Being bullied at work is the worst, but there are usually ways you can use your power to put the bullies in their place.

This story is a perfect example because this overworked and underpaid law firm employee stopped doing things that weren’t in her job description.

Read it and you’ll see how she increased her pay by standing her ground in the office.

Boss agrees with secretary that I am not the office manager so I stop managing the office

When I was doing my articles at a small law firm, I was the go-to person for everything at the office (setting up computers, buying stationery, paying bills, going to court, seeing clients, etc).

After being admitted as an attorney I continued doing all this because the secretary only did about 20% of what a secretary would usually do and refused to do anything else.

The secretary and my boss’s mom made me out to be incompetent. I used to cry a lot and almost became an alcoholic from work stress.

Then an incident prompted her to take drastic action to change her working conditions.

One day the secretary got really upset with me and after a heated argument told me that I’m not the office manager and should stop lording it about as if I was.

My boss did nothing and rather got upset with me and so did his mother.

I was working roughly 50-60 hours per week  trying to get everything done without receiving overpay.

If everyone agrees that I am not the office manager than I will stop managing the flow of the office and only do my attorney work.

Within two weeks the electricity was cut off for a while, then the phone lines were cut. The mail piled up and we had no stationery. We couldn’t do service of court documents because our service providers cut us off.

Her bold and empowering efforts paid off and led to a great resolution.

After weeks of this, my boss and his mother begged me to do what I used to do but I refused.

Since I was focusing more on my actual work my fees increased and my pay increased as well.

Soon after, I moved away from that office to our secondary office and worked alongside lovely colleagues who all did what they got paid to do.

I have been at this new office (same firm just a different location) for the last two years.

Let’s see what people are saying in the comments.

Totally. It’s a bad precedent and doesn’t help you move up the corporate ladder.

A few people noted this hypocrisy. It’s concerning, but not sure it’s disbar-worthy.

A lot of people had this impression. I like how succinct this one is. Haha

Pretty much! It sounds like she has influence there.

It really does sound sketchy. I have no idea why they would do this.

Maybe don’t hire a lawyer that works at his mom’s house.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.