I work as a Proposal Writer at a small Midwest engineering firm. It's run by the family, but has grown considerably over the last few years. Myself, and my other co-worker, are tasked with different parts of the proposal process. As I have a degree and more writing experience, I handle the writing of all proposals from start to finish while she gathers information. We work well, and I have a great relationship with everyone else at the company… except the new vice president.
Lately, it's been quite awful.
The former president suffered an injury, so he's been training his son to take over for him…but his son is an extreme narcissist. He thinks everyone is incapable except him. Gives information to us late, attends meetings late, and expects us all to be available to him at all hours. Schedules meetings right before the day ends to talk, pointlessly, about things that could have easily have been an email; and lately, he's been targeting me and how I'm writing the proposals despite having no issues before.
His instructions are vague and unclear. Each project we're on he'll come up with new ways he wants the proposal to be done, and then will act as if I should have anticipated his needs from the get go. Every gripe he has or implementation on the draft, he'll preface by saying it's “a learning lesson” for me, which is…very condescending, and makes my work feel undervalued. I have tried asking questions in advance, tried to get a lead on what he wants and have scheduled meetings to make sure I'm doing it the exact way he wants it. But he just comes up with more “issues” during the review. It's giving me so much anxiety, I dread coming into work.
Recently, he said that when he looks over the rough draft, the most he should have to do is “change the font,” which frustrated and confused me as this is supposed to be a collaborative effort. A rough draft is not supposed to be perfect, but he expects perfection, and I can't meet his unreasonable demands.
My anxiety over this is ruining my weekends, making me think I'll be suddenly terminated on a whim by this guy.
What should I do? These issues aren't just with my department either. HR, marketing, and engineering all despise him. How do I survive this? I'm 6 months in, and I'm trying to make it the year.