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For those of you who don't know, I am currently a volunteer for an organization called Neighborhood & Community Services. My hours/years there are supposed to help me obtain employment as an Administrative Assistant.
I wrote this entry in my Livejournal back in April of this year, but nothing has changed since I've typed it:
TL;DR – This volunteer job is supposed to help me, but it sucks ass.
So at this very moment, I'm attempting to go back to school to get a certificate in Graphic Design in hopes of getting a job as a Graphic Artist/Designer. On the bright side, I'll be studying for something that I actually have interest in, and not do shit that my parents want me to do anymore.
I wrote this entry in my Livejournal back in April of this year, but nothing has changed since I've typed it:
Spoiler
This volunteering job sucks. It used to be a nice and fun little thing that I thought would help me gain employment as an Administrative Assistant, but it quickly turned into an unrewarding experience where a majority of my supervisor’s duties fall on me. There are several things my supervisor does that constantly pisses me off, and if I wasn't required to act in a professional manner, I probably would have thrown a chair out the window by now.
Sometimes, when I need to see my supervisor, she is either not in the office or is talking to someone else. I can understand her not being in the office because I can email her off site, but what pisses me off is when she’s speaking to others. Most of the time when she is talking to someone else, it’s not work related. She just talks about the latest trends, how her days have been going, etc... Here I need to tell her something important, and she’s yapping to her co-workers about lotion or something. And any time I am unable to tell her something important, she scolds me lightly, reminding me that “communication is key.” Well, how the hell am I supposed to communicate with her if she’s communicating with someone else?! What, does she want me to do, interrupt her conversation or something? (In my book, interruption is rude). When this happens, I usually end up emailing her my message instead of talking to her about it directly. This results in getting late responses from her, and on some occasions she doesn't reply to me at all, making me think that she hasn't gotten my message, which results in me asking her if she got my message, if she’s available to talk to me at all. What a load of piss.
Another thing that pisses me off about this volunteering thing is my supervisor’s tendency to forget things. Now, I may not have the best memory either, but it’s not nearly as bad as my supervisor’s memory. She sometimes claims to have given me tasks that were not given to me in the first place. For example, she recently told me to give her sign-in sheets if I found them, and I did exactly that. She then claimed to have given the sheets back to me, but I clearly did not get them back. If I had gotten the sheets back, I would have stored them in one of the drawers in the volunteer desk so they wouldn't be stolen, or put them back in the storage boxes from which they came from. She keeps defending herself, saying that she gave them back to me, but I keep insisting that I did not get them back from her. Now the task has fallen on me to actually find those missing sign-in sheets, because if I do not find those sign-in sheets, my supervisor is going to get angry at me, and I could even get dismissed if I get angry/argue with her and stand up for myself. In the volunteer rules, you’re not really supposed to talk back to your supervisor, and doing so could get you dismissed. That is such bullshit! I’m going to get myself potentially dismissed because I don’t have something that my supervisor was supposed to give me!! What was she thinking?! Was she thinking?!
Something that has always pissed me off in this volunteering experience is my inability to complete tasks due to lack of training. One example of this is that sometimes my supervisor tells me to make memorandums to send out to people whether it’s by e-mail or hot mail. She has told me time and again to make memos, but there are three problems about this: 1.) I don’t know what to write in the memo without sounding like a total idiot, so I often have to ask my supervisor what to type. 2.) Even if I had the experience to write memos, the memos still need my supervisor’s signature. 3.) My supervisor has not given me a template for a memo, which takes me to my second paragraph. If I received a template for making memos, they would be in my folder where I store all my templates, but it’s not in there! And I certainly would not have deleted it if it was in there. Anyways, back to my original point, my lack of training in some areas leads to a slowdown in my tasks. My supervisor’s responsibility in training me is to actually train me to complete tasks, and when I come across something that I am not able to complete, she wonders why I haven’t been able to complete them. There have even been times when I asked her to train me to do certain things. Most of the time, she does, but other times, she doesn't.
