Honeymoon Is Over

The office that I work in has five males, the three owners, the VP, and me. The office has around twelve full time, and four part time females. This ratio can be nice, because when outsiders notice that the other four guys have alot of power, I get lumped in with them - at least until they bother to look further.

I was recently given a 'promotion' (more responsibility, more money), so I do have more authority in the office than I did before, so I'm not the low man on the totem pole. I was talking with an owner today about how it's changed a little bit now, because before, I was the "office bitch". My job was basically anything that was put on my desk (marketing, accounting, IT - anything that I could help with). Now, I've been moved to mostly IT work, and it was even hinted today that I've been tabbed to be the successor to our current admin... but that's for another post. With this new promotion, I was joking around that now I'm the "company bitch", because now I have to field calls from all five clubs whenever something goes wrong.

But don't get me wrong - I'm loving it. I'm learning ALOT, and so far it has been fun. But out in the clubs, we've had a few people leave, so I've also been forced to help out in the clubs, mostly with sales. This has made for an interesting transition - two years at the club, and I had never put in one hour of overtime.

I had ten hours of overtime on the last pay period, and this week alone (thru Thursday), I'm up to eight hours of OT already. This isn't a 'bitch-session' post... so save the sarcastic comments for a later post ;)

The owner and I were talking about what's ahead, and I feel pretty good that it won't be like this for too long. I mentioned to him that while the days do seem to drag on sometimes, and I really do love the new job, but it's been a bit of an abrupt transition. He sympathized, and again, tried to reassure me that it won't stay like this.

Then, out of left field, he brings up the male/female ratio, and how I'm not the low man on the totem pole anymore. And in an effort to cheer me up (which I really didn't need, I was just a little tired, and our conversation was mostly office small talk anyway) he pulled out this gem:

"Well Matt, whenever I start to feel overwhelmed here at work, I remind myself that I'm in the minority being a guy, but I can tell all the women here what to do. You're in that position now. We're outnumbered, but we're in charge. It's kind of like our own little apartheid here."

I love my job. A sixty year old man just told me to be happy at work because it's like 'apartheid' in an office. Although, after a long day, that did crack me up.

Oh well, maybe I guess you had to be there.