People at work think I'm stupid!

watna

ok, this may sound a bit strange and ranty but bear with me!

I currently work as an admin coordinator for a multinational company. The job involves dealing with all employees and solving their problems, dealing with all suppliers and invoices etc. I've helped out most people in the office at some stage already. It's not what I worked in at home but I'm on a working holiday visas here so am doing contract roles. At the moment I'm covering maternity leave for three months. I know the girl is not coming back though (she told us when she left) and my boss has mentioned a number of times that she wants to extend my contract. She seems quite happy with my work... most of the time. I work quite hard and always do my best to make sure everyone is happy and all my duties are done well. I'm actually quite enjoying what I have to do i.e. my day to day tasks.

My problem is that the girl who did my job before me didn't do it very well (from what I'm told). Things had to be rechecked all the time and a lot of things went wrong. I've been told a lot of people stoppe giving her things to do and just did them themselves. The problem I have is that even though, for the last two months I've worked really hard and done quite well I'm still treated as if I am not very bright and can't do the job they're asking. People constantly check what I'm doing with things they've asked for, they talk to me as if I'll take a while to get what they're saying and worst of all if something goes wrong everyone assumes it's immediately my fault - even though it never has been. My boss is very complimentary about my work but quite often expects me not to have done things or to have done them wrong. I was away on hols last week and came back in yesterday to find out she'd re-done loads of things I'd already done - just to re-check, even though I told her that they were covered. One or two things went wrong too while I was away and she automatically assumed it was my fault and sent an apology email to everyone on my behalf. I had to explain to her that it wasn't my fault and show her in my sent items that I had done it last week.

It's just getting me down a lot because I've given them no cause to believe that I'm incapable. My boss has been fishing as to whether I'll stay on when my contract is up in a month but I haven't said anything. I was perfectly happy to stay on but I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle here. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything I can do apart from just keep doing my best? Do people just think administrators are stupid in general and maybe it's not personal?

/end rant. That was longer than I expected. I guess I'm more worked up about it then I thought!

MIN2511

Suggestion: take the work that was redone by your boss and see the difference, sit down with your boss and come to a clear understanding about what is expected of you in most situations, the quality and quantity of your work is highly neccessary.
And as for her sending an email on your behalf for something that you didn't do wrong, chuck it up as what comes with the job!!!

Don't beat yourself:)

Lafortezza

Sounds like everyone around the office hasn't fully accepted that you have taken over from the previous incompetent admin and that you actually know how to do stuff.

The apology email sent on your behalf was very out of order, I'd be taking that up with my boss. That kind of stuff only reinforces the incorrect assumption that you are not good at your job. It's one thing for a few people in the office to have the wrong impression of you. It's another for clients and customers to think that they have to deal with a poor employee.
Also, every time somebody checks or re-does your work for no real reason, I would take them up on it. Not aggressively or in a pissed off manner, just approach them, say you noticed they repeated XYZ task and ask why or what they would prefer you to do with the task in future.

If you have a word with your boss about extending the contract maybe saying something along the lines of that you like the job and would want to extend but you have mild concerns about peoples confidence in your abilities.

AARRRGH

Are the people you work with quite clever/doing "serious" jobs?

I know in tech companies it's quite common for the programmers to assume the receptionists/personal assistants are thick.

It's unfair, but that's the way it goes...

ntlbell

Go to work and do your job, if you "feel" something can go wrong with something cover your arse by CCing a manager in a mail or whatever.

Your there to make a few quid I assume not change the world and make lots of friends.

keep doing your job keep doing it well people will realise your not an idiot and if not who cares? you'll get your few quid and never see any of them again

leeroybrown

While it's a bit of a pain for you I can't say that I blame them. In the majority of my workplaces over the years there were good admin staff so all the little things happened smoothly and efficiently but when that isn't the case things fall apart. Some of those staff may have spent years working in a job where every time you have to delegate a small task you have to re-check it yourself or risk having something forgotten or done badly. Lots of little things they're probably required to delegate by management causing them delays, hassle and embarrassment. If I had to put up with that I'd have been knocking on my managers door on a regular basis about getting them relocated to the dole queue. It'll take more than a couple of months for the office to recover from this. If you keep doing your job well most people will eventually come to trust you to do things correctly.

Also, I'd advise against CCing stuff to your manager as it will end up looking you can't do your job and that you're playing a little bit of office politics.

Tom Dunne

As somebody who has worked with you, I know you are far from incompetent. As somebody who has had lunch with you, gone for pints with you and holidayed with you, I can say 100% certainty you are not stupid.

Is it that they are afraid to accept that the company might actually have hired somebody who can do the job? Pre-conceived notions and all that? Is there a hint of snobbery that this "mere" temp couldn't possibly do the job, especially after the last one?

