Another Beginning

[boltnrun]

3 hours ago, Jibralta said:

I didn't realize how much I missed direct deposit. Ahhhhhhh it is so nice.

Right?

My new apartment management company does not have an online portal to pay rent. I have to mail an actual check. I had no checks since I pay everything online,  so I had to order some checks. So 2015!

[Seraphim]

It sounds like your new job is a great fit for you minus the creepy guy. IT are a different breed. Suspicious by nature I think. Archetypical, look at Woz. 

[Jibralta]

3 hours ago, boltnrun said:

My new apartment management company does not have an online portal to pay rent. I have to mail an actual check. I had no checks since I pay everything online,  so I had to order some checks. So 2015!

I'm still paying rent by check! I think it's literally the only thing I write a check for, these days.

[Jibralta]

3 hours ago, Seraphim said:

Archetypical, look at Woz

Wow, he's been married four times. What a lothario. 

I forgot about that Gilmore Girls incident. I started out the week worried about it, though. I knew my worry was absurd, but I was concerned that Dean may have told the owners or the admin people that I was coming into the office to watch TV programs! Then I mentioned it to a couple coworkers and they burst out laughing. So, I stopped worrying!

But I don't keep my removable hard drive plugged in anymore. He can get on my computer without requesting permission. He did it the other day, when he was fixing a printer issue on my computer. 

[Jibralta]

I had lunch with my former coworker, Lisa, today. It was really nice. I haven't seen her since we were both laid off from Job 5, late last March. She seemed happy and relaxed. 

Lisa and I used to walk together during lunch. Eventually, two other girls joined us on those walks, Paula and Alice. After Lisa and I were laid off, the four of us stayed in touch. Paula was laid off this past January, and Alice was laid off not long after.

I actually met Paula and Alice for lunch a couple of weeks ago. Both of them have recently found new jobs. But Lisa still hasn't been able to find work. She's doing ok, though. Her husband's construction business actually did very well last year. Lisa's been helping him out a bit with business development. She's a civil engineer, and she's got a very friendly disposition, so I'm sure she's very effective with that.

I was telling her about some of my gripes with Job 6, when she said, "Yeah, I remember that Jerry and I found some errors in their surveys when I was still at Job 5." (Jerry was her boss). I was surprised that Lisa hadn't mentioned that when I first started working for Job 6. Then again, I can see how it might be awkward to tell someone that their new employer does sht work. lol.

I asked, "What were the errors?" She was like, "I don't remember. I just remember that there were errors and we had to deal with it." I said, "You know, it's funny. One of the first questions that Simon asked me was whether I worked for Robert while I was at Job 5." (Robert was one of the owners there). Lisa said, "Why, did Robert curse him out or something?" I was like, "I don't know. Probably. I'm not surprised about the errors, though." and I told her about what it was like when I surveyed for Job 6, how I literally had three days of training, how two out of three crew chiefs quit 2.5 months in, how it turned out that the company did sht work across the board.

It never crossed my mind that Simon asked if I knew Robert because he (Simon) was worried I could get the dirt on him from Robert. It makes perfect sense, though--Simon was so freaking obsessed with looking good. I remember during our kick-off meeting early this year, he said the most bizarre thing. He said, "Some people try to say that we don't do good work. But those people are just jealous that we're getting so much business." Weirdo. I bet I wouldn't have gotten the job if I'd worked for Robert, if there was any chance that Simon's reputation might have been sullied in my eyes!!

This info from Lisa brings to mind (again) the very neutral input about Simon that my former boss from Job 4 gave me. He just sort of stated where Simon had worked before going into business for himself, and added, "Always lots of survey." Nothing negative, but nothing positive. When Simon realized I'd worked for Job 4, he asked me if I knew one of the managers there, Joe. I said, "Actually, Joe is the only one I didn't work for." Joe's department did a lot of work with surveys. I bet Joe had dirt on Simon, too!

I blocked that em effer (Simon) on LinkedIn right before I quit. I didn't want him finding out where I went, and trying to make trouble for me. I actually haven't updated my LinkedIn profile with my new job because I don't want it getting back to him through somebody else. I only went so far as to end my tenure with Job 6. That's how creeped out I am by these people.

I can see that Kasey has already checked my profile. And I have two random connection requests from profiles that are obviously dummy profiles. Based on the career descriptions, I think they're both Simon. He was a total creeper, man. He'd lurk off-camera in all of the zoom meetings that Kasey attended. *shudder*

Hassan gave his three-week's notice a month ago and just completed his first week at his new job. He never put Job 6 on his LinkedIn profile! He just left the gap between his last employer and his new one. He left Job 6 on very good terms with Simon, but obviously doesn't want to be associated with him.

[maritalbliss86]

3 hours ago, Jibralta said:

Based on the career descriptions, I think they're both Simon. He was a total creeper, man. He'd lurk off-camera in all of the zoom meetings that Kasey attended. *shudder*

Wow!!!!!  👀  So glad you got away from that job, and how interesting that he was asking about Robert and worried you'd already heard about his reputation 🙄.  What an awful company!

[maritalbliss86]

3 hours ago, Jibralta said:

Hassan gave his three-week's notice a month ago and just completed his first week at his new job. He never put Job 6 on his LinkedIn profile! He just left the gap between his last employer and his new one.

Is it really still necessary to have Linkedin these days?  I thought a few years back it was kind of turning into a semblance of facebook.

[Jibralta]

9 hours ago, maritalbliss86 said:

Is it really still necessary to have Linkedin these days? I thought a few years back it was kind of turning into a semblance of facebook.

