OverWorked/Bullied/Blackmailed 14

[Space213]

Hi guys,


What would you guys do if you find yourself as the only one In a small start up company that is overworked and also the victim of being bullied and blackmailed for being fired or by your boss? he is one of those terrible bosses that gets a kick out of making fun of you.

Im designed 2 machines that are heavily selling and its our job to get the machined parts and assemble them with our shop guys and send em out. My boss has labeled me as the Owner of these designs and slowly has taken advantage of my ambition and has put a ton of stuff on my shoulders.
Nobody is forced to work as hard as i am in this small company but now i am getting demoralized.
I need 3 alarms to wake up in the morning. They dont let me breathe at work for a second while other employees screw off all the time or dont have near the amount of responsibility as me. They have some type of relationship where they dont get to deal with crap where im always getting beatdown for something.
I stay late to design and build the units but theres no appreciation for it.
I get yelled at for things that arent in my control and its just becoming exhausting.

I want a new job but its my first engineering job and i am 2 months away from 1 yr of exp. I really just cant do this anymore and i randomly get blackmailed for me getting fired but it never happens.

What is going on you feel?

 

[michaelwoodcoc]

the reason he pushes me so hard is because he feels I can take it and I can improve a lot. It hasn't gone back to that point and I also am just trying to get better at my job. It is a lot of project management/design/production/manufacturing tasks I have to complete in my job even though my initially job was to just CAD design. The other engineers only do 1-2 tasks at most but he saw how ambitious I am and slowly held me responsible for many other things.

Its great being my first job. The designs I produced happened to sell the most so all the documentation/production/manufacturing behind these product lines fell onto my lap since I was proclaimed to the be owner of them. So I've just tried to own the designs and push forward with them to get them out the door properly. I hope this experience can really make my resume shine and also in the future teach me how to work with difficult people as well.

What do you guys feel?

Thank you

It's paradoxical that the hardest workers get pushed the most. You should be setting the bar, and if your bar is the highest, no one should be pushing you, with poor techniques, to raise it. They should help you raise it, or focus on the things that really matter, the low performers. I hope you've kept notes of your conversation with your boss. He may not give you a good reference if you leave, and you may need a resume checker person to call and see what he says(there are professionals who do this), especially if your company does not have an HR department what will answer calls for references and tell the same old boring stuff like (So and so never recieved write ups, so and so was employed from date X to date Y)



Engineering student. Electrical or mechanical, I can't decide!
Minoring in psychology

 

[Space213]

I've noticed my boss has calmed down and isnt as crazy as he was, he told me today he sees the most potential out of me but I am not sure why I have to be pushed so hard. It gets very stressful and I am losing hair on my hairline since i've started here.

Overall it has gotten much better but Its just very hard because there is so alot of responsibility thrown on me and im barely crossing the first year of my first job. I hope these hardships can help set me up for the future

 

[monkeydog]

Space213,
Many folks have told you that your situation is not normal, not healthy and excessive.
An elephant can sit on you for a day, then he will switch places with a gorilla - and you are now happy the gorilla is sitting on you. Still not normal.
Not one response was "suck it up and stick it out".
What you do with your life is up to you.

 

[Agent666]

Great analogy monkeydog!

 

[HamburgerHelper]

I am always amazed at how much time we spend at work. Often more than most spend with their family or significant other. If someone did a Madlibs of a crummy job situation, people would just move on without a thought. I have a (girlfriend) who move (heaven and earth) for and all I get is (threats that she will leave me) and (belittling comments). (She) treats me like this because it is (good for me). Sounds really stupid when you turn your relationship to your workplace into a relationship with a person.

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If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.

 

[BrianPetersen]

Learn how to say "no", nicely, but mean it.

If your schedule is full, and someone wants to insert something else into it, "Sorry, my schedule is full, I can't take on any more work in that timeframe." Or, "Which other urgent task you would like me to delay so that I could do this one instead?". Or, "Pick one of the other of project A or project B, because I can't handle both."

The other loaded question can be "How long is this project going to take". If you know it's going to take 10 weeks, stand your ground. Saying you can do it in 6 (like they want) and ending up taking 10 (reality) isn't constructive. Don't give in.

 

[SuperSalad]

Someone's been reading "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less"

Andrew H.

http://www.mototribology.com

 

[Space213]

I totally understand where you guys are coming from. I feel I will need to prolong this change because simply quitting now I dont think is the best option.

The CEO apparently offered me stock options to vest into the company since my 1 year is coming. He sent the offer a few weeks ago but I never noticed it in my busy emails. So we finally had a talk a few days ago.

What do you guys feel about stock options is it a small deal or actually shows signs of something when you work for a company?

would appreciate the insight on this.

 

[BrianPetersen]

Publicly traded, or privately owned?

If it's publicly traded then the stock price is established by market forces. If it's privately owned then the stock price is (almost) whatever someone wants it to be at any given moment in time. I would consider stock options in a small privately owned company to be worthless. If it's publicly traded then you can look up what they're worth at any given moment in time.

