A Current Job Horror Story and a Question For Those in the IT Field...

[Bob NC]

Our views of "funny" are dramatically different.

"haha take that tardy mclaterton! I just fired you from a shitty minimum wage job that no one should have to work anyway because you have more personal obligations than some others! Ha! "

 

 

"Funny" had absolutely nothing to do with her causing herself to lose her job.

 

 The "funny" part was the irony of me not being able to talk about her family at all, but, her being able to use her family as a reason for not doing her job.

 

Just for your info, writing up someone for being late is seldom done in a vacuum.  The most damaging part of tardiness is not the employee losing work time, it's the decline in morale of all the other employees doing what they are supposed to do while watching someone else be treated favorably by being late all the time with no repercussions,

[Bob NC]

You did ask an illegal question. She should contact the labor board on your unprofessional, discriminatory questioning azz. At least she had the knowledge and common sense to let you know about it.

 

 

 

Actually, this was in 1988 and some of these labor issues were just getting started.  What could and could not be brought up during an interview wasn't as clear cut as it is now.

 

My questioning about family had absolutely nothing to do with the interview process.  Like I said it was at the beginning of the meeting and was just making conversation.

 

LOL, she got the job.

[Happy Panther]

TBH, I know I'm going to have issues that I can't get past anytime I'm working under someone else's direct supervision. That's why my ultimate goal is to make a living with my creative pursuits. It's honestly a gift I have AND with my personality, I feel like it's my best bet to make a consistent living despite the odds. I'm just not cut out for this cube farm poo.

That being said, my last job was call center too. And to demonstrate how accountable I am and that I don't make excuses for those in the thread that believed that, lol, I was actually fired from it in my first tenure for being late. A common theme, I know lol... But my supervisor loved me and I think her hand was forced. It was weird, but after she let me go she started crying uncontrollably and went outside and continued to do so. There was nothing personal about shy they did it, I violated their policy, and so I understood. Their rules were explicitly stated and consistently enforced. Another manager even came up to me and she gave me a hug and said she disagreed with it, but I was fine. A year later, we discussed me coming back and so I did. No problems... And I ended up working there for about a total of two years before I started school. She is still one of my references to this day.

All that being said, it was as good of a job as I've had. They liked me there, they treated me with respect, and they appreciated me for who I am and what I do. They recognized my quality work. In fact, before I left, they had actually started having me help conduct interviews for prospective employees and help with training and that sort of thing. Just great people... I miss them, but ultimately is was like that because it was a job setup within the university, so it was just a totally different atmosphere. Other than the managers, we were all pretty much college students. It wasn't a bunch of bloodthirsty assholes who sold out countless numbers of people to get their position and are scared someone better is going to come in and take it from them so they have to knock them down a notch... So, yeah, I did enjoy it better but ultimately I want to run my own "business, " so to speak... I prefer to get away from it all.

 

Fair enough. My dad was a college professor doing well and couldn't handle the corporate BS so he bailed and did all kinds of stuff. He eventually started teaching primitive skills and became somewhat renowned for it. Similarly I was in corporate America for 12 years before I started my own company in 2010. Not having to deal with this crap is awesome and I actually make 2x what I ever did sitting at a desk. Not answring to anyone is spectacular.

 

So go for it. The issue is having a skill that people are going to pay you for and not some other company. I had to develop that for years in 2 different companies. 

 

I also got lucky working for a few people that were like "I don't give a poo when you come and go just get done what you need." That was also my management approach. You may just need the right boss. Hard to find that in an interview.

 

Unless you have the next great idea you may have to suck it up for a while until you have the skillz.

 

Don't know what you are doing now.

[Scrumtrilescent]

I have programmers, statisticians, and other generally non-socially adept sciency people working for me.  I let them do there thing, as long as they are around for any and all required meetings, get their jobs done, and are around during core working hours.  

[Ja Rhule]

When I start working for my company 5 years ago, I came early every day and made sure I left late.  I worked hard and even worked on Saturdays and Sundays by myself in the office with no one around.  I got promoted to senior and received a healthy pay bump within 2 years.  Last year I start losing interest in my job, I did half ass work and start showing up late every day.  My CFO called me in the office and gave me 10% pay bump and said he hopes this will make me happy.  It's been about a year and I told my CFO I'm not happy here and so now I'm projected to receive another 15% pay bump in few months and extra bonus.

 

Wanna know the trick?  I made myself very valuable to the company over my first 4 years.  I know how much it cost to replace me and I know how far I can push.  It is very unlucky that I will see another major increase after 2015.  I will use my pay and my credentials to get a job with higher ceiling somewhere else.

 

Workplace politics is not about a dick size, it's about working the system.

[Proudiddy]

So, update...

 

For all you that believe it was simply that I was being late and breaking the rules and being Billy Badass of the workplace, bringing their fury upon myself...  I have been on time everyday since my last write up.

 

It's been about two weeks.  We can basically log out between calls for small breaks, or if we have several minutes between calls, most people get up and stay logged in and go talk to coworkers at other cubes and such...  Some go to the bathroom, go grab a snack, what have you.  Everyone here does it.

 

I stepped out to make a call and come back to find out that my supervisor logged me out on his own and he sends me a message saying to make sure I log out anytime I leave my desk.  Mind you, that is not a written policy.

 

Furthermore, I was looking forward to the winter because instead of a suit and tie and full-on business professional attire, I get to wear a sweater/dress shirt combo.  Well, I've also been doing that for the last two weeks and he comes up to my cube today and tells me to "make sure you're wearing a tie everyday and adhering to our dress code."

