week 37

[mellowtigger]

I don't know. I still stress out over this job. A lot less than the early days, but it's not moving any closer to zero. I still have plenty of issues in a week that leave me confused and adrift.

As an employer, they are also being confusing... slightly. On the "good" side of the tally, they are investing in staff salaries. Notably, they are giving everyone on the low end an automatic 0.5% pay raise, in addition to whatever everyone gets based on annual review merit scores. It's a nice gesture that they limited it to the poorest employees. On the "bad" side of the tally, however, is that the plan is to reduce budget for almost every department while simultaneously looking to increase student enrollment. They foresee a changed future, so they are trying to plan for a truly sustainable path forward. It's noteworthy (to me, you know what I think is happening in the world) that they identify healthcare costs as a significant issue. I don't know how we do all of that without reducing staff levels? I think it's excellent that they are trying to streamline instead of silo their operations.

I had two coworkers suggest that I would be a great candidate for the "next level" of job classification in this role, when we had a job posting for my same weekend schedule recently. I chose not to apply to the job, because I haven't reached any sustainable level of comfort with my current role yet, so I'm not ready for additional responsibilities. It was encouraging, though, to hear their evaluation, since I always feel like I'm just one bad phone call away from losing my place in this job. Rationally, I know it's not that dire, but emotionally that's still where I'm at.

Comments

[mellowtigger]

Yes, I've seen that sort of thing happen at other companies I've worked for. Still, though, if all it does is reduce the relative loss of purchasing power from 3.1% (what I saw on news last night about cost increases in 2023) to "only" 2.6%, then I'll take it as better than nothing. It's still a loss, though, yes.

This particular job is unlike any other tech support job I've had. "All roads lead to Rome", and far too many support lines lead to us. I've talked to someone wanting (with no patience for delays) the phone number for the coach for some sports team (not football). I've talked to a customs agent at an airport needing to speak immediately (on a weekend) with someone about a student's admission to the USA for coursework, otherwise they would get turned back to their home country. I've talked to a UPS driver needing to deliver a package (on a weekend) and wondering where it should go since the written address was not specific enough. In addition to all of the usual tech stuff, some I can help with and some I need to escalate and some I need to be the "middle man" while opening a tech ticket elsewhere for them.

I've come to the conclusion that I will never "learn" this job, because there is no obvious base of information that can be taught. It's very weird. I've never had a support job like it. It's just... a lot. :(