As part of a stark reminder of how much the main job sucks compared to the second job, today I was informed that now, every Wednesday, I have to call the head of my department and tell her how things are going. Mind you, I already send in mandatory daily reports and CC her on all relevant emails (IT tickets, etc.)
There is nothing more pointless and frustrating than a mandatory phone call to "see how things are going" to a superior who doesn't work on the same campus as you, who doesn't know how to do your job, and whom if you DID perchance need help, would try and get someone from another department, who ALSO doesn't know what to do, to come and "help"! I don't care if the library's on fire and the students are cannibalizing each other, if I'm on the phone with her, "Everything's fine." Because what's the god damned point? Seriously, it was 15 minutes of, "No, I'm fine. The students are okay. Yes, we've had some problems with the print servers today. Lisa (my direct supervisor) sent in half a dozen tickets to IT based on various issues. Oh, you saw them too? Yeah. No, I didn't see any responses but IT doesn't 'reply all' responses to tickets, only the person submitting a ticket gets the response. No, Lisa submitted them. Right. So if they sent a response, she got it. Yes. I'm fine. One of the student workers is out sick but he had notified Lisa and I earlier so it wasn't a surprise. No, that's not a problem. It's not a problem. No, it's okay. We have enough coverage for tonight. No, everything's fine. Yes. Okay. Yes, I'll keep sending those mandatory nightly reports. Okay. Talk to you next week."