I got a call from a recruiter, all excited to tell me about a “great” opportunity, with a “locally-loved company”. Great! I thought. Wrong. This family owned company (like many others) is extremely top-heavy, with literally four “leaders” in a 10-person IT department. I go through the interview process, which should have been my first red flag. The CIO, who would be three levels above me, was in every interview, which culminated in me meeting with the entire 10-person department, before I was offered a position. Kinda weird, but I thought, maybe they’re just thorough. Oh boy. There’s “thorough” and then there’s “beating a dead horse until there’s NOTHING LEFT”, and that’s what this CIO does. His ego is the first thing you’ll notice, because it precedes him everywhere. Smug, patronizing, dismissive, constantly-changing expectations, which were never clear to begin with – it’s the works, with this dude. My boss, the “Senior IT Project Manager” (who doesn’t have her PMP certification, nor does she know how to copy/paste in Excel, nor resize images correctly in PPT) begins “managing” me by telling me she’s never managed anyone before, doesn’t really know why I’m there and is gonna find out what I’m supposed to do. Uh. Ok? She already doesn’t care for her direct boss, the “Director of Enterprise Applications” but that’s ok because she thinks the CIO is a “straight shooter, as long as you smile and nod”. Yikes, I’m thinking, that sounds like opinions are fine, as long as they’re his. Oh but he comes from DISNEY, so he must be a GOD. Nope, just a regular narcissist, with an insatiable ego and something to prove to everyone.
Here’s where it gets fun. After four months of holding my tongue, doing part of my boss’s job, as well as my own, but still, getting nothing but positive feedback, I was personally over it. The CIO never offered clear direction, it seemed like he came up with new tasks out of thin air, and the MEETINGS. Good GOD the MEETINGS. One week, I averaged eight meetings per day. AT A BISCUIT COMPANY. People who had been there longer would attempt to advise the CIO in some of these meetings, and the CIO would immediately shut them down, in a condescending way. Well, my adorable little 60 year old boss could tell I wasn’t happy but she tried to play nice, by divulging that her boss could “kiss her ass” based on the fact that he gave her a “does not meet expectations” on one of her performance goals. She thought she’d help me out by encouraging me to fill out a performance review, even though I barely made the time cutoff. She and her boss approved every goal I entered as “meets expectations”. Cool, hopefully I can get out of this hellhole soon, thought. I filled out my goals on Tuesday, they were approved Wednesday, and on Thursday, this sweet old lady asks me to go on a walk with her, outside the building. I agree. She starts off by swearing confidentiality and asks me what I’m really thinking about the department. I had made allusions previously, but tried to keep things professional, even though I was literally miserable with the “leadership”. She goads me into admitting I think the CIO is a “textbook narcissist”, that the expectations seem to be based on the daily whims of the CIO, and that my boss isn’t being treated fairly by her two bosses, which she agreed with. At one point, she CRIED about how upset she was about her “does not meet expectations” from her boss. She felt “so betrayed by him”. She goes on to admit she’s a workaholic who failed her only son, he barely speaks to her, I mean clearly we’re having a heart to heart as two people, not boss and employee. We talked for 45 minutes, went back inside and on Friday, she worked remotely, for the first time with this job (even though they “promised” everyone gets to work from home every Friday). She messages me, wants to talk on the phone, and reassures me that she agreed with everything I said. She’s “thinking about” me, which I thought was sweet.
Monday morning, she comes to my desk regarding an email I just sent, asking why the attachment makes her click on it. I explain that’s because it’s an embedded link to the cloud version of the document. I can surely send her a static attachment, but it won’t be the same version and requires more clicks by the sender. But “I can definitely send it that way, if that’s easier,” I tell her. Apparently, she didn’t care for my response. Next, I see her sitting in her boss’s office, the same one she said could “kiss my ass” the week before. Yep, I know what’s coming next. At 4:30, she asks me to meet her in the conference room, where she and her boss insist I’m “not happy”. They claim I was “short a couple of times”. Ok? Am I being let go? “Yes, we can’t have you saying those things about leadership.” “The things she baited me into saying, while insisting no fewer than four times would be kept ‘just between us’?” Yep. “WOW, WHAT A BETRAYAL.” The best part is, as I’m cleaning out my cube, this dumb bi**h comes over all sheepishly and wants to talk. All I could muster was a “get away from me”, gathered my shit and left. Good fugging riddance.
Moral: always interview your interviewer, don’t play games with people’s lives, and NEVER work for a “family-owned” hierarchical bullshit company, they’re all toxic AF