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400569 No.400569 [Reply] [Original]

Can we have an office politics general? They confuse the fuck out of me, I admit I'm not the most socially aware but I swear half the shit that happens to me is batshit crazy.

Recently I've moved to a new company and I've been there a month. I sit next to a guy in upper management who is my bosses boss and have made friends with him. He had some issues with excel equations so I helped him out with a bit of my excel knowledge since I'm pretty good.

After that he asked me if I could create a price calculator spreadsheet for the office to use to calculate customer bills. So I took time away from my regular duties to do it. After I showed him that he gave me a harder excel project.
Now everyone on my team is super fucking butthurt at me and complained to my boss that upper management is giving me special treatment. I might have said something like "The only reason he gives me this stuff to do is he knows I'm the only one that can do it". And then they started complaining to management that I'm saying I'm "better than everyone else".

So now my boss has basically told upper management I can't get any more special projects because it's hurting team morale.
I don't get it, I'm being punished for being exceptional?

Anyone else experience something like this? I'm thinking of asking for a promotion, that way people on my team can't be butthurt I'm getting preferential treatment or I "think I'm better than they are". Because I literally will be. One of the main causes I think is that calculating billing isn't anything to do with my job and I'm on the bottom rung. My coworkers know more about the industry than I do but calculating billing is pure mathematics which I'm good at. They incorrectly assume they would be better because they have more industry experience.

>> No.400577

Co-workers are assholes. Fucking office politics is complete shite. They might have been lying about billable hours and are pissed now that they can't fuck around as much.

>> No.400581

>being a tryhard in your first month
If you ask for a promotion theres a decent chance they laugh you out of the building

>> No.400584

>>400569
>I'm being punished for being exceptional?

Welcome to the modern world. For all her faults Ayn was right about this one thing at least.

>> No.400585

>>400569
Bang everyone, burn bridges, make money.

Seriously, I worked in an office in a town with a super transient population and fucked at least 5 of the girls who worked there and neve had to deal with any BS after.

>> No.400588

>>400581
To be a try hard don't you have to be "trying hard"? This shit is easy for me.

>> No.400591

>>400569
>I'm being punished for being exceptional?

Yeah, pretty much. If you want to stand out, you need to do it in the right way, somewhat discreetly and cleverly. You don't go running around openly like a teacher's pet.

>> No.400592

>>400588
Its a matter of opinion from your coworkers and from the sounds of it they think you are a tryhard

>> No.400593

>>400591
I just thought this way would be quicker you know, because it's something I'm good at. The job I was actually hired to do I'm pretty average at.

Maths and spreadsheets was always my thing. That's why I'm using it to show my worth to the company.

>> No.400595

>>400593

I get what you're saying, and you're right. You did have skills that you could use to improve your standing. But the fact is that you need to be diplomatic about letting those skills be noticed. For the time being, your coworkers are the ones you're surrounded by and you need to have a functional relationship with them.

>> No.400596

>>400569
>I sit next to a guy in upper management
>have made friends with him

This was your first mistake. Bosses don't mind that, but coworker's HATE it. Imagine a soldier becoming pals with an officer. Everyone would despise him

Show off your abilities by all means, but maintain only a professional relationship with your bosses. Becoming friends with a boss will only ever be seen by your coworkers as brownnosing.

>> No.400598

>>400595
I guess I can do that. I'm just a bit annoyed because my boss basically implied I have to listen to my coworkers because they are more experienced than me. But they don't have to listen to me on anything, even the shit I know more about like mathematics.

If someone needs a bill calculating they should come to me and I'll help them, just like I'd go to them if I want to ask them something where working in the industry over 10 years would help.

>> No.400599

>>400593

There isn't anything you can do about being put next to your boss' boss and leveraging that to your advantage, but your actual boss isn't going to appreciate it if you're only average at your real job and doing projects on the side.

These things depend heavily on your actual office environment, and this situation sounds like it could mean your boss' boss is just getting you do do some of his work while your actual standing in the company is still "pretty average".

>> No.400603

>>400599
Well I'm average at MY job. I've only been there a month after all. But I'm pretty great when it comes to excel. If they made excel my official job and these side projects my 9-5 I could be much higher up in the company.

>> No.400605 [DELETED] 

>>400569
>I don't get it, I'm being punished for being exceptional?

You're getting punished for making friends with the boss's boss. Why the hell would you do that?

>> No.400607

>>400605
We both like cars, he's a nice guy, he's very experienced and has given me lots of pro tips on getting promoted. etc.

>> No.400608

>>400603

Sure, but they hired you to do your job, not Excel side projects. If the boss' boss cared enough and thought it would be valuable, he could/might make an effort to put you into a more efficient role. Instead it just seems like he's using you, because why not?

>> No.400609

>>400607

Sorry, I accidentally deleted my post, trying to delete on in another thread on /v/. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but it's still risky trying to be his friend. It's like making friends with your boss's wife.

