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Laid Off...
posted on: 2008-02-07 at 9:47:00 AM
I've thought this over and over and logically, it's simple: If I stayed on board for two more weeks, I would have been granted about $3000 in the form of a severance package that I am otherwise ineligible for (Feb. 21st would have been my 1st year anniversary). The store will remain open for at least two more weeks, and thus, if I stayed on board, I should have been able to get my severance.
Somebody at the liquidation company made the decision that they as the days dwindle, the number of on-board managers should dwindle as well. Sure, this makes perfect sense -- I'm down with that. However, what doesn't make sense to me is this: There are five managers at my store. I am the least paid and am one of only two that have the experience of closing another store.
Q. Why get rid of the least paid manager who has the most experience closing this store?
A. Because I have the most to lose!
By keeping me on, and not laying off one of the other, more expensive and less experienced managers, the company would have to dole out about $3000 (minus the $500 - $1000 difference in salary) more than if they have not. Apparently, my work in the store isn't worth the $2000 spread over the next 14 days.
But I contest that notion: All I would have to do was make the company about $200 more per day that I am working. I could have totally pulled it off.
This is where my morals and work ethic seem to differ than those of most. When I ran my video game store, if confronted with the option to either watch the bottom-line and cover my own ass .. or to take a risk for one of my employees, I would "take one for the team." In fact, I've done that on a few occasions: I'd protect one of my employees by putting my own job on the line.
The way I see it is this: When you are in a position of control, you call the shots. If someone above you cries "FOUL" and questions your actions, you MANAGE. You explain why-- and one of the dirty little secrets of management is that you can make any bullshit story you want to get your point across. It all comes down to whether the decision was "right" or "wrong," and if the boss was dumb enough to fall for it.
For me, I protected my PEOPLE, not my bottom-line. And my heart is big enough to see the benefit of losing a relatively small bit of money for the sake of helping a good employee's family.
It is very transparent what is happening here. Save a dollar. My work ethic does not apply because I don't make those hard decisions. Somewhere up the chain, someone is making a few hundred dollars more than they would have if they had let me stay on a few more weeks.
HEY, FUCK YOU.
I could play the pity card here, but I won't. I knew this was coming, and no one expected the stores to stay open as long as they have -- so I was never expecting the severance pay as an option until just recently.
Still, I am mad as hell.
posted by Carl
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This Sucks...
posted on: 2007-12-11 at 11:11:00 AM
I got my promotion on November 2nd (read here). I have been employed as a "Merchandise Sales Manager" for 34 days before one of the richest men in the world, Carlos Slim, cashed out one of his many empires, which happened to be the place of my employment.
GOD DAMMMMMMMMIT. Wait.. Doesn't this sound familiar? Haven't I already gone through this once before?
Yes. I have. I've already closed one of these stores. I've already gone through the ridiculous amount of wheeling and dealing with various annoying cheapskates while pedaling shitty merchandise. I hated it then, and I am fairly certain I am going to hate it now.
What is driving me nuts more than anything is how, at this company, I have never been stable. Here is the time-line:
- Oct. 2002: Carl gets job running video game store.
- Feb. 2007: Carl leaves fun (albeit low-paying) game store to work in greater pastures. Gets job at giant computer store as Asst. Sales Manager. More pay, great bonus opportunities, better benefits, etc. YAY.
- +4 days: Company closes half of their stores, including the one Carl was just hired in days before. Awesome general manager leaves. Newly promoted sales manager, myself, and warehouse manager forced to manage closing store without a CLUE.
- +80 days: We suck rocks. Close store. Carl has no new job in sight.
- +2 days: Carl gets re-hired as "regional" pseudo "manager in training" at new location. N0 benefits, no bonuses, no "home store."
- +3 weeks: Carl is back with his old boss whom he loves. Takes the good with the bad and makes-do with his half-ass situation.
- + 65 days: Carl gets temporarily relocated to far-away location. Enjoys 38 - 60 mile commute (depending on babysitting requirements). Begs and pleads to go back to the "home" store. Sucks rocks, again.
- +35 days: PROMOTION! Carl is back at his home store! Back with his favorite boss! Benefits! Bonuses! Breaths multiple sighs of relief!
- +?? Carlos Slim closes store. Rinse. Repeat. Retch.
But instead .. I'll take this as pure entertainment .. again.
I think I am going to stop working in the retail field. I love people, I am a great salesperson, and I know it's an easy buck for me to make -- but IT IS NOT WORTH THE STRESS. My plan now is to go down with the ship. The light at the end of this fucked up tunnel is called "Unemployment Compensation." Yay liberal democrats!
