Thanks, corporate america,

[WWJD]

Let me tell a story bout a man named Greg,
A poor tech professional, no family to kept feed,
Then one day, he was sittin in 'Review',
Boss says you rock, but we're givin you the Screw!
...back stabbing that is.... not a man, just a drone...

yeah.. so.. it's like this...
I been at this dot com for 5 years
I survived 5 levels of layoffs during the "crashes"
one of the few new, 'good' breed [compared to previous slacker crew - that all got laid off]
AND they promoted me to manager
and I'm a top producer being able to document and prove how good I am at keeping thingins moving, staying on top of it all
AND they are forcing my methodologies on other parts of my department because they are so effective
AND I'm reliable, rarely call in sick
Everyone in the company loves me and loves working with me
I have offended no one all the way up to the CEO

Corporate America lives for it's money and sees nothing else... no concern for people, no humans, just money. People that live that way get no respect from me - I consider it BAD BUSINESS to live that way.

So, when a new manager came to work over me, my position changed from actually WORKING to more stat tracking and paperwork. NEWSFLASH: I'm happy and most effective as a WORKER BEE not a pointy haired boss.

In a very bold and business unconventional step, I told my boss I was not best suited for my current position [or the position my manager job had morphed into] and recommend a lateral move or demotion of myself, even glad to take a pay cut, to get back to what I am good at, what I love, and what I am motivated to do: help PEOPLE, and fix stuff that's broken. I fully expected the company to show me the door. Instead, they recognized me for the asset that I am, and took quite a few steps to make me happy - offloaded phone work to a new section [that's not really computer related junk] and transfered a problem employee away from me.

So, it's review time and I fill mine out giving myself many low ratings for not keeping up on aspects of my job like compiling stats and making spreadsheets.... things I have no training, no interest, and plan to never get good at seeing as that is not what I AM trained for. My boss does the review and scores me low there also. GEEEE. What a shocker. Haven't I been telling them this for the past year? They already knew about my inability and I had discussed that I was in over my head, maybe not the best choice for the new morphing position.... anyhow, at the end my boss slides this letter over to me that says we have identified problem areas, they are improving, and we will reevalute in September before implementing a raise if any.

Wait. I'm your star performer. Everyone needs to be me. I set the pace, design the best flow, do excellent work, but I'm not so hot at placing numbers in columns of a spread sheet... so I am getting a Performance Improvement Plan [PIP] pushed at me, even after I have already stated this is NOT my strong point and probably never will be? Are they nuts?

I'm am just cog. Always have been. Strange that my HUMANITY is the part that I brought to the company - I bring treats every wednesday, I setup video gaming in the lounge that everyone just LOVES, I'm friendly and supporting to my crew and other departments, I've worked tons of needed overtime through techno-fires, and large project installs....

... and I get written up for performance improvement?

Okay, I wrote all thsi so I could reread it and see if I am being unreasonable. I'm not. I know they have to take preemptive steps to cover their back before ANYTHING could possibly happen on an employee front. Spineless. I'm appauled.

...and job hunting.

 

[pward76]

That sucks, man.

PM sent.

 

[Wag]

That sucks, bro. Best of luck to you.

--Wag--

 

[emptys]

sounds like its time to find a new job...

it sucks that jobs change over time -- and that
you don't always get to do what you like or are
good at...

PM sent.

 

[Revlis]

MMM, Yeah, I'm going to need you to go ahead and come in on Saturday, MMMKay? "We've let some people go and we kind of need to play Catch up."

Do you have that TPS report ready? Don't forget the cover sheet.

Gregg, one thing I learned don't take things laying down. If you got some BS review from an FNG? It's prolly the first steps to move you out so that he can hire his old frat Buddy. It happens a lot. If you're solid and you have proof that you are solid? Go over his head, schedule a meeting with his boss or his bosses boss, but don't just take it at face value. If you're valuable they will make all kinds of effort to keep you happy, if you are NOT a value to them they won't and you will know it's time to move on without any sort of question.

Told you that Burnout was going to haunt you...

Sorry you are in that position, I know it's no fun. Good Luck...

 

[Revlis]

Time to open Your Own Business... More and More it seems like it's the only way to really do what you like to do and get paid a fair wage IE a Shed Load of Money.... I mean most everyone makes a "Fair" wage... One other thought, lots of your bigger motorcycle Dealerships have an IT department. It might be worth hitting your area dealership and sniffing around. We got a couple of IT guys that keep the network humming and users under control...

It's a good gig.



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[gsferrari]

Hey - if you start a business and need your first employee - sign me up. I am through with this corporate BS and ass-licking...

 

[GSXRFANN]

Hey - if you start a business and need your first employee - sign me up. I am through with this corporate BS and ass-licking...

I wanna be second!!

 

[Leo]

Stapler, no... not my stapler!!! SNAP!!!!!

I was a systems admin for 10 years, then I opened my own business cause I was sick of the bullshid...