>> No.400613

>>400608
Well that might happen. It's a new company so there isn't any kind of excel role I could go into. And I was hired with 100 other people in a mass hiring expansion.

I could be placed in the billing department, since I am calculating billing on the latest project. But I've also been creating spreadsheets for staff tracking, call volumes, and other ops shit. So moving me to billing might be a waste of my abilities.

Does the role of "official spreadsheet maker" exist in an office?

>> No.400617

>>400613

Ultimately though, I think any discussion about moving you to a different area is one that you should have with your boss. It's a chain of command thing.

>> No.400620

>>400617
That might have to be a few months. I think she's pissed at me because I've been taking on these projects and no one told her. Although if her boss, and his boss who is literally in charge of the office is giving me jobs is it any of her business?

>> No.400622

>>400620
>Although if her boss, and his boss who is literally in charge of the office is giving me jobs is it any of her business?

Yeah, it really is her business. That's what I meant about chain of command. She's in charge of her own people, and if her boss wants something from her group he should go through her. Being a "boss" isn't really transitive, it's not really appropriate for her boss to be giving you jobs. In a way he's marginalising her and that's probably what is really bothering her.

>> No.400626

>>400622
I have a feeling if they went to her she'd just go "no he's too busy" even if it's not true. So she'd be keeping my career down.

>> No.400627

>>400620

Mate, from everything I can see here you've simply broken one of the cardinal rules of office politics. Never, ever throw your boss under the bus to their boss.

Essentially, by taking all this excel work from the higher boss you are undermining the chain of command. Once or twice is probably fine but you really should have discussed this with your boss, especially when it became apparent that there was some issue.

>> No.400629

>>400620

Absolutely. I understand your logic entirely, but that just isn't how mid/large size companies work. Even if you were up for a promotion, they'll ask her about your performance first and average probably won't cut it. If she's pissed at you, you're lucky if she'll even say you're average. It's unfortunate, but jobs at companies with 100+ employees are not always merit based.

>> No.400630
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400630

Start dressing how you feel. Once they all know how dangerous you are, they'll step back.

>> No.400641

>>400629
We'll have to see. At the moment I'm average because I simply don't have 10+ years experience in the industry (it's utilities) like my colleagues. I transferred from the banking industry. (Probably why maths is my thing).

I'm sure if I knew as much as they do I'd be better than average.

>> No.400699

>>400641
Well if she isn't that pissed with you I don't see why you can't just talk this out with your boss. Perhaps tell her you're better at math orientated projects and if she assigns you to the math projects you can change that "average" to a "very good" and get your promotion.

>> No.400701

>>400641

Well it sounds like a lot of the people who will matter already have a negative opinion of you. You should focus on improving their view of you and trying to learn as much as you can for your current job. Your higher level skills will still be there later on.

What do you do within utilities? That is an entire industry so your actual job function is pretty vague. There might be other ways for you to learn your job and if you're doing well at that and helping out in other areas it would be much harder for them to deny you a promotion. It sounds like you're from the UK, is that correct?

>> No.400829

>>400569
Yea, I feel you...you showed up to a new job, someone important asked you to do a side project, you popped right to it and got it done.

From your perspective, you're showing an important person that you're smart, talented, and deserve a promotion.

But that's just simply not how life works. Were you promoted based on this project? Were you offered more pay? No, of course you weren't. The important guy was making you his bitch, because he knew he could. Meanwhile, you don't get any credit for taking on an extra project.

On top of that, now your immediate supervisor thinks you tried to show her up.

In the future, this is how you play it:

> Boss's boss asks for a side project
> Won't take too much time
> Discretely get it done, turn it in
> Boss's boss has second task since he liked your work the first time.
> Now you've proven competency and have some bargaining chips.
> "Mr. Smith, I think that's beyond my job description and I ought to focus my time on what I was hired to do. But I do think that I'd better serve the company by doing [insert job you want here]."
> Either he gives you the promotion/higher salary right there or says "you know, you're right" and stops making you the random task bitch.

As for your coworkers, be cordial to those people but do not befriend or let yourself be seen associating with those who will dislike people for going above and beyond.

>> No.401228

I have a feeling what happened to day will come back and bite me in the ass.

>Someone wants a bill calculating and asks me to use my new spreadsheet which is in beta testing
>Calculate their bill
>Someone from my team comes over and is like "Why you doing that I'll calculate this", then he goes off and does it by hand and it takes him half an hour.
>Comes back and gives different numbers
>4 people are now calculating the bill by hand
>2 hours later
>Turns out my spreadsheet was right all along and he was just wrong
>I said "I want it on record that my sheet took about 30 seconds to calculate this and we've wasted around 2 and a half hours now".

I have no doubt he will complain to my boss saying I'm not listening to his superior industry expertise.

