I was told to post this here.
I work for the company where they no longer hire new people when someone quits or gets promoted but rather distribute the work among the other employees.
I have very specific job that is currently done by approximately 5 people in my country. A year ago my coworker (Ana) who also does this job got promoted because a coworker quit and she took over his department. Our boss thinks Ana is still helping me because the tasks this coworker had were distributed among 4 people (me included). Ana is my friend but is a horrible coworker. I can’t count on her at all. Since this job is mostly done by me for the past few years the customers give me shit when she doesn’t do her part (even after she promises she would) so I’m have to do overtime all the time. I am basically running the department but when we need to report our earnings or when they reevaluate important inside stuff I am excluded and my opinion doesn’t matter. The result of my exclusion was me having problems with customers because my bosses and Ana agreed to something that only a person who doesn’t do this job would agree. When I pointed out this problem and the fact I am overworked she started micromanaging me and telling me that certain work shouldn’t take so much of my time and that she is doing this longer so she is in charge. She is not my boss but since she was there before me she is kind of a manager of some sort.
Every year there are about 4 months that are super busy. I won’t bother explaining what we do but Ana likes to go do this one task where you sit on your ass most of the day and do nothing. This time is also the most busiest in my work but she always manages to put me on other tasks as well because she prefers to do nothing. I cover for Ana all the time so I know that what she does isn’t too time consuming. I also know she delegates the easiest jobs for herself so she can finish her shift early and go home.
This year I told her again I can’t do all of those jobs (mine and hers and also cover others on vacations). I did it two years in a row and I am overwhelmed and overworked. But nothing changed. 4 months passed and I was sent to cover for everybody and I still managed to do my job in time. I would be furious if I wasn’t too tired.
So she was about to be promoted again (due to someone leaving) and I asked to oversee my department myself since I do all the work anyway. This would mean promotion for me, more money and a good reference. And also less work for her. She wasn’t happy with this idea. Instead I got part of the tasks this coworker had.
Because I couldn’t get a promotion I asked for a raise… nothing happened. I asked for a student… they said no. Apparently my boss thinks she is helping me because we both got more tasks to do when people left. I told our boss that she isn’t really doing much, but Ana told him I am making stuff up. They are friends so I have no chance but also Ana is my friend. I don’t want to get her in trouble.
I waited till Ana took over another department completely and I again asked if I can take over our department so I can make the decisions and organise my work better and if she could suggest that to our boss because he isn’t listening to me. She said she will never let me take over because our department is a money maker and it’s making her look good. So I found another job and quit.
Of course everybody is panicking now because I am literally the only one who knows how to do this job besides her and she will not have the time to do both jobs. But I’m starting over somewhere where I can actually get promoted one day and the best part is that Ana can’t be mad at me because she knows very well she is lazy. So for at least a year till my replacement learns the job Ana will have to actually do hers.