Good Help Is Hard to Find: A Little Rant
I have been working at the same law firm for 3 years and 3 months. I don't know how it started and it isn't in my formal job description but the responsibility for covering the phones when the receptionist/secretary is unavailable lies on me. During the past three years, our firm has gone through receptionists/secretaries like Kleenex. Through it all, only one receptionist stood out as a decent worker who did her job well. The others? Well, I'll let you decide:
1. "Janet" was fired for using the boss's credit cards to purchase a cellphone for her boyfriend and fund a romantic cruise with him to the Bahamas. She would disappear for hours at a time, requiring me to answer the phones for her.
2. "Cindy" would take extra long lunchs with the law clerk, meaning I had to answer the phones for an extra half hour or hour each day. She shamelessly flirted with the associates but, over all, she wasn't the worse of them.
3. "Lisa" would also take extra long lunchs, even though she knew I was pregnant and needed to eat as soon as she was due back from her lunch break. She also couldn't take messages to save her life. She didn't know how to type up any documents on Word and she made many spelling errors.
4. "Tom," our sole male receptionist, couldn't remember basic instructions regarding the distribution of mail. He was fired while I was on maternity leave. They found out he had been hiding the mail. Without me around to help him, he became desperate and started stockpiling pieces of mail in a big box under his desk. I actually felt sorry for him but not surprised that he had been let go.
5. "Trish" was out for at least one day per week for various reasons - suddenly severe case of a mysterious illness, food poisoning, work that needed to be done at her home, etc. etc. She probably worked one full week only a handful of times. She would also leave early most Fridays simply because she wanted to (who doesn't, right?) Of course, this meant I had to answer the phones for 1-2 days per week and until 5 on Fridays.
6. "Carla" was an eager learner but basically knew nothing about anything to do with her job. When asked if she knew how to use the phone system we have in place, she said (in all seriousness) "I have answered phones in my personal life but not professionally." I had to keep myself from laughing out loud at that one.
7. "Katie" is our current receptionist. I had to show her 10 times how to send calls into voicemail. I even wrote out instructions for her. Yet, she still couldn't do it and we discovered the reason: she kept pushing the wrong button. I guess the button labelled "voicemail" needs to be labelled in bigger letters. She has been working here for almost two weeks and has been late 7 out of the 9 days that she has shown up. Yesterday, she didn't even show up due to a "procedure" that was done on her knee. Miraculously, she is walking around fine today - no crutches, limp or the like. She disappears for 15 minutes at a time and takes an extra long long every day. She complains about our firm and how things are run and even once threatened to quit because she didn't get paperwork from our boss fast enough. (Remember: she has only been here one day short of 2 weeks.) She is the worse receptionist/secretary we have had thus far.
Good help is hard to find and when that help doesn't come, I'm the one to suffer. I end up having to do the receptionist/secretary's job on top of my own, with no extra pay to show for it. My employers have been wonderful to me through my pregnancy and maternity leave and I continue to help them in this regard as a show of gratitude. But when can I say I have paid my debt to them?
1. "Janet" was fired for using the boss's credit cards to purchase a cellphone for her boyfriend and fund a romantic cruise with him to the Bahamas. She would disappear for hours at a time, requiring me to answer the phones for her.
2. "Cindy" would take extra long lunchs with the law clerk, meaning I had to answer the phones for an extra half hour or hour each day. She shamelessly flirted with the associates but, over all, she wasn't the worse of them.
3. "Lisa" would also take extra long lunchs, even though she knew I was pregnant and needed to eat as soon as she was due back from her lunch break. She also couldn't take messages to save her life. She didn't know how to type up any documents on Word and she made many spelling errors.
4. "Tom," our sole male receptionist, couldn't remember basic instructions regarding the distribution of mail. He was fired while I was on maternity leave. They found out he had been hiding the mail. Without me around to help him, he became desperate and started stockpiling pieces of mail in a big box under his desk. I actually felt sorry for him but not surprised that he had been let go.
5. "Trish" was out for at least one day per week for various reasons - suddenly severe case of a mysterious illness, food poisoning, work that needed to be done at her home, etc. etc. She probably worked one full week only a handful of times. She would also leave early most Fridays simply because she wanted to (who doesn't, right?) Of course, this meant I had to answer the phones for 1-2 days per week and until 5 on Fridays.
6. "Carla" was an eager learner but basically knew nothing about anything to do with her job. When asked if she knew how to use the phone system we have in place, she said (in all seriousness) "I have answered phones in my personal life but not professionally." I had to keep myself from laughing out loud at that one.
7. "Katie" is our current receptionist. I had to show her 10 times how to send calls into voicemail. I even wrote out instructions for her. Yet, she still couldn't do it and we discovered the reason: she kept pushing the wrong button. I guess the button labelled "voicemail" needs to be labelled in bigger letters. She has been working here for almost two weeks and has been late 7 out of the 9 days that she has shown up. Yesterday, she didn't even show up due to a "procedure" that was done on her knee. Miraculously, she is walking around fine today - no crutches, limp or the like. She disappears for 15 minutes at a time and takes an extra long long every day. She complains about our firm and how things are run and even once threatened to quit because she didn't get paperwork from our boss fast enough. (Remember: she has only been here one day short of 2 weeks.) She is the worse receptionist/secretary we have had thus far.
Good help is hard to find and when that help doesn't come, I'm the one to suffer. I end up having to do the receptionist/secretary's job on top of my own, with no extra pay to show for it. My employers have been wonderful to me through my pregnancy and maternity leave and I continue to help them in this regard as a show of gratitude. But when can I say I have paid my debt to them?
posted by Margie at 11:17 AM
1 Comments:
You've paid your debt to them each and every time you pick up that phone and say hi in a professional manner with a smile in your voice.
I'm sorry that you've had to be the one to suffer the brunt of others ineptitude. However, it's a matter of good Karma, it will come back to you.
Just keep smiling! Now I gotta go and read the rest of the story.
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