Would you guys permit me a rant thread?

[Sakrysta]

I am in the process of finishing up at my job of the past 11.5 years. I'm training my replacement. EVERYTHING is driving me crazy right now. Can I just unload here and ask you guys to make sympathetic noises? Don't worry - I have 23 days left. The thread won't last much beyond that - I'm going on vacation afterward!

Okay, so first, a little background. I work for a small private education organization. My boss and my replacement both are members of the same church I'm a member of. So I'm trying my best to not bring my frustration with me into the church environment, which means I'm not venting to my friends and family, because it would just be gossipy unkindness that would cause bad feelings, and I don't really want to do that.

BUT...

My replacement is a 60-year-old lady. She's nice enough. But she is NOT qualified for this job, plain and simple. She was hired on at the absolute busiest time of the year for me, which meant I was suddenly training in addition to getting all the work done. Her computer skills are about what you'd expect of a lady her age who has done medical transcription and knows how to check her hotmail. *headdesk* So, for the first two months she was here, I've focused on just giving her things to do that will help me get jobs done on time, with the occasional training session thrown in when I could spare a few hours. It doesn't help that she doesn't understand when to click and when to double-click, or how email accounts really work (the difference between Thunderbird and Gmail, for example), and has to be told things multiple times before she remembers them. Add to that the fact that she leaves things scattered around the office and forgets to do the things I've told her to.

THEN, a couple days ago, I get this email from my boss saying that he's given me three months for training to happen, and that he doesn't want to come to the end of May without the new lady knowing everything she needs to know. I just ignored the email, because I couldn't answer it kindly. He is one of the main reasons I'm leaving. Overall, he is a nice man, but he is not a good boss. He has almost zero inter-personal communication skills. He can't write a letter to save his life. His emails are always terse to the point of rudeness. And I know him - he doesn't mean to come across that way, but I just can't take it anymore.

SO, I have 23 days left. I am increasingly eager to get out of Dodge. I do want to give my replacement as much training as possible, but other than that, I pretty much don't care anymore.

Oh, and today, my boss has a nurse up in the office with him doing some kind of medical tests. He's already been downstairs to be weighed and (apparently) produce a urine sample. I just can't figure out why this couldn't have been done somewhere BESIDES the office?!?!

 

[Australis]

Tell you what, get the nice 60 yr old lady to email all he needs to know, about what you're both up to. You know, day to day stuff, how the training's going, and so on.

Then he will know all he needs to know.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Out of curiosity, have you told your boss that you feel your replacement is way under qualified?

Also, that situation super sucks. Sorry you're having to deal with that.

 

[Udat]

Listening to this makes me believe some people are born to lead and your boss sounds like he should be a follower, or he needs to go on some serious mangement courses....

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Listening to this makes me believe some people are born to lead and your boss sounds like he should be a follower, or he needs to go on some serious mangement courses....

You either have the spark of leadership or you don't. There's no amount of courses out there that could help this guy. He's an indian, not a chief.

 

[Sakrysta]

Yes, I have told him several times, both before and after her hire. I have given up. He will find out for himself - or go on in blissful ignorance until the office collapses. I have another co-worker who is leaving at the end of July. He has an office in his home and only comes in once in a while, and he is even more pessimistic than I.

I do know that a motivating factor in hiring her was that she and her husband need the money and the insurance. I completely understand his heart for wanting to help them. And I think that, if she were being hired in addition to me, she would be a huge help. But she doesn't have the skills to do what I do, and I just know the situation is going to come back to bite my boss. I hate that. I really do like him outside the office. But lately, due to the current tension in the office, his attitude is just driving me crazy.

I also find myself second-guessing my decision to leave. Because, let's face it, the job market is lousy right now. And I really don't have any idea what I would like to do instead. But then I have a bad day at work, and I'm just thankful again that I finally made the decision and have a "last day" to look forward to, regardless of what the next step ends up being.

