I feel like I am spiraling down into a pit of boredom, of meaningless.
I can't bring myself to do some of the repetitive tasks that I need to do.

My company changed my position a while back, they moved me into a different pond so to speak and I HATE IT! I am also tired so that is amplifying what I feel, but not completely. I come to work to, to well, Work and there is not much of it to do and I am going mad with boredom and bad feelings. It seems by sheer geography of where I am located that they changed it. I didn't change I am the same person yet I am supposed to change with the company I am finding that hard to do.

The reality of it all is that my position has diminished within my company. By just moving me from one department to another things drastically changed for me.

To give a little history, I work as a telecom analyst and I USED to report to the telecom department. There are 4 major call centers in my company along with 2 headqurarters type locations. I now am reporting under the Desktop support line of IT, still with the same title of Telecom analyst. I still do some of the things I did before, but really just menial tasks. Currently, my old telecom department coworkers are overworked and I could assist remotely, but there is now the fact that I am not truly in the telecom departement anymore. I don't really feel a part of the Desktop support departement either. I feel like I am in a working purgatory. To further illustrate this crazieness, I spoke to someone in my old department and he said that he worked 80 hours one week, when I could have helped offset that and helped him. Also, my company has a bunch of projects where the telecom people were installing new phone systems at different locations and they hired a contractor to help on some of these projects when they could have used me. No one would have even missed me at my location because there is so little to do anymore.

But, I am not in a vaccuum. I can't just up and quit or do anything rash. I am paid well, and 4 other people in my family count on me. I am currently the sole provider in my family. I guess I just needed to vent. My current boss, I told him about a year ago that I was bored and needed more to do, so he assigned me a boring project of documenting procedures. I don't feel my current supervisor will really hear my concerns. I have thought of going to my old Telecom boss and presenting some of my observations to him. I don't know. The cheese at my current location is beginning to stink. The hard part is I really want to make some good contributions to my company. I am not afraid of working hard, but I don't need brain numbing busy work.

I guess I should just stop complaining and just suck it up.... I at least have a job that pays well and I am not feeling insecure, just bored and underutilized. I don't feel like I have anyone who will really listen to my concerns and do anything to change them.
My company is being bought by another company and maybe things will be shaken up. I went through another merger a couple years ago and I thought the part of integrating the 2 companies was a lot of fun, the telecom part anyway.

I haven't even put in all of the details but am wondering if anyone has any advice or words of wisdom from a similar situation?

This is rough James...and I know you've brought this up in the past....I mean JUST because you are paid well and have a job, etc. doesn't mean you should be totally unhappy, miserable, underutilized and resentful because of it all......

Does your company have an EAP program? Perhaps talking to someone there might help? OR does your company have a job pool? Or a listing of available jobs (i.e. available for current employees only).....?

You sound way too talented to continue on this way....Something has to change....Perhaps as you say when the company is indeed bought out by that other company, something will change. Maybe that OTHER company will recognize your talents and do something....Is that possible???

I've never been in this position so don't have much else to offer...sorry....:(

Well, hopefully something good will come out being bought. I am not worried about the new company laying people off because we are being offered a retention package to stay....there will be some duplication here and there but their overall plan is not combine and then cut a ton of employees, and I trust that. I am at what is known as a "remote" location and the headquarters is where all the jobs that I might want are. But my wife just started her Masters program and I don't even really want to move anywhere. Also there is the fact that we just had Jack Diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome(Autism) and we have those connections here for services.

I guess I need to find someone in my company that I can address this to that will at least hear me. I don't trust my current line of supervision, or at feel comfortable talking about this because it will be threatening to them. This has been an ongoin issue for me that I need some resolution to. Like I said, I am not rash, I just want to come here and do good, interesting work where I am not trying to hunt for something to do all the time.

Thanks Joan for responding to me, thanks for caring...That means a lot.