As you know, I got off to a shaky start in this job, but I am there now. Communication is the key, make sure your manager is seeing that you are doing a good job. I achieved that by copying my boss, on every single mail that I send. He still does talk down to me somewhat, but I do think he know accepts that hey, I might actually be doing a good job.

Ask your boss if you are not doing your job right, point it out to you there and then. What exactly is the problem? Where do people think you are not doing it right? Clear up any confusion or misconceptions. Trust, or lack thereof, was a big factor I found. It takes time to build up trust and show that you can actually do a job.

Stick with it, you can turn this around.

Deadeyes

The fishing that your boss is doing, does this mean they want you to stay? If so this is the perfect time to sort things out. Suggest to your boss that you sit down and have an informal dicussion about your work. Ask are they happy with the job you have been doing. If they say they are happy then ask why are they constantly rechecking your work. Tell them how it makes you feel like they don't have faith in your ability. Ask them when they have rechecked your work in the past what problems they found. If they say none then ask them why they keep rechecking it. Finally you should make a point about the apology email sent on your behalf, be as strong and as forceful as you feel you can get away with. Personally if someone did that to me I'd hit the roof and demand they sent out a second mail under their own name to everyone indicating the mistake, absolving me of blame and apologising profusely.

Anyway whenever some checks your work ask them what they're doing and once they're finished ask them what mistakes they found. After a couple of times of them having to say they found nothing wrong it should sink in that they don't have to do it anymore.

ntlbell

leeroybrown wrote: »

Also, I'd advise against CCing stuff to your manager as it will end up looking you can't do your job and that you're playing a little bit of office politics.

I wasn't referring to colleague mail more if a supplier for example is constantly late, you know in advance he might let you down so if the boss see's the mail (obviously after explaining to the boss) and the delivery for example is late and people start moaning to the boss, the boss knows it's not watna's fault etc etc

watna

Thanks for all the advice guys. It;s just nice to have someone to talk about it. I'm having a bit of a homesick week this week which I think is making me more sensitive anyway.

I think youlre right in that they have a reason not to trust me. When I started things were in a heap and there was a lot of things not done. I guess I'll just have to keep at it and do my best and as ntlbell said earn my monies for all the nice Nice trips I have planned. Tom, thanks for all encouragement. I appreciate it and you’re right, sometimes you get off to a shaky start and it takes a while to prove otherwise.

My boss knew that something was up with me yesterday because I was very quiet and just getting on with things. This morning she asked what I told her I was a bit homesick and that I felt a bit stressed out that people seemed to think I wasn’t on top of things. She was quite nice about it all and said that sometimes people can seem that way but that because I was the one that solved all the little problems I often had to deal with them when they were very busy or just needed something to be fixed/done well and that it isn’t a reflection on me. I feel a bit better and am having a better day today so we’ll see how it goes!

WindSock

watna wrote: »

they talk to me as if I'll take a while to get what they're saying

For what it's worth, I found a lot of people were like this with me when I was in NZ. In behind the polite smiling and nodding and giving the social cues to have them understand that I understood, my brain was just constantly on :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: mode.

Like ya, I get it already

That thing about sending the email on your behalf is a bit off though. What sort of things did it say to make it look as if it were on your behalf?

Also, perhaps you may need to be a little more assertive in yourself and be more definate with your answers and tell them firmly yeah it was done last week, did you not see it? Put the ball back in their court kind of thing. Then again, maybe they are incompetent themselves and are looking for the newbie to pin it on

How Strange

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Communication is the key, make sure your manager is seeing that you are doing a good job. I achieved that by copying my boss, on every single mail that I send. He still does talk down to me somewhat, but I do think he know accepts that hey, I might actually be doing a good job.

Ask your boss if you are not doing your job right, point it out to you there and then. What exactly is the problem? Where do people think you are not doing it right? Clear up any confusion or misconceptions. Trust, or lack thereof, was a big factor I found. It takes time to build up trust and show that you can actually do a job.

Stick with it, you can turn this around.

+1

The next time your boss is fishing to see if you want to stay take the initiative and say 'well can we discuss it, are you free now?'

Then say basically what you've said here that you feel people are second guessing you and apportioning blame unfairly as you feel your performance has been very good and emphasise that you presume your boss agrees otherwise she wouldn't be asking you to stay on. Then mention the email and her checking your work as proof of their lack of confidence in you despite your apparent good performance.

If you communicate all the issues in a calm and reasonable manner then your chances are that she will listen to you and take it on board.

Yes it is hard to fill someone else's shoes, it's hard enough when the previous person was highly competent but even harder when they were highly incompetent as the expectation is always there thats how it is so it's really about you changing that expectation.

But from what you've said I think it can be done.