"Better the devil you know" is a large part of why I've been with my current employer for over 25 years...
New jobs not quite what i was sold….
I know things take time to settle in but I’m currently repenting at my leisure. Think ive been sold a pup.
I’m not regreting leaving my last job as that had run its course. But a bit miffed I’ve wound up here!
Still what is done is done
Plenty of times, I'd say more often than not I've had jobs which are no where near accurate to the JD. Even my last place which I've just left, funnily enough someone in my dept had left the DWP to go work there managing a big team and profused to me many a times that the job was an absolute lemon and not what he was sold. Just heard from someone else still working there they've just completed a restructure and now hes also overseeing a team who deal with a technology that he has little to no experience in.
Once worked a place as a contractor on 6 month FTC, I quit after 3 months for numerous reasons one waas they wanted me on site 2.5hrs from where the office is located and where I lived by 8am, and I had to stay until the job was done or it hit 10pm and then drive back to the office, drop the van off and collect my car to head home and repeat the next day. This went on for about 2 months mon-thu.
The final straw was when on thursday afternoon they told me the next day I needed to be down in plymouth by 12pm (roughly 9hrs from where we were based) to survey a solar panel farm for 2hrs then drive back and make sure the van is dropped off by 9pm that evening as another contractor needed it for a job they were going to in Thurso... I made them politely aware that was physically impossible, and that I couldn't do that anyway as it was mine and my girlfriend at the time 4 year anniversary and we'd booked a night away.
I got pulled into the office with the director and threatened with insubordination misconduct and told "We just don't feel like your heart is really in it currently" to which I cant remember exactly what I responded with but it was a colourful array and I stormed out and never went back.
I didn't get paid for working outside of 8-5 either as they told me "OT doesn't apply as you're a contractor" and there was no timesheet system to use. Later found out a lot of this was illegal but I was only around 22 at the time and naive
kind of, I joined the police when I left Uni because my mate had joined when he left the year before me and was really enjoying it, and I didn't have any other plan
The time at training college was fine but being out and about on the beat made me realise very quickly that it wasn't the job for me. Looking back with almost 30 years hindsight I was just too young and naive to be able to deal with the general public, I'd do really well now but now I know it's not a job I'd want to do. I spoke to my tutor sergeant over lunch on day and we went to see the duty superintendent and I went home and never went back. Spent months finding the right job, ended up in IT and been doing that ever since
I once spent ages hunting for the perfect job, applying for different roles, going to interviews, turning some down, comfortable in the position I was in, I was happy to take as long as needed. When I arrived at my new perfect job it quickly became apparent the company owner was a control freak, and we had to document what every hour of our time was spent working on, the whole works. It wasn't a happy place.
Ended up taking a punt from there to a job I really, really wasn't sure about, which turned out to be great...
Yes, a few times. 2hrs was my record when working for a staff agency - data entry in the 80s with a particularly irritating series of keyboard strokes which made it impossible to touch type. They weren't surprised, the most persistent were lasting a few days.
In one non-temporary job I told a boss I was going there and then and he started getting all heavy about my contract and terms of employment. When he'd had his say I pointed out that I'd never been given a contract to sign.
Some periods of employment felt like an uphill struggle, dead ends, no light at the end of the tunnel; I kept moving on. Then one day when both of us had walked from jobs I had a day applying not for the sensible jobs I was most qualified to do but jobs I fancied doing. A few days later I got a phone call, a pleasant chatty bloke who had an interesting job each for us and could we be in Strasbourg on Monday. Yup!
Every job I have had. I really screwed up my career choices and have been paying for it.
I’m so glad someone else posted this and am grateful for others responses.
Started a new role 20 months ago to launch a new software product into UK - think small fish on very large pool - while the rest of the business nails the dominant product as usual. Throughout that period it turned out senior management is a bit of a mess, expectations and my sales targets were massively over promised, software roadmap is 2yrs behind the promises…. I could go on. Suffice it to say I’m a struggling and have lost the opportunity to receive any of the commission part - 50% - of my salary.
