Crap Rant Ahead

[sildil]

I work part-time, in theory 2 hours a day as Parish Administrator at my local Parish Church. But the last 6 months or so, I have repeatedly had to put in extra hours to keep up with the workload. My boss is VERY administratively heavy. For example, I counted up and I have typed or amended 140 Orders of Service in the last two years. The Family Service is on its SIXTH amendment for heaven's sake.

Before Easter, (a busy time for obvious reasons) I was working almost full days at a time, and not getting paid for the extra...God no, after all we are talking about the Church of England here. The whole point of doing this f**king job was so that I would have time to pursue my painting and illustrating, which I can't, most of the time.

Now....my boss, who is a VERY sweet man, and I love him dearly,(pro-Gay Vicar, need I say more) who is always DEEPLY appreciative of my work and commitment, agreed that as a trial I could work an extra 4 hours a week and get paid for them (Oh joy!). He would then put it to the Finance Committee (The Church of England exists SOLELY for its committees, forget about looking after widows and orphans...is there a tinge of bitterness there?) and ask if the extra hours could be permanent.

I do WAY more than what was in my original job description, (and did I forget to mention, I am also Parish Clerk and responsible for keeping the Marriage Registers and Baptism Registers in order, and making sure the Banns are read, and taking bookings, and all the Church Hall bookings......) my boss was supposed to explain all this to justify the extra time and money.

BUT...guess what..it now seems that the reason I need the extra time is that I am 'behind' in my work, by 'about a week' and that I should have caught up by about the end of June. AND the clever idea that the Finance Committee have come up with is to not give me the extra hours, but employ someone else to come in during the afternoons in the autumn and 'do the typing'.

Apart from the fact that I feel hurt that my boss didn't say what he told me he was going to say at the meeting when they discussed this, at work today (because HE wanted to get something out and was available to do it) he STILL hung on to me for an extra half an hour, just to finish it without even asking if I could stay back. Oh yes, he was very grateful and so he bloody well should be, but that is not the point.

.....AND to cap it all, then asked me if, by the next Parochial Church Council Meeting in July, I could possibly identify the parts of my job that could be advertised for someone to take over in the autumn. I felt like saying, 'actually the whole f**king lot', and almost wish I had.

I want another job. My confidence has taken a nose dive, even though I KNOW that the reason there is so much to do is not my fault, and I really want to use my graphic and illustrative skills. I am putting out feelers and looking, but to be honest, anything would be better the way I feel at the moment.

Ok folks...rant over. Watch this space for further news.

Comments

[geek6.livejournal.com]

sounds to me like you want to tell him that you're unhappy and that you feel like you might as well just leave..

tell him you're sick and tired of being put upon.. if he knows you've had enough he might actually DO something about it.. it doesn't mater how nice he is if he's ineffectual as a boss.. which it sounds like he is..

sounds like he lets them walk all over him..

TELL HIM!

[sildil]

Yep, that IS the problem, he is totally ineffectual as a boss...good Vicar but rotten manager. And I will tell him, but I want an escape route first.

[morgana-avalon.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you will have to be honest with him, or else this will 'poison' your working relationship futher.

(((((Huggles)))))
bye

[sildil]

Yes, I do, don't I. I am waiting till after half term, he has next week off and so do I, and in the meantime I am going to do some looking around and thinking. Then when I do talk to him I have a plan ready.

[ilyusha-a.livejournal.com]

*hugs tight*

I don't know what to say.. look for something that will make you happy.. I've been down that road... and it's not pretty... it hurts... So look for something that you will enjoy! And if it uses the (wonderful!) skills you have, then it's a well deserved bonus...

*thinks* Well.. I guess I did have something to say after all.. probably nothing constructive.. but...

If you need to get out of there.. get out of there..

*hugs tight*

Lúthien

[sildil]

Yes, I think I will get out. It was a VERY good job to have to get me back into work after raising the kids, gave me my confidence back, but I think I need something more now anyway. It's probably a good thing in the long run!

[estelle3974.livejournal.com]

I second Luthien, Sil.
*hugs tight*
We all know what a difficult work environment can do to our lives and our health.
*hugs tight*
Es.

[sildil]

Yes, and our crabby tempers at home! I expect Simon and the kids will be glad when I change jobs!

escape route for sildil

[(Anonymous)]

As a cleaner,I cannot recommend the work,but you could get the hours to suit yourself.And don't do domestic cleaning-i.e.,one on one -little old ladies make it too hard to resign from the job,and you will end up same as you are now:liking the person,hating the job/situation.This is experience speaking here.Rates of pay vary,but you should get or aim for £7-£10 per hour.Hope this helps.Bona fortuna!
Gillian.

Re: escape route for sildil

[sildil]

Yes, I have actually thought about this a few times, because of the fact that the hours would be to suit me and often it involves working early mornings or late evenings and would leave me the day to myself.

The problem though is that I have a VERY dodgy back, and it's often doing my own housework that throws it out, resulting in a week or fortnight of agony. (That's why the house always looks so messy!...it's my excuse anyway!)

But thank you for your suggestion, I really appreciate it.