Better make a decision..
Be a moron and keep your position
I don't know how many people this happens to, but sometimes I hear a song lyric I have heard 100's of times, but it all of a sudden applies in a different way for that 689th listen and I end up laughing at the irony of it - which is the case for the above referenced song lyric. In particular, what was funny - or it would be funny if it was not so pathetic anyways, was my current boss who made an attempt if you want to call it that, to talk me into staying where I presently work. I don't know if it finally sunk in that I was leaving, or if he was just following the mandatory company protocol in doing this. I hate to sound conceded here, but I carry the place where I work at this particular location, and I have always put in the extra time and effort - actually to the point of working entire weekends at past times, to reach the goals and keep our clients happy. I will not be easily replaced. Maybe my pride in doing a good job has made it a perfect situation for those in charge of me to take advantage of me - and yet I can't entirely blame them because I have been the willing slave all this time. If you are willing to constantly bend over, maybe crying rape is just assigning the blame to the raper.
I may have referenced Moose Turd Pie by Utah Philips before, a frequent Dr. Demento favorite. In a nutshell, nobody wants to be the cook so the incentive is to cook horrible food to get others to complain, and when one guy takes a moose turd and turns it into a pie, the guy who eats it says it is good anyways. I kind of see my present employment situation that way. I have put in the time and hours, the extra hours that on salary I might see as a tiny bonus, the late night call outs to truck accidents, often at the expense of my family life. And I have heard the countless promises from those in charge of me that help would be on the way, that someone would come up to take the load off my hands, that things were going to change, that they didn't want to "burn me out". I have also heard the countless cheese about how great of an asset I am, how valued I am, the praises from management - local and regional - and don't get me wrong, it is nice to be appreciated. But when you hear it on one hand, and then you hear countless broken promises on the other hand, you almost start to believe that what they are really telling you is that is nice to have such a self-sacrificing fool on our hands so we can reap the profits while you have nothing to show for it except for your undying devotion to those who continue to rape you and take advantage of you for doing that.
I know of those that work two jobs to get by. I know of some who work 100 hours a week non stop just to make ends meet, or work countless hours in the fields slaving away, up to 14 hours a day. So in comparison, I could make the argument that I was lucky to have a job at all, a job that provided for me and my family, gave us an ability to have a home, food, water, the amenities of modern society that none of us should take for granted. So on one level I could not complain - I mean - it could always be worse. Yet at the same time, if someone is willing to pay you a good 20% more for doing a job that is not as demanding - or at least is realistically demanding (or so I am led to believe) and they appear to be reflecting the "market value" (the first company I talked to was apparently going to pay me the same amount) - which now leads me to believe I am 20% underpaid for the going market value - wouldn't you be a complete "moron" like the song says, to not take the offer? Well - of course you would - which is why it took me about a fraction of a nano-second to say yes when the offer was made to me.
I had tried complaining to my boss about a year and a half ago when I thought he was really pushing the line by assigning me auto appraisals after I was literally buried in snow claims from the worst winter here of close to 100 years. So on April 14, 2005 after a sleepless night I sent him this e-mail:
"I did not sleep last night - that is how worked up I got over seeing auto appraisals on my screen that I was never told about. I feel dis-respected. I feel like the meeting I had with you might as well have never happened. I hate to do something extreme - like talk about resigning, because I do value this job,but like I told you during our meeting, if I don't feel like I am on the same page with you - I don't want to work in a job that is going to be that stressful to me - because it just is not worth it. I am not resigning - yet - but I am making it clear, if this does not change my future at this company will be limited and I will be considering my options elsewhere. I don't want to be an auto appraiser as long as I have 50 hours a week of property to keep me busy. You initially said you would check with me on autos, that did not happen. You said I would get one a week, I just got 4 - one of them is a whole wasted day in (long distance location). I just turned in record numbers for you, and I feel like I am being punished for my good work. You also told me to be more like (another employee). If I am this busy with property, than I don't even know if I can turn in the quality he did with autos. I will get to the autos - when I can - even though as you pointed out yesterday I am way behind still on my futurity. The property work is still coming in. I am feeling very stressed and overwhelmed right now. I do not want to work in a 2 person office and carry the load forever. Life is too short for that. I need help and I need it now. Thanks."
