3 Signs that I Need a New Job

I had an epiphany a couple of days ago. I could have spent the day obsessing over it, letting it ruin my day and sending me into a rage spiral. Instead I finally saw it for what it was: proof that I needed to continue on my journey of betterment or I would be stuck working for idiots the rest of my life.

I have a low tolerance for the stupid things people do and say. I have an even lower tolerance for people who try to tell me I am wrong when I know and can prove that I am right. Especially when it comes to data. At work I am a research machine.

So when I get tasked with the simple request to tabulate results based on a list of students who attended an event and their responses to two questions off a survey they filled out, I am going to get it done and get it done right the first time.

Oh yeah, cause I hate rework. If I learned nothing else in the military it was quality control. When I worked in Quality Assurance I did inspections and the one thing I was in charge of was making sure that the job was being done correctly the FIRST TIME to avoid doing rework.

Sign #1: The job is tedious and inefficient.

I try to avoid it as much as possible. It is inefficient, it is time consuming, and if it is possible to get the job done right the first time, why would I do it another way?!

Back to this list– so the two questions answered required verification against the individuals student record to see if in fact they knew their own information and if they answered the question accurately. Easy.

Side note: I was partially irritated even before I started the data gathering because this is the THIRD time this information has been compiled.

The first two times, one for the fall semester and one for the spring semester, I asked why not gather the answers to both questions on the survey since they were both related because they were only gathering the data for one question off of each survey.

Both times I was told that it was not necessary, that they didn’t need it and why do the extra work? YET here I am, at the end of the spring semester doing this bullshit again. So yeah… not happy that they didn’t listen the first two times and then act surprised when I am like why couldn’t I just have done this right the first time??

Sign #2: I am questioned when trying to do more than the minimum.

It is likely that I am too smart for this job. I notice while I am compiling the data that the records for the fall semester are incomplete. Ugh. But, I’m digging in the databases already, might as well fill in the gaps as I come across them.

I discover as I do this that twenty-some-odd of the students that were on the list I was given aren’t even students at this school (therefore their data is irrelevant as it cannot be verified) and the rest didn’t actually attend the session but just happened to fill out a survey.

Of the rest that were on the list, there was an equal number of students who had attended the session and were current students BUT they didn’t fill out a survey. So had my suggestion to gather the data my way been taken last semester, this discrepancy would have been discovered months ago AND I wouldn’t be doing all this work now.

I report on my findings. I back it up with a very concise and clear email in case my words fall on deaf ears. Apparently it was way too confusing because the first thing that happens is that the one who tasked me with this report immediately claims that my numbers are wrong because they don’t match her list. No shit, Sherlock.?!

Your list has twenty-some people on it who don’t even attend classes here so their answers cannot be verified to answer the question you posed. Duh! It’s like they aren’t even trying to do the job well.

Sign #3: I should not be way smarter than my boss

She argues adamantly that my information is incorrect. Why didn’t I use her pie chart? Where did the other people go that were on her list?

First of all, bitch, I wasn’t even employed here when this first session went down, or trust me, there would not have been twenty-some people who slipped out of the session without completing a survey.

Secondly, just cause you made a pie chart in excel doesn’t make you some kind of computer genius. A trained monkey could create one using the same bullshit data you used.

Thirdly, my data isn’t wrong because I verified it against student records that you also have access to, which you should have done the first time you compiled your retarded little pie chart based on your inaccurate list full of false students.

It took me fifteen minutes of repeating myself for the light of understanding to finally come on behind her dim, uncomprehending eyes. When it finally did, I felt no satisfaction. I just wanted to choke her for being so fucking stupid.

Seriously. I explained the data collection to my son over the phone while he was standing outside his school waiting for me to pick him up and he understood what I was saying in less than thirty seconds.

If a teenager can get the basic concept that 80-23=57 what is wrong with the picture when this grown ass bitch who claims to have a college degree doesn’t get it and seems so overwhelmingly confused that it takes more than twenty minutes for her to grasp the idea??

I’m this close to losing my shit

I CANNOT take working under someone so ridiculous. At least I have a clue and don’t give people bullshit assignments that are the equivalent of chasing your own tail.

Though I was ridiculously frustrated and pissed off, what could have been a beginning of regular setbacks, becoming depressed and overwhelmed because of the insult dealt me, instead I found a deep motivational boost!

It was just what I needed at a time when I had been questioning the necessity of my academic pursuit. I had been questioning if I was wasting my time trying to finish my degree. Wondering what was I doing getting started at this time in my life, when there are people so much younger than me trying to do the same thing.

Well, this incident couldn’t have been better timed because the fact is I can’t stop now. If I do, I will live to regret it and always wonder what could have been had I just kept going. One thing was for sure: I’d do a better job at being in charge.

And wasn’t the point of this journey to do what I am meant to do? TO maximize my potential? I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes, I saw the sign. (That’s right. I took it to Ace of Base).