Crappy Day at Work... Again..

I had dinner with Guy #3 last night just as friends – he was super nice (as expected), even though I was actually quite late (my own stupid fault!).  Yay for making new friends.  It was not awkward at all – somebody once told me that things won’t be awkward if you don’t make them awkward, so maybe it worked.  Hurray for *something* going well! What isn’t going well?  My job.  In short, it is killing me slowly and painfully, and I must find a way out pronto. When I first started my job 2 years ago, I thought I had hit the jackpot.  I was allowed to be creative, take on huge amounts of responsibility, and was promoted.  All my friends hated me because I gushed so much about how I loved my job.  Unfortunately, that was pretty short lived.  My manager (who had been on extended leave) retuned to work and suddenly started trying to squash me back down again – seriously, after having done a great job and having been promoted, my returning manager chose this time to pull back the reigns, start micromanaging everything I do, and finding little ways to discourage and keep me down.  Frankly, I think he/she felt threatened that things had gone so well in his/her absence, so he/she has done everything in his/her power to hold me back and make my job more difficult. (yes, staying gender neutral for fear of being identified.  but honestly, if you're reading this and recognize yourself, then you know what you're doing) Since then, I have exceeded my goals and made significant changes to improve operations of my department and save money, worked endless extra hours in evenings and weekends for meetings and events, and still get zero appreciation.  After a slew of layoffs earlier this year (which I thankfully survived), I ended up taking on a bunch of extra work because of the man-power that was lost – not only was I already working my butt off, but now I leave every day with a stress headache, and dread going into the office because I have so much to do, and no support.  I need to get out, and fast, but I’m not sure what to do with myself these days.. must figure this out soon. I know there must be a lot of people out there in similar situations, having trouble switching jobs because of the economy.. anyone want to trade??  Low energy dinner preparations tonight: Tuna melt on sourdough under the broiler with swiss cheese, bell peppers, and pickles Tossed salad with red wine vinaigrette Dessert: hot chocolate