 

[Udat]

Sounds like your doing the right thing! You cannot stay in a job that is causing you that amount of stress.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Also, do not stay.

I completely understand where you're coming from, but, if hate something that much, nothing good can come of staying. Something will open up for you. Keep the faith!

 

[Jadzia]

he's given me three months for training to happen, and that he doesn't want to come to the end of May without the new lady knowing everything she needs to know.

This I don't like. It sounds like he will blame you if she can't do the job... So pass that blame back to him.

I would want to say something like this: "Come the end of May, I will have told her all she needs to know, but I'm not optimistic that she will be fit to work as my replacement.

There are two factors I have no control over: I'm not responsible for the state of her memory, nor her inexperience with computers."

 

[Sakrysta]

Yeah, I'm just done with explaining. In some ways, statements like that are just making it easier for me to leave and not feel bad about what happens afterward.

 

[O'Dib]

I think 11.5 years at one job look pretty good on a C.V. I think you'll find the outside world has learned a thing or two, HR-wise. In the corporate setting, I never had a boss I didn't like.

 

[Sakrysta]

Wow. Is it bad that I had to google "C.V."?

I haven't had to look for a job in over a decade. What have I done???

 

[O'Dib]

Hey, no worries, no one in the U.S. actually uses 'C.V.' I'm just lazy to write résumé, 'cause that means I'd have to figure out the French accent thingies.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Wow. Is it bad that I had to google "C.V."?

I haven't had to look for a job in over a decade. What have I done???

Well, if you need a helping hand, I'm an HR Manager who is more than happy to offer help and advice if asked.

Mostly, though, I think it's great you're pulling yourself out of such a sucktastic situation.

 

[John Picard]

he's given me three months for training to happen, and that he doesn't want to come to the end of May without the new lady knowing everything she needs to know.

This I don't like. It sounds like he will blame you if she can't do the job... So pass that blame back to him.

I would want to say something like this: "Come the end of May, I will have told her all she needs to know, but I'm not optimistic that she will be fit to work as my replacement.

There are two factors I have no control over: I'm not responsible for the state of her memory, nor her inexperience with computers."

No matter what, the replacement is *not* going to be ready to assume the job duties at the deadline; the boss will view any explanations as to why as nothing more than excuses; the boss will blame Sakrysta for her replacement's "bad training".

Her best bet is to suck it up and leave.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

I didnt' know what C.V. was either.

Skrysta, im counting down the days with you. Do what you have to do to finish your time there, get outta there in 23 days, go on vacation and have some quality YOU time!

 

[K'Ehleyr]

Sakrysta, how frustrating! I feel for you because it's not just professional but personal too.

How about drawing up a training log? Write out everything you need to train this new lady on and when you have shown her make her tick the box and sign that you have trained her in that aspect.
It will show your boss that you have done the handover in a professional and conscientious manner and also neither of them can complain afterwards as it's in writing that you did what you were asked to do.

It may take you an hour or so of your time to put together, but would 'cover your arse' (so to speak) in the long run.

I have a similar situation at work ~ the golf club 'secretary' likes to smooch his 'buddies' way after late shift girl is due to leave and promises to clear up. He never does. Now early shift girl is blaming LS girl for leaving a mess. I've advised her to write in handover book 'left bar to 'C' ~ don't blame me!

Forgot the sympathy {{Hug}} Good luck Honey

 

[Sakrysta]

You guys have made me feel a lot better - thank you! If I told you what I put up with in the years before my current boss, you'd be offering me happy pills. I waited 9 years for the 70+ boss and his wife to retire - a situation where she was a borderline control freak and he barely did any work and got paid FAR too much to do it. I've been annoyed the last few months that, as I train my replacement, I'm actually grateful for a lot of the habits I learned from the Missus, even if she did drive me insane.

