In Which I Rage – Blaugust day 13

Today I need to vent some issues about my new job. I’ve only been working for three days, but there’s already some irritations that can turn into big issues in the long run if they don’t get nipped in the butt.

My job is a temp one. It’s basically based on a company needing people to complete a project before a deadline. In this case it’s adding data to a google spreadsheet for articles from a big supermarket chain in my country. We work with a certain set of rules. What things need to be mentioned and where and we have a minimum target of articles to handle every day. We work most of the day on entering data into the spreadsheet, either adding data from scratch based on having the physical product or a picture of it. Or we correct data that has been entered by the producers of said products. The last 2-3 hours of the day are spent on cross checking all the articles we added for the day and erase mistakes that might have slipped in here and there.
What’s really important to note is that we won’t get to leave for the day untill all articles have been checked. We aim to be done at 17.00, but the first day we didn’t finish till 17.30 and I’ve heard stories from people who worked on similar projects that it sometimes can get much later.

Our group of colleague’s exist of 7 temp workers, of which I’m one, and a few people from within the company. On average we have 9-10 people working on the project every day. Some people are fast, some people are slow and some people only help out for an afternoon or a morning so they don’t really count.

From day one I have been having “issues” with one of the people who comes from the company itself. She was more or less selected to do this work, whether she liked it or not, and seems to not enjoy herself at all. She complains about a lot of things. How no one is talkative, how much she still has to do, that she wants to go home at five. You name it, she complains about it. Not to mention that I personally believe that her tone towards our supervisors is disrespectful, but that is just a matter of opinion I guess. Up untill this afternoon she referred to me as “person sitting across from me” while she’s heard my name often enough the past three days to know what I’m called. It just pisses me off and if I didn’t know she would more or less be out next week I probably would have complained about her at some point. Because her negativity and work attitude is bringing everyone who sits at her table down aswell. It’s distracting, it’s annoying and I can’t really shut her out. This makes me enjoy my work less and be less motivated to do stuff aswell.

Next to this the job is really “mistake” prone. Things have to be added in certain fields and the restrictions are very precise. Seeing as I don’t want to be correcting mistakes untill the end of time I just ask my supervisors everytime something is unclear or if I don’t understand something. Problem is, I’m the only one who does. Which leads to the fact that people either keep on making mistakes because they just guess and fill in or people asking a question that I actually can answer (because I know, because you know… I asked) to which I get the “how do you know?” reply. It makes me feel like some sort of goodie two shoes because I’m not afraid to just ask stuff. It’s earned me some side-eyes already and it’s making me uncomfortable.
It’s also making me feel like I’m compensating for people. I’m already one of the people with the highest “performance” every day, but now I also have to be the one who knows everything? It’s a bit too much and I notice it when I’m home. I’m so tired I can’t even enjoy a game anymore. All I want is to eat dinner and head to bed.

Thing is, I really want to show off my best side on this job. I’m hoping this might lead to either a job at the company or a good referral that will lead to other jobs. So it pisses me off that I’m made to feel bad about something that isn’t. About something they all should be doing, so that we don’t have to correct all the damn mistakes that are being made now.
From all the people with an university degree I certainly expect better. But then again, people are stupid. And working a job only proves that more.

5 thoughts on “In Which I Rage – Blaugust day 13

  1. Be the best you can be! People like you will move up in the world, the others wont.
    You are not a goodie two shoes for being smart enough to ask questions. More people should do that. Perhaps people feel insecure and a bit stupid for not knowing what you do. People are probably just jealous, and the vibes you feel aren't meant towards you but themselfs?

  2. It's taxing being a point of knowledge, no matter how few times you are interrupted it can upset your work and derail your train of thought.

    If there are common questions & answers write a FAQ or cribsheet out that people can add to or refer to when needed.
    It allows others to input ( not likely by the sound of things) but It means your not in the spot light for that information that you had to ask for originally, plus it impacts less on your time.

    As for the negative attitude that's a tricky one since as you say the person is from the company. It sound like they placed her there for the reasons of being talkative and reducing productivity.
    I hope your prediction is correct and they may not be there for much longer, if it's not the case then pass it up the chain as some constructive feedback about the impact on everyone or get yourself moved further away 🙂

    I hope things get better for you soon.

  3. Luckily for me it's only a temp job. Which means I'll be gone in 2-3 weeks. I had just hoped to leave a good impression seeing as I desperately want/need a stable job. And you never know.

    The 3 day weekend helps and the annoying coworkers isn't there for all days this weeks so I guess I'll just suck it up and keep on doing what I do.
    Thanks for the kind words tho 🙂

  4. I really hope things get sorted! Or that you find a new (fulltime) job fast! Sorry things are so irritating right off the bat. 🙁 That's never fun. Sending good vibes your way!

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