Hey, I'm as human as the next guy... I want to be appreciated for my contributions, and certainly stand up and take my lickings when I've done something that was wrong. I think that's the honorable thing to do, and I do my best to speak up about my mistakes because I really try not to make the same ones again. You know... learn from you mistakes and all.
But there's been something going around work that I find really annoying. It might not be as bad as it is if work were a fun place to be - or at least if I was really liking the work I was doing. But work is at an all-time low, and the morale and sense of optimism has left the building a few weeks ago, and there's no feeling that it's going to be returning any time soon.
We're trying to integrate this crappy enterprise risk system, and by 'crappy' I mean that it's really circling the bowl and I wish I had a plunger. It's horrible. We've dumped tens of millions of dollars down this sinkhole, and it's not expected to replace one of the 'many' systems it was targeted to replace. It's junk.
I'd say the name, but I know they'd come after me - legally. We're in a non-disclosure agreement about any of the terms/conditions/facts of the integration. We can't say 'boo' about it or they march in the lawyers. Not surprising for a Big Company, but from where a lot of us are sitting, it's yet one more humiliation heaped on top of all the others.
Just admit that it's not perfect, and that it's not going to do all the things they said it would do. It won't replace all these systems. In fact, it's not going to replace even one. Admit it. Then we can schedule time to finish the integration at a reasonable pace. But now they're acting like it's a mere hour or two away from working and doing all these wonderful things, and it's burning all of us out.
Not one person in the halls is happy. It's like we're in some prison. Or worse. (I can't say much about prisons as I've never been in one, but you get the idea.)
This is turning out to be the worst three months of the last decade of my professional life. There's just no end to it. There's no happiness in the other people - we're all doing the same thing, so you can't even enjoy someone else's work - it's all the same crap. No, this is like nothing I've ever experienced.
And then there's the management issues.
Holy Cow! They must be drinking something in their Kool-Aid, I gotta believe... I can't imagine why on earth they'd be in such total denial about this. But that's not the end of it. A few months ago - when the changes started to get really bad, I got "re-orged" and while I'm technically in the same place, there's no one with my responsibilities at the same level in the org chart as I am. Not even close.
So I'm not doing anything different than I was months ago, but I've got a new 'manager' that doesn't have a bloody clue about what I do on a day to day basis, and has no interest in monitoring my work, or being involved with anything I'm doing. I've just got another boss... just like Office Space.
Someone else to get reports to... someone else to get approvals from... someone else to ask for my cell phone number - as if he'd even know what to call me for. It's insulting. It's Office Space, and I hate it.
I know... I know... office politics. It's something we all go through. But it doesn't mean we like it, or that we think it's a 'good thing'. It's stupid. It's counter-productive, and it's draining the life out of me.
I think I want to get a new job - as much as I've liked this one for the years I've been here, I can't take a lot more of this. And unfortunately, I'm not alone. A ton of folks are in the same boat... there's nothing good about this place now. And that's probably the saddest thing of all.