Bo-ring!
Today’s writing prompt: Describe the most boring job you’ve ever suffered through.
Note: Most of my boring jobs have been temporary assignments. There was one place where I had to reformat a whole lot of word-processed documents that had been typed by someone who had no idea how to use WordPerfect. That was horrendous. But of the regular full-time permanent jobs I’ve ever had, the one I have right now is the most boring. Oh, and any names and personal details in this have been changed.
***
I still remember my first day on the job. Kelli was so grateful to have some assistance, she told me. She’d been working alone in the admin office for several months. The last temp they’d gotten in got sacked for taking excessive time off. They had gotten me to come in as a temp to cover for her while she was out for surgery, but she was hoping they’d hire me permanently because she truly needed the help.
So what did the job entail? Pulling some reports off the intranet every morning; printing some for the VP and senior managers; and e-mailing them to management. Doing a few daily and monthly reports. Pulling credit bureau reports for the collectors. The credit bureau reports, she told me, took the longest.
Kelli was pleased to find out that I learn rapidly. After the first day, I was pulling the reports every morning and taking care of them. After the first couple of days, I was doing all the daily reports. And the credit bureau reports, the task she told me just took forever, I was able to do in no time flat. Before I’d been there a week, I had the job done in a few hours, and the two of us just sat there and talked for the rest of the day. I confess to being puzzled at why she felt so strongly that she needed assistance, because it was–then, at least–a job that took no more than 10-15 hours a week maximum.
She left to have her surgery, and I was alone. Things were fine. Everyone seemed to really like me. And the lack of stress I found very refreshing, considering that my previous job had been as an investigator for Child Protective Service. See what I mean?
After a few weeks, Kelli returned. She was really nice at first, but started getting very bitchy with me shortly afterward. I had asked our supervisor, Madison, if they would continue to need me after the end of the week, or if I needed to let my temp agency know I’d be available again. Madison quickly assured me that they still needed me.
I was still doing all the work, still getting everything done within 2 hours a day. And Kelli got crankier and crankier. She didn’t want the work back, didn’t want me there, didn’t want anything. Finally on Thursday or Friday she told me that she had been on probation for a few months, and now they wanted her to be a collector instead of an admin.
I felt so guilty. I hadn’t gone there with any intention of usurping her job. I went there, as I always do, with the intention of doing my best and making my employers happy. Since Kelli had told me she didn’t want to be a collector, I had encouraged her to find a new job before she left here, knowing from hard personal experience that it can be very difficult to find a job when you don’t have one already.
Kelli sat at her desk Friday morning scowling. Just before lunch, she abruptly stood up. “I’m leaving, and I’m not coming back. Promise me you won’t tell anyone.” And she walked out.
For almost a year after that, the job remained something I could do in 2 hours a day, and yet I had to be there for 8. There were days that I wanted to absolutely tear my hair out. I would surf the internet, read blogs of total strangers, write, read, do anything I could to stay busy.
In this second year, it’s gotten busier and busier, to the point where I work at least a little overtime almost every day. But you know, even with the increased workload, it’s still as boring as it can be. I pull reports off the intranet; print them for the VP and senior managers; email them to the rest of management. I prepare reports every morning. I do additional reports once a week and once a month. And I pull credit bureau reports until I could cry from the boredom. Busy and bored is better than idle and bored, but it still sucks.
