u/lancelake_

I work for a small company and I feel like the work dynamic is confusing. I was wondering if I could get input.

Technically I am a coordinator but I work under three project managers across multiple projects during the year. I frequently get bombarded and frustrated with the fact I don't actually have a general manager to manage workflow. Everyone requests stuff from me randomly and when I have three different people doing it I get overwhelmed. Is that normal ?

Then there's the fact that I am supposed to check to make sure th project is being done properly, make documents, etc. but I never actually get client information. It's always word of mouth from the PM. I'm frequently unaware of how a project is developing and I lack visibility. I am not allowed to sit in on calls with clients or even be cc'd in emails.

And even then I only work on like 20% to 50% of a project so I feel like I know less rather than knowing more. That's partly because all the PMs in this business are controlling and do a lot of work themselves because "it would be too complicated" to explain to someone else, which is why I've asked to be more included in client contact (even if I just observe).

Is it normal for getting information to be like pulling hairs ?

Finally I am also supposed to liaise with suppliers but the PMs do about 50% of that and often take over the coordination after I make initial contact, which makes me feel frustrated and embarassed. They always say I can't really coordinate with the suppliers because I don't have all the details from clients...so why ask me to do it anyway???? We've had some suppliers complain about this model and get confused. Recently there's been mistakes where I assumed a PM took over with certain stuff that they usually do, but they didn't and we fucked up a project pretty bad.

Finally they want me to check and review their work and complain if ever they have to check something that I've done (I work for a severely understaffed family business that values speed above all else).

But honestly, that feels backwards. It feels like a supervisory task (like for example, making sure my boss is sending out contracts on time). Is that the dynamic in larger companies ?

We've had a lot of mistakes this year as the business is expanding and different PMs work on different aspects of the same project with random help from different coordinators.

I got ripped off a project by my boss (also a PM) who wanted to continue it with a newer coordinator. My boss did not cancel some stuff with our suppliers that I had previously reserved and we had to pay cancelation fees. The new coordinator didn't know to do this, my boss didn't think to do it. Somehow I got blamed. Yet had the PM actually kept me in the loop about the client, I would have been able to cancel the thing on time.

And there's been worse screw ups too.In the last six months they hired two other coordinators and then fired them when similar but more impactful errors occurred. Now they've hired two more and I can see the whole thing starting again.

Thanks for your input

I work for a small company --- and yes I am looking for a new job already.

I work under 3 project managers, one of whom is the owner. But one of the other ones and I had a dispute. We were working on a project together, and there are some aspects of projects that she almost always systematically does. I assumed it was done. Turns out it wasn't and we almost had a huuuuge issue with a client over it, but luckily it worked out by pure chance. The client never knew.

When the PM let me know, I responded with "I have never been responsible for doing x thing, so I wasn't aware" to which I got reprimanded because my job is to "check all the PMs' work to make sure it gets done" and that I should've thought to ask if I see parts of the project that I am not responsible for.

I argued back that I can not reasonably be expected to check every detail of every project. That's partly because I also have my own workload, but especially because I am not allowed to talk to clients, be on calls, or even cc'd in emails...nor am I a manager or supervisor.

Anyway this company is a trash fire with a micro managing owner who doesn't actually manage anyone except the minute details of every task (missing the forest for the trees). There's no real hierarchical structure. Everyone does a bit of everything, multiple people involved in the same project but only the owner ever actually has full ownership of a project. I only get to do bits and pieces of each one, often with no global understanding of the project.

I think this issue is going to be escalated further, so I just want to make sure that this work dynamic is not normal...because it feels very off. When I was a manager I would never, ever have expected a subordinate to make sure MY work is done...And in the time I've worked here I've seen two lower level employees like me hired and fired (within 4 months) for making newbie mistakes that are really management's responsibility.

I lost my dad three years ago. It was sudden, we'd had a rocky relationship but had just started fixing it. I hadn't seen him in a long time and was set to visit him just a few days after the day he died. He was living far away from where I grew up. His wife didn't come to the funeral, only sent me a box with a few things in it. Everything he had was left to her, she claimed they were poor and had nothing, so I got no inheritance. She only spoke to me for ten minutes over the phone, and then ghosted me and the rest of the family.