One thing that pisses me off to no end is my supervisor giving me several tasks at a time and expecting me to get them all done on a short deadline. Now, I shouldn't be complaining about this, because an Administrative Assistant’s duty is to do several tasks at once in a fast-paced environment, but the way she piles shit on top of shit for me to get done is so shitty. When I’m working on high priority work that will take me all day to finish, she sometimes comes to me and tells me to get some other things done by the end of the day. I’m doing my best to try and juggle all of these things and trying to get them done before my bus leaves. Sometimes I am miraculously successful in getting ALL of those tasks done, but on the times I’m not able to, I notify my supervisor about it. She tells me not to worry and that she will complete the tasks for me. So I leave the building and rush to my bus to go home for the day. However, when I come back the next day, guess what… my supervisor didn't keep her promise, and tells me to complete my unfinished tasks in addition to the tasks that she gives me the next day!! Fuck that! If you only want me to finish tasks, then you should let me finish them! Don’t promise that you’ll help me get shit done and not actually do it.
On the other hand, there are times when she doesn't give me tasks at all, and expects me to show up at the building. I have the option of asking my supervisor if I can have days off either because I’m busy or if there is not much to get done at the office, but my mother tells me that I’m supposed to go to the office anyway. So when I get to the volunteer desk and there is a lack of things to do, I get bored easily, so I end up having to look for things to do. And if I can’t find anything to do at the office, I end up typing diaries, short stories, and rants like this on the computer when I get bored. That’s right. This shitty rant is a result of me currently being bored at the office right now. There are better ways I could be spending my time right now, and I’m wasting it in this building with little/nothing to do! So when there’s nothing for me to do, I just end up leaving at the next bus arrival time. Simple, right? Wrong. My supervisor told me that if I need to or want to leave, I could just leave, but there was one time that I left, and she got pissed off at me for not telling her that I left. She then got on my case the next day for this, saying that I could possibly get written up or fired over this shit. Yes, I completely understand that, but what I don’t understand is that if I’m not allowed to leave without her consent, then WHY WOULD SHE HAVE GIVEN ME THAT OPTION?!
I’m going to take my mother’s advice and stop volunteering at this place. This volunteering gig was supposed to help me find a job, but so far it hasn't done shit, and I’m going through all this shit until I can find one. I’m going to try and find another place to volunteer at and hope and pray that I land a job with the experience I have, or try out for orchestras that are near the area, which is what I went to college for in the first place. For now, all I can say is that this volunteer job sucks.
P.S. The people in the building suck too.
Sometimes, when I need to see my supervisor, she is either not in the office or is talking to someone else. I can understand her not being in the office because I can email her off site, but what pisses me off is when she’s speaking to others. Most of the time when she is talking to someone else, it’s not work related. She just talks about the latest trends, how her days have been going, etc... Here I need to tell her something important, and she’s yapping to her co-workers about lotion or something. And any time I am unable to tell her something important, she scolds me lightly, reminding me that “communication is key.” Well, how the hell am I supposed to communicate with her if she’s communicating with someone else?! What, does she want me to do, interrupt her conversation or something? (In my book, interruption is rude). When this happens, I usually end up emailing her my message instead of talking to her about it directly. This results in getting late responses from her, and on some occasions she doesn't reply to me at all, making me think that she hasn't gotten my message, which results in me asking her if she got my message, if she’s available to talk to me at all. What a load of piss.
Another thing that pisses me off about this volunteering thing is my supervisor’s tendency to forget things. Now, I may not have the best memory either, but it’s not nearly as bad as my supervisor’s memory. She sometimes claims to have given me tasks that were not given to me in the first place. For example, she recently told me to give her sign-in sheets if I found them, and I did exactly that. She then claimed to have given the sheets back to me, but I clearly did not get them back. If I had gotten the sheets back, I would have stored them in one of the drawers in the volunteer desk so they wouldn't be stolen, or put them back in the storage boxes from which they came from. She keeps defending herself, saying that she gave them back to me, but I keep insisting that I did not get them back from her. Now the task has fallen on me to actually find those missing sign-in sheets, because if I do not find those sign-in sheets, my supervisor is going to get angry at me, and I could even get dismissed if I get angry/argue with her and stand up for myself. In the volunteer rules, you’re not really supposed to talk back to your supervisor, and doing so could get you dismissed. That is such bullshit! I’m going to get myself potentially dismissed because I don’t have something that my supervisor was supposed to give me!! What was she thinking?! Was she thinking?!
