Bridget, you know in your heart how much you have really done and how much you haven't.
If you want to keep your job, even if you would rather be at home, you owe it to your employers to be the 100% admin. You can probably be forgiven the extra 10% right now
. I expect that you have dealt with someone who doesn't pull their weight in the office and how irritating everyone else finds it. Don't be that person.
If - and I mean if - you have actual physical reasons for not being able to work properly, seek medical help. I would like to draw a line here between not being able to do and not doing.
You've had the gypsy's warning now. Time to shape up. You are a professional: you know how much you are doing and what is taking longer than it could.
If such criticism has left you raw, think of it as having stripped away all the built-up complacency. Treat it like a new job: find your way again, re-establish your boundaries.
IF, and it's a big IF, you are the victim of some sort of prejudice, you would be foolish to live up to their expectations. There is no point waiting for them to sack you because you are a new mother. They won't. They'll say you weren't focused and made personal calls and so on. And you will have a devil of a job proving otherwise.
Make a note of all the personal calls you take or make and for how long they are. How many do you think is reasonabl? One every hour? That's eight calls a day. And for how long? Five minutes? That's forty minutes out of your day gone. Log them all.
Look at your situation with an outsider's perspective. Your bosses don't care that you have a baby. They want you to be a secretary. Should they cut you some slack? Maybe, if they are generous. But they don't HAVE to and chances are they'll give you five when you could do with 200.
When I read your post it came across as having an injured air (whatever the intention was). You need to make sure that doesn't creep in to your dealings with bossie. From the company's point of view, being a mother is something you chose to do, and therefore you must take responsibility for yourself.
I wish you all the best: it must be hard for you. Just make sure that all your decisions are made conciously.
Bethalize
Deskdemon Forum Board Staff