Now just a few days after the anniversary date of that, I found out my mom had a very serious onset health scare that put here in the hospital and the doctors have no idea what's going on. On top of that the job I work at just got a lot shittier and to make me comply with the new situation I received a formal disciplinary notice and written threat of being fired, so I've been looking for a new job.

It really feels like the rug is being pulled out from under me, and the call I got letting me know about my mom really dug up a lot of trauma. I feel so scared and alone right now and I don't know what to do. My mind is going to the worst case scenarios... I miss my dad and I wish he was here with me.

Hey all,

I am paid just enough to barely be over the poverty line working at a family owned company. Mind you, there's no benefits, legal minimum paid time off, and no health insurance (I don't live in the US). It's quite a small company, only 15 employees, 4 of whom are part of the family.

I'm pretty young, but the owner's child who also works here is younger than me. The other day she strode in waving around the keys to her new condo, the purchase of which she announced to everyone.

Today they called a general staff meeting to anounce that their child is now our director, and that she's now "a real grown up" because she owns property. Everyone clapped and congratulated her. I wanted to throw up.

Meanwhile a month ago they fired two of my colleagues at once, then threatened to fire me but refused to tell me why. They even said the threat was actually a compliment, because I do good work and they want to motivate me to keep it up. All of this was not done by my boss, but by the company's accountant...

I've been scared and paranoid ever since, hoping I can find a new job before they actually fire me. I've heard the owner say their daughter isn't working here because she's "mommy's little girl" but because she's competent. She's good at her job, but a terrible manager (surprise surprise, she's basically only worked here her entire life).

Fine, but seriously f\\\*\\\*\\\* them for putting me through this horrible experience while their child works here care-free.

Rant over.

Is every event company this disorganized? I work for a very small corporate event company as a coordinator. I've worked events before, but this is my first job at an event company.

Seemingly, there is no real structure or procedures in place to ensure any kind of coherence or quality control.

For example, I work under 3 project managers on up to 40–50 events per year, plus helping sales with proposals for future events. I frequently find myself confused and uninformed, because for each event I work on, I only see part of it. Sometimes the other coordinators are working on the same events, but none of us actually have updated information. Then something inevitably gets forgotten, because the PMs and bosses can't keep everyone in the loop, and somehow I or another coordinator are always at fault.

By the way, this company hates meetings. They never have them unless forced, and then the meetings are chaotic and long because the boss — the salesperson — never has an agenda and barely knows the big picture of anything.

The project managers work under the salesperson, who is herself a bottleneck and obsessive micro-manager (she is also the owner): only she can make decisions about how an event is run. PMs are not entrusted with any decision-making, and the salesperson is the main contact for clients from beginning to end. Yet due to her micro-managing, she has no time to do things like make sure contracts are signed (we lost clients over it this year) or organize workflow. I get work dumped on me from all sides and multiple people, but no one person ever actually knows what I'm working on. On top of that, it's always urgent and I always have to move at breakneck speed. If I mention it's too much, I just get slapped in the face with the fact that the PMs and owners work obscenely long days all year round, not just leading up to or during an event.

Other than my workload being immense and the pace being quick, nobody wants to check or review my work. My boss literally gets upset when I ask her to review anything. They send things out to clients without reading or reviewing them, then get upset when what I did isn't aligned with their vision. But I don't know what to tell them. I frequently try to keep them aware of what I want to do and ask clarifying questions, but in the end I am blocked from talking to clients or even being CC'd on emails, so I only get the PM's or salesperson's rehash of what the client wants, and in a very incomplete or vague way.

Recently, I purchased a corporate gift and chose the nicer bag option ($2 more) and put it on the bill. A PM saw it after the fact and got upset because in this instance the nicer bag was a "waste of money" for reasons I didn't know about. Another example: I was asked to do a task I had never done before to help a PM save time. I asked to see a previous example, was told to just do it because there was no time, then got reprimanded for doing it wrong — the PM didn't read it before sending it to the client, and the client complained. The PM then complained about having to spend an hour correcting it afterward, whereas the task itself takes half a day. So in the end, it was still time saved for the PM.

Is any of this normal? I'm looking for a new job but honestly I'm just curious.