Something that has always pissed me off in this volunteering experience is my inability to complete tasks due to lack of training. One example of this is that sometimes my supervisor tells me to make memorandums to send out to people whether it’s by e-mail or hot mail. She has told me time and again to make memos, but there are three problems about this: 1.) I don’t know what to write in the memo without sounding like a total idiot, so I often have to ask my supervisor what to type. 2.) Even if I had the experience to write memos, the memos still need my supervisor’s signature. 3.) My supervisor has not given me a template for a memo, which takes me to my second paragraph. If I received a template for making memos, they would be in my folder where I store all my templates, but it’s not in there! And I certainly would not have deleted it if it was in there. Anyways, back to my original point, my lack of training in some areas leads to a slowdown in my tasks. My supervisor’s responsibility in training me is to actually train me to complete tasks, and when I come across something that I am not able to complete, she wonders why I haven’t been able to complete them. There have even been times when I asked her to train me to do certain things. Most of the time, she does, but other times, she doesn't.
One thing that pisses me off to no end is my supervisor giving me several tasks at a time and expecting me to get them all done on a short deadline. Now, I shouldn't be complaining about this, because an Administrative Assistant’s duty is to do several tasks at once in a fast-paced environment, but the way she piles shit on top of shit for me to get done is so shitty. When I’m working on high priority work that will take me all day to finish, she sometimes comes to me and tells me to get some other things done by the end of the day. I’m doing my best to try and juggle all of these things and trying to get them done before my bus leaves. Sometimes I am miraculously successful in getting ALL of those tasks done, but on the times I’m not able to, I notify my supervisor about it. She tells me not to worry and that she will complete the tasks for me. So I leave the building and rush to my bus to go home for the day. However, when I come back the next day, guess what… my supervisor didn't keep her promise, and tells me to complete my unfinished tasks in addition to the tasks that she gives me the next day!! Fuck that! If you only want me to finish tasks, then you should let me finish them! Don’t promise that you’ll help me get shit done and not actually do it.
On the other hand, there are times when she doesn't give me tasks at all, and expects me to show up at the building. I have the option of asking my supervisor if I can have days off either because I’m busy or if there is not much to get done at the office, but my mother tells me that I’m supposed to go to the office anyway. So when I get to the volunteer desk and there is a lack of things to do, I get bored easily, so I end up having to look for things to do. And if I can’t find anything to do at the office, I end up typing diaries, short stories, and rants like this on the computer when I get bored. That’s right. This shitty rant is a result of me currently being bored at the office right now. There are better ways I could be spending my time right now, and I’m wasting it in this building with little/nothing to do! So when there’s nothing for me to do, I just end up leaving at the next bus arrival time. Simple, right? Wrong. My supervisor told me that if I need to or want to leave, I could just leave, but there was one time that I left, and she got pissed off at me for not telling her that I left. She then got on my case the next day for this, saying that I could possibly get written up or fired over this shit. Yes, I completely understand that, but what I don’t understand is that if I’m not allowed to leave without her consent, then WHY WOULD SHE HAVE GIVEN ME THAT OPTION?!
I’m going to take my mother’s advice and stop volunteering at this place. This volunteering gig was supposed to help me find a job, but so far it hasn't done shit, and I’m going through all this shit until I can find one. I’m going to try and find another place to volunteer at and hope and pray that I land a job with the experience I have, or try out for orchestras that are near the area, which is what I went to college for in the first place. For now, all I can say is that this volunteer job sucks.
P.S. The people in the building suck too.
TL;DR – This volunteer job is supposed to help me, but it sucks ass.
So at this very moment, I'm attempting to go back to school to get a certificate in Graphic Design in hopes of getting a job as a Graphic Artist/Designer. On the bright side, I'll be studying for something that I actually have interest in, and not do shit that my parents want me to do anymore.
