I am so unhappy at work at the moment.......

[RantingOfficeJunior]

Have changed name for this (well you never know ). I do feel like a ranty office junior although im far too old to be one!

Basically i work part time. Its an admin job for a fast paced kind of industry where nothing is the same two days running. No long term contracts really.

I am very unhappy there. I dread going to work every day. I was very good at my last job, i made mistakes as everyone does but it was few and far between. Now i seem to be screwing up on a daily basis.

No-one tells me anything. I have no idea where the employees are, what they are doing, what they are working on. Everyone keeps their information in their head, then they throw me in at the deep end and expect the work to be done correctly...its like wading through mud. I've had very little training on the computer system, or anyone elses job, have been moved from dept to dept (who all work differently) to provide support for all of them.

One manager will tell me one thing, then another will contradict it, then the boss is on my case asking why things arent done or having a fit because its not done right. Im constantly asking people for help and being snapped at because they are all too busy to give me the info i need and we haven't enough staff to cover the work that needs to be done.

If i dont ask, its wrong. If i do ask, its still wrong. I have staff asking me why i did X Y and Z when i haven't a clue, i was just following someone elses instructions.

although no-one else in the office seems to have a problem with shifting the blame, (i hear the best of friends slating each other to the boss), i do have a problem with that. but i feel its to my own detriment really that i dont shift the blame when im asked why i did something and i feel that i cant say "because X told me to", because i know the boss will haul them in right there and then in front of me. All the same, i dont want to check everything i do with the boss as it would make me look like im going behind everyones back, but it seems if i dont, i'm in for another bollocking for getting it wrong.

I dont really care so much if people dont like me at work, im there to do a job and earn money but i know from experience that a hostile atmosphere is not good, not nice to work in. But then if i dont say anything im going to get the blame for things that arent my fault. Its a small office, everyone has been there much longer than me, i dont really think i can trust anyone there so im not sure i can approach anyone with my concerns.

It has all completely crushed any confidence i ever had in the workplace, i feel unable to do my job, useless and incompetant. I purposely chose a low responsibilty job because i have plenty of stressfull things going on at home and don't need any more.

So basically, im unhappy and cant afford to lose this job. What do i do?

That sounds like a seriosuly badly managed workplace. I'm a non-confrontational type at work, non-gossiping etc, but I think I'd tell my boss who asked me to do something rather than taking the blame out of a sense of loyalty and being nice. I gather nothing in your job description covers who your line manager is and what your duties and responsibilities are?

Although its a large company its a very small office branch, less than 10 of us.

I think i do have issues. As i said i was very good at my last job, had been there longer than anyone and it all ended in a very nasty way when i was pregnant. All the people i had trusted for years, supposed friends and colleagues turned against me and it ended up in court (i won, but it was truly awful). There was a colleague there who had a problem with me and when i tried to make a complaint i was not believed, dismissed as making a big deal out of nothing.

Therefore, im hesitant to say anything. I thought in future i would keep my head down, ignore office gossip and bitching. Do my job and go home. But i cant do my job when other people are messing it up for me.

My line manager is the branch manager, he's a good boss really, seems ok with child related issues like time off for sick kids but prone to outbursts. Ive never really been sure which way to approach him. I am looking for something else but i dont particularly want to be fired. I feel i need to cover myself for any eventuality somehow.

Sounds difficult.

Are you keeping a diary? It might be useful to keep a note of instructions given by particular managers and complaints by other managers.

Just because you were dismissed from your last job for complaining doesn't mean it will happen again. If you have worked for your employer for over a year you will have some protection under the unfair dismissal provisions.

Is it a big company? Do they have an HR department?

Anyway hugs know how rotten these situations can be and how they erode confidence.

Thanks tumblemum. I wasn't dismissed from my last company for complaining. I was dismissed because i had a baby . But it was mentioned in tribunal why i had "never made an offical complaint" about my treatment whilst pregnant, their solicitor really shot me for that. It was that bad situation where the managers are not professional and after laughing at me, would have told said member of staff what i had said. (and did), only made the situation worse and was not taken seriously.

That's just what makes me think you see, if i say nothing, i have no back up, if i do, i risk being treated like a backstabber.

Re reading the thread you sound like you have got in a bit of a 'tangle'. I have a tendency to think like that, if I do this then x will think y - I try to ditch this way of thinking not that good at achieving it.

It is not acceptable the way you are being treated. Could you have a meeting with your boss (assuming you have at least one years' service) and informally raise the issues you are unhappy about in a calm and measured way, - contradictory instructions from colleagues, ambiguity about what you are supposed to be doing and being expected to perform tasks for which you are ill equipped and given little or no advance warning etc...

Anyway signing out now, and probably not around for a while as working days and evenings for the forseeable.

What a mess. They have a duty to show you what you need to do. Can you find out more? Say they just moved you to the latest department and that operates a different way from the other can you ask how they operate or even offer a system so that you do know where everyone is each day so you haev the information you need? I wouldn't worry about if you're asked why you did X saying because Mr Y said so - of course you should say that. It's the real reason.

Keep a record as people say and then may be just have an informal chat with the boss about say the one main problem if there is one. If that could be solved the rest might be easier.

Laughable almost isn't it? I have wanted a discussion with the boss for a while now, but every time he has taken someone else in, the staff listen at the door.

I don't see why it should matter if the staff hear. You're going in there in a spirit of jolly co-operative pleasure to have on the staff helpful great employee that he is lucky to have who is managing fine but just wants help (..throw yourself on him as needing help and that will flatter his ego...) and why shouldn't the other staff hear that? Doesn't matter. It's just a chat like lots of people have about how things are working and may be you will try to offer him solutions to the problem rather than going in with a "complaint". Say if you did XYZ it would really help or say if only I had one point to report to it would be fine or whatever your major thing is.

maybe not throw myself on him can see your point though, perhaps approach it in a different way.

Not too jolly though, i dont do jolly.