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Antiwork

“Accidental” coasting manager

So I've been working at this online media company (part of a large holding) for almost 6 years now, first in a junior role (for the first two years) and then “sort of” got promoted to a managerial position after my boss was unceremoniously fired. At first, I was told by my boss's boss to make sure things are running smoothly at our department and I assumed he meant until my boss's replacement arrives. Well, it's been over three years and I'm still running this relatively small department (3 employees working under me). At first I was elated to not have to answer to my old boss anymore who tended to be petty and generally ran a very tight ship, then one month became two and no replacement arrived and I ended up waiting for two years before asking for a raise (I know big mistake) obviously because of all…


So I've been working at this online media company (part of a large holding) for almost 6 years now, first in a junior role (for the first two years) and then “sort of” got promoted to a managerial position after my boss was unceremoniously fired. At first, I was told by my boss's boss to make sure things are running smoothly at our department and I assumed he meant until my boss's replacement arrives. Well, it's been over three years and I'm still running this relatively small department (3 employees working under me). At first I was elated to not have to answer to my old boss anymore who tended to be petty and generally ran a very tight ship, then one month became two and no replacement arrived and I ended up waiting for two years before asking for a raise (I know big mistake) obviously because of all the extra responsibilities I was saddled with since my boss was fired (when I finally asked for that overdue raise my new boss acknowledged that I did a very good job running the place and didn't even mention that they were looking for someone to replace my old boss). I was furious afterwards and resented the company for dumping all this extra load on me even though I was for the most part left to my own devices ever since my boss was fired, so I started showing up late and refused to go back to the office despite several attempts from my boss and HR to get our department back there (I'm glad I was also able to do that for my teammates who have very long commutes). Working from home since March 2020, my coasting became much worse and I just pop in to make sure I respond to any request or inquiry on time and just reply promptly to give off the impression that I'm present at all times when in fact I spend most of my days reading novels or watching TV and sometimes even go out and run errands. At this point, I'm just wondering if they'll ever fire me? Should I be enjoying this? I had to interview and hire new people for our team after two of them quit (both told my boss that I do a great job there mostly because I was lax and acted more like a colleague than a manager) but aside from that, I'm not learning any new skills (I'm in my early 30s) and I worry that my time here won't look good on my resume because it'll mean companies will pass on me for more junior jobs and I'll be boxed into managerial ones which I don't even like. I don't know if any of this makes sense. I'm grateful to be employed and to be working from home. I just don't know how long to coast by for. I tried and failed to teach myself new skills because despite all the coasting, pretending to be present for this job is proving to be mentally taxing!

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