A new management structure has been put in place over the last few months and the new company direction launched internally yesterday. Admittedly it does now look like a “proper” company, with a forward direction and a recognition that “it takes time” to reinvent itself.
Our new Sales boss is a cut throat logical hard hitter and although his logical and direct style appeals to my logical an objective led nature, he’s made it clear that Not at Target is not acceptable.
So I find myself in a position to a) leave b) wait until January where at least 2 years (weeks) of redundancy pay would be due, or wait to be fired wherein I’ve got good ground I think for constructive dismissal (no support, mentoring, objectives and measures and over blown targets all despite me challenging and asking for those) and perhaps could squeeze them for a payout to leave.
In the interim it’s hard work hanging around trying to anticipate what’s coming next, feeling very much isolated, on a limb and very much a target for “streamlining the business” IMO.
🙁
So I find myself in a position to a) leave b) wait until January where at least 2 years (weeks) of redundancy pay would be due, or wait to be fired wherein I’ve got good ground I think for constructive dismissal (no support, mentoring, objectives and measures and over blown targets all despite me challenging and asking for those) and perhaps could squeeze them for a payout to leave.
Look for something else right away, if you can't get an acceptable internal move.
Grounds for constructive dismissal is a great bargaining lever, but rarely brings a worthwhile payout for the stress and hassle involved.
Between permanent roles I did a short term contract with a small company.
It was bonkers from day 1, with no chance of for filling what they were asking. (people were nice enough) I even tried to explain why things couldnt be done, and they almost agreed they couldnt. The owners of the company were in the Dubai or some where and it was almost like the UK co wanted to just say they had tried their best. Its the only time I have ever done it, but I worked the 6 month contract, producing very little apart from ticking the boxes and spent the time looking for the perm job I wanted. Helped with the CV too.
Was fed up with primary/secondary healthcare and applied for a role in one of the clinical indemnity organisations. Role looked great, but the company was busy turning itself into an insurance company and had employed a whole bunch of upper-middle managers from places like Direct Line and Admiral, and they were busy ****ing it all up. lasted 6 months before gong back to Primary care again.
Was in a great job teaching for 20 yrs, built up the faculty. good team etc. New head comes along and basically kills everything off. Her first move was to ban all offsite visits/training days for a year, a bit tricky since I was involved in the exam system and a professional association. That year the school joined an academy and she paid herself a £75k bonus from the training budget (teacher alert: check school company accounts online). Combined with the 'creative destruction' of Gove's policies the job went from ace to a dogpile in no time at all. I was out of there like greased lightning, it's one thing to work your fingers to the bone for something you believe in, it's quite another when management is poor: one is exhilarating the other is soul destroying.
Yup, would have taken me 365 days to escape it.
But these things never last, new boss 6 months in and it was a different place thankfully.
So in answer to the OP, it would seem that *everyone* has at some point got a job that wasn't what they signed up for and moved on.
I have a few, but the funniest was working for a supermarket while at uni.
I'm normally a very considerate and conscientious employee, but the lower management tier at this place were such bellends I just left at the end of a shift and never came back, didn't bother telling anyone anything.
After about 3 weeks I got an invoice for £200 for my uniform 😀
That's me, except I've been here a year now. Moved house because of new job, so location and my last year of ****wittery are making it harder to get a new one.
I think I realised that in my last job on day 1. Spent 18 months trying to make it work and it was just soul destroying. Well paid and pretty easy work but a company whose ethics I questioned myself about (despite them selling themselves as "ethical") and their whole way of working was plain weird/mental. Massively high turnover of staff who "did" stuff and a load of managers who'd been there for years in a cushy role doing seemingly fk all...
Got made redundant in 2012 from I job that I’d had for 20 years. Found another one quickly, allegedly the same role but in another industry. Turned out that my new boss was a complete control freak and I was drip fed information to get the job done but I was basically the guy’s typist. Stuck it out for 2 years, but knew pretty much straight away that it wasn’t the job for me. Mortgage and small kids etc, so I had nowhere to go.
A chance conversation brought me to where I am now. More responsibility and more stress. But I don’t hate myself for sitting there and rotting away like I did at the last place.