I'll chalk all of this up as one of the weirdest years of my life.
What next? I am thinking of trying to brush up on web development again. I know I love to design and code websites -- and I know I am fairly good at it -- but I am as rusty as that Miller Genuine Draft Pontiac driver! LAWLZ. I do know that I will reap the unemployment for a good while as I spend that time restructuring my life. My house is a mess, my emotional foundation isn't very good, and I have a lot of repairing to do. Most importantly, I am going to spend a lot of quality time with my kid. I almost never get to see him and that isn't cool with me.
Labels: new life, stress, work
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The Wilderness
posted on: 2007-09-20 at 8:12:00 AM
Sorry for the long pause in the blogging (again). I used to update this thing once every few days! GAH! I'm going to try to stop being such a slacker and start posting more -- I PROMISE!So, what's new in CarlLand? Firstly, I just got back from a most bizarre camping trip. This was the first camping trip for Angie and I that included a baby. We were worried that he may not like the great outdoors, so we had our contingency plan afoot: cut and run. If he became a nuisance, we'd just toss him and all of our gear in the car and head back home. But to our surprise -- he was fantastic the entire time!
We went to Seaquest State Park in Washington State. We've been there before and enjoyed our experience the last time. We like it because it's the closest (reservable) state park to Mt. St. Helens and is also clean and quiet. Our plans were to spend one day near the volcano at the two observatories, one day hiking through the dense forest, and the rest of our time relaxing at the campsite.
Well, none of that happened (except the relaxing .. we relaxed a little).
On our way to the campsite, Angie tripped and did something nasty to her ankle which pretty much derailed our plans to go hiking. I had to put in a half-shift at work the day we left, so we arrived pretty late and only had an hour of daylight to set up camp. We were crippled from the beginning.
The first night was actually quite nice! The weather was cool and calm, Oliver was content, and we were able to enjoy some grilled steaks. We all slept through the night with no problems, too (I think Oliver was better behaved because he was sleeping in the same "room" as mom and dad).
The next morning looked promising: The weather was overcast, but all indications were that the cloud cover was low enough that the view of Mt. St. Helens was spectacular from the observatories. We wanted to get everything ready, so we drove out to get some necessities and then came back to the campsite to load up on firewood for that night.
That's when the car broke down.
We've been having this problem with the car for months now where the ignition won't turn over without hitting it with a hammer. Well, the hammer no longer worked -- so we were sitting there next to the camp host on a beautiful day .. stranded. Luckily the camp hosts were very nice and drove me to the nearest phone and helped contact a locak locksmith. It took a few hours for him to come out -- but he did. He expected the job to take "less than an hour."When he was done completely dismantling the dashboard and steering column, drilling the old ignition, building the new one from scratch and installing it -- over three hours elapsed. Our day was ruined. No volcano, no picnic, no relaxing at the campsite. I do have to admit, the locksmith (of J&J's Auto Locksmith from Kelso, WA) was VERY professional, polite and reasonable. The experience wasn't all bad -- I got to chat it up with the camp hosts and learn a lot about Ford ignitions along the way.
The next day is when the weather went sour. Rain, fog, cold, rain, more rain, more fog, and then more rain. Determined like only we can be -- we still decided to head up to the observatories. The visibility was next to nothing. The view was WHITE. The funny thing is -- the view of the PARKING LOT was WHITE. The fog was so thick, we couldn't see the observatory itself until we were near it.
We headed back the next day -- and of course, I went directly to work that afternoon. As Soul II Soul would say: "Back to liiiiife... back to reality..."
In other news: I'm now working in the Tigard store. I don't mind it so much except for commute -- and the fact that it is in Tigard. I drive about 20 miles each way. I did the math and I'm guessing I'm spending nearly $1000 in a gas per year. I used to work in the west side (Nike, Excell Data Corp. and others) I do NOT miss the west side at all -- that place is not my style. The main roads have 12 lanes! When you're at a red light .. it can take ten minutes to get through! The thing that seems extra weird to me is that almost every driver is a single-occupant car. Where's the HOV lanes? Where's the bicyclists? Where's the anti-Bush bumper-sticker laden Toyota Priuses? I guess there is always Washington Square.. IF SOMEONE CAN SHOW ME HOW TO GET THERE!!! GAHH!!
I miss my old store, but I'm learning that I can't really grow roots as a "manager in training." Soon, hopefully, I'll be landing a permanent REAL manager's position complete with the manager perks.
The weather is changing and I'm LOVING it. I've worked hard to secure my studio and make it more toddler-proof. Angie and I rearranged the whole living area and put all the "safe" stuff on one side and all the baby-damaging stuff on the other. We're going to put a big fence down the middle and keep him supervised when he's in the "ouchie" side.
