Yet another this Job f*cking pisses me off thread

[gottimd]

My company got bought out recently by a large telecomm company on the west coast. They have no idea how we run our business and have demoted and forced all upper management to resign, leaving us, the staff to deal with these fucking morons who are telling us how to run our business, and they have no clue what they are doing.

Basically they said we will all be terminated by September 1st (those of us who are left in the financial department today). So an upper level exec comes in to help us with this transition to Oracle from another large financial system so they can handle all of the finances over on the west coast. Meanwhile we still have a year end audit to go through, which this upper level exec basically tells me..."Hey we are going to triple your workload and the audit must get done in a week...no if ands or buts", oh and after September we have nowhere for you to be in the company.

I just smiled at him and had a "scrubs" like moment of me getting up and yelling at him and saying..."Hey, how bout this, fuck off and do the consolidations yourself". I do have some very good opportunities coming in from downtown DC from businesses since I posted my resume. I hope to land one of these after my interviews, so I can go in and put my letter of resignation down and say "good luck....I'm sure with this new company's philosophy, you guys will all be wearing orange jumpsuits...tell Fastow I said hello!"

{end rant}

[heybrad]

I feel for you dude. My story is a bit different, but I feel like I'm right there with you.

[pennywisesb]

I'm sure with this new company's philosophy, you guys will all be wearing orange jumpsuits...tell Fastow I said hello!"


This line definately had me laughing out loud. :D

On a serious note, sorry about the takeover, you're obviously going to have to deal with additional stress that you don't really need. At least there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel though, with potential employers showing interest.

[JonInMiddleGA]

They have no idea how we run our business and have demoted and forced all upper management to resign, leaving us, the staff to deal with these fucking morons who are telling us how to run our business, and they have no clue what they are doing.

Damn, I thought the situation I know about but can't discuss (not my business, just one I know the details of) was the only one like that. Guess not.

(seriously, I think this is actually a pretty common scenario with any number of acquisitions by "bigger fish")

[jeff061]

Heh, now you have me more cynical and paranoid than I already was. My company just sold my division to another smaller company a couple days ago. Still feeling things out, but I hope I don't have to share your misery.

[sterlingice]

Sounds like you'll be busting your ass hard to finish that for him ;)

SI

[Desnudo]

And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...

[gottimd]

I think I'll try and concentrate on getting my work done for the NAFL before my work done for this Crap ass company.

I was wondering how long it would take for an office space comment to get in here.

I have been swamped with recruiters, and HR departments from around the area. I just hope one pans out soon so I can tell my current job..."take this job and shove it!"

[Desnudo]

What if - and believe me this is hypothetical - but what if you were offered some kind of a stock option equity sharing program. Would that do anything for you?

[Toddzilla]

I think you'd actually be doing everyone els a favor if you took the "fuck off" route. Maybe it would makethe new assholes think twice about how they treated everyone else, less they stage a mass walkout. I think you should take this as your opportunity for greatness and give 'em the ol' high hard one tomorrow.

[Suburban Rhythm]

First of all...I feel for you. We went through that here a year ago, and thankfully I was not directly affected.

Jobs here were sent to India...and, the people losing jobs were expected to train the people taking their jobs. Obviously, I am not a genius executive, but I don't get their thinking on that...what sort of effort to they really expect to get from those being "displaced"?

[Marc Vaughan]

Jobs here were sent to India...and, the people losing jobs were expected to train the people taking their jobs. Obviously, I am not a genius executive, but I don't get their thinking on that...what sort of effort to they really expect to get from those being "displaced"?
I would have expected some very warped and 'fun' employee's to come out of those training sessions ...

Somewhat along the lines of when high schools have German exchange students that are taught various swear words (normally involving fornication of some kind) meant innocent phrases such as 'How do you do' by the local students ...

[gottimd]

First of all...I feel for you. We went through that here a year ago, and thankfully I was not directly affected.
Well my boss and I were told that we will be placed in different positions within the company (lateral move). Basically, one of the only execs left from my old company, is pretty much "hiding" staff. If he knows we are about to be let go, he creates a position within his team to keep you on board.

Problem being, I don't want to get mashed into a organization with no clear purpose or opportunity for advancement. And I know what will happen is that the new company will look at their financials and say "hey why aren't our salaries going down if we have let all of these people go?", and they will come back and fire those that were given these positions.

Bottom line is, is that I am trying to get the hell out of dodge, and so is my boss, so effectively they will have NO ONE to consolidate financials worldwide, which will be a HUGE problem. Temps will be brought in to do stuff they don't know and the results will be wrong.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Well my boss and I were told that we will be placed in different positions within the company (lateral move). Basically, one of the only execs left from my old company, is pretty much "hiding" staff. If he knows we are about to be let go, he creates a position within his team to keep you on board.

