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Help please!

Posted by: Lesli
Date: 6/10/2009 12:38:00 AM

I am now working for an attorney who I worked with many many years ago. We have been in the same office in one fashion or another for 30+ years(I started at 17 while still in high school). His secretary of 13 years and my previous boss were retiring at the same time, and he asked me if I would like to work for him. It meant learning a new area of law, I warned him there would be bumps, he said he was aware of that, so I was game. Needless to say, there have been things that went wrong in the beginning. So learning new cases, new clients, new law, new office procedures, and now it's been a year. I felt that we'd hit a good groove. We normally have a good relationship, he was even joking around with me as of this morning. He called me into his office this afternoon said he was not happy with the quality of my work and pointed to a document. In the end it turned out that the issue he pointed out was not my fault (long story). He realized it as well. This is not the first time this has happened. He assumes when something goes wrong it's my fault. He sometimes writes and mails his own letters, and has gone so far to blame me when something is wrong with them, as he's forgotten he's the one who wrote and mailed them! Today I said I was confused as I was not aware of anything else that I had done wrong, and he said yes but he didn't feel like dealing with it at the time and had let the matters go. When I tried to ask for more clarification, he was really kind of vague. I told him he has to let me know when he feels I've done something wrong so (1) I can learn from my mistake; or, (2)possibly there's another explanation. I asked him in the future to give me the benefit of the doubt until we look into the matter. He then said "this never happened with Nancy". That really hurt. This is the second time we have had this discussion in the past year. I know things that Nancy has done wrong (we are human,it happens)as I have had to really pore over her work to familiarize myself with the new files, but it feels wrong to continually point out those errors.) He's like a person who is looking back at an ex girlfriend and only remembering the good times. I feel like he's looking at me like the 17 year old, not the 50 year old. (I told him that as well). I have been a legal assistant many, many years and have had many compliments on my work. I am just frustrated as heck. The job market being what it is, I really would like to try to work this out, if possible.

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