Kick em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down

Things that suck about an internal promotion:

1) People assume you know everything.

In a role like mine, the responsibilities are so varied and intense that there's no way a person who's been shadowing his predecessor for two months could possibly have absorbed it all by now. Like they love to say on MTV, "You think you know, but you have no idea." This is especially an issue when you're replacing someone with exceptional experience doing that particular job. Two month, twenty years...something was probably lost in the translation.

2) People assume you know nothing.

In the last two days I've gotten so many e-mails from people telling me things I didn't say because I didn't think I needed to say them. Yes, I know that my group's process is different than your group's process, but they're related, so a rule or improvement that applies to us also applies to you. If it didn't? I wouldn't have forwarded it to you.

3) People who should know better tell you to do something, which is ultimately the incorrect thing to do.

The result, of course, is that I look like I don't know what I'm doing, which encourages people to assume list item #2.

...and of course...

4) People tell you it won't be easy to fill the shoes of the person you're replacing.

Cause I hadn't already had several panic attacks about just that. Thanks for the encouragement.


Of course, I'm not upset about any of these things, however frustrating. My new position is fun and exciting, and it suits me perfectly. Overall, I consider these things a small price to pay for world domination.