I am going to try to make a CD this Christmas. It's been three years. I sooooo miss being an active artist sometimes. LIFE IS BUSY NOW.
Labels: camping, fall, oliver, work
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Way Too Long
posted on: 2007-07-26 at 5:51:00 PM
So many things have happened lately .. and I kept telling myself "Wow... I just had an awesome experience .. I should really write about it!" Then a few days pass and the newness of it fades -- and frankly, it's hard to write something witty and blogger-y about something that isn't fresh on my mind. So .. no witty banter for you today, just the lame versions:
First -- Oliver. He's great! He's growing like a weed and is proving to be a super well-behaved little boy! However, he is entering a phase where he likes to cry VERY LOUDLY. The ratio of happy to cry is still about the same (I'd say .. 20:1) -- but the severity of the cry bit has become quite overwhelming. I think he's teething for real this time. Also, he really is looking more and more like a little man and less like a bulbous flesh mutant - thing. He is growing tall and his facial expressions are more acute. AWWW CUTE. Get it?My job has been pretty annoying lately -- although my complaining isn't very well founded. I've been at the new store for a few months now as a "Manager in Training," which is nice in that I get to dabble in all of the facets of the the store's operations. But the past month has been strictly one facet: Merchandise Management. t('.'t)
In one of my training meetings, I was told the following line .. and it was enunciated in a way that gave emphasis on the positive:
"This is the one and only job in retail where, if you do you job perfectly, nobody will bother you."
WHAT THE CRAP IS THIS? No one bother me? GAAAHHH!! I want to be bothered! I don't like working alone. I don't like repetition! I don't like things that require my focus for long periods of time!
All day every day I open boxes. Scan product. Count pieces. Compare shipped counts to packing lists. Fill out RA's (receiving authorizations .. I think). Enter numbers in the computer. Over and over and over and fucking over again. The most human interaction I get is in the few times I day I get to crawl out of the coal mine that is the receiving area and mingle with the sales staff and cashiers at the front of the store. I'm sure I look like a goon when I do because I have so much pent-up energy. BLAHABLAHAUGHPHLAUGHZ!
That being said, I am grateful that I have a good (solid?) job and that I do enjoy working for the company. Also, I know that what I'm doing now is giving me much-needed experience. If the path I choose is retail management, this is a required hurdle. WEE, HURDLE!
In other news: After seven long years, my good friends Alex and Shannon got married! The wedding was held at a nearby park on a beautiful Portland summer day. The setting was wonderful-- completely casual and free-flowing. Lots of sugary treats were served in the forms of candy, cupcakes, and alcohol. It was great to finally see them tie the knot.
I've known Alex since 1993 and Shannon since 1998, and being ones of the "old guard," there were many invited to the wedding that I haven't seen in years -- and it was quite a shock to be reunited with so many familiar faces. OH, DO I FEEL OLD NOW.
That evening, a few wedding attendees came over for a little reunion at my place. We busted out the Wii and played some Wii Sports bowling. Everything was great except for my dear friend Kalina accidentally bowled a heaping cup of sugary coffee into the 57" High-Def DLP television. Wii have a problem.
The impact caused massive damage to the screen, as well as sprayed sticky coffee all over the electronic devices situated in the shelves below. The coffee made its way inside the TV where it spread up into the screen and caused a giant dark splotch, which we all jokingly referred to as "The Whale." I must admit -- I think that night was a true test of everyone's maturity. I didn't blow my top, Kalina didn't break-down. Angie kept her cool and provided (much needed) levity to the situation. Mike intelligently remained sidelined through the entire ordeal.After the dust settled, I took apart the screen on the TV and attempted to clean the coffee from between the lens and the outer screen. My good friend Chris and his wife Jaime showed up later that night helped out. It took a good part of the weekend, but I was able to completely fix the problem (well -- mostly).
As I said to Kalina in an email the next day:
"What happened last night was an accident. Shit happens. It's all aI FORGIVE YOU KALINA.
part of life. If you invest in an expensive TV and a video game
system that involves flailing about crazily, whether you want to or
not, you also invest in imaginary insurance which is not paid in cash,
but in large amounts of forgiveness."
So .. other than Oliver's awesomeness, work's annoyances, Alex and Shannon's commitment, my television's close encounters with coffee -- there is only one other chunk of news that I feel fitting to blog about: I FINALLY TRADED IN MY DRUM SET!
