How to approach this work problem?

jenna8984

My corporate office 1,000 miles away decided to make a bunch of layoffs and just push the work onto people in the manufacturing locations. No idea how I was chosen, but they gave me a very complicated distributor commission process. The woman at corporate did this for 15 years and had it mastered. They flew her out to me for 3 days in August to train me on it. The process is so complex that we didn't even finish training and when she left I had NO grasp on it- which I made perfectly clear to my boss. He just kept saying that I was smart and I could take her instructions and figure it out along the way.

This is a monthly process, which takes about 1 full work week each month. I'm on my 3rd month doing it and I keep fucking it all up. The sales reps are emailing and calling me all over the place asking about mistakes and overpayments and underpayments and I just keep ignoring their emails or telling them "I'm sorry- I don't know." I went home and cried last night because I'm not getting the hang of it and it makes me look like an idiot to all the sales reps (outside firms). And I'm costing my company money by overpaying a few thousand dollars in commissions.

I don't know what to do or who to ask for help. NO ONE knows how to do this except the woman who was laid off. She never had a backup. My boss quit a month ago, and our HR quit a month ago. So I'm the only accountant/ office person even left here! They sent my boss's boss from the corporate office to meet me and basically tell me that he's my new boss. So he is in effect the only person I could ask for help. But he doesn't know me from a hole in the wall yet so I hate to look incompetent to him, AND he doesn't know anything about the process so I dont' know how he could help me with it. Do I ask him for help, or do I keep floundering each month hoping to improve on my own? I honestly used to love my job here and now this is so stressful to me that I hate my job now.

larrygaga

I don't have much advice for you that can actually help you, but I was in a sort of similar situation and I was so upset over and over about getting everything wrong. I decided that, since I'm trying my best and have done my job to the best of my abilities, that I would keep floundering and fucking everything up until I either got training or fired. I eventually caught the hang of it.  

Okay, that's not really that helpful, but you aren't alone! It sucks a LOT.

novella1186

Ask him for help. Be honest about the situation, and make it clear that you've worked hard on this and you're willing to learn whatever it is you need to learn. He may need to hire someone external to come in and help train you. Don't keep setting yourself up to fail, and don't keep quiet about this because it sounds like a serious problem. 

theartistformerlyknownas

Ugh same position here. They moved me into a role that hadn't existed before for an account we won from another agency, wrote the scope of work as if the job would be handled by a manager (me) and two VPs, but didn't actually scope themselves into the headcount for the account. So now the client expects the level of work of 2 VPs, and only has me. And I don't know how to do it.

You should definitely tell the new boss that you were not given the necessary training to do this, especially since he doesn't know you. The last thing you want is for him to assume you're bad rather than just poorly trained. He's responsible for finding some other way of getting you better trained.

climbingsingle

Lord. I'm sorry. What a sucky situation. 

Go to the new boss and explain the situation. Tell him you're extremely concerned, and that you want to be able to do this correctly. The only way you'd look incompetent to the new boss is if you didn't speak up. Even if he doesn't know the process, he should be able to help you find a solution. Good luck!

loro929

Yes, I think PPs have given fabulous advice.

The best thing to do is be upfront and honest. Explain the situation - it can only help because it will let your new boss know (maybe he has no idea) and it will make you feel so much better to get it off of your chest.

martha1818

I agree with PPs! This seriously sucks and I hope things improve for you! I've learned when I'm in situations like this (though your situation is obviously more extreme) is that people don't know what you're going through if you don't speak up. So your new boss may just assume that you have the necessary training/resources to go to for help and that any mistakes are your fault, unless you tell him what the situation has been like for the past while. Good luck!

wandajune6

Talk to your boss.

Yes, you need to tell him because it might get you help. More importantly, you want to document as much of what's going on as possible. You want to keep a record of everything you share, just in case. It's not worth giving them an excuse to let you go as well.

jenna8984

Ok thanks guy! I guess Io will have to lay it out there in an email to the new boss. Since he's not in this office I can't speak to him in person and I'm the type who despises phone calls. I may even cry once I get going about it on the phone lol. Eeeeeek here's to hoping something, anything can be done....!