6:49 p.m. - 18 July 2002
Crappy job stuff
So. There’s a lot I’ve wanted to talk about, but just haven’t felt like sitting down and putting it all on paper (so to speak). But after the fairly spectacularly crappy day I had today, and knowing that it’s not likely to get better any time soon, I figured it was now or never.
I’ve been talking about how I’m being moved downstairs. Part of this move is because the administrative assistant position in my current department is being eliminated. My boss, Kathy, was promoted to Director of Physician Services in March. Shortly thereafter, she was told to hire a new Medical Staff Coordinator (which was her former title) and I’d be leaving. She’s had ads out for a while, and she’s gotten a few nibbles, but not many. This would be at least in part because there is no one in the entire county who meets the requirements, including me, but that wasn’t the only reason I didn’t apply. The other reason was that the CEO told Kathy, not in so many words, that even if I did apply, she wouldn’t hire me because I didn’t have the personality that she was looking for: I’m not perky enough.
There has been a lot of shit going on that is making Kathy’s life difficult, and it’s been coming from a variety of sources. Last week was pretty brutal for her; enough so that the CEO took her to lunch to find out what was wrong. Kathy told her that it was a combination of them wanting to take me, not being able to find anyone for the MSC position, and not feeling as if she was doing justice to the MSC position or the one she’s been promoted into. They kind of commiserated, and the CEO reiterated her promise not to move me downstairs until Kathy was ready.
Not long after Kathy came back from that lunch, the CEO called and suggested someone for the MSC position: the wife of one of the Vice-Presidents. What could Kathy do but agree to an interview? She did contact someone else to get in on the interview; someone who has been an MSC in the past and has made little secret of the fact that she was wonderful at it. The interview was set for last Friday at 1pm. I decided to go to lunch at that time to give them some privacy.
At 1pm, I met the candidate briefly and then went to lunch. I came back at 1:30 to find the three of them still talking, so I sat off to the side and worked on a few things that needed to be done. I admit, I was eavesdropping, but not carefully. Just from the little snippets I heard, though, I could tell that she was unqualified for the position. Not only has she never worked in a medical staff office (one of the job requirements was three years’ experience), she’s never worked for a doctor. At all. She’s been working for lawyers for the last few years, but the bulk of her experience is as a union secretary (for the union, not as a unionized secretary).
So Kathy, the candidate, and the previous MSC went downstairs. I snuck a look at her resume and discovered that her educational level stops at high school and that while she has some knowledge of computers, it’s not particularly extensive (another requirement was proficiency with MS Office). I called down to Lee and said, “They’re nuts if they hire her.” Kathy came back and I repeated the sentiment.
Kathy’s response? “It’s a done deal. She starts Monday.” Which turned out not to be true, but doesn’t help much. Kathy’s not happy about it, at all, since instead of getting someone who can jump right into the position and take over the credentialing, she has to teach someone what credentialing IS. Not to mention the fact that she now feels that she can’t do anything personal on the job, since her new officemate sleeps with at VP. And she’s getting ready to build a house, and she’s scared to death that she’ll be out of a job before much longer. It doesn’t even help a little bit that Kathy herself is married to a board member, since he’s going off the board in three months.
So, not only am I going downstairs to fewer things to do and less responsibility, I have to teach someone how to do what I’ve been doing for the last year and a half because I’m not perky enough to do the job myself. And I have to work with her husband and the CEO who engineered her hiring. And the person that Kathy pulled into the interview who is a former MSC herself? Gave a glowing recommendation to the unqualified candidate – who at the time of the interview hadn’t even filled out an application.
I’m hurt, and upset, and angry. Not at Kathy, who was ambushed into this whole thing, but at the CEO for whom I will be answering the phone and scheduling appointments. Mostly this reinforces my belief that I don’t want to be a secretary anymore. Education doesn’t carry a lot of weight with the CEO, obviously, so not only does she not know that I’m overwhelmingly overqualified, she doesn’t care. The whole place seems to be going to shit, and Lee shares my opinion. But there isn’t anywhere else here in town to work, and I don’t really want to move.
As much as I joke about living in Armpit, NC, I do like the town. And I really like our house, and our garden, and jeez, I have a retirement account for the first time in my life. Not to mention that if we move and have to start over, it will delay starting a family even more.
Right now, I’m planning to go downstairs and at least give the new position a chance for a few weeks. Lee’s starting to look at other hospitals in NC, SC, VA, and a couple of other places, particularly those hospitals that use the system that he’s been learning for the last eighteen months. Who knows how this will all turn out. Maybe it’s a sign that I should go to culinary school after all.
PS to FR: Thank you for the birthday wishes! And a happy birthday to you, too!
