Colleague Bob

He joined the department with the assistance of a guardian angel; they created a position for him and bypassed many of us with solid experience. Wasn’t deemed necessary for him to have the expertise that was so vital for the extremely detailed, regulated work we did with Documentary Credits, aka Letters of Credit.
I covered territory out state, away from main office. It was great – I could take the position I created and soar! Part of what I did was to arrange customer and prospect calls for the big guns from Main Office; get top level experts for big clients, impress them and get big accounts. Bob was one of those guys.
I managed to get an appointment for us with Whirlpool. Yes, that company. Got us in to explain some rule changes that would affect their export shipping area. It was to be a nice show, with a computer and projections and handouts. Did the presentation with Bob before hand, or rather did all the work, tried to get his input, and put together the show. It was his show – he presented, I’m a local contact.
Now Bob was coming from main office the day before and staying over night. I planned to meet him for breakfast and we’d drive over to the headquarters – their headquarters, the big house! A couple days before Bob calls me and whines that I should come down the night before because he want to be all alone at the hotel. This is an adult, a business contact whining about how he doesn’t want to have to stay there all alone. Come on! Put on your big boy pants.
Now I travelled out of town over night I had to kennel my dogs or get the pet sitter in at additional cost to me. Just to babysit Bob?!? It was less than a 90 minute drive for me. Made no sense and I didn’t want to go through the whole kennel thing, you know night before, extra day, make last minute reservation, blah, blah blah to babysit little Bob.
Got that settled so the morning of the meeting we meet for breakfast at his hotel Of course with Bob discussions were never about business. He is a fun guy, but we have work to do. Now we’re sitting in the reception area at Whirlpool. Clearly Bob is mulling things over; he does that annoying lip smacking thing and I know something is up. He says to me, “Why don’t you read the overheads? I don’t want to have to use my glasses.”
My initial thought is ‘You’re such a limp dick’, but sometimes I do manage to stop thoughts before they pass my lips. Instead I have a valid excuse: new contacts. Since I know I didn’t have the task of reading, I used this opportunity to work on breaking them in (never did adjust to them); I have a problem getting them to rotate so I can see clearly, especially to read.
Okay, he can’t get out of it. We get into the meeting room, everyone assembled, niceties over, and presentation gets going. Bob has reading glasses and through the whole thing he fumbles them on and off, and on, and laughs, and off and on again. Generally bumbling through. We are a super regional bank; is this how big bank experts handle themselves?
Getting past the halfway point, the end just might be in sight. All of a sudden Bob says “I need to use the restroom.” They direct him and he goes out the door. Mind you, we are on a normal office floor, didn’t look too complicated as we walked through the work area to the meeting room. I make chitchat with the Whirlpool staff, and we wait. Time passes, I’m busy coming up with things to talk about to fill this unexpected pause. Words come out of my mouth but I’m thinking ‘where the fuck did he go!’ Then Bob enters, laughing and havin’ a good time. He got lost. Couldn’t find his way back! I’m gonna die! This is the guy I’m counting on to work to get them to direct business to us. I can’t make fee agreements. I can’t make staff commitments.
Finally the presentation is done. Time for questions. Close to lunch so naturally we talk about going out somewhere for lunch. They ask Bob to join us. His reply to this invite from Whirlpool is: “I have to get back because I’m going snowmobiling up north.”
Yet he outranked me, made more money and down the road got a nice retirement plan when First Chicago bought the bank.

Starbucks Pays Up

I will be receiving my tips. The chipper little girl at the Partnerline called me to let me know. As typical of her generation (yeah, I’m making a judgement call about her age based on her speech and voice and position) it was very hard to clarify to her that the address used in early March was valid – I did not move until the end of March. Anyway, I have mail forwarding. Little Cary seems convinced that I am at fault haven’t been so inconsiderate as to move and lose my mail. No you silly bitch – the manager sent the funds by cash! Regular mail. She is a silly bitch too. Stop trying to find a reason that I did something wrong. Well, I did get fired but considering the level of dysfunction among the ADD and alcoholic coworkers (and high maintainence clients) I don’t consider it a fault on my behalf. Yeah, I never really bought in to the Starbucks as an experience concept.

What’s Happening to American Workers

If you think you have it bad in these times, just talk to someone else. Here is an experience from a friend of mine at Priceline Call Center:

We just had a boat load of newbies released to the floor, oh my they are still wide-eyed and bushy-tailed and so eager to please, their voices brimming with excitement (in the false belief that they might be able to help their customers). My new neighbor Nancy (the one with the ambulance incident) and I keep laughing, we wonder who long this excitement will last. She told me last week that our team lead Roger (the author of the notorious e-mail) put her through hell a view weeks ago. She is supposedly “a rebellious” character and “insubordinate” (she unknowingly stepped on the big ego of this little freak). No wonder she ended up in the ER. Stress at work, crap going on at home, on top of it she’s on some mild form of Prozac. She’s living in constant fear to get fired, she’s the sole bread-winner. Looks like compared with that I do actually have a fantastic life!

What has happened to workers in America? Why do these same workers belittle European countries, as socialist – buzzword for communist – because their workers don’t just live to work, but have real lives with vacations, healthcare and job security unlike anything in the U.S.

Ethics and Starbucks

Yes, once they were a model company for their treatment of employees and for providing medical benefits to part-time employees. Now they are a mega corporation struggling with an economic depression, personnel problems typical of mega corporations, and no longer a media darling.
Right now my specific problem is that when I parted ways with Starbucks I asked the Store Manager to send me my tips. She heartedly agreed! Such a good Starbucks employee – never say no! I waited a week for the money along with my last pay statement. Alas, no gifts came in the mail. I contacted her, giving her the benefit of the doubt – too busy perhaps. No, she sent them out three days later than promised, but mailed.
Waited a bit longer. Still nothing. When I called her found out she sent CASH! In the mail! And she adds that she checked and found out my paycheck hadn’t been cashed. What paycheck? It was a pay statement and direct deposited. Who are these people and why are they in charge of anything.
I also contact her District Manager by text message asking that he help her resolve the situation. Of course I get no reply, so typical of her, more evidence of the new way they now treat employees. Store Manager tells me the DM is unhappy with her for sending cash and not using certified mail. She says she is not sure of where to get the money to pay me my tips.
Time passes I hear nothing. I contact the help line. This is so wrong; bad enough I’m taxed on more tip income than I ever actually receive, but now I don’t even get the tips. Granted the money isn’t much but I abhor stupidity.
From the third-party confidential help line I get a call from Partner Resources. In a nutshell, the DM states they are not responsible for my tips. But Partner Resources will work with him to see if they can resolve this.
Okay asshole DM what you are responsible for is that the Manager should never touch tips. You have no proof she ever mailed it. And you are responsible for agreeing to do something. Write the bitch up. Go ahead and check the tip slip – verify that I signed for my tips. I dare you.
Yeah, it’s only a fucking $28 or so.
This is what happens when you give people without common sense positions with responsibility. And I don’t miss the work at all. It became demeaning. High maintainance customers, psychologically unbalanced co-workers, and the standard low motivation college kids. And now I can buy good coffee beans instead of the weekly one pound freebie.