Back to work and no desk! [angry] Sorry long rant

[Tallgirl]

Feel the need to vent and also ask advice on how to handle this situation. To summarise my situation - going back to work in March to same job and hours (3 days week) - have DD who is 5 months and DS - 3 years. Have worked for company 8 years and before DS born was full time.

Because of lots of new people in the office and the girl who is covering my job is staying on and doing something else - I dont seem to have anywhere to sit. Despite the fact that i am coming back to do the same job in the same hours because she is working more hours than me (not sure how many?) she gets to stay where she is sitting and the only desk that is available to me is a crappy desk/table that would mean everyone walking behind me all the time and coming into the office behind me. Everyone would be able to see what i was doing (no MNing!!) and I've sat somewhere like that before and it's horrible.

I went in and saw my boss a few weeks ago and was aware that there was going to be a problem and i told him that i wasnt happy about it. Then i texted him (not very professional now i realise) to see what the latest was which was when he told me that it was the only desk available and she would be staying put as she is 'increasing her hours'. I dont blame her at all as she seems very nice and fairly quiet but i feel really discriminated against for going on maternity leave and as if my 8 years counts for nothing. I havent spoken to my boss about it yet - DH thinks i will have to leave it until i get back to work but really want it sorted out before.

I feel very undervalued but maybe i should expect that for being part time and having taken maternity leave twice! (BTW when i came back last time and changed jobs and hours i also had no desk for a while!).

What can i do about this? I know i should just do my job and get on with it but it is 3 full days which is quite a long time to be sat in a horrible desk and i also dont want to be seen as being really stroppy the minute i get back although i think i have good reason to. It is hard enough going back without this to think about. Or am i just making a big fuss about nothing?? well maybe i am...but it's just the way i feel.

Any advice or words of wisdom on how to handle this?

Thanks

[horseshoe]

Tallgirl

Completely understand how you feel but could it also be a bit of insecurity on your part that you now have to go in and a girl that covered you will get to keep your desk. Your feeling pushed out because of maternity leave????

When I went back to work the same sort of thing happened. i really felt that they had lost respect and treated me like a mum instead of the career girl I once was.....well of course I was a mum but I could still do my job and didn't want anyone considering me in any other way.

i ended up changing jobs as I found that was the only way to regain what I once had.

[LapsedGymJunkie]

Ok

I agree with you, but, and you are not going to like this.........3 full days a week jobs are as rare as hens teeth (certainly around here)

Keep your head down and your mouth closed and get one with it. When I joined here I shared with a smoker who listens to Capital Radio FFS, but I said nothing. (Saying nothing nearly killed me) I need to work more for the mental energy it gives me than anything else and I made tentative enquiries and they said I can go to 4 school days in September.


I put up with the smoking Capital person and lo and behold 6 months later I qualified for my own office.


Not being nasty but they are more taken up with the day to day running of the place than the niceties or pecking order of seating.


HTH in a roundabout way

[Tallgirl]

I do appreciate what you are saying and i know part time jobs are hard to come by which is why i want to keep mine (at least give it a whirl) as my work and child minder are very local. However it does really annoy me that this girl is being given presidence (spelling?) just because she is doing a few more hours than me and I will have to move all the files and paperwork that are currently on 'her' desk as she will be doing something completely different so dont really see how this is more convenient for the company.

Anyway will just have to get on with it i suppose and yes I'm sure there are some insecurities at work here as well but that is just natural when going back to work.

[alicatsg]

Wait till you're in before rocking any boats. Right now they just see you as someone who took x amount of time off. You need to be there to remind them of value you bring before raising problems which may seem utterly trivial to your manager. You need to make him think that your coming back is the best thing ever - and then find a business reason for the desk being wrong (do you have financial info/confidential info you need to work on?)

Its really unsettling going back - I'm almost a year back and I still have prickly feelings about the grade A tosser who took over my job..... but you need to stay calm and bide your time a bit as things change and right now you are not in a position to read the dynamics and politics and could therefore really balls things up for yourself.

It'll get easier if thats any comfort.

[Tallgirl]

DH has just read the last reply and totally agrees and i guess i do have to put this all into perspective and realise how lucky i am etc

Still cross about it though!

Thanks for all your advice - will let you know how it goes...

[alicatsg]

hmm. Actually you need to remind them how lucky they are to have you. Don't go in there feeling apologetic, just remember what you achieved for them in the past and show how you're going to build on that foundation.

Employers are like men - short term memories and only able to remember the benefit they get from people when they can't help but see them in action.

Good luck. If my exp is anything to go by it'll feel wierd for about 3 months but then you'll settle back in again. Don't expect too much from them too early.

[nightowl]

actually tallgirl i understand. when my ex (tosser) employers took on an office junior she was given my desk and pc. for about two months while i trained her i was confined to sitting in the corner of our office next to a filing cabinet with no pc, no workspace, no desk. just a chair. i felt like i had been demoted! it was their lack of thought that really pissed me off as i was still expected to churn out the same amount of work. (unfortunatly that was just the start of a "teachers pet" situation where i was frequently given crap equipment in comparison to this girl and then she ended up pinching my job years later) now im not saying by any means that this is what will happen to you! just that i do get where you are coming from! makes you feel a bit undervalued for sure. (ps, do you work for my ex employers!!)

[givenupforlent]

when i was told i had to work in the office after nearly 3 years of working from home i had to hotdesk too - really really annoyed me and felt I just couldnt get on effectively (but I am quite territorial anyway). When we moved to new bigger offices I had an allocated space but no comp, phone etc so still had to hotdesk and ended up being made redundant so all part of the big plan really.

[nightowl]

gulp...redundant here too givenupforlent. but tallgirl, that doesnt mean its a plan. my employers were always crap and expected me later on to train another woman to cover my maternity leave without providing her with a desk or pc. they also (again) expected the same volume of work from me but i was also supposed to give up my desk and pc to the woman i was training for hours a day. "yess boss, of course i can work miracles"! i dont think youre making a fuss. personally i dont see how a person can be expected to work efficiently if they are not supplied with the neccessary equipment. if its just a desk in a crap position however then although you may feel awful, i dont think you can say anything unfortunatly.

[SoupDragon]

Get back to work, live with it for a while and then come up with the perfect office reorganisation which means no one has to sit in such a crappy position.

[oliveoil]

oooooh, I agree with you Tallgirl!! I went in to show off dd2 the other week and the girl who replaced the person I worked with is sitting in 'my' desk!!! . They haven't replaced me, ha shows I much work I do , but there was a perfectly good spare desk for her to sit at.

My dh also told me to shut up and get a grip when I came back flouncing about the house.

Hmmmmmmm.

It is I think bad feng shui to have your back to the wall. All also bad Mumnet-shui of course.

[oliveoil]

meant back to the door, brain is much.

[oliveoil]

MUSH

[onlineid]

Message withdrawn

[LGJ]

Blimey

I must be the only 3 dayer out there with my own office. Now feel extemely grateful.

[Tallgirl]

Thanks for the last lot of responses - thought the thread was over tbh. Glad that some people can relate to it and that it is not just me. Will have to see what it is like when i get there and will try and let you know (in a few weeks) although might be difficult. Of course I should be worrying about how DS and DD are going to cope. Although DS has still been going to the childminder it will be different and he will also be spending time with Gma & Gpa but i expect there will be a few tears on both sides. Thanks again and will keep you posted.