Hi folks. I guess this is just a rant. I work in a mid-size law firm as a legal assistant. It's 40 hours a week (usually more, though not encouraged because they don't want to have to pay overtime), and they recently received a “top places to work” designation in a local magazine. I will say I'm paid pretty well–I got a good raise last year, and I think it's because I work for one of the most difficult attorneys in the firm. I feel very much like I've sold my soul–she's a blowoff, everything is always last minute, and she's been through a bunch of other legal assistants because she's abusive. She doesn't openly rant and rave, like other attorneys I've worked with in the past, but she waits until the last minute so that you're forced to work late, is a micromanager, and does what she can to rack up the bill, and it just gives me a gross feeling. I'm helping make the rich richer. I desperately need to make this money–it's the first time, at 59, that I've been paid well, and I have very little savings–I'll never have enough to retired and will be SCREWED if/when Social Security/Medicare are taken away. I'm not married and have no kids, and recently inherited a house I can't afford to fix up. I have good credit so if something major happens I figure I can get a line of credit or something.
What irritates me about the firm, also, is they care more about marketing than anything else. This “we're a family” stuff is constantly touted. I'm not your family. I'm here for the wage, period. I find that kind of language fake and abusive. Am I wrong?
I want to find another job, but in this market, I'm seriously afraid of being laid off due to my age. Law firms are notorious for that. I just hate that I'm stuck like this.
Thanks for reading.