To resign after five weeks

[didntseethat]

I've recently taken a p/t role working in a small office.

The role is administrative and has the usual requirements of diary management, expenses and minute taking.

I believe they had someone else in the position some time ago but have been managing these tasks themselves for several months since that person left.

I was a bit undecided before I took the position but it's good money and I have the relevant experience so I thought why not.

We didn't get off to the best start and I think unfortunately this has continued and I now dread going in to the office.

I feel their expectations are out of touch with reality and that they have given me very little room for error when I've had no handover and while I'm an experienced assistant I have no previous experience in this sector.

I suppose my question is AIBU to resign? I just feel utterly shoot about the situation tbh

Write everything down that you feel is wrong in the work place.

firstly. Taking notes in any meeting. Was you asked your shorthand speed at interview? Did they ask about shorthand? It’s sounds like they didn’t. The newbie always gets what no one else wants, but not working equipment where you are unable to do your job….

Names - do the fold over paper thing and write their names on with a marker so you can see it.

Write down the office procedure. I have never seen it done like that.

keep writing all your grievances down and keep cool

A friend of mine left our company for a job paying £30,000 a year more and found her self in a similar situation

She is now on £70,000 more, she is totally in charge of the office, a £400,000 yearly budget and trained the staff her way or they’ve gone. She didn’t have the financial security blanket you have, she either had to make it work or get another job.

The top people now there are issues, you can afford to raise the issues!!!

Did you ask in the meeting for people to introduce themselves? Can people introduce themselves or cut in during the meeting and say “can you confirm your name for the action please?” When they were agreeing actions.

I am a personal assistant and you will know when it is right, or not right. I walked out of a job on the second week once and then found the lovely company I work for now. Cut your losses and go.

Honey it really should not be like this. You have done nothing wrong, you should've left the first day but you gave it 5 weeks! When you resign give them 3 items of feedback- don't get emotional, just leave it in a note. They should know how badly they've handled you.

Get the resignation over, and countdown the days till you're free. On to better things! ❤

They won't make you work your notice. They won't want you to in fact.

It's not working out. Communicate that pleasantly its OK.

One of the advantages of being a working class lad with mates/family who.have had "portfolio" careers is that I've never worried about getting another job. I've seen kiddies Jack in a job after 1/2 a day. One mate started a night shift job at 7 and was in the pub by 8.
Just tell them that you are leaving. Tell them why. And get your stuff and leave.
If you go for another job just tell them why you left the last one. Don't mention not working the notice.

Life is far too short, resign and tell them why. Hopefully it might improve things for the next poor sod who takes your place -probably not, but you'll have tried!
The minute situation was absolutely ridiculous (said as a HR manager who has note taken endless amounts of meetings).

OP could take on temporary work while you search? Some turn into permanent and it would give you the chance to see if you like the place.

I once walked out of a job the day I handed my notice in although I had found a new job to go to and had only just left Uni so I could have gone back home if I needed to.

I couldn't stand it after a few days, I was in tears nearly every day, I was treated very badly and the place was a non comedy version of Fawlty Towers.

Sometimes it does take a while to settle in to a new job, I started a new one last year and at first I wasn't sure because everything was new and I felt like I was slowing everybody down. 18 months later and I can't imagine being anywhere else! It never had me in tears though and I didn't hate it so there is a big difference.

I think if you are a bit unsure, not really looking forward to going in but on the whole it's OK then stick it out. If you are crying daily, hate going in and nothing is improving after 4 weeks then call it a day.

Omg resign, they sound awful. If you’re not better off financially then hand your notice in! And working your notice will be fine as you’ll be less emotionally invested.

Just read your other updates. That sounds awful. How can you minute when you don’t know who any one is?! Type your resignation email tonight !

But it was 30 minutes in to her first day so she didn't have a clue what they were talking about and it seems they expected her to know...to complain that the minutes were late when she didn't have a lap top...really? Asking people their names, I imagine that they just started and she didn't get chance

Just to clarify, I have years of experience as an assistant and have been attending meetings to take actions/minutes for well over a decade.

I have never known anything like this. The meetings have no proper chair so everyone just talks without any nod to what the actual action points are.

It's just like a big extremely technical conversation between eight people with me desperately trying to work out what is actually relevant.

Last week I took eight pages of notes and out of that came less than half a page of actual actions.

It's awful

Part time PA/EA here in a similar financial situation.

Coming home from work crying so often simply isn't worth it.

They sound like bullies who aren't going to treat you well no matter what- so as you won't have to struggle financially - RESIGN! Plenty of other opportunities around

It sounds awful op definitely resign. I stuck out a job for 11 months I knew wasn’t right in the first week - it took its toll on my self confidence & mental health. In fact get off mumsnet and write your resignation letter and go straight to your boss and tell him/her first thing in the morning before you do anything else. With any luck they ask you to leave there and then but the hardest bit is telling them - I remember feeling a huge weight lifting after I’d done it (but barely slept a wink the night before!).

let us know when it’s done 💐

You don’t need to know. But you do need fi do what I just said.

The problem is, in the type of very technical meeting the OP describes, if it isn't conducted to a clear agenda (or you don't have sight of the agenda) it can be difficult to work out what the actions actually are. It can come across as '[load of words you don't understand at all] Jill,can you ask Phil to take that forward, please' and you don't have a clue what Jill is supposed to asking Phil to do.

I agree. Other posters seem to agree with OP that it was an outrageous request but it wouldn't have fazed me, and I haven't been in admin/minute taking for over 10 years.

@AnneValentine if it were as simple as that I would have done it's you've described.

I can't go in to too much detail, but this is a highly highly technical subject matter but given time I would have grasped the content.

However I wasn't/haven't been given time.

I'm used to creating the agenda and gathering supporting documentation ahead of time so I can familiarise myself with the content.

This doesn't happen in this place.

It's own big jumbled conversation where actions aren't made at all clear. And I've been asked to give "nuance" to the minutes.

How can I add nuance when no one has explained anything tonne abs in the first day I didn't even have my own copy of the agenda or meeting documents?!

OMG definitely hand in your notice. This is completely unreasonable

I'd just walk. Today. If you don't need the job, or the reference then just go. To be honest a five week gap on your CV will be easy to explain anyway. No job is worth your mental health being shot to pieces.

I stayed in a job once where my direct managers had similar expectations. I stuck it out for much longer than I should have done and it destroyed my self confidence.