I had a nifty past week or so, at work...

I think I mentioned, since I took off from Arlonet, that I'd been outsourced from my company of some 18 years - and purchased by the lowest bidder. But I still work AT the original company, still system testing, as I've (now) been doing for the past 7 years.

My new manager (at the old company) is a jerk. When Peabody died, he made me feel bad for taking time off to deal with that (I mean, a couple hours to go get him cremated.) When I put in lots of extra hours on a project (for which I do not get paid), he confronted me and attacked my professionalism.

There were 2 system tester job openings, for my original company. We (the other tester and I) needed a waiver/ok to apply for these jobs - which had the same job description we currently fulfill - which do NOT report to the Jerk - which make 25% more than we make, today.

It was denied. Reason? We can't apply to the jobs where we'd make 24% more than we do today, because we are "too valuable" where we are.

Sorry to hear you've had such a rough time at work, Sis.

It just goes to illustrate my career advice for young people just entering the workforce:

1. <u>Never work hard or give 100%.</u> Sure, sometimes you do it for a client or customer, but never do it for a boss or supervisor. At raise or evaluation time, they never remember the times you worked late or the days that you came in when you were sick. They only remember the time you took a couple hours off when your kid was sick or your dog died. Sooo...don't do things that they won't remember.

2. <u>Get a law degree.</u> It's the best scam going. You can come & go as you please, say & do whatever you want, & nobody bothers you. Trust me.

Star,sorry to hear about your boss! And, I think Joe is right on the money, with HIS scam!!

At least they SAY you are too "valuable", so why then dont they want you to earn more money???

after 8 years, I got fired from my job,{via telephone, no less}!! reason,,, I worked on my day off!

Listen to Big Brother, Joe!

Star, that really sucks. Sorry you've had to go through that. I wish someone had said to me years ago what Joe said. But his second point needs some alteration. A friend of ours who's a law professor had to sue the law school for discrimination; no outcome yet. I guess the law-degree magic doesn't work when the bosses are lawyers, too. Anyway, Star, I'm working on a self-improvement project: to learn to do only what I have to do to get by. It's hard to do! Let's try, though, not to be so "valuable."

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ceashel:

I wish someone had said to me years ago what Joe said. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I figured it out when I was about 20 or 21. My dad was running an auto dealership then & I was an accounting student in college. He hired me one summer to help his treasurer catch up on some work.

We had a lot of outstanding invoices that we weren't collecting & I looked into it & found they were billed to the wrong people. I spent a lot of time tracing the bills thru the system so they could be billed to the right people. Once everything was fixed, we collected a lot of money & the treasurer said I did a great job.

Went back to school that fall, & on the 1st weekend visit home, Dad made some remark about having given me a cushy summer job for which he paid more than he mighta paid somebody else. I pointed out that I more than paid for myself with my work collecting the delinquent bills. Dad denied that this ever happened!!!

In fact, the only thing he remembers about my tenure there was that I came in to pick up my last paycheck dressed in a Cleveland Indians cap, a Bob Dylan T-shirt, bell-bottom jeans, & earth shoes---he remembers that outfit down to a "T". And this was my own dad!!!

So, that helped me figure a lot of stuff out, including my rule #3 for youngsters entering the work force, which I forgot to include:

3. <u>Never work for your dad</u>! You get blamed for every damn thing that goes wrong, whether you had anything to do with it or not---& you gotta listen to this stuff at home!