I was not in a position to really negotiate as I had nothing lined up at the time - so after placating me with a person sent up for a couple days to help, he later took the John Wayne approach and said I was "hijacking" him and told me in essence that I had to do what I was paid to do, and if not he would find someone else who would. He had to show he was the man in charge, and as I was not in a position to do anything else at that time, I bowed down and did as I was asked. I read a section of a Carlos Castaneda book about the "petty tyrant" and just figured it was better to accept demands instead of winning a fight I could not win then. Yet - I think in making my intentions clear, he was "on notice" anyways of what I wanted to do. He just figured if I had such a low amount of self esteem to do everything he asked of me, I wasn't going anywhere. He figured he had me - so it stayed that way up until now - when I think I completely shocked him by telling him I was leaving. At that point, it was almost like the game was up and all the bullshit he had been flinging at me was no longer going to work.
So now we are having a cheese contest. I am telling him how much of a great guy he was to work for and I wish I could stay, but I have to do what I have to do. None of this is being brought up and I highly doubt they have a link to this - but even if they do - well then so what. So the last time he asked me to call him on Tuesday, he gave me that one last pitch to take another bite out of that moose turd pie - only this time he was going to dress it up and maybe call it a moose turd souflet on a croissant role. When I talked to him, there was no mention of finances. I had just gotten a whopping 3% raise right at the time Sara was having all of her costly medical problems. His argument to me was that I had about 4 1/2 weeks of vacation time I was going to lose out on. True - I have only 2 at my next job. Considering though - that a vacation day is more just a day in the week to not set appointments - that the workload does not let up and I am the only schlepp up here in this area to do the work asked - than in reality, you take that day off during the week and you end up working it on the weekend and it is not a vacation day at all. That is why the company raised the vacation from 3 to 4 weeks for senior staff like me - hell - they could give us 8 weeks - it is a free benefit to them, because you are still expected to carry the load and be punished if you don't - either that or in an office setting they would just dump your work on someone else. It is like a piece of hollow cheese, in that it sounds great on paper, but no substance is there when you try to bite into it.
The other benefit he mentioned was the 5% of salary 401K contribution - not bad, but not nowhere as good as the 2/3 of salary pension plan that was yanked from us about midway through my stay with them. And at the new place there will be a pension plan in an age when that is a rarity. So again, what sounds better - a pension plan or a cheap ass 401K contribution. Were these arguments really supposed to sway me, or was it that I had gobbled up so much bullshit during my stay that it was just assumed this would fly too. Again - almost laughable if not so pathetic.
So it was my turn to go one up on bullshit, saying I loved working for the guy - hell I would even work for him over there if I could, that I could end up working for him again - you just never know - but it was my calling to give it a shot. Heck we had our past issues, but that happens with everyone - nothing personal. He said he would love to take me back if I ever need a job with him again (probably another lie, but sounds good) and it was a nice cheesy conversation but the reality is, if I have to go back there again - that notion alone is going to motivate me to do everything humanly possible to succeed at my new place. Sure - 3 week catastrophe shifts out of state are going to suck, but that is a sacrifice I can deal with. From the looks of things, it looks like this job is going to be a place where maybe I can find some dignity in my job, and get the compensation I deserve in the process. It is not going to make me rich by any stretch, but maybe a few more pennies might make me go from a drowning position to barely having my head over water. I just got the letter officially in writing from them outlining my position and pay, and 3 weeks from tomorrow I fly out to the city of lost wages to start training. I have to admit, even with the daylight as low as it is now, it does seem like a new hope for me to start somewhere new. I have always loved my job - driving around - meeting people - seeing the countryside, but it would be real nice to do it in a setting where some basic respect and courtesy is given instead of demeaning lies, false promises and bullshit - and I am not expecting a conflict free situation, but if it is what it appears to be - maybe - just maybe - I can work in a better environment and make the most of the job that I love to do. Maybe all the self-respect I have been preaching to myself in my songs is being reflected in my outside environment like a mirror - since I do believe we create our own reality based on what is inside of us. If anything, I can't see how it could be any worse - as the Beatles song says:
Got to admit it's getting better
A little better, all the time
It can't get no worse
I don't know how many people this happens to, but sometimes I hear a song lyric I have heard 100's of times, but it all of a sudden applies in a different way for that 689th listen and I end up laughing at the irony of it - which is the case for the above referenced song lyric. In particular, what was funny - or it would be funny if it was not so pathetic anyways, was my current boss who made an attempt if you want to call it that, to talk me into staying where I presently work. I don't know if it finally sunk in that I was leaving, or if he was just following the mandatory company protocol in doing this. I hate to sound conceded here, but I carry the place where I work at this particular location, and I have always put in the extra time and effort - actually to the point of working entire weekends at past times, to reach the goals and keep our clients happy. I will not be easily replaced. Maybe my pride in doing a good job has made it a perfect situation for those in charge of me to take advantage of me - and yet I can't entirely blame them because I have been the willing slave all this time. If you are willing to constantly bend over, maybe crying rape is just assigning the blame to the raper.
