How I stepped in shit and came out smelling like a rose!

[Radar]

This story is a bit long. I apologize, but it's complicated.

My job is working for the Siemens corporation. We've got 500,000 employees around the world. I've been working here for 3 years and I get along with each and every person at the company but one. The one person I don't get along with is the secretary (administrative assistant) for the executives and the boss of the other secretaries. She only recently got this job. I got along very well with the woman who was here before her.

From the moment she got there, we didn't get along because she is abusive, rude, nasty, and she bullies people around. She kisses the asses of the executives and acts sweet as hell, but to everyone else she's a nasty bitch. She thinks because she works for executives, she is one, but there is no executive at the company (including the CEO) who ever acts rudely or abusively. She has dozens of complaints against her in her personnel file.

Let's call her Vivian....because that's her name.

Recently, I was at work alone and the entire help desk was out. She calls me screaming because there was a meeting in one of our other buildings that wasn't set up with computers. I informed her that there was a girl in that building who was in charge of setting those up for us. She kept screaming at me and being rude so I hung up on her.

She loses her mind and calls my boss. He asks me if I hung up on her so I say, "Yes. She was being abusive." He says, "You can't just hang up on her. We're in a service industry". I said, "Call the electric company and start cursing people out and see how long it takes them to hang up on you. Or call Dell. I reserve the right to refuse service to those who are abusive and rude." So I send her an instant message and say, "You WILL change your attitude IMMEDIATELY! If you don't treat us with respect and even kindness, you will not get what you want no matter who it is for. Even if the CEO wants something and you get rude with us, he won't get it, and it will be YOUR fault because you failed to act professionally."

She calls H.R. and says she feels "threatened" and files a complaint. I file another of the many abuse complaints she's got in her file. The company says it will investigate. I'm not worried because if they investigate, they'll see I've got no complaints other than from her, and she's got them from everyone.

About 3 weeks go by, and I do something monumentally stupid. I'm on craigslist in the politics room and some jackass starts flooding the board with messages to come to a real estate seminar. Everyone tells him to knock it off and flags his messages for removal. He doesn't get the hint and keeps doing it. Someone posts his personal contact info including phone number....

I have a moment of stupidity and call the number and leave a recorded message for him to knock off the spam NOW!!! He keeps posting it. So I call him again and leave another recorded message telling him "If you don't stop spamming craigslist, I'm going to show up at your seminar and pop a cap in your ass!" thinking it might get him to think twice about spamming the board.

Instead, he calls the cops. They find the number and call my company. My company checks the phone logs and calls me in to the H.R. office and ask me if I threatened this guy. I of course deny it. They tell me I'm suspended until the investigation clears up.

I feel like a moron and call the guy (who happens to be an ex-cop who says I made a felony "terrorist threat") to apologize....A LOT!!

After about 3 or 4 days, I finally convince him to drop the complaint. During these days of sweating it out, I send my resume around to a bunch of places because I figure I might need to find a new job.

I contact my job and tell them the complaint is dropped, and they tell me to come back. I go back to work and they tell me I'm barely still employed. They write me up for "excessive internet and phone usage" and tell me even the slightest thing will get me fired. This is especially hilarious because everyone in my department ALWAYS has an internet browser on and is on the phone making or taking calls from our remote users. They have nothing on me but want to make something up because they want to get rid of me.

Vivian knows about this and like the shark she is, she smells blood and is starting to circle...

Here's the good part...

I get a call from someone who saw my resume and they want me to come in for an interview at a smaller company that has a fully outsourced I.T. staff and they want to build an in house team to replace them. They need a server guy who can handle windows and linux, and is willing to do all jobs from holding the user's hands, to setting up routers, doing active directory, exchange, writing shell scripts, etc.

It's a 6 figure salary. I find out several others have interviewed for the position but got nailed with very technical questions they couldn't handle. I go in to interview today and I answer every single technical question they have and the guy says he wants to take the next step and have me meet up with the CIO and CFO on Friday!!

Woo Hoo!!! I'm sure I'll get an offer and be able to quit my job before this nasty bitch gets me fired, and I'll be making more money, and I'll be a big fish in a small pond. Siemens has 500,000 employees around the world. I wasn't even a fish in that pond. I was plankton.

I'll be going from supporting thousands and thousands of users and computers to less than 300 and I'll be making more money for it. It's also a 10-15 minute drive from my house.

The recruiter who sent me there told me the salary range. I may be speaking out of line because I'm going by what he said. Hopefully this Friday, they'll make an offer and it will be in the range the recruiter discussed with me.

The best part is I'll be building a new I.T. team. I won't be the CIO, but I may be a director and it'll pretty much be my show from a technical standpoint.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Well, Radar, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

[Aliantha]

Well that was good for you in the end Radar. I guess sometimes it's true that clouds have silver linings huh.

[ZenGum]

It's a pity that you won't be around to see Vivian get her inevitable comeuppance, but the main thing is you are comfortable in your job.
Just a thought ... BigV is a computer wrangler based in Seattle, and has just been given notice... you're new company is planning to build up an in-house IT team ... could there be yet another happy ending in the pipeline? just a thought.

