Overqualified

I got here at 7am today. I am coordinating a ginormous meeting complete with breakfast and lunch and 25 people. That may not seem so large, but for us, that's a lot of mouths to feed and butts to seat. I was here until 7pm last night doing part of the prep-work.



Supervisor and I were working together on it because it was so much work. As there usually does with these things, there came a point where there was a lull in the activity and Supervisor and I had time to chit chat.



I was checking the forks for food-specks since our top-of-the-line dishwasher sometimes leaves leftovers on the utensils. Supervisor asked me what Mr. Leads and I were working on, since I've been meeting with him lately. And each meeting usually takes half an hour to an hour. I'm sure Twiggy may have complained that her backup was missing, and so she couldn't run off without her ball and chain whenever she felt like it. Mr. Leads and I are going over the annual reports that justify Marketing's existence. Each meeting reveals a new error in the reports.



The errors are mainly due to the poor reporting capabilities of the database. It was the marketing manager that built it, and she was just learning Access when she did so. It does the job, but it wasn't very well thought out, probably because it was one of those things that's been added to and subtracted from as needed over the years, but not by someone who has had any formal Access or database training.



I was talking with Supervisor about the database, stating that the thing needs an overhaul because the tables aren't done right and so on. And then I just blurted, "Why am I working here?"

And Supervisor goes, "I have no idea. I wonder that myself."



"Well, it's hard to market higher skills without a degree in hand. I don't have one."



"But if you already work at a company that needs those skills..."



"I suppose that might work if I didn't have 4 warnings in my employee file."



"Yes, that is a problem..."



"This year will be better."



"I know."



This might explain the frequent boredom that I experience at work. It might also explain the boredom that I've experienced at every job except for one. That was the most stressful job I've ever had. Maybe it has scared me and that fear has prevented me from aspiring to more responsible positions.



I felt like saying to her, "I know you think this job is something that anyone could do with half their brain tied behind their back. But have you noticed how much you pay me for it? I'd be hard put to find another position that I'm considered qualified for in that pay range." But the thought came after the moment and so it was not expressed.



Supervisor is the kind of manager that you can actually have such frank discussions with. It's really nice to work for someone like that.



Frankly, it's been my experience that most admins are people who are overqualified for that position, whether in terms of experience or intellectual capacity, and they get bored with it. Most of the time, though, they don't leave the position because they don't have higher aspirations of managing great numbers of people or working 60 hours a week and making over $100K. I'm one of those people. My job is just a job...it's just what I do during the day to pay for what I like to do at night. Some of the things that I enjoy doing are: driving home, having a roof over my head, eating, having clothes on my back...frivolous stuff like that.



Well, maybe after a year of good performance, I will feel confident enough to apply for other positions. But right now, I don't have any such confidence. I'd like to know, before I apply for something more responsible, that I can show up, as scheduled and on time, for work 99% of the time and keep that up for at least a year straight. That is something I have never attained. It's quite ridiculous for a 29 year old woman to have to confess that, I know.



Work beckons, I guess.



Should be done with it in half an hour.