I may have referenced Moose Turd Pie by Utah Philips before, a frequent Dr. Demento favorite. In a nutshell, nobody wants to be the cook so the incentive is to cook horrible food to get others to complain, and when one guy takes a moose turd and turns it into a pie, the guy who eats it says it is good anyways. I kind of see my present employment situation that way. I have put in the time and hours, the extra hours that on salary I might see as a tiny bonus, the late night call outs to truck accidents, often at the expense of my family life. And I have heard the countless promises from those in charge of me that help would be on the way, that someone would come up to take the load off my hands, that things were going to change, that they didn't want to "burn me out". I have also heard the countless cheese about how great of an asset I am, how valued I am, the praises from management - local and regional - and don't get me wrong, it is nice to be appreciated. But when you hear it on one hand, and then you hear countless broken promises on the other hand, you almost start to believe that what they are really telling you is that is nice to have such a self-sacrificing fool on our hands so we can reap the profits while you have nothing to show for it except for your undying devotion to those who continue to rape you and take advantage of you for doing that.
I know of those that work two jobs to get by. I know of some who work 100 hours a week non stop just to make ends meet, or work countless hours in the fields slaving away, up to 14 hours a day. So in comparison, I could make the argument that I was lucky to have a job at all, a job that provided for me and my family, gave us an ability to have a home, food, water, the amenities of modern society that none of us should take for granted. So on one level I could not complain - I mean - it could always be worse. Yet at the same time, if someone is willing to pay you a good 20% more for doing a job that is not as demanding - or at least is realistically demanding (or so I am led to believe) and they appear to be reflecting the "market value" (the first company I talked to was apparently going to pay me the same amount) - which now leads me to believe I am 20% underpaid for the going market value - wouldn't you be a complete "moron" like the song says, to not take the offer? Well - of course you would - which is why it took me about a fraction of a nano-second to say yes when the offer was made to me.
I had tried complaining to my boss about a year and a half ago when I thought he was really pushing the line by assigning me auto appraisals after I was literally buried in snow claims from the worst winter here of close to 100 years. So on April 14, 2005 after a sleepless night I sent him this e-mail:
"I did not sleep last night - that is how worked up I got over seeing auto appraisals on my screen that I was never told about. I feel dis-respected. I feel like the meeting I had with you might as well have never happened. I hate to do something extreme - like talk about resigning, because I do value this job,but like I told you during our meeting, if I don't feel like I am on the same page with you - I don't want to work in a job that is going to be that stressful to me - because it just is not worth it. I am not resigning - yet - but I am making it clear, if this does not change my future at this company will be limited and I will be considering my options elsewhere. I don't want to be an auto appraiser as long as I have 50 hours a week of property to keep me busy. You initially said you would check with me on autos, that did not happen. You said I would get one a week, I just got 4 - one of them is a whole wasted day in (long distance location). I just turned in record numbers for you, and I feel like I am being punished for my good work. You also told me to be more like (another employee). If I am this busy with property, than I don't even know if I can turn in the quality he did with autos. I will get to the autos - when I can - even though as you pointed out yesterday I am way behind still on my futurity. The property work is still coming in. I am feeling very stressed and overwhelmed right now. I do not want to work in a 2 person office and carry the load forever. Life is too short for that. I need help and I need it now. Thanks."