 

[Stick.]

As far as the stock options, see if there are any requirements regarding how long you must keep them before selling. If you have to hold onto them for a few months or longer, then that will change how you evaluate them versus if you can sell immediately.

 

[CWB1]

Space, I'd encourage you to take stock of what is truly important and ignore the bs. I've always believed that employees should see real potential to move up in the world significantly in terms of finance or education or they should go elsewhere. All the petty interpersonal bs aside, if this role has good potential for one of those then stay, if not then go.

Personally, after eight years in the military I have a different point of view than most here. My bottom line - end of life goals are important and mine don't explicitly mention having had friendly supervisors or colleagues. At work, I want to have worked on a few challenging and famous projects and earned enough to have been very successful financially - that's it. There's always going to be a few asses trying to make life miserable - don't let them, and definitely don't let them push you into leaving a good position or company bc then they win. Most folks who have never served struggle with this concept but ultimately your stress level is what YOU allow it to be, NOT what others make it. Dont give others the satisfaction of upsetting you. Sometimes the ol' give-a-dam needs to be broken to prevent petty pride from costing you an exceptional career. I've made a few career mistakes and honestly the only one I regret is allowing a few greedy, lazy, former colleagues at my first engineering employer convince me in a weak moment that I could "do better" elsewhere and that the paycheck "wasn't worth it." Long story short - they stayed, I left, and while I still do better than most I definitely took a step backwards in income and opportunity.

I've been there and sold my soul too. If the answer to what am I getting out of this relationship is money, then it's the beginning of the end in my opinion. Talking yourself into the fact there aren't going to be other opportunities is beating yourself to death. If you are half competent don't sell yourself short by staying in a toxic work environment

If I'm earning a top income, have excellent benefits, an interesting job, a flexible schedule that allows me to attend almost all family functions/appts/etc, and still have plenty of free time then why should I care about the number of hours I work or how anybody acts toward me? Worst case they'll fire me but in the meantime I'm winning by being happy and having the things that are legitimately important to me. As to other opportunities, I worked on two supercar development programs this year. Most in this industry would kill to work on one as would most companies. JMO but its foolish to let ones pride over unimportant details cost them most of this profession's better opportunities.

As to stock options, I would be extremely wary of anybody willing to share their pie with a junior engineer or for that matter any fairly new hire. Unless it was a large company, I also would not want options but rather stock granted as a bonus with my only liability being taxes, not actual income paid. Furthermore, I would discuss the matter with my attorney before accepting or purchasing any stock to ensure that it would not make me personally liable for the company's failings - it happens in small business.

 

[Space213]

HI guys,

so to give an update I've worked at this company for 14 months now. I am still the one doing most of the work its insane how much I have to get done but my 2 product lines are the highest selling products the company has to offer and forcasted to be the same next year. I do not get treated poorly as before but there are times where I do get treated unfairly still.

I have not gotten a raise but I do not know how to ask for one since this is my first job. I am certain I gave my company everything from wearing multiple hats but it is definitely time I get a pay raise.

My boss indirectly told me he pushes me the most because he knows he can get the most out of me but it doesn't make it fair for the other poor performers to have job security not doing shit and rarely getting yelled at as well. I enjoy the job honestly but I need a payraise I have not only designed the products but I have worked on electrical design/pump design/sheet metal/enclosures/pvc and other side things and became very familiar and flexible with it. This time last year I was still trying to learn how to use solid works proficiently.

I got the stock option for a certain amount of stocks and I thought that was awesome because if the company does go public or gets bought out that will be a nice investment for me.

Other than the cowards who act like bullies only at work I can handle, I enjoy the job very much.

Appreciate any final advice guys on getting a pay raise. Thank you!

 

[jayrod12]

Be direct. Have your evidence handy. However, do not compare yourself to the other people by badmouthing them. Show the management how much you do for the company, why you are valuable, etc. If you say anything along the lines of "Well Karen makes more than me and she slacks off all day long" then you're not going to get anything but a bad reputation.

 

[PawSoxRule]

I agree with jayrod12.

Also, remember that the worst thing they can say is "no".

It is normal in some companies to give a small raise every year or so, to keep up with cost of living increases, so you can mention this when you bring it up.

Good to hear that things have improved for you.

 

[Mongrel]

Still looks like an abusive relationship to me.
"I only push you because you can do more"
"I only hit you because I love you so much"
You got antsy, they backed off a little and gave you meaningless gifts (stocks in a private company) so you felt better and stayed.
But at the end of the day?
You're still getting used. You're still getting mistreated.
Please, walk away! This cycle will continue until you have nothing left of yourself. Look up the classic signs of habitual abusers and honestly evaluate them in relation to your employment environment. YOU DESERVE BETTER.
Seriously. When a group of random strangers on the Internet care about your wellbeing more than your boss does - it's time to send out resumes.

 

[ProEpro]

Ask for a review not a raise. Say I've been here over year I would like a review.