Problem being, I don't want to get mashed into a organization with no clear purpose or opportunity for advancement. And I know what will happen is that the new company will look at their financials and say "hey why aren't our salaries going down if we have let all of these people go?", and they will come back and fire those that were given these positions.

Bottom line is, is that I am trying to get the hell out of dodge, and so is my boss, so effectively they will have NO ONE to consolidate financials worldwide, which will be a HUGE problem. Temps will be brought in to do stuff they don't know and the results will be wrong.

Where I am...a team of 15 is now 4, with the work allegedly being shipped overseas. Now, they've figured out this plan isn't working, and it's a mad scramble to meet deadlines (I'm in tax, so that is arriving quickly). The reality is, they want to see things as complete--not correctly complete, just complete.

So if your place is anything like ours...the main concern is showing we met deadlines, as upper mgmt's bonuses are tied to that. Once it comes back there are errors, we'll deal with that when we get there. So, really, they'll spread the blame around enough that no one truly is affected by the lack of knowledgeable people.

Isn't that how business is supposed to work?

[Desnudo]

Well my boss and I were told that we will be placed in different positions within the company (lateral move). Basically, one of the only execs left from my old company, is pretty much "hiding" staff. If he knows we are about to be let go, he creates a position within his team to keep you on board.

Problem being, I don't want to get mashed into a organization with no clear purpose or opportunity for advancement. And I know what will happen is that the new company will look at their financials and say "hey why aren't our salaries going down if we have let all of these people go?", and they will come back and fire those that were given these positions.

Bottom line is, is that I am trying to get the hell out of dodge, and so is my boss, so effectively they will have NO ONE to consolidate financials worldwide, which will be a HUGE problem. Temps will be brought in to do stuff they don't know and the results will be wrong.

Not your problem though. And I mean that seriously. You have zero responsibility to stick it out. Your exec is also unintentionally setting people up for a fall, but it sounds like you recognize that. Outside of hiding salary, think about what would happen if that exec left for whatever reason. Your protection is gone.

[gottimd]

So if your place is anything like ours...the main concern is showing we met deadlines, as upper mgmt's bonuses are tied to that. Once it comes back there are errors, we'll deal with that when we get there. So, really, they'll spread the blame around enough that no one truly is affected by the lack of knowledgeable people.

Isn't that how business is supposed to work?
Correct, the main concern is meeting deadlines. In my financial system, our figures are correct and are reported efficiently. Now they want to convert ours to theirs, not correctly, just do it by the deadline. I have continually lost the battle of telling them "It won't work", so I have given up. We had a meeting this morning and our tax department said "It won't work" and it got into some NOL discussions and goodwill being reported wrong, but again, this new company is not concerned about the details, just the big picture.

Once it hits the fan, they will blame their staff (us) for not saying anything, when in fact we have been saying something, they just aren't listening. But the blame won't be spread, I can see it coming a mile away in my direction. Thus, if you are not gonna let me inform you of your impending train wreck because you are "too proud" to admit you can't do this conversion on time, then F off, good luck to you, point your fingers elsewhere cuz I ain't gonna be here.

They did give bonuses to stay on board but I would rather give them up then stay on board for this corporate nightmare. I would'nt be surprised if this company (large company by the way) stock nose dives rapidly come summertime.

[gottimd]

Not your problem though. And I mean that seriously. You have zero responsibility to stick it out. Your exec is also unintentionally setting people up for a fall, but it sounds like you recognize that. Outside of hiding salary, think about what would happen if that exec left for whatever reason. Your protection is gone.
I know its not my problem, but I kinda like the only exec left from our company. I feel bad leaving him high and dry, and my boss and I can't figure out why he has stayed on. I mean when the merger was announced, all top level execs resigned on our aside, Directors were demoted to managers, managers demoted to analysts. He was a director, got demoted, his pay was cut, his bonus was cut, and he stayed on board. He is a class act and always treated his employees with respect, that is why I feel bad leaving the guy, but at this point in my career, I am not taking the fall for this, and I got better places to go.

[Icy]

Damn mate, i also think that you should tell them to do the taxes work themselves and go away, but of course it depends on the future jobs possible offers that you could have and on your current financial status, if you can handle to be some months without work.

Btw, do you in USA get paid compensation money by a company if they fire you? In Spain you get 1 month of full salary per year you worked for them, so if a company fires you after 5 years of working for them, they must pay you 5 extra full months when firing you. Also once the company fires you, you receive an unemployment payment every month equal to your prior salary. That is paid by the goberment and can last up to 2 years. If it's you who decide to leave the company, you won't receive any money as that help is only for people who loses their job not for those who decide to resign.