I was not in a position to really negotiate as I had nothing lined up at the time - so after placating me with a person sent up for a couple days to help, he later took the John Wayne approach and said I was "hijacking" him and told me in essence that I had to do what I was paid to do, and if not he would find someone else who would. He had to show he was the man in charge, and as I was not in a position to do anything else at that time, I bowed down and did as I was asked. I read a section of a Carlos Castaneda book about the "petty tyrant" and just figured it was better to accept demands instead of winning a fight I could not win then. Yet - I think in making my intentions clear, he was "on notice" anyways of what I wanted to do. He just figured if I had such a low amount of self esteem to do everything he asked of me, I wasn't going anywhere. He figured he had me - so it stayed that way up until now - when I think I completely shocked him by telling him I was leaving. At that point, it was almost like the game was up and all the bullshit he had been flinging at me was no longer going to work.
So now we are having a cheese contest. I am telling him how much of a great guy he was to work for and I wish I could stay, but I have to do what I have to do. None of this is being brought up and I highly doubt they have a link to this - but even if they do - well then so what. So the last time he asked me to call him on Tuesday, he gave me that one last pitch to take another bite out of that moose turd pie - only this time he was going to dress it up and maybe call it a moose turd souflet on a croissant role. When I talked to him, there was no mention of finances. I had just gotten a whopping 3% raise right at the time Sara was having all of her costly medical problems. His argument to me was that I had about 4 1/2 weeks of vacation time I was going to lose out on. True - I have only 2 at my next job. Considering though - that a vacation day is more just a day in the week to not set appointments - that the workload does not let up and I am the only schlepp up here in this area to do the work asked - than in reality, you take that day off during the week and you end up working it on the weekend and it is not a vacation day at all. That is why the company raised the vacation from 3 to 4 weeks for senior staff like me - hell - they could give us 8 weeks - it is a free benefit to them, because you are still expected to carry the load and be punished if you don't - either that or in an office setting they would just dump your work on someone else. It is like a piece of hollow cheese, in that it sounds great on paper, but no substance is there when you try to bite into it.
The other benefit he mentioned was the 5% of salary 401K contribution - not bad, but not nowhere as good as the 2/3 of salary pension plan that was yanked from us about midway through my stay with them. And at the new place there will be a pension plan in an age when that is a rarity. So again, what sounds better - a pension plan or a cheap ass 401K contribution. Were these arguments really supposed to sway me, or was it that I had gobbled up so much bullshit during my stay that it was just assumed this would fly too. Again - almost laughable if not so pathetic.
So it was my turn to go one up on bullshit, saying I loved working for the guy - hell I would even work for him over there if I could, that I could end up working for him again - you just never know - but it was my calling to give it a shot. Heck we had our past issues, but that happens with everyone - nothing personal. He said he would love to take me back if I ever need a job with him again (probably another lie, but sounds good) and it was a nice cheesy conversation but the reality is, if I have to go back there again - that notion alone is going to motivate me to do everything humanly possible to succeed at my new place. Sure - 3 week catastrophe shifts out of state are going to suck, but that is a sacrifice I can deal with. From the looks of things, it looks like this job is going to be a place where maybe I can find some dignity in my job, and get the compensation I deserve in the process. It is not going to make me rich by any stretch, but maybe a few more pennies might make me go from a drowning position to barely having my head over water. I just got the letter officially in writing from them outlining my position and pay, and 3 weeks from tomorrow I fly out to the city of lost wages to start training. I have to admit, even with the daylight as low as it is now, it does seem like a new hope for me to start somewhere new. I have always loved my job - driving around - meeting people - seeing the countryside, but it would be real nice to do it in a setting where some basic respect and courtesy is given instead of demeaning lies, false promises and bullshit - and I am not expecting a conflict free situation, but if it is what it appears to be - maybe - just maybe - I can work in a better environment and make the most of the job that I love to do. Maybe all the self-respect I have been preaching to myself in my songs is being reflected in my outside environment like a mirror - since I do believe we create our own reality based on what is inside of us. If anything, I can't see how it could be any worse - as the Beatles song says:
Got to admit it's getting better
A little better, all the time
It can't get no worse
posted by Zook at 3:30 AM
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