In This Next Phase Of Life
As many of my friends and readers know, my day job is the business manager of a cosmetics line in a department store. I have a friend in Boston, and when I say I have a friend, it is actually about someone else, not me being cute, who thinks her boss is trying to get her to quit her job. I asked her if she didn't belong to a union, I thought everyone in Boston had to belong to a union. She laughed and said that not everyone does. She has a middle management job like mine at a different company.
It's actually a competitors company she works for. She has been there 3 years and hasn't moved up. When she applied for a higher position, she was laughed at and told she wouldn't move up with that company anytime soon. I told her they said any time soon, not ever. Some jobs take years to move up in. Heck, I've been told I'd never move up before. Just a few years ago, when my boss was mad at me, he told me I'd never go any higher than the position I'm in now. I just smiled and thought, we'll see about that. Even if someone stalwarts you in one company, you can usually wait them out. Then, maybe you'll be their boss someday. You can't let people get to you. If you ever step back and look at them, they're only humans.
It's actually a competitors company she works for. She has been there 3 years and hasn't moved up. When she applied for a higher position, she was laughed at and told she wouldn't move up with that company anytime soon. I told her they said any time soon, not ever. Some jobs take years to move up in. Heck, I've been told I'd never move up before. Just a few years ago, when my boss was mad at me, he told me I'd never go any higher than the position I'm in now. I just smiled and thought, we'll see about that. Even if someone stalwarts you in one company, you can usually wait them out. Then, maybe you'll be their boss someday. You can't let people get to you. If you ever step back and look at them, they're only humans.
Anyway, she told me that she keeps being passed up for promotions in favor of people who are younger and who socialize with her boss. My first thought was to tell her, then get out there and be social. Then, I thought about it for awhile. She may have a point. I have a cousin that spent most of his military career as a Colonel. He said he didn't make General until it was almost time to retire because he didn't socialize much, even at all the formal events.
Sometimes, it is important to be social with the people you work with. But, I understand from the rolls of higher ups, who have a fear of getting too close to others, be it social drama or so that their successes are not attributed to being with the in crowd and not their abilities. Yet, at the same time they are having to show their superiors that they are likable people who aren't all work. It's a hard course to navigate, that has to be guided by intuition.
As our conversation continued, she said that they go out of their way to exclude her, she thinks it's because she's older. That's hard, too. I can't see her hanging out in a club twerking with 20 somethings when she is a classy over 50 yr old woman. I'm 10 years younger and haven't had a desire to get out and shake it for at least 20. That's just inviting people to laugh at your stiff awkwardness. If you sit off in a corner, you look like a weird leering perv. I can see her at international mixers, socializing with diplomats from all over the world, because that's where I met her. Gyrating in a club, not so much. Now, this second phase of our lives, starting over in new careers far less glamorous than the past, bring a new world of challenges to conquer.
She said she was having a hard time making sales and that her company kept blaming it on Amazon. I can't see that one. You pay $100 a year to advert shipping costs and half their stuff isn't prime eligible. Then you have to wait for stuff to be delivered that may not be what you needed. They're just an easy scapegoat.
The longer we talked, she told me more about her job going from exempt to non-exempt and how it felt like a demotion. She said she is working 40 to 60 hrs less a month, not per week, per month; but, those hours really added up to 20 to 50 sales she used to have per month. That can really be the difference between making a quarter and not. Since 40 to 60 hours a month aren't enough hours to justify hiring another person for 120 hrs to make up the difference, if a new person could even establish themselves that quickly, they were looking to make it up in other areas, like up selling.
I'm not going to tell her the creative ways my company has come up with to make up the lost time, I just suggested that she apply with my company. This is something that has affected companies nation wide, that were forced to change employees status. While it stopped some places who stayed open 24 hrs from abusing the number of hours worked, it only hurt those who weren't abusing it. In sales, I hardly see 40 to 60 extra a month as abuse. That's staying a few hours late on occasion and maybe sacrificing a day off here and there for a big client. I'm thankful I don't work just on commission. Can you imagine how much money a sales person would lose if they weren't allowed to work when needed? I think there are many solutions to all of these issues, without trying to force people out of their jobs.
I'm not saying it hasn't been harder or that we haven't missed a few goals because we are working less. My dogs really like that I'm home more. But when you are the kind of person who pours your heart and soul into a job, you value the time you are allowed to be at work. I've just signed up to start doing some community volunteer work. I haven't been had time to do that since college. Regardless, my company is doing things to stay afloat in this changing sea of commerce.
Toward the end of our conversation, I let her know that I wasn't giving legal advice but that being over 40 and female, goes into age discrimination, especially if her boss is replacing people with cute young things. I advised my friend to go over this check list, published by, "The Tough Nickel." You'll find the link at the bottom of my page. If she is experiencing several of these things, I advised her to contact the FLSA. Our government doesn't put up with that crap.
Toward the end of our conversation, I let her know that I wasn't giving legal advice but that being over 40 and female, goes into age discrimination, especially if her boss is replacing people with cute young things. I advised my friend to go over this check list, published by, "The Tough Nickel." You'll find the link at the bottom of my page. If she is experiencing several of these things, I advised her to contact the FLSA. Our government doesn't put up with that crap.
Strategy 1: Death by Overwork
Strategy 2: Resource Limitation
Strategy 3: "Go Solve It Yourself"
Strategy 4: Assigning Tasks That Don't Fit the Employee's Competency Level
Strategy 5: Perpetual Distraction
Strategy 6: Clamming up on Small Talk
Strategy 7: Formalizing Communication Channels
Strategy 8: Stifling Creativity With Bureaucracy
Strategy 9: Limiting Rewards and Recognition
Strategy 10: Aggression by Micromanagement
Strategy 11: Performance Management by the Book
Strategy 12: No Room for Advancement
Strategy 13: Creating a Paper Trail To Make You Look Incompitant For A Job You've Been Compitent Enough To Do For More Than 90 Days. Most probationary periods last 90 days.
She ended the conversation comically telling me that several of the people she worked with were afraid of that boss. They believed that if he felt that anyone did him dirty, or didn't comply, he'd send some of his buddies out to start fights, beat people up or get them hurt. Oh Lort, that poor man must not know she's Irish. I told her that before she was responsible for someone defending her honor, just move to Texas and apply with my company. The people are nice here and we are always hiring.
Comments
Post a Comment