[Cicero]

Yea...they used to make me sit in a large bay all by myself at a large corporate outfit. A real bitch went to HR to complain about me because of her personal life. They (HR) interviewed people that also didn't like me for various reasons. (I was promoted immediately and they weren't) Until everyone's jobs got cut aside from mine and a couple other people. I was one of the last people standing at that location because they needed necessary skills instead of nasty bitches that sit around and complain about others.

Radar...my only point is that big corporate sucks and small outfits are awesome. I'm 10 times happier in a smaller town with a smaller, local company, than I ever have been.

If you don't get this one....get the next one. Smaller outfits are usually more socially functional.

Thinking the best for you.

I had one like that... kept telling her how much I loved it when she abused me and when she really got on a roll once I kept saying "more" until a crowd popped-up from the nearest cubes and clapped when she was done insulting me (no one liked her).
When it stopped I told her "see, no one likes you... but you can insult me anytime baby... I love it", which was true, she cracked me up... I would go over and find work to do with her just to make me happy. She never spoke to me again.
Of course the whole thing was more subtle and longer than I am explaining, but happened pretty much like that.
I got e-mails for a week from others who had to deal with her.

HR contacted me later and I explained what happened, that she was insulting me and I was telling her that I liked it and that was the end of it.
They had a "history" with her already.
They asked me if she was abusive with me in the past and how I dealt with it. I told them I just "basked in it"... never heard another word.
As an administrator I had an in for my file, checked it a few months later (they were notoriously slow)... there was not even a note of the incident in it. Our company did not keep separate "management" files.

[Radar]

Thanks for your support. I do like working at smaller companies because I feel more important, but not too small. I don't like feeling like my job may disappear because they might go out of business.

They do something like 200 million gross annually right now and have 200-300 employees.

The layout is basically 3 warehouses on the same street but a block or two away from each other. Maybe I'll get a golf cart. They design the clothes and have them made in China or Vietnam and brought in. One warehouse is for receiving & QC, one is for shipping, and the last one is for overstock for small retail outlets. They all need to be connected. They have Win2k3 with AD, XP workstations, Linux servers with Oracle, etc. Less than a dozen servers.

I could do this job in my sleep. I can't wait to meet these guys tomorrow.

Oh, another cool thing is they are very casual. I showed up in a suit and they were wearing jeans and a t-shirt, which is how I like to work.

The recruiter told me the range on this job is 90k-100k/year. If I get medical/dental/vision, paid training for new technology, and a matching 401k or profit sharing, I'll be set.

In L.A. that's not really big money, but it's enough to get by. If I could make that money and live in Pennsylvania like most of you, I'd be rolling in the dough, but out here you can't get a cockroach infested craphole with 3 bedrooms in the ghetto for 300k.

I think they need a lot of work done to get them where they want to be. The company is growing quickly so they need some fires put out and some re-design, standardization, and automation to allow for smoother growth. Once I get it all done, this job will be gravy.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Good luck, Radar. If you could get them to throw in some clothes, that might make you a hero on the home front, too.

[slang]

Good luck Radar.

Sounds like you've run into the same type of militant that I have in corp US.

God bless sex discrimination law suits because that is almost always the only reason that they are allowed to stay. Having a lawsuit on the books is a very visible expense. I'm not sure how accounting would compare that to having good people leave. How does that directly relate to the bottom line?

Oh well, it's all fair with the lawsuits. That's justice in our system.

Sounds like a much better deal you have in process anyway.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by Radar

Thanks for your support. I do like working at smaller companies because I feel more important, but not too small. I don't like feeling like my job may disappear because they might go out of business.

They do something like 200 million gross annually right now and have 200-300 employees.

The layout is basically 3 warehouses on the same street but a block or two away from each other. Maybe I'll get a golf cart. They design the clothes and have them made in China or Vietnam and brought in. One warehouse is for receiving & QC, one is for shipping, and the last one is for overstock for small retail outlets. They all need to be connected. They have Win2k3 with AD, XP workstations, Linux servers with Oracle, etc. Less than a dozen servers.

I could do this job in my sleep. I can't wait to meet these guys tomorrow.

Oh, another cool thing is they are very casual. I showed up in a suit and they were wearing jeans and a t-shirt, which is how I like to work.

The recruiter told me the range on this job is 90k-100k/year. If I get medical/dental/vision, paid training for new technology, and a matching 401k or profit sharing, I'll be set.

In L.A. that's not really big money, but it's enough to get by. If I could make that money and live in Pennsylvania like most of you, I'd be rolling in the dough, but out here you can't get a cockroach infested craphole with 3 bedrooms in the ghetto for 300k.

I think they need a lot of work done to get them where they want to be. The company is growing quickly so they need some fires put out and some re-design, standardization, and automation to allow for smoother growth. Once I get it all done, this job will be gravy.

