The Party's Over...

Sometimes it takes so long to do something that by the time it happens, it is completely anti-climactic. Thus it was this afternoon when I quit my job. Again. This time, though, there is no going back. The whole sordid affair has come oddly full circle.

It started in November 2005 when I discovered that someone who did not have nearly the same level of responsibility as I did had the same job title. Not only that, but I had been there twice as long. My request for a revised job description and title that accurately reflected the intense work I was doing was met with hearty approval by my direct boss and my direct boss. When they sought approval from the other cheeses, they were told that despite the fact that I single-handedly managed an entire start-up program, I could not possibly be called a “Program Manager” because I did not manage any staff. Now, one might point out that the title “Program Manager” indicates that you are, in fact managing a program, but it seems that people are actually mere components of programs. I settled for Senior Program Officer, but was not thrilled about it.

In March, right before I left for my family vacation Caribbean cruise, I went ballistic when I read the job description for a new program manager. It mentioned nothing about managing staff and listed all of the duties that I already had been balancing for four years. In response to my inquiries, I was told that although the job description made no mention of any staff, this manager would oversee a part-time admin assistant. I noted that I oversaw a part-time graduate student intern. Nope, sorry, I was told. You don’t manage any people. It seems that a graduate student intern is not a person, but a graduate student admin assistant is a human being who needs to be managed.

At the same time, I was reassured that a team of consultants was hired and working very hard to analyze everyone’s job description and normalize titles across the board based on our level of responsibility. If I could just wait an indeterminate amount of time, then the work I was doing would finally be officially recognized. Had I known that the same douche bags who wrote the staff survey for our June retreat was in charge of this, I would have held out no hope.

At any rate, I quit in that interim, only to be persuaded to stay part-time. Now, a whopping six months later, the new job titles have been revealed. Guess what? Not only did the new person in charge of the program not get the proper title based on the unbelievable amount of high level policy work she is doing (with me loyally by her side two days per week), but it turns out that the very same person who had the same job title as I did that provoked me to complain about my title in the first place was given a new title – Senior Program Officer. His job description has not changed in any way. Hmmmm….

No, this is the last insult. As my boss was out of the office and not returning my phone calls, I resorted to sending up an email saying that I’ve officially had it, and I am outta here. (As of this writing, I received no response.) I’ll write a longer letter of resignation tonight, and move on to being a productive person in the field at another agency. I like working part-time being a do-gooder, there are lots of interesting things going on right now that I would like to be a part of. Working part-time and writing part-time go very well together. I’ll make it work again.