In which my boss inspires me to look for a new job

As if being in a cubicle wasn't bad enough.

As if earning less than half of what I used to make wasn't bad enough.

As if having to sign a time card, even though I am salaried and am not paid extra for the Thanksgiving weekend that I spent in a plane to the Middle East wasn't enough.

My boss thinks that all I do is talk on the phone. Sometimes in Spanish.

Those were his words of high praise for me.

We were in a meeting and for some reason, he decided to praise every single person in our group.

He started with Vanessa, who just returned from a trip to Brazil and Chile. He complimented her on her all-around business acumen and her work in Latin America. Where she had spent two weeks. Not to diminish what she did, but I have been working with Latin America for the past year and I lived and worked there for two years. Vanessa took a two-week business trip there.

Then he praised Elisabetta, who is from Italy and says our boss is from The School That Is Old. "Great international background. MBA. Diving in and learning everything, even though she's new."

My boss has not wanted to give her any big projects because "she's only been with us for four months."

The guy who hired me quit a month after I had started and I had to take over his responsibilities, including preparing the presentations for the board of directors and doing the annual budget and strategic plan.

He praised Randall, who has been with the company for 20 years and is indeed great. Randall knows everything and everyone and is always very helpful.

He praised Bets, the admin, who is amazingly organized and has never punched anyone in the nose even though it would be warranted.

None of the praise he gave to any of my co-workers was undeserved.

But when he got to me, all he could think to say was, "Gold Digger. Gold Digger. Every time I walk by her desk, she's on the phone. Sometimes she's speaking in Spanish!"

And that was it.

It would be bad enough if it were true, but it's not.

I have maybe three phone/skype conversations a month at work. Almost everything I do is via email because of the time differences. When I do have conversations, I am usually calling from my house at 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. so the people I am talking to do not have to stay at work until after suppertime.

My boss thinks I am a Spanish-speaking phone gabber who never accomplishes anything.