I used to work in a lab. My former company hired a new manager for our R&D department (his title is R&D Manager), and I couldn't believe how clueless he was. It almost seemed like he never worked in a lab before.
I was also ordered by the executive vice president to train my manager, but it was disguised as “help him.” He couldn't follow simple instructions when I showed him how to do his work to the point where he wanted to just pass the work off to me because I was “experienced.” He also kept saying “he's got it” to my retiring colleague when she was teaching him how to perform a lab test. He was very impatient in learning. When she finally retired, they tried to call her back to teach the very thing that he said he got. He obviously didn't get it.
I reported this situation to the executive vice president, but the executive vice president said he wasn't going to do anything about it. He revealed that he suspected the new manager seemed like he never worked in a lab before because the new manager made many demands before accepting the job offer. One of those demands was to not do any lab work. That was really weird because my previous boss trained me, and he helped out in the lab. I was really pissed off at the executive vice president for not discussing those demands with us. We would have retracted his job offer.
He had the nerve to ask why my previous boss was called Director of R&D and if he was the replacement, then why was he only a Manager of R&D? Oh, the company also hired a Vice President of R&D (god knows what he does all day, oh, futile meetings all day everyday). So, they hired a Manager of R&D and Vice President of R&D to replace Director of R&D. The Director of R&D was very involved in everything, technical and non-technical. The two replacements can't handle anything technical, and they don't understand how the company really operates. It was very frustrating working for these two.
Now, I know why the Executive Vice President made him only a Manager of R&D and not a Director of R&D. He's basically incompetent. He couldn't get any work done on his own without my and my retiring colleague's help. He also wanted the both of us to train the new college grads coming in because he couldn't. Shouldn't that be the direct manager's job? According to Google and the Glassdoor community, yes, the direct manager is supposed to train new hires.
I assume he thought this job would be easy, which is why he quit his other job of eight months to come here when he initially didn't even wait for our offer. He basically came back because he found out we didn't hire anyone yet and he probably couldn't handle the technical aspects of his previous job. The universe was trying to tell me something then, and I should have listened.
He thinks his job as a manager of R&D is just managing us. We need an actual scientist not a manager! We need someone who isn't afraid to get their hands dirty and help out when needed. We needed someone who was both technical and non-technical. If you are non-technical, you need to be willing to learn and not just pass your work off to an experienced colleague. Are you willing to share part of your salary with your experience colleagues? If not, do your own work or at least learn to do it. Stop being entitled! You can't get away with incompetence at a small company. Maybe at a large company, yes.
Well, I wasn't going to stay and do the job of three people (my own, my colleague who is retiring, and my new manager). I realized there was no hope for me at this company. The whole department is full of new hires except for me and the colleague who was retiring. I wasn't even getting promoted or paid what I deserved after being there for years. The new CEO of the company did not value loyal employees and she does not know what she is doing. It's one of the reasons why a lot of my colleagues who have been there for years started retiring left and right during covid. She also didn't care that a lot of loyal employees were quitting. They were the most experienced and knowledgeable. They value new employees more. I guess good luck with that!
I made a really tough decision. After discussing the whole situation with family, it was only right for me to quit. So, I finally did!
Recently, this company called my previous boss back who retired to train my replacement and possibly the new manager. My previous boss kept asking me to come in and help him train the very people I left. It was ridiculous. I told him the company has to contact me. I know they won't. I can't just come in because you called me. Even though I had a good relationship with my previous boss, he is no longer my boss and I don't work for the company anymore. I am not obligated to do anything. I also don't work for free.