Trouble in Paradise
My office is going through a major re-org. People are being shifted around. Some are resigning. New people are being hired. No one has been fired/laid off, but some departments are being dissolved or combined with others. Workload is being redistributed. New work is still coming. And we are constantly being told to “do more with less.”
In the midst of all this, people are frustrated and losing their motivation. There are too many unknowns and it’s causing a lot of confusion and unrest. I don’t like any of it either, but I roll with the punches and respond to change accordingly. If it suits me, I’m fine. If it doesn’t, then I have decisions to make. Otherwise, to comfort my staff, I attempt damage control as much as humanly possible. That is…until I was fwd a disturbing email last Friday.
As I mentioned on Twitter (when I’m not blogging, follow me here) I’ve learned that this re-org may result in red suit lady becoming my new boss. Ack!! This bothers me for several reasons:
- I like my current boss and we have a mutual respect for one another. However, I was thisclose >< to declining the job offer, so I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him. I’m glad I eventually accepted though because the experience I’m gaining is priceless. Over the past year, we’ve established a comfortable flow. He lets me do my thing and I make him look good. It works for us.
- I’ve admitted in the past that I prefer working for men…white men to be exact. And no, I will not explain or defend my reasons so don’t ask.
- I haven’t heard good things about red suit lady. Granted, it’s all hearsay…for now, but it leads one to question how much of it is true when it comes from multiple sources. Despite the rumors, I’ve had my fair share of female bosses and I know I will never deal with this shyt again! No more playing the political game, any drama will be nipped in the bud immediately.
- The reporting structure will be very strange because we have similar career tenure, experience, certification, education, AND pay – all public information and known by everyone.
The email I received was vague, and I assume, something I was not supposed to see. I’m hoping she’s just taking over my area of responsibility and I will be reassigned somewhere else. But even that will cause a bit of unrest because I love my staff and the feelings are mutual. *sigh*
During my performance eval last week (5 star rating!), I remember my boss saying he needed my skills in another area. But then, his boss was concerned about my inability to travel frequently (all mentioned on Twitter by the way, told ya to follow me here LOL). I don’t know what the future has in store for me, but either way, things are not looking good. At all.
This blog is all about Finance, Fitness, Fashion & Fun - the sum of my life. If you like what you've read, feel free to subscribe via (feed reader) or (email) to follow along.
First of all I’d be appreciative of the person who forwarded the e-mail, if it was intended as a heads up, so you won’t be blindsided when the news does hit. I, too, prefer to work for white men. My current boss is also gay, so he’s amazingly understanding and supportive. I recently canceled my Twitter account. I just wasn’t getting much out of it. Anyway, it’s truly a bummer to have a comfortable work arrangement disturbed, but it sounds like you’ve got a good game plan and you’ll be able to re-evaluate and regroup if necessary. Best wishes…
Gotta roll with the punches sometimes. Hope it works out the way you want it to! That travelling thing (as I’ve tweeted back) is really tough.
Ugh! I cannot stand instability in the workplace. It always makes me want to run. Last year, I was at a Manager’s meeting in San Francisco when my company announced its plan to reorganize. Everyone was sitting around the table talking about what a great thing this was. All except for me … I was sitting there updating my resume and making a list of prospective new employers. Eventually, the majority of those folks followed suit. You know what’s best for you and I’m sure it will work out to your advantage.
Major change sets me off my axis. I know you’ll come through this with flying colors, but I truly understand your anxiety. I wish you the best!
I’m not the only one who has seen how smart, go-getting, and on the ball you are. Hope is in the mix! As LEM says, you’ve always got a game plan….
What does your contract say about travel?
Is travel a new requirement or has there been some previous dialogue/written requirement about it?
I don’t work under an employment contract. My job description is very broad. [-SM]
Having a wife work for women in an office full of women (they’re dietitians), she and I can both agree working for and with men is MUCH easier than working with women. I know your reasoning so you don’t have to explain it, even the “white man” part, although you would have a much different perspective as I’m a white man myself. My wife now works in a doctor’s office run by men (of all nationalities) with just a couple women. She’s so much happier as there’s MUCH less soap opera drama.
Work places with women…just too much estrogen sometimes…that’s what it is. A white lesbian was hands down my most favorite boss. I still have nightmares about two black women supervisors..don’t know what it was….
Whatever happens I know you will come out on top. Red Suit aint ready for Single Ma!
