Hello

Any advice or insight much appreciated.

I work for a small company full time as an administrative clerk and then do an 'extra' job as a trainer. I am expected to do the training in my lunch break and on a Saturday. I get paid very little for this but I am financially not well off so grateful for the opportunity and the money.

The structure at the company has however changed and the new office manager does not like me very much. I have been told by the directors of the company that as they cannot see the results of the training I have done over the last two years she will now manage training going forward.

At first this was difficult for me - but then I realised it really doesn't matter much and tried to work with her. However she has been ignoring me and blocking any training project or initiative that I put forward - even when it had the directors approval. Her opinion carries so much weight with them that they will go with anything she says, It was quite disheartening that a training project that had taken me three months of dedicated work to put together - has just been put on the shelf by her without as much as an explanation.

She appears to enjoy blocking me and frustrating me and I sincerely feel she wants me to react badly. I have expressed frustration but the enjoyment she showed has taught me a lesson to just be completely emotionless around her.

What can I do? I have even asked her to tell me exactly what it is that she wants me to do - but no reply. For her it is all about control and power. She is very militant and obsessed with position and status. She is also extremely narcissistic.

I am also not easy - I have a problem with authority and being told what to do, I can't stand stupidity or redundancy and I don't take myself very seriously and neither do I take hierarchy and office political games very seriously - obviously until now.

Ultimately I have to look for another job but what can I do in the meantime to get her to move on to another victim and leave me to do training and earn money to buy food? I am fearful every month that she would have manipulated the directors into deciding they don't need me to do training and then I will be without the money.

My normal strategy is just to avoid her and talk to her as little as possible and then by email so I have written proof...

Thank you very much for any advice.

"I have been told by the directors of the company that as they cannot see the results of the training I have done over the last two years she will now manage training going forward."
If she was present when they said that, or they told her the same thing in private, it is not very surprising that she doesn't take you seriously on the training subject.
Your "I have a problem with authority and being told what to do..." attitude is apparent to all of them most likely, and you can expect it to cause problems at your next employer too.
Until you have the opportunity to become the supreme leader, you have to learn to accept authority and even the supreme leader has a board or the public to please, or some other limits.
"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. "
Thomas Jefferson