James,
Is there anyway you can tell your boss what you posted to us?That you like to work hard and feel you are not being used up to your potential. I would be careful if you go around your current boss. I do not know about your company, but the 1st thing I would be asked if I complained about my job is "did you talk to your current supervisor?". The other thing is it may make your current supervisor mad if you go around him. If he gets asked about the situation, he may tell them that you came to him and he did give you extra work to do. One bad thing is they consider work that needs to be done work. They really do not care how boring it is. Good luck! I hope you get a change that makes your job more enjoyable! Work is a real drag when you dread going there.
Jim

Thanks Jim. A lot of this has to do with my ADDitude. I will get through this through the support of friends like you here, my family, journaling and prayer. I will be OK, it is just hard right now....Maybe it is also that the new year is coming and it makes me think of where I am and where I want/need to be, and that does not mean location.

The suggestion has been made, but try to see it...

You need to make a calm and restrained inquiry about how to keep doiing some of what you did before... of how to continue to be of value... and increasing value.

there is always a story with a move. this is a public board, and your employer COULD find you here, if they wanted to...

With that in mind, is there any other background that you might want to share???

Or is this really going the way you want it to go... within your limits?

No, I probably shared enough background already?

I feel better about things today. Nothing has change except my attitude, same problem, better perspective today.

David, what do you mean by:

"Or is this really going the way you want it to go... within your limits?"

Are you referring to the amount of info I can comfortably share, or are you saying that my situtation is going this way because that is the way I deep down want it to go? Could you clarify?

I think after the beginning of the year I am going to through the chain of command to talk about this, as Gymsocks suggested.
I am not trapped, and eventually, one way or another things will change. At some point early next year I will have to draw my own line in the sand(to myself only) where I have a time(date) where I fish or cut bait. In the "Who Moved My Cheese?" analogy, I can't accept my "new cheese", at least long term. I may have to go out into the maze for "new cheese" that I can accept. We will see. I am not rash in my decisions because I am not an island, but someone that 4 other people count on for stability.

James,

Here's a thought...Contact your HR Department and discuss with them? They would have first hand knowledge of internal needs and might have suggestions on who you might talk to internally within departments?

Originally posted by jimmmaaa
No, I probably shared enough background already?

I feel better about things today. Nothing has change except my attitude, same problem, better perspective today.

David, what do you mean by:

"Or is this really going the way you want it to go... within your limits?"

Are you referring to the amount of info I can comfortably share,


You Answered Before you Asked.... there's nothing to explain... you already understood and answered the question as I intended.


I think after the beginning of the year I am going to through the chain of command to talk about this, as Gymsocks suggested.
I am not trapped, and eventually, one way or another things will change. At some point early next year I will have to draw my own line in the sand(to myself only) where I have a time(date) where I fish or cut bait.

Maybe, but for them to move you they had to have a reason... and their reason is the only one that matters, since it is "their place" to do so. Without catastrophizing, could this change be easily renegotiated? Don't make a mountain out of a divit....

In the "Who Moved My Cheese?" analogy, I can't accept my "new cheese", at least long term.

Why not try a set of casual conversations about the job change, asking more than telling, finding out what "they" hoped to acheive. Ask how it could be working out better for them. Assuming that you know these answers is probably an error for anyone, one most commonly made with great vigor by those with ADHD.

I may have to go out into the maze for "new cheese" that I can accept. We will see. I am not rash in my decisions because I am not an island, but someone that 4 other people count on for stability.

That more likely serves to increase the pressure and decrease the apparent acceptability of taking small risks in conversation that might lead to imagined trouble.



If they were trying to "reduce you r work load" so that you would complete more of your assignments, letting time go by will not help. You need to explain to them, without mentioning ADHD, even if you have before, that you complete more when you have more challenging things to do.... that you'd like to do some remote work to increase the interest factor and the completion numbers...

Of course, none of this accommodates those facts to which I am not privy...

Yes, I do feel the pressure. And I think it wouldn't be a big deal to change.

The original change took place March of 2002.

I have been grappling to come to terms with things since then. Sometimes I am OK with it, and other times, like yesterday I am NOT at all OK with it.

The causal conversations is hard for me to do. I have probably made this mole hill larger than it is, but it is a change that I have had a hard time dealing with.

Big, I don't really trust my local HR people.

Please understand me... it is a mole hill, you have made it larger than it is...

But it still could be dangerous... just likely isn't because of ASKING that it would be so... with ADD you might discover something uncompfortable, but you are not likely to CREATE the problem by probing, just find out about it in undeniable terms...

Lack of trust is very hard for ADHD folks to deal with... justifies extreme actions when lessor ones would serve better...