That's funny because my boss is trying to lay may off as we speak, because I'm her only employee and she's running out of money because the market is crashing (locally). In fact the business is so small that I can talk her out of it. Awesome. Hopefully...lets cross some fingers here.....

Since I've been doing her graphics, I've turned into being just the marketing guru...All I had to do was remind her that I was hired as her assistant for everything. I had to remind her of everything that has been on the back-burner for months while I've been pumping out her artwork.

She's trying to get rid of me when this last project is done......yep...such a tiny outfit that I can talk her out of it, and I fully intend to, until I have enough money saved to even survive a job loss. Hopefully she goes for it. I'm trying to tell her the market dive is temporary.....if she likes the marketing so much (which it seems she does) I'll also be talking her into another project.....crap. I really am hanging on here by a thread...and all I can do is try to act as if I'm really a necessary expense when I'm probably not...uuuugh. This sucks. I knew it was coming...now all I can do is talk her back into my job. Even if I do...it will continually be in question. But working for one person and being the only employee helps....because you always know exactly where you stand and might get to sway some decisions.

yea...I'm just trying to stay positive even though I know my life really might be really sucky soon.

Either way....she's going to be a kick ass occupational referral contact.

[Shawnee123]

That's remarkable! YOU are my new hero! :

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

That's remarkable! YOU are my new hero! :

lol!!! See? Told ya I'm no side-kick! Now go tell ducks in the hero thread!!


No really.....anyone with any pride would walk away with dignity today...but I'm not going to...I think my boss is having a temporary brain-fart and i'm waiting for her to get over it.


She contends that I have nothing to do anymore. I said "take a look around". (the office is thrashed because I've been too busy to do my normal work) Along with many other details like leads and databases and follow up and etc. etc.

That seemed to work. Just a temporary fix...She's going to keep insisting I know...Until I finally do leave and she'll have to realize that she cannot function...and I won't come back when she calls. Who is going to fix this?!? How come this isn't working? {Insert my name}How do I do this? How do that? I guess she'll just have to talk to the thin air. Because that's what happens when you treat good employees like they are disposable machines. She'll call staff from here to do my job...which they won't be able to do or be interested in...She'll be calling when she just hears the sound of crickets when there is no one to help her. But I'm going to start consulting and open up my tax id license again and will charge for every single message and phone consultation and it's about to get a hell of a lot more expensive for her. And just for her, only for her. Her rates are going to be higher than everyone else....which is exactly what she deserves. That starts Monday.


Happy Friday folks. And remember not to turn down any employee's side jobs for them because that really pisses them off! (Especially if you are trying to take a cut off the top for their efforts)

Ok I'm done. She really is a cool lady...she just has her head up her ass sometimes. She's like a female version of Michael Scott from "The Office".


Rant. Rant.

[Radar]

Bad news... I blew it. I met with the CIO who I was expecting to talk about things like an overall approach to networking, etc..because most I.T. execs don't really know about technology.

He came out in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, so I expected this to be a pretty laid-back and relaxed conversation.

He started by giving me a lot of ambiguous questions and I was getting flustered because I was trying to figure out what he was trying to ask me. Then I'd try to answer the question, and he'd say, "That's not what I'm asking..." and I'd try again. Then he'd ask me a direct technical question and I blanked. After that, it went downhill fast. I locked up and couldn't think of anything. Knowing I got the question wrong made me panic inside so I sounded like a blithering idiot. I found myself trying to B.S. my way through because I was freaking out inside. My brain got vapor lock and I blew it.

Man that sucks. If I had interviewed me, I would not have hired me or called me back.

[bluecuracao]

Yeah but...you did very well on the first interview, didn't you? It's possible they might take that under consideration, and figure you just got nervous with the big boss.

[Cicero]

Damn it!! Shucks. Sorry Radar. Hey, like I said. Dust yourself off and nail the next one. Don't wait for a call back....keep doing the interviews until it's definite.

Act like you like the interviewer (on a friendship level). I hate to say it...but they have to like you immediately . And if they don't.....there is no skill set you can have that will turn the interview around. The only way for them to like you immediately is to like them and stay comfortable...because it is a new friend and friends understand minor goofs on tech. questions. It sounds petty...like people judge your skill set by what you look like and whether they can see themselves getting along personally with you or not. But it's true. Be professional.....but like them...give them the feeling of comfort and friendship. That's how my friend survives as the last remaining female Techy at her branch at Microsoft. She has the skills believe me...but she's the one that everyone is friends with and likes on a personal level. I always get the feeling that Gates monitors from the top down ...I bet he likes her too.

I have goofed on tech questions because I went to the entirely wrong interview, and ended up being called back on a tech support interview. They liked me immediately (the 2 interviewers). I don't know why. At the time I knew a lot less about basic computer stuff and still got hired because they liked me.....I thought...holy crap....I only got 2 out of 6 right....but they liked me and hired me immediately?!?

I bet you are likeable in person. Subtle charm......subtle charm...

Or maybe they'll call you back just because they liked you...You don't know yet do you? Did the guy act like he was completely turned off?