Post what you are thinking at this very moment

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I worked at a pretty toxic place GF and understand what you mean. I've seen people flip out and quit, people flip out and get fired...and some pretty shitty things in terms of treatment from management.

Saw two of the most capable and kind workers in a department full of idiots get marched out much like your coworker one day. They didn't have any performance or attendance issues, they were just not part of the 'core group' during one of our many restructurings.

I was happy with the way I left. Gave a month's notice, wrote a kind exit letter and was all smiles during my last weeks there.

I've seen too many people get marched out and once, I witnessed an actual physical tug of war between a guy I knew and his manager. They were arguing over which software he brought with him to the job and which software was company owned It was horrible...

Was that before or after you pooped on your desk?

[Goofy]

Was that before or after you pooped on your desk?

I "borrowed" a few tools when i left my previous job for here........

[DemonGeminiX]

Ok, some dude just walked past the front of my house, like right in front of the windows and door. In order to do that, he'd have to walk up the drive way and get on my front patio. It is way too early to put up with this shit today. I don't care who you are, and I don't give a shit what you want, I have one of my guns right here with me, fuck off.

[Noilly Pratt]

Holy fuck what a day. The lady in the office next door got pulled in the middle of the day, while she and I were mid-conversation about a file, and fired. The managers grabbed her shit from her desk, didn't see her again.

Can't say I didn't see it coming, excessive absenteeism (used up all her sick days this year by March), terrible attitude, didn't like to follow protocol. There's a long backstory but I'll spare all the details... still though, a 5-year employee and we're a small team of 6 (in an office of only 30, everyone is quite close), so it's a lot to digest. They brought in some giant dude to help with the firing (I'm unclear if he was a bodyguard/muscle type guy, an HR consultant, or both). Dramatic day. My head is still spinning.

That is rough, especially since the office is so small. I remember working for Agriculture in the Provincial Government and they had to cut back. Of an office of 100, they cut 10%, but no one knew who was going to be axed. Everyone was to go in their offices and they'd be called down for a "meeting" in the lunchroom if it was them. This went on for about 3 hours. There were some surprises - entire sections, and of course zero productivity that day for everyone. I was the computer tech support there, and got very few calls that day. I felt guilty because I knew I was safe.

One guy in Crop Insurance had to retrain, and became the guy who prepped (ie cut up) the animals for the Veterinarians to work on. I asked him how he was coping and he said "I'm the most overqualified, overpaid butcher in the world - I'm retiring in a year."

The next week I was in Vancouver supporting another Gov't office, installing RAM or something in a very small (3 person) office - all but 1 person was out on calls, and the lone woman there comes out sobbing to me "no point in installing that, they just phoned -- our entire section is gone as of the end of the month". She had just come back to work after winning a battle with Cancer and of course was emotionally all over the place with just that to cope with, let alone this. Shittiest month ever.

[Hal-9000]

Was that before or after you pooped on your desk?

For whatever reason I didn't say or do anything on the way out.

In retrospect it wouldn't have mattered because my old company 'doesn't give referrals' as a policy. I have a whole other story about that and a conversation I had with the head of HR one year but won't bore you...

So yeah you work at a place for over 20 years and no referral. Causes a bit of a gap in your resume

Typically your current supervisor would give you a personal referral outside of a company reference.

Wanna hear what happened to my last supervisor?

He was an in-shape black dude in his mid 30's. He coached and played flag football after work. Newly married with a new baby. Wife was a nurse, life was fine.

I quit, the company moves to new facility six months later, folding three huge buildings across the city into one.

Supervisor gets through that change...just barely as I heard it went south a million different ways and took two months longer than planned. Typical for the company.

Then one day he has a heart attack They had worked at the new place for about 30 days.

He's off work for six weeks, returns, and the company lets him go. Not sure if it was his choice or decision, but as usual I hear they treated him badly on the way out.

Further to that him and I were close friends and he calls me saying he doesn't want to give anyone a reference who worked there. Things got testy I guess and he gave the same explanation to four other employees who ended up leaving.

I know they made him sign something because he was generally an open and engaging guy...and he sounded a little scared on the phone.


Anyways...yeah heart attack at 36 and then laid off upon return. Thanks people!

