This is mostly just me ranting, but also wondering if I'm overreacting or if I should just leave my job? This may be long so I'll put a TL;DR lol.
(TL;DR: Got a job at a law firm, thought I'd be working with cases and supporting attorneys, actually just cold calling people for debt collecting. Stressed because I have to be part-time receptionist on top of my main job, both jobs have no real training for them. Boss told me I have “questionable retention”. Coworkers ignore me. Cry a lot in the bathroom. Should I quit?)
I started my first “real” job out of college last month. (By real I mean it's the first job I've had that hasn't been affiliated with my university or part-time.) But it has not been the experience I was hoping it would be…
See, at first I was really excited to start my job! I thought I would be working with attorneys at a fancy downtown law firm, learning more about law and making a difference with a firm that seemed progressive. But what I found out on the first day, and what they neglected to mention in the interview, is that the law firm is divided between the legal group — attorneys and legal assistants who work on educational, family, spousal etc cases — and the debt collection group… And I suppose you can image my surprise when I walked into the office expecting to meet some paralegals and learn how to do research for cases, and was instead lead to a windowless room in the back of the office and told that I would be calling employers informing them their employee was being garnished.
So, not exactly what I expected I was going to be doing, but I tried to make the best of it. A week later I heard that the firm hired a new person to do the job I thought I was going to do. But I thought okay, maybe she has more experience than me!
Then, things started to get not so great. So not only was I expected to cold call people with shitty news, I was also expected to be a backup receptionist when the main receptionist is out of office. Not a task I knew I would be doing when I did the interview. And yeah, receptionist work isn't hard but I'm trans and I know it's probably not intentional, but being constantly misgendered for 8 hours is not fun. They also aren't super into training and just expect you to read an outdated paper packet on how to do certain duties. I have over 20 paper procedures and all of them are from pre-pandemic times, when the law firm had completely different clients and was under different ownership.
So yeah, I've been kinda stressed and overwhelmed. And I guess it showed because last week the office manager pulled me aside and said my “retention was in question”. She asked whether I was following the procedures or not. I said I have been following the over three years outdated procedures that have entirely wrong information in them and asking my supervisor questions. She told me that I should be taking notes. I said that I have been.
After that I went to the bathroom and cried at work for the second time that week lol.
I've also have not been feeling really welcomed in the office. For example, on the same day I had the meeting with the manager, a legal side person was going around the office and asking everyone if they'd like to order lunch together. I wasn't asked and instead sat outside by myself during lunch. The new girl who has the job I thought I would be doing was asked though.
Other than that though, the job is just mind-numbingly boring. I literally read names of employers off a list, call them, tell them about the garnishment, get yelled by said employer, notate the conversation and start the process again. Whenever the receptionist (who told me she “never takes days off” but has taken four days off in the past two weeks) is gone, I sit and answer phone calls and sign for mail all day.
Idk y'all, I've never had a real corporate job before, and certainly have never worked in a law firm, but is this… normal? Are you supposed to alternate between migraines and crying in the bathroom at work? Am I just overly sensitive for thinking my boss basically called me stupid? Should I just work harder? Am I not cut out for corporate America?
…or should I just quit?