Oh boy. That’s disturbing. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the red suit lady situation doesn’t develop/come to fruition.
I guess whoever sent you the e-mail was giving you a heads up on things to come.. I am with 100 % when you say you prefer to work with white males.. I understand exactly where you are coming from with this.. I haved worked with both males and females I appreciate the men much more. Its just too much drama and stress with the females……
I agree with you on working under women. I just interviewed for a job by telephone with 5, yes 5 women on the call. Now why was that necessary?! And they all asked a question or two which obviously they made up because most of them were vague and they seemed to get annoyed with me because I asked them to clarify a question or two. Not my fault because you don’t know how to author interview questions. I love working for men too! I don’t care to deal with whatever hangups women are having at the moment. Let me work in peace and you stay sulking in your office. Just saying…
When there’s no information from management and a lot of unknown, morale suffers. It will take my office a long time to recover from the slimy, secret decisions. I’m not sure it ever will.
If you (and this blog) have proved nothing else, no matter what happens, you will come out on top!! I must confess, I’m rooting for the ‘demise’ of Ms. Red Suit [and yes, I love red]. I’ve worked for too many of these women, with a less than positive outcome.
I can’t wait to hear the outcome of your next ‘adventure’ .
Stay strong!!
p.s. I prefer to work for white men also (no explanation required)….
I also like working for me and white men to be exact. My experiences with women managers and supervisors has not been good at all. My current manager is a black woman and let me just say that you never know what your day with her is going to be like. Since I’ve been at the company 6 yrs it has not been a good experience.
Hang in there. I know it is rough trying to keep your staff engaged while at the same time thinking “Oh crap” about your own situation. The uncertainty is the worst part.
Everyone has their preferences for a work environment, so IMHO there is certainly no need to lead into defending how you like to work, or with whom you prefer to work. However, I know that I worked with one insurance office in the past and I got along fine with the male managers, while the females were both impossible human beings. In another job, however, the opposite was true. I think it can vary from job to job, frankly, or even industry to industry.
Jerry
Jeez Single Ma, if everyone felt like you do about managers, how would you ever get any one to work for YOU???
I have no problem with it. Everyone has preferences and that’s perfectly fine. [-SM]
My current boss is a white male. Abosolutely love him. Before that I had a female (Asian) loved her too. I think it is the environment. I find larger offices with lots of women tend to be more high strung and drama filled.
As a black female supervisor I wonder what the employees I supervise think about me?
Beth, stick around and read some of SM earlier posts from waaaaaaaaaaay back. You will understand that she is a manager who not only demands but also rewards and encourages her employees to be the best they can be. I always said that I would love to work for someone like her, yes, she would be demanding, however I know that my growth would be tremendous as well and my skill set would be developing constantly. She does not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. I have had few managers in my life-male and female, and I can honestly tell that while I did learn, some of them were indifferent to my development, some of them were hindering my growth and some of them were pretending to be leaders and in fact they were not. And some of them were plain unprofessional-I had a female manager once who was going through her second trimester and she was not a nice person to begin with, now take that and multiply by the number of months into her pregnancy-you get the picture. I lasted a week.
SM, pay no mind to the haters
I am so so sorry! Yikes! I too prefer male bosses over female. I have had some good female bosses but the total nightmare bosses were each female. So sorry you are going through this!!
Oh man. The economy strikes again.
I hope this works out in your favor! I bet it will–the company would be smart to keep you happy. Even if it doesn’t, I know you will find some way to make it work out even better. You seem like the kind of person that makes things happen for themselves! I need to start taking some serious notes from you. :)
PS I love the little spam-eater count at the bottom of the page. Is that new or have I just been blind?
I never thought I’d be able to write this. Thanks single ma for being upfront. I am a white female. I’ve had one black female boss, she was horrible. I currently have a white female boss. Her desk is out of state and is hands off when truly, hands on is needed with my group, and the group needs direction. All of my best experiences have been with white men.
I never thought I’d be able to express this because I am white and thought I’d be thought of as racist of something.
I once had 3 telephone interviews for a position with 3 (sounded like black women) for a significant (25K a year) raise. I turned it down when I didn’t get the face to face.
I sensed too much drama and didn’t want to go there.
I wonder if this is WHY white men hold so many upper level positions?
I, too, wonder, what I will be thought of once I reach supervisory level.
Late to the party…but I’m catching up.
I’ve worked for white men and gay men (and many women) and I love working for men. For some reason there is less drama.