Have since found out that when I left the control freak took the opportunity to work from home, leaving my replacement sat there in the office with nothing to do. What a prize ****!
What's the STW opinion on just walking out of a job, and to hell with the notice period and potential for shit being thrown at you?
A friend has considered this as they have a three month notice period and their job has become fairly intolerable. They'd be looking to move to a different industry/sector anyway as their job is very niche.
sort of. 2 weeks in I realised i'd made a mistake. I interviewed for a position in Bristol at their Bristol office and moved to Fishponds from Salisbury.
1st day I was told to go to the Chippenham office temporarily. Over the 1st few weeks, whilst meeting my colleagues, people mentioned the same thing had happened to them and it wasn't temporary. I bloody hated the drive along the A420. 8 sodding years of it.
Every yearly review I told them I wanted to work at the Bristol office as it was a 5min cycle from my house, not the 50min drive. The usual reply deferring a decision followed. Eventually they let me work 2 days a week at Bristol, but started sending to various sites around the country.
In the end the Dr signed me off until I got a new job. 3months full pay on sick-leave and I never set foot in the office again. **** them.
What’s the STW opinion on just walking out of a job, and to hell with the notice period and potential for shit being thrown at you?
The last full-time job I had (ten years ago) I knew I'd made a terrible mistake within a week of being there. They'd come looking for me too and offered me what sounded like a great position. It became apparent straight away that what the marketing director I was answerable to (who was a totally mad Glaswegian psychopath!), had lined up for me was not what I'd been sold one bit, mainly due to the lucrative kickbacks from an external design agency that I was now interfering with.
I stuck it out for about a year, hating every second of it, until there was a 'straw that broke the camels back' moment. I had a months notice period and I told them they could * right off with that, I was leaving at the end of the week
On my penultimate day all the rest of the office, except me, went to an award ceremony with a free bar. The next morning I breezed into the office, happy as a seagull with a stolen chip, to something of an atmosphere (to say the least
Turns out that everyone got absolutely wasted at the free bar, then the Glaswegian psychopath had gone postal, telling everyone individually why they were a * and why if it was left up to him he'd sack them tomorrow. Apparently there was women in tears, a fight, then lots of calls to HR in the morning. As I wa sbeing told this, the Glaswegian psychopath turned up, still half pissed and a huge row broke out with people effing and jeffing and threatening allsorts
I just quietly got my stuff together and slipped out of the carnage and on a beautiful day, rode home
I don't think I've ever felt as vindicated by a decision in my life. I've been self-employed ever since, so I can just walk at a minutes notice (which I have done once, but thats another story)
The mad thing was, this was the marketing dept of a massive multinational manufacturer with a turnover in billions and not some small affair. An absolute ****ing chip shop!
Grounds for constructive dismissal is a great bargaining lever, but rarely brings a worthwhile payout for the stress and hassle involved.
I agree, it would only be worth a mention during the "I'll pay you that if you kindly piss of now" conversation.
On the plus side, I've set my stall out with polite reality this week with regard to why we are where we are with the product and what we need to do next year / for the future (this latter bit got a thumbs up from a non exec Dir.). They'll either ignore the past and let me carry on, or want to find a scapegoat. I'll wait and see what happens whilst working on a Plan B exit for Jan 1st.
I am into deep thinking for Plan B, I really want to find something that makes me happy to look forward to going to work.
What’s the STW opinion on just walking out of a job, and to hell with the notice period and potential for shit being thrown at you?
Might as well go off with stress for as long as you can convince the GP for.
My current one.
I originally applied for a lower level role, they wrote back rejecting that and suggesting I apply for the next one up. Did that, interview, phone call next day to say I was successful.
Brilliant.
Except it's not. Very silo'd working (in spite of God only knows how many initiatives and "action plans" to say that it's One Team, One Company...), some truly abysmal IT systems (does *anyone* actually know about Oracle Fusion?!) and almost no direction, delegation, tasking, etc. I can go an entire day without a single email, message, phone call coming my way. Emails that I send routinely get no (or a very late) reply. I genuinely sit there wondering what I'm doing some days.