[Desnudo]

I know its not my problem, but I kinda like the only exec left from our company. I feel bad leaving him high and dry, and my boss and I can't figure out why he has stayed on. I mean when the merger was announced, all top level execs resigned on our aside, Directors were demoted to managers, managers demoted to analysts. He was a director, got demoted, his pay was cut, his bonus was cut, and he stayed on board. He is a class act and always treated his employees with respect, that is why I feel bad leaving the guy, but at this point in my career, I am not taking the fall for this, and I got better places to go.

I understand the feeling. It's hard to find people like that to work for. I read an interesting article once that talks about allies and enemies in a work context and how easily people can switch from being one to another depending on role. The point of the article is not to personalize work relationships too much because an ally one day can quickly become an "enemy" tomorrow.

[gottimd]

Btw, do you in USA get paid compensation money by a company if they fire you? In Spain you get 1 month of full salary per year you worked for them, so if a company fires you after 5 years of working for them, they must pay you 5 extra full months when firing you. Also once the company fires you, you receive an unemployment payment every month equal to your prior salary. That is paid by the goberment and can last up to 2 years. If it's you who decide to leave the company, you won't receive any money as that help is only for people who loses their job not for those who decide to resign.
Well when the merger was announced, after the top levels resigned, people started getting "offers". Me, I got a retention bonus to stay on board and help. I get paid half of it in April and the rest in September (have to be on payroll). The retention bonus was about 1.5 months of salary. Then I got $7K of stock options which have soared, but will soon decline, but I can't exercise them til December of this year, and if I leave, they are gone as well. I was also informed that, if they cannot find a position for me within the company, and that they let me go (Severance Letter), and that I wasn't fired for something before September 1st of this year, they would owe me 1 month salary per year that I worked here. So that would be about 3 months of salary for Severance.

However, obviously since the guy said he will create a position for me to stay on board, my severance letter is useless.

[gottimd]

I understand the feeling. It's hard to find people like that to work for. I read an interesting article once that talks about allies and enemies in a work context and how easily people can switch from being one to another depending on role. The point of the article is not to personalize work relationships too much because an ally one day can quickly become an "enemy" tomorrow.
Sounds like an interesting article. I understand what you mean because the bottom line is, is that I will leave this job to further my career, not stay on because I don't want to cause this exec any pain.

I put my resume out there 3 days ago I think, and I have had 3 phone interviews, and I have set up 3 face to face meetings for next week. I have another phone interview later today for company in Bethesda, MD.

[gottimd]

Just as an update to this, I now have 2 interviews tomorrow, a 1/2 day interview on Tuesday. The 1/2 day I meet with 5 people, including the CEO, CFO, 2 VP's and person whom the position reports to.

My current company wants me to go to San Jose for a few days to learn a program and come back and teach everyone else. It may help me to go because one of the positions I am interviewing for uses this tool. But on the other hand, it would be a waste for me to fly all the way to the West Coast for 4 days, when I could be setting up after hours interviews those days.

I also voiced my concerns to the one exec left here, and he wants to meet with me this Friday to discuss my concerns. He wants me to go to this training on the West Coast so I can get my face known out in my current company (why would I care to do that?) and be the front man here for forecasting and budgeting in my current company, probably with no increase in pay. We shall see, but I will probably pass, especially if I get another offer from another company.

[dawgfan]

Just out of curiousity, it sounds like this is a situation where accounting principles are potentially being sacrificed at the expense of meeting deadlines. If so, is this a situation where there is some recourse for calling BS on this company, i.e. acting as a whistle-blower?

[gottimd]

Just out of curiousity, it sounds like this is a situation where accounting principles are potentially being sacrificed at the expense of meeting deadlines. If so, is this a situation where there is some recourse for calling BS on this company, i.e. acting as a whistle-blower?

That is what it seems like to the current staff. I just want to get out before the poop hits the fan.

[gottimd]

I went to my first interview yesterday, and it was actually the best interview I have ever been on. I was well prepared, answered all the questions without hesitation, and they loved me. I think a portion of it had to do with the fact that my wife gave me a xanax, because I usually freeze up before an interview.

Anyways, it turns out that this company, who is about to implement the financial system that I am an expert on, is using the same consulting firm that my current job is using, and the exact same consultant. I contacted the consultant and he was happy to hear that. The building was great, the people were laid back, and the position seems very interesting, and the company is one that I would be proud to work for and understand what they do.