>> No.401247

>>400829

confirmed for never worked in an office

>> No.401278

>>400585
fuck really? ive always restrained from doing that cause i dont want it to bite me in my ass if i need shit done later down the track.

resolution: fuck em all

>> No.401282

>>400829
Your right.
>You still sound like a douche,
At the end of the day, either work on getting promoted so you don't have to work with people like that. And have them hate you.
Or be "nice" and just agree with everything they say, like if they tell you the "correct" way to do something tell them you will try it. and so long as they aren't standing over your shoulder, do it the correct way. Either you already know how oto do it or you take thier advice and thank them later when presenting/checking your work. And be the guy that had a rough start but no one hates.

>> No.401465

>>400622
if you're ever stuck in the elevator with her you should, with a straight face, apologize to her for accepting work orders from someone else without keeping her informed. She's responsible for what you do with your time and it will fuck up her schedule if you're doing anything but what she expects you to be working on, which will piss her off. After you do that you could take the risk of personally offering your excel skills for her benefit if the need arises. Tell the guy you sit with that he's gotta tell your boss if he'd like for you to work on something. or you could just be his lapdog

>> No.401490

>>401228
You've graduated from probable autist to definite autist. An office setting is not for you.

You remind me of me, fairly new to the job, clearly superior, want to get ahead. You need to play the long game anon, the boss shouldn't even notice you for the first few months. Then you can slowly demonstrate your ability to your co-workers and boss AFTER they already like you.

>> No.401500

>>400581
Try hard is the insult of an entitled hipster generation that thinks everything should be handed to them. I got news for you, not everyone has daddy money.

>> No.401550

>>401500
No, tryhard is basic human nature.

We're impressed by skill, ESPECIALLY if the one with the skill had to do zero work for it.

>> No.401565

>>400569

>"My coworkers know more about the industry than I do, but calculating billing is pure mathematics."

Have you considered telling them this in one way or another? Or do you believe this would make you think they think you have no confidence, thus allowing them the ignorant expectation that they can step all over and marginalize you?

Honestly I learned a long time ago that people are going to give you shit, no matter what you do. Just do your job well, and keep reminding them that you are doing your job well.

The people who can't fear the people who can, and only know how to marginalize since they can't/choose not to rise up and excel you.

>> No.401568

>>401228

He probably fears losing his job. Just do what you do, and be polite to him when you see him.

Idiots are most comfortable actively battling an enemy, but are confused and second guess themselves when their opponent treats them like a friend.

It's not your responsibility to justify his existence.

>> No.401586

>>401247
Whatever you say buddy. Keep slaving away at your job and getting no credit for your work.

>>401465
This is also a good idea.

Another way you could approach this in the future is play dumb to your current boss to keep her in the loop. In other words, say something like "Hey, Mr. Smith asked me to do xyz and I'm not quite sure how I should proceed here." That will give her a cut that Mr. Smith has tasked you to do work without keeping her in the loop, and you don't have to present it to her like you're tattling on a senior member of the company.

>>401565
> Have you considered telling them this in one way or another?

If his coworkers are so petty that they are upset at him for putting in some extra effort as a newbie, he shouldn't even bother explaining anything to them. Just do his job and be cordial to them when he has to speak to them; they will eventually get over it and he'll be their new boss soon enough anyway.

>> No.401932

>>400585
>seriously, I fucked like 5 girls
Keep telling yourself that.

Weren't you some burnout alcoholic last time you were here?
>Being a namefag on a board you have no earthly business visiting
I bet you tell people to "invest" in houses, don'tcha you stupid north-ranger fuck?

>> No.402019

>>400569
>I don't get it, I'm being punished for being exceptional?
Welcome to Obama's America.

>> No.402056

>>400569

>I don't get it, I'm being punished for being exceptional?

They're putting you down because they don't want competition. Fuck'em, if you can do it better, do. If people whine at you, do it even better next time and make them look like a chump. Then when you're their manager you can shit all over them. Never let anyone make you feel bad for doing a good job.

>> No.402572

>>402056
> Being able to make a budgeting spreadsheet makes me exceptional.

GTFO

>> No.403813

So today they promoted me. Guess I didn't need to worry.

>> No.403832

>>403813
Whatever happened to people focusing on getting shit done?

If someone is better than me my first thought is "how did he do it". I don't get some people.

>> No.403875

It's about being diplomatic. You fly to close to the sun, you may get burned.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't excel at what you do, but watch yourself around the old people who have done this shit for years but don't do it as well as you do.

If it's your bosses boss, you can generally depend on them to have your back, just don't fuck others over too hard. Back biting bitches tend not to last unless the guy calling the shots let's them.

>> No.403882

>>403875
Also, you want your department head to value you, the one making hiring decisions. Those guys fucking love hyper competent people. Just watch yourself, because they won't give you BIG raises unless you ask for them and just assume you're cool with whatever.