"A Trained Monkey Could Do My Job" An Employee complained in Overseas

  Dear Liz,
I’m in a jam! I was desperate to get out of my Senior Associate job at a PR firm where they worked us like dogs.
After Senior Associate the next step up is Partner, and you can imagine how many people make that leap (I think there’s been one person promoted from Senior Associate to Partner in the last five years, and she was dating another Partner).
Everyone in the firm knows that you have to jump ship after a year or two in the Senior Associate role.
I saw a chance to make my move and I did it, but now I think I made a mistake.
I took a job as the Communication Officer for a scientific institute that is attached to a university.
I thought it would be lofty. The last Communication Officer quit to have a baby, or at least that was the reason they told me.
The Communication Officer for the institute is the PR person, but this is not like any PR job I ever saw. They quizzed me at the interview:

Can you write a press release? Of course!
Can you keep a media database up to date? Certainly!
Can you interview scientists and write articles for our newsletter? No problem!

I thought the job would be a snap, and it is, but that’s not a good thing.
The scientists are great people but this institute makes up maybe ten percent of their jobs. I make up reasons to talk to them, because the office is horrible and I am not exaggerating. My office-mates are clerical/secretarial ladies who complain all day long.
They talk about their squabbles with their neighbors and they complain about their husbands. In this office it’s 1968 all over again.
I wish I had interviewed with the Executive Director before I took this job. I asked to meet him, but they told me he was too busy. Too busy! He is the least charismatic leader I’ve ever met. He is a drip. He has nothing to say and avoids all human contact.
He mumbled “Hello” with his eyes averted on the day I started and we haven’t spoken since. I wrote to him asking for a meeting and he ignored that, so I stopped by his office to suggest that we touch base.
He didn’t look at me but he said “When my schedule eases up.” He doesn’t do anything, Liz! This institute is a joke.
My office-mates are unhappy women ten or fifteen years older than me.
They can’t stand each other and I hear about all the drama whenever one of them is out of the office or off at lunch. I am going out of my mind.
I don’t have a boss. My boss on paper is the Executive Director and he has no interest in what I do. I made a PR plan my first week on the job and I can’t get anybody to look at it. I have to pretend to be busy because there’s literally nothing to do for hours at a time.
Honestly, a trained rhesus monkey could do my job. No one would know the difference if a quiet ape replaced me at my desk one day.
What can I do now to solve my problem? I’ll launch a new job search if I have to but do you think there’s a way to save this position?
Thanks,
#Liz Ryan #Brand_NewsNigeria

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