Now, at my current job, that exec set up a meeting to speak with me this afternoon, to try and keep me on board with this sinking ship. And I found out that their have been so many noted problems with integrations, that they are delaying the integration process yet another month. So it went from time of acquisition in August, that we would be fully integrated in March, to being delayed to May, and now being delayed yet again til August.

I have my fingers crossed that the comapny I just interviewed for offers me the job.

EDIT: This commercial pretty much sums up my current work situation perfectly....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfR9Sky4zlE&search=Career%20Builder

[Coffee Warlord]

Until you get hired, Gott. Allow me to knight thee Sir Gottimnd, Knight of the Shitty Job, and Protectorate of the FOFC Job Ranting Threads.

The torch has been passed.

[gottimd]

Until you get hired, Gott. Allow me to knight thee Sir Gottimnd, Knight of the Shitty Job, and Protectorate of the FOFC Job Ranting Threads.

The torch has been passed.

The ceremony was great, I cried, I wept, I defecated.

[kiwiLB57]

What kind of role do you do Gottimd? If you want to come to New Zealand, there are plenty of roles with the company I am working for! I have given four months notice (Senior Group Accountant) as my partner and I are moving to London in June. We use Oracle/SAP/HFM with HFM being the primary consol tool for our 200+ companies worldwide.

kiwiLB57

[gottimd]

What kind of role do you do Gottimd? If you want to come to New Zealand, there are plenty of roles with the company I am working for! I have given four months notice (Senior Group Accountant) as my partner and I are moving to London in June. We use Oracle/SAP/HFM with HFM being the primary consol tool for our 200+ companies worldwide.

kiwiLB57

:D Thanks for the offer. I am not familiar with Oracle, but SAP and any Hyperion (Essbase, Enterprise, Pillar, etc) I am very familiar with.

That commute though would be a nightmare, DC to New Zealand, do you think the company would be lenient on starting time, allow me to get there a little later than 9am because I am coming across the globe?:D

[kiwiLB57]

Could be tricky. :)

[gottimd]

Interview #2 with the VP tomorrow. The HR recruit was asking about my base salary and bonuses, I think as long as I don't screw things up tomorrow [knocking on wood], I hope to get an offer.

[gottimd]

Not only did I get the new job, and the max money I was hoping for, I just realized that my current company soon to be old job, owes me a hefty amount for vacation time, one bonus payment (paid to employee if on board as of April 1st), and they have asked me to do a little side consulting for them and I will probably charge them $125/hour for it.:D

Thats what I call stickin' it to the man.

[Coffee Warlord]

Whoo!

[gottimd]

Whoo!

Can I pass the torch on? Or am I basically standing here in the wind awaiting another FOFC'er to rant about their job?

[finketr]

Not only did I get the new job, and the max money I was hoping for, I just realized that my current company soon to be old job, owes me a hefty amount for vacation time, one bonus payment (paid to employee if on board as of April 1st), and they have asked me to do a little side consulting for them and I will probably charge them $125/hour for it.:D

Thats what I call stickin' it to the man.

but you are the man...

so you are sticking it to yourself.
:D

[gottimd]

but you are the man...

so you are sticking it to yourself.
:D

Maybe.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Can I pass the torch on? Or am I basically standing here in the wind awaiting another FOFC'er to rant about their job?

Congrats...I could take on that role...but then I think, if I got a new job, I might not have all this time to surf FOFC.

[Coffee Warlord]

Can I pass the torch on? Or am I basically standing here in the wind awaiting another FOFC'er to rant about their job?

Nope, you must bear the title until someone else commits a series of I Hate My Job rants to the boards.

[Blade6119]

My company got bought out recently by a large telecomm company on the west coast. They have no idea how we run our business and have demoted and forced all upper management to resign, leaving us, the staff to deal with these fucking morons who are telling us how to run our business, and they have no clue what they are doing.

Basically they said we will all be terminated by September 1st (those of us who are left in the financial department today). So an upper level exec comes in to help us with this transition to Oracle from another large financial system so they can handle all of the finances over on the west coast. Meanwhile we still have a year end audit to go through, which this upper level exec basically tells me..."Hey we are going to triple your workload and the audit must get done in a week...no if ands or buts", oh and after September we have nowhere for you to be in the company.

I just smiled at him and had a "scrubs" like moment of me getting up and yelling at him and saying..."Hey, how bout this, fuck off and do the consolidations yourself". I do have some very good opportunities coming in from downtown DC from businesses since I posted my resume. I hope to land one of these after my interviews, so I can go in and put my letter of resignation down and say "good luck....I'm sure with this new company's philosophy, you guys will all be wearing orange jumpsuits...tell Fastow I said hello!"

{end rant}
To edit a poster i saw once just a bit:

"The only common link in all of your failed ventures is you"

Just playing, i hear ya on it...