Boss Bitch

The hits just keep coming. In not so many words I and some others were told we give service that is too good. Yeah, it's not a stretch to be able to understand that statement in some ways. They called it "Platinum Service" when the client could stand to receive bronze or some such equivalent. So, many of us are being swapped about because if we literally do not HAVE the experience with the new product we are supporting, there is no WAY for us to give too good a service level. No one is leaving, mind you. The person taking over my stuff won't know how to support it as good as I do. Likewise the guy's stuff I'm taking over likely thinks I can't support 'his/her' product like he/she can - and that is valid too. Flummoxed.

Baffling--sounds like something out of a sitcom.

Let's hope it's more like "The Office" than "Outsourced."

I had mentioned how they are swapping people with skills now. Well today was the meeting where everyone was let in on the plans. Everyone was dumbfounded.
Luckily, my wife had a second person beg her to take this other, better job today. I said, "do it". I likely won't last one way or another, imo.

Sounds like they are trying to build up redundancy; so nobody is safe from the axe. Corporations can be "too big to fail," but not their employees.

on the surface that is what it might appear. I actually think my boss is purposefully lowering service levels to say "Hey, you made me cut people, this is what you get. Give me more people or deal with it". ... regardless of how it will make us feel.

Just had a "Rah! Rah!" speech from our CEO. Seemed nice enough, but I think that she erred when empathizing with our long hours. She pointed out that she only made it home 16% of the evenings in 2010. Sucks, of course, but if I had her salary I would gladly suffer through it.

Dropping like flies around here/work. (when taking into account firings/resignations, etc)

Hey folks sorry to hear the bad news. I have kinda sorta deliberately staying away on the thought that maybe my semi-cyclic bad attitude was being fostered by sporkers, but since it does not seem to really have much impact I AM BACK...

While my employer is not slashing in the same way there is some deck chair rearranging going on and I thought I'd ask for some feedback.

The "good news" is that I got one of those blessed calls from a recruiter from out of the blue about a position that ought to be a good fit for me at a location that is signficantly shorter commute and ought to have base pay that is at least as good as what I am getting now.

The odd thing is that the since a big chunk of the business that was central to the location I work from is going away the "thinkers" have dangled a BIG honking retention bonus at folks like me and a pretty big group of others to stick around as the actual work we do is pretty location neutral. Of course ithat bonus ain't payable for over a year...

The new position / firm ain't ideal in every way (when is anything?...) and the existing position ain't exactly peaches and creme at this point either. Of course the new position has not yet been offered, so I don't want to count any chicken b4 they hatch, but any perspeective / insights are appreciated...

Personally, if the writing is on the wall at the current location, ask yourself: can you live for 12mo+ unemployed, either as-is or with the retention bonus?

I'm not *just* being bitter (though I'm sure there's some there) and I'd like to think I'm significantly employable (ha!), yet here I sit going on 10 months without.

Assuming you get a reasonable new offer, the bird-in-hand rule might apply...

Hey Stan. Good to see you're back.

Yeah... I was in a planning meeting today. I need to know how to plan for the next three years for some items. Dire projections. Not just projections, hard facts. I won't go into details, but it will be a bloody mess.

Wow things are slow.

I am leaving the world of financial services for another foray back into the hybrid world of "clicks and bricks" with a top 50 e-commerce retailer that will give me a commute of under 2.2 miles.

I hope to hell I can figure out how to sneak in more iPad time and pretend it is useful to the "business"...

Don't install angry birds - it's very addictive...

Quote
Tony Leggett
Don't install angry birds - it's very addictive...

+1.

Good luck with the new job, Stan.

Quote
Tony Leggett
Don't install angry birds - it's very addictive...

+25

iOS is evil.

Currently in a discussion to determine whether my project is required to include two or three mutually incompatible technologies.

Let's guess: C++, Jell-O, fission.

Naw, just internal stuff developed years apart by teams that didn't communicate with each other and mandated for inclusion by circumstances outside my control. Not even Pointy Haired Boss stuff, really, just un-thought-through ramifications of innocuous-seeming early decisions.

And who says Jell-O and fission are incompatible, anyway?