Being the Boss' Daughter (kind of)

I haven't written anything about work in a while, and there is no real reason for that, other than things have been going pretty well and I haven't had a whole lot to write about. But basically, it is going well...I have been working on some interesting things, and the Partners and VP's keep giving me new stuff to do that I have never done before.

As a firm, we have been doing really well (we have kind of changed business models a little bit, but that is a long story...I will be happy to share if you are really interested, just ask:-)) which means that everyone is busy, and that there are probably some big bonuses in our future:-D We have added two new people over the last year to the Investment staff, and both were really good hires and fit in very well.

There is, however, one issue. There is one guy who just doesn't like me. I am not real sure what his problem is, but he has just always been really condescending and kinda mean to me. I can't say that I have any specific reason to dislike him...he is smart, and works hard...other than his dislike of me.

In the two years that I have been here, he has never asked me to help on any one of his projects (the way it works is that the VPs, principals and partners "request" the associates or me, and we get scheduled with them) and has kind of ignored me if someone else asked me to work on something that he was working on. And then last winter during review time, he wrote a really nasty review of me.

Everyone here reviews everyone else...so, I had to write like 23 performance reviews last December (including Papa Bear and Boss Foxy:-)) and I got 23 written about me. Virtually all of the reviews I got said the same things..."Works hard, always available, great interpersonal skills, needs to continue developing technical skills" and then usually suggested some specific courses or seminars or books or whatever that might help me.

But then I got one review that said all kinds of bad stuff about how I got preferential treatment, and how I didn't pull my weight because I leave at 5:00 every day (I am not the only one...there are three or four other people who have daycare issues that do the same) and how it wasn't clear that I would ever be able to be a functioning member of the team. The reviews are anonymous, but I obviously knew who wrote it, as did the five partners. And all of that is fine, I guess, he is entitled to his opinion.

But, I guess he said something to the executives at a company we are involved with the other day. One of the other people mentioned that he would be out there later this week with me, and the guy in question said something about "She's the boss' daughter, so we have to drag her around, but she doesn't really do much." This really irritates me because it is wildly unprofessional and it makes it very difficult for me to go out there now and do anything useful.

(He is probably going to get into some trouble for that, I will keep you posted)

And for the record, I do get treated differently than everyone else for two very specific reasons. First, I am the only person with my job. There are four associates, for example, and five principals, but I am the only analyst. The title implies that I am a lot more limited than everyone else, and I am paid accordingly (I make about $125,000 less than the associates, who are the next lowest ranking people). Obviously I can't do everything that they can, nor do I claim to.

Second, and this is really what he was getting at...being "the boss' daughter" is probably the most valuable thing I do here. His implication was that I have less responsibility and more leeway because of my relationship to Papa Bear. But in truth, Papa Bear has a bit of a temper, and the biggest value that I bring to the firm is that I am the only person he won't yell at. If something important doesn't go the way he wants and he is in a particularly bad mood, the other people in the office know that they can ask me to talk to him about anything that needs urgent attention without getting my head bitten off. It makes everyone's life easier...

Anyway, I am not sure why this bothers me so much...the guy clearly just doesn't like me, and I shouldn't care about it that much.

But for some reason I do.