OK ... I'm in deep shit at work. And I'm not sure exactly what's gone wrong, except I've reached the point where anytime I don't immediately dive into my boss's latest project for me, even to ask a question, I get in deeper.

I'm getting more and more - and more detailed - work dumped on me (for example - a director for another department decided we needed an electronic newsletter, found a company to do it, decided it would go out weekly, and that I'd be responsible for transmitting our input and checking their proofs. From there it's turned into my having to check with everyone in the office for their input, check their input to make sure we have links, check our website for upcoming events, check our regions for upcoming events - getting links for all of them - and now I'm also supposed to be on the lookout for items to include in the newsletter. And checking the proofs is a project in and of itself, because their templates default to linking everything to their own site. And yesterday I had a major argument with our contact there - who's made it very clear he doesn't answer to me - about including a link to our LinkedIn profile.)

Today it was that an entire section of our website is out of date - the fact I've been asking for updated info doesn't count - and I have to get it completely updated by next week. In addition to handling the electronic newsletter, plus writing a 1,200 word story for our journal, plus web maintenance, plus plus plus.

I'd planned to start looking for another job, but now I don't know if I can even hold onto this one long enough.

Sounds like a conversation with your supervisor is in order. You need to be given the authority and information to do your job.

This is my supervisor who's doing this to me - she's assigning me projects, and more projects, and she's doing ... I have no idea what she does in the few hours she's in the office. She's stopped writing for the journal, she's stopped editing the proofs of the journal, she's very disappointed that I'm not going through the entire website periodically to check on what needs to be updated (even though anyone can - and does - make changes without telling me - she nailed me yesterday because someone had inserted an image and resized it so it was out of proportion), my responsibilities keep expanding and much of it is things I have no control over or access to.

Toddson, is there anyone else who you can discuss this with? Is there anyone above her? I'm not suggesting you go over her head without her knowing it; but maybe you could have a meeting with your supervisor AND the person above her to discuss your responsibilities and what you need in order to do your job well.

Right, but you need her to define and prioritize your duties. She also needs to make it clear to your coworkers and outside vendors that you have the authority to make decisions and give orders.

...sounds like they want to make you quit, Toddson. I'll bet you're expensive on the company health insurance. Make them get rid of you instead, so you at least get COBRA and unemployment.

But that's the snag - the office has turned into a personality-driven system, where if you're not one of the "in" crowd, you get driven out. There's one person over her (it's a very small office) who's been encouraging this. One person's been driven to quit, another - our CFO - is about to be, the one other person in the department is on the chopping block, and now it looks like I won't be able to get by long enough to find another job.And my boss keeps redefining what I'm supposed to do, expanding the range, the fact that I can't control what other people do is my fault, that I can't control the vendors is my fault, and I'm just at my wits' end.

Document everything. Get her to put as much in writing - even an email - as you can. When she tells you something verbally, send her a "confirmation email". (My boss is a lunatic. Documentation has saved my butt more than once, when she insists she told me to do something I never heard of before.)

Toddson, what a tough situation. In case you have not already started doing this - write down, with time and date, all of her instructions to you. Do this right as she is saying it. Read it back to her, by way of making sure you understand what she is saying.

If all else fails, and you get fired, this sort of documentation will back you up, if you have to appeal to Unemployment.