Posted by pegasus on February 23, 2007, at 9:14:32
Some of you may have followed my horrible work saga from last summer, where my boss basically gave my job away while I was on vacation, then offered me a demotion when I got back and acted like I was crazy for being upset about it. We worked that out, although I didn't get along with my boss (or the person who took my old job) for a while. We recently went through coaching, which helped a bit.
Well, in the middle of all of that, my boss was demoted in the sense that he was kicked off of the "senior staff" club, and another guy on senior staff was put in a position above him, as his supervisor. This was pretty much directly as a result of how he messed up the department by treating me so poorly last summer.
Yesterday, the new big boss told me that he's pretty sure he wants to reorganize the department (again) and that my position really should be subordinate to the (very hard to work with) person who took my old job last summer. I told him that I was sorry, but I just didn't think I could do it. I mean, I could try, but I know I wouldn't last a week before I quit.
So, he said that no one wants me to quit, and that maybe the right thing to do is find me another position in the company. Now he wants me to go back to a job that I had 5 years ago before I took my more recent role. It has a lot less responsibility, but I really enjoyed it back then. And I wouldn't have to work with my incompetent boss anymore, or the unpleasant person who took my old job out from under me. The best part is that they won't reduce my salary, even though I earn tons more than other folks in that department (including the person who will be my new boss).
There are a lot of really good things about this. I truly loved that job when I did it before. It's much more of a team-oriented position, and the people who are on the team are really wonderful. It'll be less stress in my life. I won't have to travel at all (business travel is *really* hard for me). I can reduce my hours, and have more time with my daughter and for schoolwork (I'm trying to finish a counsling MA). My internal reaction when he brought it up was . . . gleeful.
And then, my ego is a little bruised. I feel like I've failed at my recent job. I worked really hard to do a good job there, and I thought I had. I was proud of my work. But I guess not everyone sees it that way. Or at least, they'd rather lose me there than come up with a structure for the department that I can live with. I'm a little embarrassed about moving to a less responsible position. There was part of me that liked being the high powered professional woman type. And other people will see this as a demotion.
My T says that maybe it's a good experience for me. I'm having to choose between setting up my life in a way that's good for me and my family, versus taking on a role that builds up my ego more. Maybe having to make that choice is going to help me clarify my priorities. And it's true. I'm clear that this means I'm committing more to my future counsling career, and to my family. Which is so absolutely the right thing to do. The corporate world is not healthy.
Sigh. Change is kinda hard, even when it's good.
peg
poster:pegasus
thread:735329
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/work/20061208/msgs/735329.html