I wasn’t going to be posting contemporaneous information, but this was too good to not share…
Today I unintentionally fucked up; or was screwed over… likely a bit of both.
So as mentioned previously, I started applying for jobs again to try to get the hell out of the position I am currently stuck in. The truth is, it might not be such a bad job if it weren’t for the people directly around me. As will be made clear in other postings, the firm is actively trying to fire my boss, and therefore by proxy is making my life miserable as well in an effort to get at my boss from all directions.
So I happened to be browsing the job postings online last night and what do I find? My exact job position but at a different office / city of my firm, where I would much rather be working at because, well, I’m working at the main location (which is in a regional tiny city with a HUGE crime and drug problem). And it is, bluntly… horrible. In short, where I am now is hours from civilization, but the firm does have offices in real cities… just not the main office.
Anyway, I figure it is worth asking the head of HR if it would be possible to just transfer over to the other office. You know, because they are hiring for my exact job there. I could just jump from one city to the next and not miss a beat. Seemed like a win / win. I would get out of my situation, and even though I would still be working for the same questionable firm, I would be in a better work environment (hey, it couldn’t get worse… right? RIGHT?!), which I could probably live with for longer than I can deal with my current situation. So I reach out to the head of HR, the same one who initially ran point on hiring me, and specifically mention that I was reaching out to them in confidence regarding transferring to the other city for the position they were advertising. I figured, nothing ventured nothing gained.
The Head of HR responds telling me there isn’t actually a position there. They just run the ads very often to keep a fresh talent pool (consider the attrition rate previously mentioned… technically I probably should have considered that too, but you can’t really know if the job postings are real or not from my vantage point). Then they asked if something was wrong, and in the best fucking move I’ve seen, they forward the whole email chain to the Managing Partner of the firm.
The head of HR just dropped that I was trying to escape my current boss, but I didn’t necessarily want to leave the firm, just this practice group. They also effectively told the partner I am actively looking at job postings and just happened to come across one of their own. Because of the internal political climate, this is almost guaranteed to be forwarded to at least 2 or more other partners, and possibly even sent to my boss directly requesting an explanation. Because at least one of the senior partners would like nothing better than to make my boss’ working relationship uncomfortable with their associate. For no other reason than they hate him that much.
Sigh.
Well, I did say I really didn’t care if I got fired. I guess I get to test that out.
Minor update: So my boss was called over this afternoon to the Managing Partner’s office (which is not in the same building as our office). This hasn’t happened in the whole of the time I’ve worked here. I find it incredibly difficult to believe this is serendipitous. I got some weird apology on the phone later from my boss for being so bipolar sometimes (their words). Yeah. I can’t imagine at this point they didn’t say something to my boss. Awesome.
Wow…
Wait, so WTF happened? Ultimately, is this good news or bad news?
But for them to pull rank and make the boss apologize to you? Now that’s impressive.
I don’t think they pulled rank to make him apologize. They likely pulled him into the office because he goes through associates like kleenex during flu season and getting wind of another defection warrants a checkup to see why. He might not have been told why the managing partner wanted to catch up with him.
Nothing has happened as of yet. Not sure if anything will happen, but I fear what could happen. This place has a bad habit of trying to cover their tracks. When someone quits or is fired, they go around to your co-workers and ask them to sign affidavits about how the person in question violated company policy in an effort to fight unemployment claims. “Person X would eat food at their desk” is a favorite.
His bipolar comment is pretty on the money though. If he isn’t diagnosed as such, he should be.
Ah, sorry if I misread or misunderstood the situation, Azrael. I think it’s partly because I wasn’t there to witness it for myself, and partly because I know that reality becomes distorted within the law bubble (and things that would never be acceptable or expected in the outside world are somehow acceptable or expected within it).