I held on to those bastards thinking I would learn to drum well and maybe do something other than drunkenly beat at them -- but I finally faced reality and took them in to the local Trade-Up Music and got some freakin' COOL TOYS. Specifically, I got a MicroKORG and a homemade Theremin. The MicroKORG is perfect for my tastes, and I frankly, I was lucky to find one in such good shape at the price it was. I've been spending the past few days learning to create patches from scratch:
Dual layered Square Wave + LFO oscillation mapped to the Pulse Width married to 50% white-noise filter w/ resonance and variable cut-off MAKES CARL HAPPY.
The Theremin on the other hand -- that's the opposite of the MicroKORG. The Korg syntch = a gazillion ways to make it sound cool. The Theremin = two: Pitch and Amplitude. Dichotomy. Juxtaposition. Happy times.
I made a quick semi-inebriated video capture of me playing with my new Theremin the first night I got it. He is well loved in this house. I think I will name him "Olaf."
Labels: microkorg, theremin, wii, work
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SORRY
posted on: 2007-06-18 at 11:04:00 PM
To tide you over until I am able to update this, here are two pictures that should keep you well entertained:
He's 5 months old! He PWNS you! In fact, I dare say, he 1337pwn3zzZZ!!!1two you. And if that wasn't enough. Here's a pic I took from the new LED Mac Book Pro's iSight cam:
Stay tuned boys and ghouls.
Labels: oliver, pwn, sorry, work
posted by Carl
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An End of an Era
posted on: 2007-05-14 at 8:49:00 AM
Jebus... Where do I start?Firstly: I want to hereby publicly announce that I am chalking up the past three months of my professional life as PURE ENTERTAINMENT. As I've written in prior blogs, and as some of you know from talking to me in real life .. the Computer "Mega Store" that I was hired on to be a manager for closed within the first four days of my working there.
Replace super-cool store Manager, Mike with Bob. Bob had bitch tits. WAIT NO, NO HE DID NOT HAVE BITCH TITS. THAT IS A LINE FROM A MOVIE. I'VE BEEN WAITING TO SAY THAT FOR MONTHS
Bob is the man in charge of the liquidation sale. He is one of the most interesting and bizzare people that I have ever had the pleasure to interact with. Bob is from Wisconsin. He is old(er) and has been in the retail-sales arena since the 1970s. I've been in sales for a long time -- and maybe it's as simple as old-school vs. new-school, but where I come from, being a successful salesperson equals being helpful, understanding, and caring. I think, possibly, the general intelligence of the average technology consumer has increased in the past decades -- and with the advent of the internet, getting specifications, price comparisons, reviews, etc. is second nature to most people.
You can't swindle most customers today. In the 1970s, you could -- and moreover, that was how salespeople thrived. Consumers didn't know what "solid state" or "high fidelity" meant because (unless their uncle was a Ham radio operator) that information was only spread via specialty magazines and "shop talk."
Bob's disposition is one of cynicism and pessimism. I find myself trying to "cheer him up" (as do the girls behind the counter .. which is another source of hilarity for me). He smiles often, but it seems to me he's just waiting for the next opportunity to hem-and-haw about something insignificant. I will cut Bob a break because his job is to deal with stores that are closing -- customer retention, referrals and overall customer satisfaction are not things that will necessarily serve him well. Also, making lasting relationships with those he works with has no lasting value, either.
Bob is a nomad.
It has been both grating and wholly entertaining to work in my closing store for the past few months. I have been serendipitously placed in the middle of the likes of Bob and his cronies, bright-eyed high-school kids, and the most overly-dramatic and rabble-rousing employees I've interacted with in a long time (which isn't a bad thing-- it takes a very comfortable and open workplace to allow such behavior).
So, I've been working amidst chaos. The store looks like an Alabama mobile-home park and I'm quite done with it. Today is the last official day there, and I am EFFING HAPPY. As I've said .. this is 100% entertainment for me. I have a few days of store clean-up ahead of me and then I start my new job (same company, different location). I cannot wait!
*SIGH* In other news, the spawn is awesome. He's kicking ass and taking names and as it's turning out to prove, he's quite the flirt. He loves people and he LOVES the women (I don't know whether to be proud or scared). He's four months old now and you can see TONS of pics in my pics section.
He had ear surgery last month and is now officially bionic in that he has tube implants. There was a significant amount of drainage which in most cases is bad, but in our case, is good because it shows that his hearing loss was probably due to some "leftover" gunk in his middle ear. Hopefully his hearing will increase significantly soon. We still have some more tests to go through to find out, though.
I'm going to hit level 58 in World of Warcraft soon and FINALLY make it to the Outlands. Before any of you reading this get angry at that last sentence, please realize that I've played that game since December of 2004. You do the math.
I'll catch you all up on the other facets of my miserable little life soon.
PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
posted by Carl
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