 

Are you fuging serious?

 

But, yeah...  some of you have everything all figured out.  No way in the world that people possibly ever have a personal dislike for someone and then spread the word to their cohorts so they can have a giant circlejerk when they torture him with each disciplinary action they take.  No way people ever abuse their power or pick on a few individuals for fun because they can.  LOL...

 

[Peppers90 NC]

There are lots of forms of creative writing. Unless youre dead set on novels or something, you can get into writing copy or headlines or do commercials that will be in much better environments. Very very competitive though.

[Proudiddy]

There are lots of forms of creative writing. Unless youre dead set on novels or something, you can get into writing copy or headlines or do commercials that will be in much better environments. Very very competitive though.

Appreciated man.  Ultimately, I want to do screenwriting and screenplays...  That sort of thing.  But, as a side gig, or at least starting out, I also would like to write for magazines and such.

 

But, I actually have looked into copywriting before, and I've talked with friends in the field...  it very much seemed like one of those, "you have to know someone" jobs to get into, and he actually got paid REALLY well doing it.  That would be ideal to do right now and work my way up, but it definitely was harder to get into.

[Peppers90 NC]

Appreciated man.  Ultimately, I want to do screenwriting and screenplays...  That sort of thing.  But, as a side gig, or at least starting out, I also would like to write for magazines and such.

 

But, I actually have looked into copywriting before, and I've talked with friends in the field...  it very much seemed like one of those, "you have to know someone" jobs to get into, and he actually got paid REALLY well doing it.  That would be ideal to do right now and work my way up, but it definitely was harder to get into.

of course and good luck. but definitely get out of that poisonous environment. if you have people giving out fuggin write ups like that for a couple minutes late, that place is not a long term solution.

 

i'm not much of a writer but i do come up with concepts and headlines often, but i'm more visual. if a screen play is your long term project, start doing small creative short stories. be abstract, funny, sentimental or anything else. create a storyboard for a commercial and build a small portfolio and you may land a job in a much more generous environment. creative environments are the absolute best when it comes to jobs. then you can either feed into your screenwriting from your small stuff or vice versa. just dont let the place you are at now eat you alive from the inside. what does a write mean anyway? laughing them off while the kids play hall monitor is the best thing you can do.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

what kind of call center are you working in

 

i ask because if you're a first timer in IT you might have to cut your teeth at the help desk at least in the beginning

[Inimicus]

Late to the party here but thought I would throw in my $0.02.

 

20+ years in IT here.  Everything from desktop support/help-desk, through programming and database admin, to network architecture/admin, into management and ultimately into Sr management culminating with a Directorship.  I quite literally worked my way up from the basement.

 

I say this with all deference and without the first bit of insult.

 

Choose a different field.

 

The IT world is currently flooded with people with 4+ years worth of degrees who will get the job before you even get a second look if all you have is a handful of certs.  In most cases you wont even get past most HR depts to the hiring manager much less get a chance to dazzle them with your personality in an interview.  And if it doesn't even get you in the door that Cisco cert that you spent a not insubstantial amount of money on wont be for anything but a place mat for your dinner plate.

 

For every 1 really talented IT professional out there today there are 10 dilettantes with a C-Sci degree or M$/Cisco/Oracle certs that thought it would be an easy field to get into because they were smart enough to get the credentials.  They thought it would be an express ticket to cargo shorts and tee shirts and flexible hours. And they were wrong.

 

Before you chase a career in IT ask yourself this.  Are you doing the things that you want someone to pay you for in your free time right now?  Are you writing code that contributes to an open source platform or writing Apps for IOS/Android?  Do you have a substantial network with a domain and group policy and your own email server in your home?  Do you have a Cisco Layer 3 router in your home that you regularly configure or at minimum when did you last "hack" your linksys router to upgrade its capabilities? How many IT books did you read last month?  How many IT centric magazines do you get delivered to your home each month? Can you name 15 tech blogs (Gizmodo doesn't count)?

 

Because the folks who get those cool IT jobs have really geeky answers to those questions.

 

 

If you have creative desires chase that.  Do what you're passionate about.  Because IT is not for the casual and if you cant answer the bolded question above affirmatively then you are a casual.  Most of the casuals get chewed up and spat out by call center/help desk work or they get burned out working for some Mom & Pop that doesn't have half the budget they need but want the kind of uptime and responsiveness of Google.

 

Again I don't mean for this to come off as me being shitty, Ive just seen way too many people think that IT is a place where any reasonably intelligent person can succeed and work their way into the top levels and its just not.  It used to be but those days are long gone.  At every level IT is a 50+ hour a week job and if you want to excel its going to be more like 75.

[thefuzz]

Just now getting around to finishing this novel about workplace tardiness, fairness, corporate BS, IT work, obvious disregard for rules, and politically correct hiring policies.

 

 

The one thing that continues to jump out to me PD....is fairness.  It's not real, and it never will be.  Either learn to play the system, or you are going to continue to work dead end jobs, making no money, and being bossed around by assholes.

 

 

[cookinbrak]

The 3 rules of working for a living...

 

Keep your head down

Keep your mouth shut

Keep your ass moving

 

 

[thefuzz]

The 3 rules of working for a living...

 

Keep your head down

Keep your mouth shut

Keep your ass moving

 

And be on time.  So stupid sounding, but if you notice, most of the guys in power are always there when the lights come on, they may leave early, but they are there at the start.

 

 

 

I can count on one hand how many times I have been late at my current job over the past 3 years.