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It was all Supposed to be Going so Well

It's easy to think about the final acquisition of an offer in the the job hunt as the last step, especially when your journey was as long as mine. But it's not. Not by a long shot. Eight days of working for NewFirm and I'm eager for the days of paper flipping. It's that bad. Reasons?

1. At the time of the job offer, I was told that I would "very rarely" be working past 6 p.m., which is one of the reasons I accepted a modest salary. I was also told that they value the "work-life balance," which was reassuring, but it turns out it does not not extend to associates, as the partners generally switch off leaving around 3-5 p.m. (and arriving late morning, early afternoon), but one usually stays late to make sure we do too. Of the eight days I've worked so far, I've stayed past 6:30 p.m. for six of them (three days after 6:30 p.m., two days after 7 p.m., and one day after 8 p.m.) ostensibly because of a huge deadline coming up. Two of the days I skipped out at around 5:30 because my fiance is in town (and they know this, having told them many times) and I do want to spend time with him before he leaves and I don't see him again for another two months.

One of the associates got in at 7 a.m. and didn't leave until 8 p.m. on one day, so it made me "look bad" (partner's words, not mine.)

I don't mind working long hours, but I better damn well be compensated fairly for it.

2. The hour-long driving commute to and from the office, which I didn't think would be so bad if I was leaving at 5:30-6 p.m., is beyond horrible when I'm getting home at 8-9 p.m., far beyond my original estimates.

3. Constant browbeating and scolding. They subscribe to the training-by-letting-me-do method, which means they know I don't understand something completely, but don't explain it AT ALL or thoroughly, but they let me do it anyways. Therefore, I make a ton of mistakes in the process and then reprimand me for the various mistakes. This is a constant struggle, as I'm being scolded for things that I didn't have any idea I was omitting or doing wrong in the first place. A short list of the reprimands: didn't include a form I needed (never given the form), didn't draft a motion to accompany pleadings that is apparently customary (despite never being told this), didn't put files in the correct place on partner's desk (was never told what the "right" place was), didn't meet a self-imposed deadline (was never told that the matter was urgent or crucial). This is just the tip of the iceberg, seriously.

4. Partners often speak in AncientForeignLanguage to each other, which is horribly annoying, not to mention terribly rude.

5. Secretarial work. Examples?

a) I am greeted with disdain when I ask one of the secretaries to photocopy evidence, even when she doesn't appear to be doing anything at the time. It takes her over five hours to copy half of my paperwork. She leaves at 5 p.m. I have to finish the other half myself, and I do so in less than an hour. I'm still told that I missed a "deadline" for submitting the pleadings (in fact, there was no such deadline, at least not imposed by the Court).

b) Partner asked me to draft a cover letter, and I do so. He makes revisions and gives it back to me. I make the revisions. He changes his mind. Again. And again. And again. Yes, and again. This takes over an hour, whereas he could have done it himself in less than five minutes if he wasn't too proud to draft his own cover letter or make his own edits. It was absolutely ridiculous.

c) I was in partner's office talking about a case when he received a phone call and put it on speaker. The client referred to another associate (who was handling his case) as his "assistant" several times, and partner made no effort to correct him.

d) Partner asked me to draft a letter to send to a client. I email it to her, and she notices a typo and and emails it back telling me to "rename it ClientName - Typo." So I fix the error, send it back, and am summarily yelled at for naming the file "ClientName - Typo" because she would never send a client a file named that and I was ridiculous to do so. I calmly point out that she told me to rename it that, which she denies. I forward her email back to her and bold and highlight her request. She comes back to my office and informs me that she meant to rename the email that, NOT the file. I guess that's the closest thing that I'm getting to an apology in NewFirm. Again, this exchange takes more than 30 minutes. No wonder we have to stay past 7 p.m. most nights.

6. The worst of it all was today. It was actually going quite well, as partners were out of the office until around 1 p.m. and the lack of letter drafting requests and additional work meant I was actually making great speed in finishing some more substantial tasks, which I was finally getting the hang of. The fiance's last night was that day, and he had come into town with me so that we could leave for dinner directly after work and meet up for lunch in the middle of the day. I take a short 1:30 p.m. lunch with him in the deli next door, less than a half hour, so that I can ideally get done around 5:30 p.m. and we can have the whole night together. I'm back in the office before 2 p.m. At 2:15 p.m., partner walks into my office and closes the door.

PARTNER: We haven't had a chance to go over some of the office protocol yet, because we've been so busy with the impending deadline, but I thought I'd go over it quickly with you.

K's INNER VOICE: Okay, about time...

PARTNER: We take half hour lunches in this office, and CoPartner and I usually just eat at our desks.

Yeah, because one of you usually doesn't get in until afternoon and leaves before 5 p.m. Besides, I haven't taken more than a half hour lunch since I've been here, and seriously, what are you, the Lunch Nazis? Even if I wanted to take an hour lunch once in awhile, what's the problem?

PARTNER: And I was very disappointed to see you left the office very early last night without coming to find me. I had more work that I needed you to do last night for a deadline and I couldn't get in touch with you.

Um, as I told you when I accepted the offer, my fiance is only in town for a week, and I wanted to take early nights that week so that I could see him before he leaves for two months. I don't understand your amnesia on that point.

PARTNER: The associates need to be in the office before and after the paralegals because you get paid significantly more than they do and it doesn't look right if you're leaving before they are. Also, your fellow associates won't appreciate you working shorter hours than they do. So you need to be in the office around 8-8:30 a.m...

I was never told that the de facto start time was 8 a.m.! Also, the paralegals must be making peanuts, cos God knows I'm not making any decent money!

After more of this kind of ranting, partner gets up and starts quickly talking about a case. And then just walks out without giving me a chance to respond to any of his statements. I shut my door and begin to cry. I've been at many jobs, but none that made me feel so low, so quickly. I finally wipe my eyes and muster up the courage to tell the partner that my fiance is only here for one more night and then he's gone for two months. He feigns ignorance stating that he thought he left before my start date and told me I could leave at 5:30 "for the one night." I spoke to one of the other associates about this and she said when she started, she used to cry every night during the drive home.

Here's the question. It's apparent I can't stay in this environment any longer. It kills me that I wasted a week when my fiance was here to work at this job where they haven't even attempted to be friendly or civil in the mere eight days that I've worked there. Also, while I ultimately turned down some other interviews because I didn't think I'd like the work, I can't help but be a bit wistful because I know it couldn't possibly be worse than this. I still might have an in to StateJob and I'm hoping that it works out and I can start a new job right away.

So how to resign? There is a big April 1 deadline that is looming and always mentioned (in every request, sentence, etc.) and two weeks is usually customary. But I've only been there eight days, the job is CLEARLY different than described in the the initial job description, and I have no written contract (also, they haven't told me about pay cycles or benefits yet, either). I'm absolutely miserable and do not want to stay with them any longer than necessary. I'm not admitted to StateBar yet, and I don't have to put this position on my resume since I've only been there a week and a half, plus I feel like I got hooked on a bait and switch and that they've browbeaten their (all female) associates to the point of acquiescing to low pay and long hours.

Any advice?

Full post as published by Wicked Words on March 15, 2008 (boomark / email).