Frustratingly Mute in Georgetown

My life as a 20-something professional…translation, “the bottom of the totem pole”, also known as “bottom-dweller”, “push over”, “bend over”, “please sir, may I have another, and by the way, love your tie” and of course, “Coffee Sherpa”. Basically, if you haven’t gotten the message yet…not so pleased with the new take over…I know I have been hinting at this for the past few weeks. Talking about the split between my two beloved hotels (well, maybe not beloved but at least “liked”) and where I would end up.
Option one: go with my awesome big boss to the other hotel which would be hotel W (all offices use to just be in one, lets call it M Hotel, the other W Hotel had to have offices built to accommodate the split). My job would be unknown for the next couple weeks but would involve event planning, conference planning, accounting, HR, mail sorting, and any other odd, end detail which would, upon the hotel settling down, lead to Event Planner Extraordinaire.
Option 2: Stay with M hotel, suck it up until the new GM of M hotel approves my move to the restaurant (recall this is top 15 restaurants in the country, and the best in DC). I understood this process might take um, maybe 2 weeks…
Option 3: Stay with M hotel, and be a sales manager…yuck, yuck, spit! But the most money probably…

So I chose Option 2. I want to work at the restaurant. I have been working towards that goal for the past year. I applied there originally but there were no jobs at the time. That is where I want to be. I want to mingle with the upper-crusty Washingtonians. I want to dine on exquisite food, and I want to be able to say, “oh, Chef, that was divine! I want to do that during the Inauguration when we will be filled with only the most powerful people in the world!”
It’s my turn. I spent the past year working my soul into this place, I made myself inreplaceable to the hotel…unfortunately I have become a little too irreplaceable.
Problem: The new GM of hotel M arrived last week. AND WONT LET ME LEAVE! He is delaying the approval of my new position, because shocker…he doesn’t want to have to let me go and rehire someone. He wants to keep me as an assistant and supposedly promote me, or so he says to sales manager! NO, I DON’T WANT THAT!! I WANT THE RESTAURANT!! I want to be yelled at in French by the hottie exec chef who calls me “Pretty Girl” when he is not yelling at me (sorry Ten, but you know its true!).

So let me describe the last couple days that have gotten me so emotionally distressed that I have not been able to blog, let alone even read other blogs…
Last Thursday: Our new Director of Sales comes in, introduces herself (we will call her DOS) and says Conference Planner, other Assistant (the one I play phone games with) lets meet. They go into her office leaving me at my desk, and she begins to introduce herself, her goals while she is here, how long she expects to be here, others she expects to hire etc….Things that I believe everyone on the “team” should know…for the first time in over a year, I felt like I was not part of the team. I was demoted to assistant, phone answerer, and bitch. How did that happen between 8 am and 8:15 I don’t know. Immediately, new GM walks in, says “HI, I’m your new GM.” Looks around and then says to me, “ This office is disgusting, you need to clean the walls off with any other companys materials, you need to dust, through things away that don’t need to be here etc”. SO between 8:15 and 8:30 I was demoted even further to well…housekeeping/assistant, slash bottom dweller…urgh…ok, the tears begin to pool out of anger. I spend the rest of the day Thursday, answering phones and watching the other assistant get his promotion and move into his big new office (dungeon space). The GM calls me into this office and asks, “What are your plans?”
“I am going to move up to the restaurant”
“Um, I don’t know if that is the best move for right. And since I need to approve that move, I wanted to let you know that I think we will have to wait on that.”
“Um, what do you mean?”
“Well, since I have to approve the move, and since we don’t have anyone to replace you right now, it just doesn’t seem like the best time for such a move.”
“My friend is interested in my postion, I can bring her in tomorrow.”
“That is wonderful, bring her in, I need an assistant.”
WAIT A SECOND!! I AM BRINGING HER IN FOR MY JOB!!! SO I CAN MOVE UP!!

Basically he decides that until he can talk to the Chef who is out of town until THURSDAY!! He wont be able to make any decisions about my job here. And not only that, he tells me unless the restaurant job is 90% administrative it isn’t a good move right now since that is really the only thing they need. And I know the job that they want me for is not an admin job…I think he just wants to deny them offering me a higher salary which they promised me!

