This is “Where are you now?” All month long, and throughout December, on Ask a Manager I’ve been running updates from people whose letters were previously answered here.
Remember the letter-writer who wondered if they were missing red flags at their new job because their coworkers expected them to be miserable? Here’s the update.
I’m still on the job! My boss is still a stickler, he hasn’t changed, but I’ve adjusted to him and overall things have remained pretty stable. I’ve been here about nine months now, and I’m hearing a lot less about the dog (thankfully) and a lot less frustration about it—and despair that the job will “turn into a nightmare any day now.” It’s not like that.
My team leaders and coworkers are great people and I get along well with Jake, my manager. He can be very particular, but once I figured out how to accommodate him, we haven’t had any problems.
That said, I’ve learned a lot about the backstory since writing it. Many commentators questioned whether this included gender or ethnicity or migrant/local dynamics, and although they were on the right track, this is not the whole story.
As I mentioned, the office is about 60/40 local residents vs expats, with the C-suite being mostly expats. Jake was the first local person of his background to hold his own managerial position, and as mentioned, when he was first promoted, he handled it very poorly – micromanaging badly, giving himself grandiose titles, even firing a well-liked employee for flexing his authority (which was not only poor judgment but technically illegal in this country). The employees basically had to come together and go to upper management to push back, and they were forced to eat a bigger slice of humble pie. That was a few years ago, and while he’s clearly improved a lot, resentment remains. So it now makes much more sense why some longtime employees are still bitter, and why there is still a lingering sense of distrust.
I had to face some of my own frustrations, mainly that the company stopped short of actually helping me find housing in a difficult market where I had no connections, which made those first few months more difficult than it needed to be. I also usually get tired in this area; It’s more the industry itself than this particular job. I have been trying to get into a related field for some time but have not been successful so far.
As it turns out, I’ll be leaving early next year anyway. I’m moving back to my previous country to live with my partner and work with him on projects that are very close to the kind of work I want to do, as well as increasing my side hustle.
So, overall: imperfect but okay. The job never turned out to be the horror story everyone warned me about, and I’m glad I didn’t let their skepticism scare me.
