I have to figure out who to call, who to ask questions and even then I have no fucking clue what the questions are that need to be asked. I simply don’t know what I am doing and my boss won’t help and the other gals are in the same boat!
So. Last Thursday Virgil tells me he is letting me go and getting someone new who has training. Go figure. I was so goddamn happy I could have done cartwheels. He asked me to stay and help train the new person in the ways of the office and I if I did so, then he would give me some severance pay. I doubt that highly.
On a good note, Len has apologized so much, saying he was not in the office much the first few months he and Virgil shared the office. Len was out doing business at his clients homes and traveling. So Len had very little insight into what the true situation was like in the office. Len has asked me if I would do some work for him while I look for another job. Which is an honor if you knew the situation fully.
Here is the worse part…Friday Len barks out that he wants me to create a spreadsheet of all that I am working on and what has been done, what needs to be done and labelled like this and that and have it done in ten minutes. Then we would meet.
Then he told Helen the same thing. Something new to Helen. They met for all of two minutes before the screaming started and he told her to get the hell out and not come back until she could calm down or not come back at all.
Then he went after me. I had my spreadsheet done. It was done a month ago and kept up to date by the minute as need be. He just never wanted to see it when referred to it. It was the only way I can keep track of things. Which is barely since they change minute to minute in his head and I just cant keep up with his insanity.
I have figured he is bi-polar. That explains the mood swings, the abuse, the forgetting what he says five minutes ago, the irrational thought process, the being nice one minute and then an ogre the next…I know. For I live with a bi-polar person every day and also have my share of relatives with the problem. The thing is, my bi-polar people are on meds and are being regulated. Len is not. And there is no end to the crazies.
I blogged this to get it out of my head. Just a few more days to go and it is still intolerable knowing I have to make that drive and sit through all the abuse and chaos.
Then End.
