Taking myself out of a group at work due to workload

Last year, my manager made me participate in a group in our organization on how to improve various processes. I did like participating, but my workload became extremely heavy in August and kept on building.

I ended up being a leader in a subgroup with three other people. All were guys. They didn't take much initiative. I set up the meeting for us to talk, I took notes and meeting minutes, and I presented our findings to our team. The next step was to present them within our organization.

I didn't have time to put a slide deck together or give a talk. I had an annoying woman who took over from someone within our group, hounding me when I could present. I felt like I was giving excuses, but I wasn't. I put in so much overtime to get my deliverables out the door that I was exhausted.

As a last resort, I asked the three guys on my team if they could help me out. Crickets.

The group leader has changed again. I have worked with this person and we get along. She asked whether some folks in the group would like to take a break from it due to deliveries. I pondered it and decided that I needed the break.

I didn't discuss it with my manager. I wanted out because I felt like I wasn't getting the support from my little team and my workload continues to be heavy.

I felt good about my decision. It's right for me.

Declining my second interview

I decided to pass on that second job interview. It's interesting how a few events managed to change my thoughts about the position.

This potential job opportunity is a contract. I don't mind that. I would also be taking a pay cut. Again, that's not a concern, for the job requires working from home.

These days, it's health benefits. This job doesn't offer any. I need peace of mind that I am covered. Paying for my own isn't an option.

The fiasco with the resource manager saying that another candidate had been selected over me, and then apologizing by saying that he got the hiring managers mixed up put a damper on things. As much as I was okay with the mixup at the time, it's still not the best emotional roller coaster to be on.

I was asked to produce a network topology diagram. It has been a while since I did all this preparation work for an interview, but I managed to get it done on Saturday.

This week, things got busy at work. This hiring manager contacted me through e-mail and phone. I couldn't attend to both.

During this process, the hiring manager corresponded with me using two different personal e-mail addresses. He panicked and guessed at what my work e-mail was. He then sent me an e-mail on how concerned he was. I didn't appreciate it. The last thing I want is a hiring manager to be contacting me at work. Our IT department does data mining, among other data checks. I don't need the company realizing that I want to jump ship.

So, I wrote to him and said that I wasn't interested anymore. I actually am good with my decision. I have health benefits and I like my colleagues on the whole. Sure, a change would have been great, but I am going through change with my job duties at my current place of employment. I want to see where I go with them.

Dealing with incompetent insurance and drug representatives

I dread talking to both my insurance company and the drug company program these days. It seems that every time I have an upcoming appointment, I get annoying calls from them. I then get all worked up dealing with their stupidity.

Today, just before a meeting at work, my cell phone rang. It was from my insurance company. I let it go to voice mail. I then let it sit there for over three hours before I decided to listen to it.

It was from my assigned case manager at my insurance company. She was the one who gave me the option to either have my insurance company dispense the drug for my eye injection or go with my ophthalmologist's pharmacy. I elected to go with the latter when I was asked a couple of weeks ago. Instead, both my insurance and this drug program went with the former. Um, so why call me to ask what I want and then not respect what I want?

The case manager asked me to call her. She had more questions for me. Again, I wasn't thrilled.

I was driving over to Starbucks. It is frappuccino happy hour and I managed to get my order in before the 18:00 cutoff time. I decided to call this case manager.

She seemed friendly. She didn't annoy me as much as the first time I had spoken to her, simply because I asked her the question that has been on my mind for a while. Why wasn't my decision to go with my ophthalmologist's pharmacy honoured?

She advised that she had told this drug program what I wanted. For some reason, it assumes that everyone wants to go with the insurance company's pharmacy. I flat out said that I get stressed out dealing with all these people who cannot communicate with one another. I told her that these calls get me all worked up, which is contrary to what I need to do. She understood and apologized, saying that she would fix everything.

Finally, I asked her whether I was going to continue talking to these various insurance and drug program folks every time I go to my next appointment. She confirmed that I would not.

I find that when you have too many parties involved in such a situation and they aren't as bright as you'd expect them to be, no one communicates effectively. The patient suffers the most.

I do hope that I don't hear back from any of them anymore. For the first time, I actually felt good after speaking to one of these folks. Let's hope that it was my last.