Here's a problem I'm facing. For the first couple years, the boss I had, although a friendly boss, wasn't a terrific businessmen. He'd say, work on Task X, then a day later, work on Task Y. So we'd have several big projects going on, and none of them would ever get completed because he'd switch projects so often. It honestly got to the point I no longer took him seriously - I'd only do a half ass job because I knew it wouldn't get completed anyway (not good I know, but being honest here)
Over the course of the last year, we've gotten busier, and I have a new boss. This guy knows waaay more about business, but he just throws a massive amount of tasks at us, all of them high priority. On top of it, I handle a lot of customer product support, and internal IT support, so I am constantly getting pulled a million directions.
Here's how a typical day looks:
- Come into work, see sticky notes with various customers that called while I was gone.
Check email, respond to customers questions that are quick
Start working on more involved customer projects (in addition to retail products, we do a lot of custom build products)
Get a call from customer having a problem, get derailed.
after helping customer, shop has problem with materials, go and photograph and document the problem.
Another customer had a box shipped to the wrong address, have to call FedEx and reroute
Where was I again? Not sure, I'll check my email
Old boss (still the owner) sends an email with parts to buy for one of his R&D projects
New boss comes in, says we have a show coming up, needs 5-6 posters designed.
Oh looks like someone is sick, I need to pallet up the portable displays, takes me a few hours
Come back in, customer upset I didn't take care of them.
Start taking care of customer, another customer calls with a rush order.
Finish that customer, someone's printer is broken.
Boss comes in, reminds me to work on finishing the code for the blog.
And then I go home, my task list is larger than it was when I left. People in general are understanding, but I hate working in a place where I can't get everything done. I have another employee I delegate some stuff to, but she's super busy too.
I'm seriously considering looking for another job. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that I have a job that pays the bills, but it's just something I'm not liking anymore. And $14/hr, although better than flippin' burgers, isn't much for being married with 2 kids.
/rantoff