And I know I'm not the only one.
Only once. Temping to 'fill in' after quitting a sales role. Ended up briefly working as a receptionist at a uPVC window company.
All phone calls answered and directed by me. The variety of angry customers was truly spectacular. Training was the existing lady sitting with me for half an hour giving me the rules about exactly who I couldn't put the calls through to, NO MATTER WHAT,
MD would swan in occasionally in his Ferrari.
After the first day they were keen to have me back. Apparently they'd had problems getting temps to keep going back. Getting shouted at because I put people on hold was not my idea of fun. I lasted 3 days in total and walked. Temp agency paid me double by mistake. I blanked their (increasingly desperate) calls and went back to stuffing boxes, which was vastly more fun.
One or two days in, national charity, senior team, back in London and when I could say 'career' with a more or less straight face, interviews, assessment day, etc; and the head of comms takes me aside to tell me the chief exec my line manager is a psychopath. Which she was. Hugely able, grasp of the big picture and the moving parts, charming as she wanted to be, but couldn't resist slashing the odd jugular. Reduced the HR director to a gibbering wreck to get rid of him. Walked round the office telling folks on contract for years they were no longer needed, to shock and tears. That sort of thing.
With young kids and one salary I stuck with it and she left after six months for a bigger job. My strategy was to try to channel as best I could the one guy who'd figured out how to handle her, basically by doing everything really really well, all the time. But yeah, week one I looked into getting my previous job back.
Did four years in the end before leaving for an easier job. Learned a hell of a lot in those six months though.
A friend has considered this as they have a three month notice period and their job has become fairly intolerable
It depends on their relationship with the employer TBH. If it's bad/no relationship then going on the sick is the easiest option, although bear in mind after a week they'll need a FIT note. If the relationship is OK/tolerable, then speak get them to speak with the HR manager and let them know that they want to go early, and do a deal.
Not entirely, but I work for an engineering consultant contractor so every 6-18 months I move to a new project with new client, managers, team, etc. It's a whole new job essentially.
This one was sold to me as an easy supervising role of 3 other engineers from another office where all I had to do was check and ensure consistency between them. First problem, we're a checker/supervisor down, so now it's 4 in a team and I'm doing 33% more work than I have time for.
2 are OK, but only OK. One is 20 years experienced but takes no pride in doing a good job, the other is a new grad who takes pride but makes a lot of mistakes and needs a lot of mentoring.
1 is just a bit rubbish.
1 was so bad I've spent 2 months trying to get him removed form the project and a replacement. Been told 2 weeks from the deadline that he's been removed but his replacement hasn't been lined up yet, and TBH don't consider it a big loss.
But now I'm doing at least ~200% of a checking job in terms of the hours it takes on the remaining 3. And doing the job of originating the 4ths work.
I'll quit before I agree to another role that's this under-resourced. The overtime £££ is nice, but not nice enough to make it worth the shear exhaustion of working flat out 9-10hours a day.
n.b. before someone says 9-10 hours isn't even a shift, I've done 12h shift work + overtime, it's tiring but it's not the same. Most shift jobs you can go home, switch off and tomorrow is another day with new issues. Not coming back at 8am the next day to exactly the same hell for leaher pace and task you were working on at 7pm the day before.
Another thing I'd add, is that company mergers can turn a great job and workplace sour rapidly.
My employer of 25+ years (except for the 'gap year' I described in an earlier post) sold out to a multinational. That then itself bought another multi national. We few-hundred in the Co I was in suffered an atrocious arrogant 'JFDI' reverse takeover from the new-comer org. Turned a thriving business into a loss maker in 18 months. Killed the work vibe, ethos, and any sense of belonging or worth totally. There's a few @#£#&%## who I'll be putting first against the wall and shooting come the revolution.
The best of us of course got out. A lot of despairing ex-colleugues still there, many just waiting for the axe to fall or retirement age. In some ways it did me a favour- it forced me to suss out some financial stuff and realise there was a route out for me whilst securing my pension and some other for-life benefits.