Ah work, the daily grind, that place that pays the bills. Lately, I’ve felt like it’s just that, the place I have to go to if I want to make sure the bills get paid. It’s not that I’m unhappy in my job, more like a bit disinterested.

I’ve learned recently that one of the major tasks I work on (a particular web site) will be taken away from me. I’ve been assured that it’s not because of my work, but because of budgeting constraints. The web site is part of a larger project that has grown to be quite large in scope. The project is out of the realm of my department so John (my boss’ boss) feels that I should be pulled off of the project so that my work will be within the department’s confines. There is talk of hiring a new person on contract to take over the web site. That gives me some hope that I will be able to keep it awhile longer. A new hire would take time in any company, but my employer takes eons to do the most routine tasks. It’s a bit ridiculous when you think about it, but if it keeps me doing something I enjoy, then I won’t complain about it.

I have been doing interesting stuff lately, a lot of work with online learning tools and modules. I’ve been introduced to audio editing software and some other flash-based programs (that don’t actually require flash knowledge on my part. Thank God for that.) It is pretty neat stuff but it’s just not my thing. I have no real interest in working with audio and building enhanced presentations. I’d like to keep doing the web publishing and doing more graphic work. With the web site mentioned above taken away from me, I’ll have very little exposure to web stuff.

And then there’s Vortex. Vortex is the name Natalie and I have given to a girl we work with. She’s intelligent, but in the book smarts type of way. She’s so oblivious otherwise. Even though she knows I’m in the middle of something, she’ll come into my work station and start gabbing on about the most random topics. Sometimes it will be work related, but most of the time it’s not.

We call her “Vortex” because once she gets talking to you, it’s like being sucked into a bottomless vortex. There have been times that I’ve been in her office to update her on something and then tried to walk out, but she just carried on talking. A few times I’ve run out saying that I have to use the bathroom because that appears to be the only thing she’ll process, eg. bathroom = let them leave.

A few weeks ago, she really pissed me off. We were working on a project and it had begun to consume all of my time. I tried to put some limits on it and had gotten Larry, my boss, to back me up on that. Then Vortex went above all of our heads and basically made the project my sole priority. I had to push back everything else to make things easier for her. Needless to say, I was none too pleased with her. It’s only been the last few days that I’ve been speaking to her again.

Let’s not forget my boss. As nice as he is, he has his moments where I’d like to tell him to go to his office and not come out. Ever. He tends to get involved in things I’m working on which then causes me to go back and fix whatever it is he’s meddled with. It’s frustrating when he wastes so much time going over the same points over and over again. And the times he spends talking about doing something? I feel like reminding him that perhaps not talking and letting me do what I have to would be a more efficient use of time.

Today he ticked me off for coming in to work sick. He who often criticizes other people for coming to work sick did the same thing. He e-mailed me first thing in the morning to say he’d been sick all weekend and would try to come in later during the day. I immediately wrote him back and told him to stay home; if there was anything I couldn’t handle, I’d e-mail him to let him know. The last thing I needed was for him to come in and then sit in my guest chair and breathe all over me and my computer.

He ended up coming in around noon, sniffling and coughing up a lung. I’m doomed, I thought. He must have picked up on the fact that I wasn’t pleased to see him because he kept his distance from me the entire afternoon. I know he’ll come in tomorrow but I really hope he stays home.

I guess I should admit that the major reason behind my feelings of disinterest have to do with my salary cap. Effective this month, my salary is essentially frozen until an entire pay grade shift happens. I’m taking on more and more work – stuff I don’t exactly love – for the same pay. The company is weird in that it freezes everybody’s salary at a certain point; which really irks me. There are people in my department who make about the same as me but they spend their days surfing and working on their nails while I’m running around juggling a few projects and trying to stay afloat.

Larry says that people have to “walk on water” to get a salary increase once their freeze goes into effect. I can’t even swim below water, how will I ever learn to walk on it?

So there you have it. I’m still relatively happy with my job, just becoming bored with it. Nothing is really “new and exciting” any more. Perhaps this a generational thing? Are people my age just sort of expected to only stay at a job a few years? There are people at the company who have been there over twenty years. They view it as an accomplishment; I view it as unfortunate that they’ve never bothered to challenge themselves with something new.

Related posts:

  1. Bored, Not Busy
  2. Limited Options
  3. Frustrated, Bored and Annoyed
  4. Slow Pace
  5. Grumblings and the Grapevine
  6. Good Riddance
  7. A Star is Born
  8. Helping Hand
  9. Farewell
  10. Office Revamp