Oh, this job...

You may or may not know that I haven't been enjoying my job for a while. It's not the job so much that makes my day close to unbearable; it's my staff. Well...one person in particular. She is lazy, unreliable and absent-minded. She is frequently absent from work, and when she's gone, it means I have to do her job as well as my own, which is not only ridiculous, but also unfair. When I was hired, the job description said nothing about supervising anyone else. Because my boss created a loophole, he became the default manager of the Reception personnel. He is an incredible delegater, so he dumped the responsibility on me without any increase in compensation, which is ALSO unfair!

Anyway, all that is to explain why I am unhappy, and when a position in another department opened up, I jumped on it within seconds! I applied to be a Financial Aid Administrator. The job is completely different from what I'm doing now. The pay is higher and I would be the supervisEE, not the supervisor, which is fabulous (as I've recently discovered I just don't have the head for management).

After the initial interview, the committee liked me so much, they recommended me to the Director (my boss) for a second interview. They also recommended one other girl with 9 years financial aid experience! In my second interview, I explained to my boss why I thought he should hire the other girl. Since the day I applied for the position, we lost 1/3 of the Finance department (the Director of Finance quit). So one of our current FAAs had to assume the responsibility of the DOF, and still do her own job. If I was hired, not only would she have to train me--starting at ground zero--while doing 2 jobs, I would have to still do all the tasks of the 2-3 jobs I do, plus hire and train a new Exec Sec. I simply cannot take that much stress. I told my boss that Finance needs someone with experience who can come in and pretty much start helping lighten the load right away.

So, I didn't get the job. The good news is if the acting DOF is hired into that position permanently, then her FAA position opens up, and I've basically been guaranteed that spot. The bad news is, if she doesn't get promoted, there's nowhere else for me to go within the company.

I can give my boss 1 of 2 ultimatums. The first: either he raises my salary to compensate for the extra work I do as a supervisor or I walk. The second: either he cracks down hard on my incompetent receptionist and helps me take disciplinary action against her when she violates policy, or I walk. The second seems a little soft, but I can't really say it's her or me, because we don't have enough documented evidence that supports her dismissal. (Because I would ask him what to do when she screwed up--since I had NEVER been anyone's manager before and had no idea what to do--and he'd say, "Just talk to her.")

I could just sit around and continue to take crap from my boss and my intimidating subordinate, which is probably what will happen. But here's the thing: my family did not spend thousands of dollars for me to earn a SECRETARIAL DEGREE! I'm just not sure what else I can do to support myself.

Please pray for me. I am coming close to my breaking point.