I feel for you. I just came out of a similar situation of pure panic with way too many demands being made of me. I’ve had to start doing something I’m lousy at- setting boundaries.
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Ironically, my career cannot go any further than it already has unless I have subordinates, so bringing in more people would also represent a big step forward for my career.
My boss is receptive to the idea of bringing on temp staff to handle some of the workload, but it will take many months before he gets approval from the higher ups to actually make that happen, and then it will take time to bring the temp up to speed. Until then, I have just been told to “delay, delay, delay.” This means negotiating on deadlines with the hope of pushing things back until I find myself in a quieter period.
My wife is telling me to just half-ass everything, but I take a lot of pride in my work.
There is a four-day weekend coming up this Saturday through Tuesday. I’m going to make sure that the deadlines coming up this week get met. Then, I’ll go on vacation and rethink how to do things through the rest of this month.
I have been thinking about changing companies, maybe finding a place that already has a team of translators. Of course, I can’t job search when I’m working all the time.
I appreciate everyone’s words of support. Thank you, everyone!
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It’s a tough position to be in - especially for someone that takes pride in their work. Is there any possibility that some of the work being sent your way could be contracted out to a third party translation/localization company? Or is it the sort of thing that has to be done with “in-house” resources?
It’s good to hear that your boss is supportive of the idea of bringing in help…even if it takes a while I’m glad they are at least willing to go through the steps to bring help in.
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I’m glad to hear that you’re getting support from your boss.
You may be able to get some support from all the people who are sending you things to translate. Could you somehow publicize your backlog of things to deal with, with estimates of when you’ll be able to get to each thing? “I’ll be happy to translate that for you; it’s currently the Nth item in line, and I should be able to get to it in X days”.
Of course, depending on corporate culture, that could also result in resentment and complaints. It’s a tough situation to be in, and I’m sorry that you find yourself having to deal with it. Please do take some time for yourself over the long weekend!
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Be very careful about making that kind of suggestion. If the third party offers low rates to get the job, getting rid of employees might seem like a reasonable next step. I’d probably have a solid job offer from another firm before bringing that up. If the boss brings it up first, have a resumé ready, just in case.
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When I take vacation time, I get to remind my supervisors just how much I do each day when I farm out my duties among three people. I also make sure to tell them that there are several other duties that can be tabled until I return. Since I’m underpaid, our CEO sees what a bargain he’s getting.
Employees have to be subtly manipulative because it’s assumed that we’re all expendable.
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Yeah, I’m not too worried about that. I keep meticulous records of everything that I translate. Farming everything that I do out to third parties at typical market rates would cost the company 2.5 ~ 3 times my salary. And the quality of the translation from cheap translation firms is often atrocious to the point where it’s completely unusable.
Plus, I’m a lifetime hire and we have a union.
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Well, that’s great news! Good luck, and I hope things become manageable very soon.
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I’m sick of crying everyday
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I’m so sorry. I wish I could do more for you, but for now I’m sending you positive thoughts and a big hug.
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You are not alone.
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I’m sick of you having to feel like you have to cry every day…
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Thank you everyone, I’m still fine though obviously having some difficulties dealing with all the hatred of trans people. In a number of ways things are still going well. I feel more like myself than I ever have and I still don’t hide my queerness. Works good, though I don’t get paid enough. I just also am scared and feel so much hurt for all the trans youth being harmed.
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totally understandable! I would be worried if it did not upset you!
One more hug!
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I feel like one hug isn’t enough, so here’s a double header.
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Well, I had a nice four-day vacation in Seoul.
But since I came back, things have only gotten worse.
I got a lot of work done in three days last week, but more work just keeps coming.
On Friday, I asked a question about an error in a document that I was translating. They told me that they didn’t need it translated any more. I was about a quarter of the way through it.
Later that day, things kind of came to a head. The PR Department published a press release that I had translated the day before. But some asshole who thought that they “knew” English better than me had made some “adjustments.” They replaced the word “technique” with the word “progress” (probably mistaking it for the word “process”) throughout the document. They took the “s” off of verbs that were clearly in third-person singular. They kept most of my work, but made just enough changes to make whoever translated it look incompetent.
I sent a nasty email to the head of PR. It was late at night on Friday, so this issue has not been addressed yet.
I spent hours translating that fucking press release. My marriage is falling apart because I literally do not have the time or energy to talk to my wife.
Oh, and my boss says that they are thinking of bringing on another translator, but the person whom they are looking at is 1) not a native speaker of English and 2) not experienced in translation. Meaning that this person would likely only increase my workload.
I am now actively looking for other work, and prepared to try my luck as a full-time freelancer if that doesn’t pan out.
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Looks like this is a thread to vent a bit… I lost my full time job last august. Been doing all freelance since then. But in order to get by I gotta do a lot more hours. In an effort to catch up this week I spent some long hours in front of my computer and now my back is all messed up. Which is making it hard to do my work. I gotta learn to pace myself, but I can help feeling a little bit more mortal and like I’m fighting a losing battle abusing my body for capitalism…
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I’m sorry to hear all that. I hope you find a better position with a company that treats you better.
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I hope things improve for both you and @Jesse13927
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