[RBP]

That dude looks like one of my financial advisers..

I wish I had money and a financial advisor.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

For whatever reason I didn't say or do anything on the way out.

In retrospect it wouldn't have mattered because my old company 'doesn't give referrals' as a policy. I have a whole other story about that and a conversation I had with the head of HR one year but won't bore you...

So yeah you work at a place for over 20 years and no referral. Causes a bit of a gap in your resume

Typically your current supervisor would give you a personal referral outside of a company reference.

Wanna hear what happened to my last supervisor?

He was an in-shape black dude in his mid 30's. He coached and played flag football after work. Newly married with a new baby. Wife was a nurse, life was fine.

I quit, the company moves to new facility six months later, folding three huge buildings across the city into one.

Supervisor gets through that change...just barely as I heard it went south a million different ways and took two months longer than planned. Typical for the company.

Then one day he has a heart attack They had worked at the new place for about 30 days.

He's off work for six weeks, returns, and the company lets him go. Not sure if it was his choice or decision, but as usual I hear they treated him badly on the way out.

Further to that him and I were close friends and he calls me saying he doesn't want to give anyone a reference who worked there. Things got testy I guess and he gave the same explanation to four other employees who ended up leaving.

I know they made him sign something because he was generally an open and engaging guy...and he sounded a little scared on the phone.


Anyways...yeah heart attack at 36 and then laid off upon return. Thanks people!

Damn

[Hal-9000]

Sorry man GF's post brought back a lot of bad memories...

I knew a CSR who was always positive and happy. She worked late every night and every weekend. She was one of those weird people who had kind of an inner light/strong spirit no matter what shit was going down at work. One of those terminally perky people who pisses you off because of the perkiness

She gets laid off and comes by my warehouse to say goodbye in person. She was pale, dark rings under her eyes and had this haunted look. Like a death camp survivor. She gives me a hug and thanks me for the help and laughs, then starts crying.

She had been there for over nine years and still didn't know why they let her go. It was always restructuring or change used as the excuse. When really it was mismanagement of processes, employees and funds by management. Classic corporate scenario...lots of money and work coming in from clients and resources wasted and misappropriated by middle management.

[Noilly Pratt]

I "borrowed" a few tools when i left my previous job for here........

Yeah - me too Hal!

When I left a very underpaying computer telephone support job, I had developed a lot of macros, shortcuts boilerplate documents etc in Excel and Word designed to help me field the calls in a very fast fashion. The guy who was my "supervisor" (I had a actual qualification, he was basically a whizkid hacker 5 years my junior who thought he was the shit but was the most haphazard but brilliant individual) poo-pooed my methods, saying that I needed them as crutches etc. Stats came in and I was fielding about double the calls he was...anyway. He was too proud to ask how I exactly did it.

When I gave my 2 weeks notice, leaving for a job that payed about double what I was getting there, accounting short-changed me and gave me a paltry last cheque - "because I took too much vacation" which was BS as it was only a week and my shitty car left me stranded in the middle of f-ing nowhere, so I had to get a bus back, which took an extra day. "Don't worry about it" my boss said at the time. They also basically treated me like dirt the 2 weeks after I announced I was leaving, asking me to take out trash when I never did before etc.

So, on the last day I knew they were very lax at doing backups. I went in my personal folder where all my macros etc were kept, and wouldn't you know, my files somehow got deleted.

[Hal-9000]

Happy Friday to all of the working folks, end of the week


and for everybody, have a good one

[DemonGeminiX]

They're calling the final Star Wars movie The Rise of Skywalker?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

They're calling the final Star Wars movie The Rise of Skywalker?

I'm calling it Lance Doesn't Care

[DemonGeminiX]

Why is there even a Violence Against Women Act (which they snuck anti-gun legislation into, btw)? Why is it any different if violence is committed against a man by a man, or a woman by a woman, or a man by a woman, or a woman by a man? Aren't we all equal under law?

[DemonGeminiX]

I have got to stop reading the news.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Why is there even a Violence Against Women Act (which they snuck anti-gun legislation into, btw)? Why is it any different if violence is committed against a man by a man, or a woman by a woman, or a man by a woman, or a woman by a man? Aren't we all equal under law?