Why CAN'T You Kill Them? Office Edition

THE SET-UP: Last August, my company underwent a "reorganization" and for one horrible week, each day, people lost their jobs. Of course, the responsibilities of those laid off were divvied up among those remaining. Except for me. I was handed all the responsibilities AND the staff of one of the eliminated positions, while maintaining all the responsibilities of my current position. And, of course, management expected that none of these balls would be dropped. Well, I don't think I had "juggling" mentioned as one of my talents on my resume. The reason upper management had these unrealistic expectations is because they have no idea what we do. FACT: I have worked for this company in the same department for over 6 years. I'm on the third floor; the VP of my division (and the person who made these decisions) has his office on the second. I am not lying when I say that I have never met him. I may have ridden the elevator with him, but who knows.

THE STORY: We normally are reviewed and receive raises each July, but, like most companies, not last year. So, recently, in a show of good faith, we were told we would be receiving a small raise and, if business improves, another in July. A few weeks ago, the director of my department and the person I directly report to, called me in to his office to officially tell me of my raise, apologizng that it couldn't be more. I said I understood, but I was hoping that, when the company gets back on track, that my position would be looked at again and I would be compensated appropriately for basically, taking on two full-time positions. His response:

"Back. before the lay-offs, during meetings deciding the re-structuring, the general consensus was that the supervisory position that I "inherited", was never really needed. That my position and this other supervisory position, should have been combined." Did you get that? The full-time supervisor position that they paid someone for over 7 years a supervisors' salary, bonuses AND benefits, was never necessary. How convenient to come to that realization, now that you dropped the whole kit and kaboodle in my lap. But wait! That's not what happened. When I mentioned this, his reply was "Oh, this wasn't decided at the time of the re-organization. It was the opinion of management for a few years." What? They decided this years ago, but continued to keep paying someone to do a job that they decided was not necessary? I said something to the effect that no wonder we're in financial trouble. I think he then realized how his explanation sounded and tried to backpedal a little. But, he was having a difficult time making any sense. It sounded familiar to me. In fact, he actually sounded a lot like this:

I let him know that "sorry, you haven't convinced me." And that there was a certain MLB team that he would fit right in with.