Pinterest: It’s in My Job Description (Apparently)

Who knew you could spend 7 hours on Pinterest and collect a paycheck? That’s not why I took this job years ago; however, judging from how I have spent the past few weeks, you'd think it was. Thanks to a relevantly slow period (is there such a thing in ResLife) and my monster of a boss, Irene, most of my duties have vanished.

Before Irene arrived, I was plenty busy; my supervisor delegated a portion of his workload to me. I didn’t mind it—I earned great experience and it helped pass the day faster. Not anymore! Irene has taken offense to my frank nature and efficient way of doing my job, so she feels I have “not earned the right” to work beyond my job description.

She actually had the nerve to say, at a staff meeting, that I had not grown enough as a hall director and needed to understand “what we do in this office”. She threatened me with “special projects” to help me be a better team player (aka bullshit that bosses say).

This resulted in an over the top tantrum behind my closed office door, complete with thrown pens, crumbled post-it notes, and suggestions for what Irene could do with a goat. Let’s just say I was none too pleased with the sudden decrease in responsibilities. Unfortunately, it has also meant I have less to do since I know what needs to happen over the next few months and have everything set until next August with paperwork.

So, while Irene attempts to assert her perceived power over the hall directors and give extra work to her new favorites, I’ll continue to surf HigherEdJobs.com and Pinterest to find a better job and another 50 uses for modge podge and cereal boxes.

Hall Directors Are Human Too

This week, I am prostaff on-duty. Not my favorite part of the job, but hell, we all have to do it right? Last semester, I was fairly lucky. I only had one drunken student to confront and one false fire alarm. However, tonight, I made up for all the good duty karma I collected. Tonight, I spent two hours with a domestic abuse victim who ended up pressing charges on her boyfriend.

When I arrived on the scene, Kayla, the young lady pressing charges, was trying hard to be calm even though her tear-stained face told me she was one question away from breaking down. While sitting on her roommates’ bed and clutching a tattered teddy bear, Kayla told me about her boyfriend, Harry, and the fight they had just finished.

...In With the New

Over the past few weeks, my old boss has been shifted to another complex and a new Area Coordinator has been hired in his place. At first, I was excited about a change in leadership, especially since I think a bag of cat treats can supervise better than my boss of 4 years. However, my elation quickly disappeared and was replaced with dread and anger.

The new boss, a rather nasty, older woman with apparent confidence issues, has already told each of the hall directors under her that she is looking to “shake things up”. This past Friday, Irene demanded we each write a two-page summary justifying why we deserve to stay in our current assignment and why we are suited for the RHD position. I have been in Residence Life for longer than she has and this is the welcome we get.

Plus, it is painfully obvious that the only other female hall director in my complex (Emily) and I have large Target-inspired bull’s-eyes on our backs. Despite our open arms approach when welcoming her to our campus, Irene scrutinized every document, every incident report, and every RA request Emily and I have completed for the last semester. But, the two guys on the staff are allowed to do whatever they want without so much as a sideways glance from Irene; they have been told to “do whatever is necessary to run a smooth staff and hall”.

I can already sense a battle brewing. Why can’t women get along in the workplace? Why is that some women feel threatened by other females who have no ill-intention and simply want to learn from their experience? Irene could have learned a lot from us, and we could have learned a lot from Irene. It’s about to get real ugly up in here.