 

[VaBusa]

MMM, Yeah, I'm going to need you to go ahead and come in on Saturday, MMMKay?  "We've let some people go and we kind of need to play Catch up."    

Do you have that TPS report ready?   Don't forget the cover sheet.

Gregg, one thing I learned don't take things laying down.  If you got some BS review from an FNG?  It's prolly the first steps to move you out so that he can hire his old frat Buddy.  It happens a lot.  If you're solid and you have proof that you are solid?  Go over his head, schedule a meeting with his boss or his bosses boss, but don't just take it at face value.  If you're valuable they will make all kinds of effort to keep you happy, if you are NOT a value to them they won't and you will know it's time to move on without any sort of question.

Told you that Burnout was going to haunt you...  

Sorry you are in that position, I know it's no fun.  Good Luck...

+1

Sorry to hear it Greg...I really am. It seems that when things like this happen, the powers that be don't really take a look at the guy they're 'evaluating'. They work REALLY hard to fit some numbers together and try to form sentences to sum up your work for the last year...it's what makes THEM look good, not always so much a reflection on you...and there's nothing wrong with you speaking out against such actions either, even if it just gets filed in your personnel record, I'd let it be known that you don't feel it's just that they've taken the actions that they have

Around here, evals are a joke and they'll never change...gotten so we just look to see if we got a decent raise and sign up for another year...

 

[yamahor]

Hey - if you start a business and need your first employee - sign me up. I am through with this corporate BS and ass-licking...

I wanna be second!!

If you want to train me, I'll be third!

Of course, Anna would like you more too.

Seriously though, bro, The corporate world sucks. I remember my cubiicle job. Funny how I got PIP's from our boss, but the boss's nephew (who did less work than me) never got one... wierd, huh?



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[Karl B]

Do you have a personnel department? Or grievence dept? If so, your case is base upon NO Training which makes it unfair to place you in PIP plan. Just my 2 cents.

 

[TruWrecks]

I know the feeling. My manager told me a few days ago that he won't support me for a promotion. He told me that I made a mistake that ended all posibility for promotion. That's funny. I made 1 mistake in almost 10 months that caused an outage, but my other team mates have made more than 1 outage related mistake, and they're supposed to be Senior Security! Sounds like it time for me to move on, too.

Good luck Greg.

 

[WWJD]

thanks for the support everyone! ANother reason I love this place: the HUMANITY from humans!! My newish boss is really good and I respect him, but I know this move comes from higher up, from a spot that is very paranoid about law suits and business @$$ covering - they calculate everything like chess moves: strike before stricken. It's so dumb. They will loose a top tier employee because they are so paranoid. I don't believe in law suits and would never entertain that crap.... I signed on after signing papers that say they can fire me for NO REASON what so ever, and I accept that. I'd rather be kicked out than go through mental time wasters like this. I do not beleive they WANT to get rid of me, the terms are fair and achievable... it's more the principle of the thing.... that they would waste so much time going through all this just to say, "Hey, you wanna go ahead and delegate more work and do more paper work?" instead of just asking or telling me what to do - as is their right - they waste many a meeting to decipher paranoia that need not exist and document everything for that just incase situation. It's SO OUT OF LEFT FIELD, it caught me by suprise and p!$$e$ me off.

typical business.

as a long timer puts it: "We are the LARGEST small company around!" It's true

Thanks for the offers to those guys that sent me info, really wasnt expecting that in my morning rant.

But I am looking to DEMOTE myself to a lesser position, maybe even away from Computers altogether.

...maybe a high paid assasin! My skillsets other than computers are: writting/producing/performing completed songs and/or commercials, recording engineer/producer, I am branching into Videogrphy pretty quick, acting, voice overs, and if there was a job where you get paid to play video games, I would do that too. Maybe I should start a small business repairing PCs, I know several local people that would love to work for me, and then I could prove that my theory of "People First" business model CAN create excessive profits as well as happy lives, and exceptional product. hmmmm.....

In the movie Brazil, I would be Harry Tuttle, fighting against these guys

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[Revlis]

OK But watch yourself Harry... Some Repairmen might stop by...

 

[Aughtsix]

Greg - By all means secure an egress (find a back door by securing another job) but IF you want to stay where you are after the sort of dickringing they're engaging in, simply schedule an appointment with senior management (this alone usually shakes up junior management something fierce), slap a folder on their desk containing YOUR performance profile (which sounds outstanding) and tell them if they want to keep you, they'll have to meet the enclosed figure.

Thank them for their time and go back to work.

If they decline you've lost nothing but perhaps gained some respect and made a graceful exit. If they accept you can stay where you want for the time being, with more takehome.

Keep the faith...

 

[greyrocket]

what about those TPS reports. sucks

 

[fstbusa]

do another burnout in the parking lot.

 

[Projekt]

do another burnout in the parking lot.

Forget the parking lot, get a new job and come to your last day at current only to ride the bike into the front office and burn it in there!

 

[Charlesbusa]

That sucks Greg, hope it works out.