So Basically, I am being denied everything I had been promised, and being demoted on top of that…The tears begin to overflow. HOT ANGRY TEARS! THIS IS NOT MY FAULT! You cant just come in here and mess up everything I have worked for! I run to the HR Director, a girl just a few years older who is awesome, and tell her everything, as I am sobbing. In the past year, I have had one major meltdown and no others…The first day of this new company and I am already in tears.

(a little side note, I had asked HR if I could have a flat screen computer monitor that was in accounting that wasn’t being used as I had the smallest desk in the office and the largest computer monitor. She said yes. I took it and put it under my desk as I couldn’t ever find anyone to help me switch them and I cannot lift the mammoth screen on my desk by myself. So there it has been sitting for the past month. The greedy other assistant, says to me on Thursday of course, “Can I have that flat screen monitor sitting under your desk.” “No, I need it, I just haven’t been able to switch it yet and as I may be moving I don’t want to move it for nothing.” “But I need it for my new office.” “No you don’t, now that you have a new office you definitely don’t need a smaller monitor, since you have a big old desk and your own room!!” “But I want it” “UM, NO!”)
Friday: I walk in, and there under my desk is an empty space. Other assistant had taken my computer monitor even though I had said no. I couldn’t take it. I was being denied my promotion, people were treating me like shit, and he goes and takes the one little thing that was keeping me stable, the one prospect that I might still be moving to Citronelle. HOT TEARS AGAIN ERUPT! I run into Conference Planner’s office, “I’m leaving! I can’t take this shit anymore. This isn’t fair. How dare he do that, who does he think he is, treating me like that and taking other peoples stuff!” “Calm down, Tell me what happened” “he stole my computer monitor!” “what?!”
Other assistant walks in, probably because he knows he is in trouble, “I Didn’t steal it, I went and took another monitor from accounting, and the GM said I had to put mine back, and when I told him you had one, he also said I had to put yours back, but then he said I could keep yours. So I did.”
I was so angry!!TEARS ANGER GRRR!!! It’s the point that matters. I don’t care about the computer monitor. I don’t care about his promotion, I care that he thinks since he is above me he can do anything he wants know. I care that he thinks that what he did is ok. I care that he doesn’t have at least a little respect to understand that I am not currently happy about my position, and you are going to rub it in that you get to move. And the least little thing you can do is TAKE SOMETHING FROM ME!! Because you want a cool office! HOW INCONSIDERATE! UGH!! SO FRUSTRATED!!
So day 2…begins in tears again…One year NO TEARS. Two days, Two Tears/melt downs.
I wrote my old boss, Big Boss, an email, just telling him how unhappy I was, How I was sad that he wasn’t around anymore, that the office wasn’t the same without our team together, and how much I truly appreciate him now. He called me from Florida where apparently he had been on a business meeting and just the sound of his voice, knowing that he cared enough to tell me how sorry he was, how he hated to hear me so upset, I burst into tears again! THREE TIMES!! IN TWO DAYS! It was just the difference between the new and the old. The old was caring, warm and fuzzy, the new was cold, indifferent and frustratingly mute about my future.

Anyways, situation hasn’t been solved yet. HR talked to DOS and told her I was feeling undervalued, and ignored. DOS apologized to me and said she had been so worried about other thing she had kinda forgotten how I might feel during this time.

So I guess that is ok. I am working hard so they know that my job is not to be an assistant. But in terms of my career, the GM of the restaurant keeps telling me to relax, he promises everything will work out. I assume it will, but it has been frustrating being put on the backseat, back burner, watch others around me be promoted, do more while I just sit in my normal desk, my normal chair and keep still. I guess until Chef comes back in town my future remains cloudy.
I guess I should remember that no matter what despite my work life, I have a wonderful boyfriend who doesn’t care that I blow my nose constantly, that I hack luggies like its my job, and will still kiss me even if I have a cold sore on my tongue (well, not with tongue) of course.

Ugh, I hope everyone has had a better past couple days. I apparently have a lot of catching up to do, considering my reader says I have like 48 new entries to read…