Hypothetical: You take over a for a person who quits.

[Deja Q]

You must learn all from scratch.

Months later, duties get reassigned/adjusted. You are then instructed to tell all your coworkers what you had to scratch on your own to learn.

How do you feel?

How do you comply, knowing you are being diminished and/or treated as being dispensable?

[billyskank]

1. Do what I'm told

And if I really hate it, do it as half-assed as I can possibly get away with.

[graywarrior]

2. Pissed. Situation requires a job description and salary rate.

[Deja Q]

4. Co-workers would do the same type of job; it's just a special needs dept.

Custom situations...

[AngryAmish]

3. Teach them some, not all

Keep yourself indespensible. Not very nice, but it is the way ahead.

Or you could be groomed for a promotion and management wants to see how good of a teacher you are.

You know you could ask your boss. Honesty is disarming. Look them straight in the eye when asking the question and get your best feel on the truth of the answer.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Doesn't sound so hypothetical to me...

but I'll play.

The company doesn't care how the work gets done-- just that it gets done. If "Employee A" gets dumped into a sink-or-swim job the bosses either have no one else and are taking a chance or think that person is the right one to learn it.

Now that the job is learned, no employee should ever be indipsensible, so the knowledge has to be shared. In the best case, the employee is recognized as a winner and is being groomed for better things. Every other case is pretty bad-- they are thinking of dumping him, they just don't give a shit about him...

For the employee, if he likes it there, this is the time to look over the whole situation and play politics. It could be the way to bigger and better things if he plays his cards right.