But I was determined to wait them out. And now that they're gone, instead of better, things have just gotten worse, and I'm done. And much relieved. I don't put any stock in the fortunes you get from fortune cookies, but not long after I made the decision, I got two fortunes in a row that encouraged me: "You will make a change for the better" and "You are heading in the right direction". I know it doesn't mean anything, but I've kept them in my purse ever since, and when I need it, they make me smile.

How about drawing up a training log? Write out everything you need to train this new lady on and when you have shown her make her tick the box and sign that you have trained her in that aspect.
It will show your boss that you have done the handover in a professional and conscientious manner and also neither of them can complain afterwards as it's in writing that you did what you were asked to do.

It may take you an hour or so of your time to put together, but would 'cover your arse' (so to speak) in the long run.

That's a lot like what I've been wanting and intending to do - more along the lines of making up a tickler file and manual for her to have for reference when I'm gone. The problem is that it will take more than an hour to do. Being an educational organization, we have different events and projects throughout the year, some events that are even every other year. And each one is different. So, I'm thinking I'm going to have to just put in some after-hours work on typing out everything I can think of to tell her. Because, since we're friends and see each other all the time, I know I'm going to be getting phone calls asking "how to" and "where is" for months.

And I haven't figured out yet how to teach her to reason her way through a task, or look carefully at a letter or document. Part of it is just her being overwhelmed, but part of it is a step-by-step mentality that I'm not sure I can correct. I can type out the steps to follow for some jobs, but for others, it's a matter of, "I need this information. Where would it be recorded? How can I access it? How can I convert it into a format that is usable for this task?" and then doing it. I'm not sure I can train that - give her the ability to pull information from various sources and make it work as a cohesive whole for the task at hand.

If I hadn't inherited my grandmother's 100-year-old house and grown really attached to it, I'd be looking into moving away for a while. But I'm an only child with parents not getting any younger (60s), and I would really rather not move too far away from them.

ANYWAY, you guys are making me feel better. *hugs* Thanks.

 

[K'Ehleyr]

How about drawing up a training log? Write out everything you need to train this new lady on and when you have shown her make her tick the box and sign that you have trained her in that aspect.
It will show your boss that you have done the handover in a professional and conscientious manner and also neither of them can complain afterwards as it's in writing that you did what you were asked to do.

It may take you an hour or so of your time to put together, but would 'cover your arse' (so to speak) in the long run.

That's a lot like what I've been wanting and intending to do - more along the lines of making up a tickler file and manual for her to have for reference when I'm gone. The problem is that it will take more than an hour to do. Being an educational organization, we have different events and projects throughout the year, some events that are even every other year. And each one is different. So, I'm thinking I'm going to have to just put in some after-hours work on typing out everything I can think of to tell her. Because, since we're friends and see each other all the time, I know I'm going to be getting phone calls asking "how to" and "where is" for months.

And I haven't figured out yet how to teach her to reason her way through a task, or look carefully at a letter or document. Part of it is just her being overwhelmed, but part of it is a step-by-step mentality that I'm not sure I can correct. I can type out the steps to follow for some jobs, but for others, it's a matter of, "I need this information. Where would it be recorded? How can I access it? How can I convert it into a format that is usable for this task?" and then doing it. I'm not sure I can train that - give her the ability to pull information from various sources and make it work as a cohesive whole for the task at hand.

If I hadn't inherited my grandmother's 100-year-old house and grown really attached to it, I'd be looking into moving away for a while. But I'm an only child with parents not getting any younger (60s), and I would really rather not move too far away from them.

ANYWAY, you guys are making me feel better. *hugs* Thanks.

Unfortunately you are never going to teach someone how to be resourceful or free thinking but if you create said 'training manual' and give as many hints/ideas as you can with it ~ then you have done as much as you can.

Oh, and bill them for the over-time definately

I would take some time off after you leave and let them get on with it for a while. Good luck!

 

[Australis]

I still think you should still be getting her to do the emails.