Sorry Star. Bummer Bro Joe, and you sure are right about rule Number 1. I busted my butt in my former career, but now I take orders from my superviser, double check and ask how she wants things done, don't overly use my brain (I was told by a thinking, intellegent co- worker to Dumb Down a bit when I first started, so we only talk about certian things when were alone.)So I didn't really fit in but Hey, now I get to work by myself most of the time so get to listen to a thinking persons radio station and hear all about whats going on in the world with some enjoyable music in between. I follow orders, talk and sing to the plants (under my breath of course) and go home to my real life with minor stress. I am just about to graduate with a College Diploma in my field of work (kinda did it just for me and so my Mom and Dad can finally see me through my cap up in the air 33 years after finishing high school since I left after 11th grade.)
At this stage of my life I don't need a medal from my boss or superviser. They are nice enough to me, even tho I speak up if someone goes over my line (which after 50 years I have drawn in the sand for myself.)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by P. Pittsburgh Joe:
...
3. <u>Never work for your dad</u>! You get blamed for every damn thing that goes wrong, whether you had anything to do with it or not---& you gotta listen to this stuff at home!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

sorry joe, that rule gotta go!
I worked for (more like 'with') my dad many times in my late teens and early 20's... and I only have the best of memories of those times... he's gone more than a year now, and I still miss him every day.

True, I can't pretend to know how every family works. Arnie, in honor of your dad, I'm gonna alter rule #3 slightly:

3. <u>Never work for your dad---if you're Italian!</u>

This may seem a weird place to bring this topic up but as I have watched it unfold it just seems logical to mention it here.

Abu Graib. THe poor guy has no real defense but even his most incriminating actions can be percieved as acts to call attention to what he (they) were involved with and the nonchallance which he approaches those actions with is just an indication that these actions were expected of him. I place it here because in corporate reality there our plenty of situations where you can observe directed or modified behavior in the name of corporate milestones.

I also remember how my own brother changed before and after Marine bootcamp back in 1969 and can understand the military reasons for and know their (the Militaries) abilities in modifying human behavior to help in the execution of the tasks required to pursue acts of war (there is something truly behind Apocolypse Now)!

It is an ugly subject but someone had to address it!

<center><FONT COLOR="#000080">--- Edited 1 times, lastly by PSBeaty on Jan 15, 2005 ---</FONT></center>

A friend just emailed this to me. Maybe this isn't the proper forum, I don't know.
http://www.andyfoulds.co.uk/amusement/bushv2.htm

move the dollar sign

In corporations, the biggest guns have never been fired.

-from the opposite side of a Salada tea tag

You ever notice how the so called leadership team is never held responsible for anything. Also, you ever notice how the primary characteristic of a leadership candidate is not talent but arrogance (they really think you look up to them and respect them) and an uncanny ability to misdirect everything usually with some kind of poorly concieved analogy that suddenly appears in the form of a "mentor like parable".

Or is it just me!

<center><FONT COLOR="#000080">--- Edited 1 times, lastly by PSBeaty on Apr 16, 2005 ---</FONT></center>

Nope! It ain't just you, PS. They're also not too good at implementing Maslow's hierarchy of needs on their staff or workers.

There's a common mode of operation in many that almost always includes claiming all authority but shirking as much responsibility and culpability as possible and twisting the truth and painting a picture that points blame on someother person or group, and if necessary, at the same time crying foul. At all costs, they won't admit any liability, while at the same time giving orders. Saw it many times, in the form of public school administrators. But also worked for a few, who didn't play this game at all(Unless ordered by the school board). A Fascist Conformity-Machine needs to have a monkey wrench jamned in it as much as possible. How's that for an analogy?

One time, I was at this meeting and this extra special person was talking about the new corporate policy of diversity training. You see, its good to be diverse in corporate America because it is inconsiderate to come up with a logo for a product that means "screw you and your mama" in Turkish. So he was working on his little analagous story to explain to us "middle management types" the importance of diversity. So here is how the story goes:

I was at church the other sunday and we were having a Sunday brunch. Well, I was hanging with my group in the banquet room and one of the church ladies asked me to help in the kitchen. At first, I began to get angry, but then I realized hey this is church and she probably did not know I was a corporate world wide Vice President and that in this setting I should probably help out and ignore my true status.

Well I looked around the room and tried to determine how the other people felt about what we had just witnessed. I was astounded, the room was full of blank expressions and then i hit on another guy who was holdin back as much as I was and I lost it. Luckily I managed to fake a choking episode and got outta that room. But I tell ya, the man was serious!!!!