I see what you're saying. It's just complete garbage on the front end, where people are posting memes and having debates about whatever. I'm not exactly sure why that feature is there. It's not very useful. 

On the back end, where the job postings and recruiters are, it's very useful. More so than Zip Recruiter or Indeed--at least that's been my experience. 

It's funny you said this, because up until the last few years, I wondered if LinkedIn was ever going to take off. And just last night, I thought, "It actually seems to have taken off now."

Like, back in 2010 the intent was clear, but it didn't seem like anyone was interested. Nowadays, recruiters are definitely using it, and most companies have a LinkedIn presence and post their jobs there. 

So, I guess the answer is, it's useful if you actually need to use it. But if you're not looking for a job or looking to hire, it's a time sink.

[Jibralta]

1 hour ago, Jibralta said:

On the back end, where the job postings and recruiters are, it's very useful. More so than Zip Recruiter or Indeed--at least that's been my experience. 

I should also add that the networking feature is very useful. Duh. 

When a coworker leaves a place that I work, I usually "link them in," so to speak. It's like a very loose way of staying in contact in case you need something from them professionally.

Last January, when a couple of my former coworkers were laid off from Job 5, I reached out to as many as I could through LinkedIn. One of these, Janelle, was someone I didn't know very well but she seemed like a good egg. So, I made brief conversation with her through the site and left it at that.

In April, when I took the position with Job 7, you may remember that one of my job prospects, Bill, was a little miffed with me. I knew he felt a little 'left in the lurch,' so I reached out to Janelle and a few other former coworkers (Alice and Paula, actually) who were looking for jobs and sent them his way. Bill didn't end up hiring any of them, but they were all appreciative. When Janelle found out that I was working for Job 7, she messaged me to see if I could get her an "in."

 

The way I see it, I now have a "tab" to call in--if I need it. I may never need it, but if I do ever need a favor from her down the line, I won't feel bad asking for it.

[Jibralta]

I found out yesterday that my first project went over with flying colors. Nadine did seem happy with it a couple of weeks ago, but I was afraid to believe her. I'm still really shell-shocked from my last employer's constant lies lol.

And even though Nadine seemed happy, there was a chance that the client could freak out. The project was for a 'temporary' covered deck addition to a restaurant, but the end result was a timber structure that you'd need a wrecking ball to demolish lol. This 'temporary addition' unexpectedly  required sprinklers ($20K) and after all is said and done will probably cost $100K to build. There are 20 different connections, and many of these are custom fabrications. It was a beast to coordinate.

The client does all of his construction himself, so the drawings really needed to make sense. He was also the firm's very first client 16 years ago, so I was particularly glad it went over well with him. I'm sure the owners would listen to their very first client if he had a problem! The set went through permitting without issue last week, and construction is imminent. Nadine said that the client is really happy.

I found this out through Nadine's offhand remarks yesterday, as she started to review my second project. The second project is not going so well lol. I inherited both the first and second project from an employee named Rick, who left the firm just before I started. 

Nadine told me yesterday that the aforementioned client said that Rick was "a bit of a bullshtter." Based on what I've inherited in my second project, that assessment made a lot of sense to me. Over the last 2+ weeks, I've hardly made any forward progress on this project because I've been spending all of my time correcting and redrawing things. 

The set I presented to Nadine yesterday was really awful.  It must have come as quite a shock to her after she was done praising me lol. Thankfully, she didn't freak out or anything. She seemed to take it in stride... We shall see!

[maritalbliss86]

So glad this experience is different for you ❤️ .  And so sorry to blab so much about our own family problems on your other thread!  It just reminded me so much of how my in-laws treat my husband... ignoring his texts... passive aggressive, "I forgot," replies to things he's tried to communicate with them... and no matter how he tries to put down boundaries, somehow they never work to make peace.  They may work to separate us from them (temporarily peaceful), but they try to make us, "pay," for that later.  And weeks of stressing out trying to come up with various plans, knowing they probably won't work... that was so us!

So I get it... people trying to suggest you just make non-verbal boundaries have different kind of family members I think... they may not understand you've already tried that probably.  I'm not sure your mom/sister duo wouldn't just, "pay you back," later by holding grudges.  And that's hard to deal with long-term... I've watched it grow to really bother my husband.

But sorry to compare so much, I know your issues are probably different.

[Seraphim]

I think once you catch your stride there and don’t inherit disasters you are going to be fine . 

[Jibralta]

8 hours ago, Seraphim said:

I think once you catch your stride there and don’t inherit disasters you are going to be fine . 

Thanks! My next project is going to be my first non-inherited one. It's for a veterinarian office. I'm psyched. I love animals.

[Jibralta]

9 hours ago, maritalbliss86 said:

It just reminded me so much of how my in-laws treat my husband... ignoring his texts... passive aggressive, "I forgot," replies to things he's tried to communicate with them... and no matter how he tries to put down boundaries, somehow they never work to make peace.

Yes, similar passive-aggressive dynamic.

 

[Jibralta]

I had an interesting meeting with Nadine and Pei. These are going to start being weekly project management meetings. But in the first meeting, it was less about project management and more about exchanging viewpoints. For most of the meeting, I found myself listening to Pei and Nadine talk. My mind did not wander, as it often does in those situations. I was truly interested. 

Since I've been there, a couple of people have left. A girl named Margie left abruptly after my first week. Not sure what happened there. Then, a girl named Sandra left because of some family issues. On the same day that Sandra left, another girl, Eve, went from fulltime to a consulting role so that she could help her husband build his business. But I was really surprised when Adrian left. I know that Nadine and Sandra loved her. 

I also know that Adrian was happy there. Adrian and I did a field measurement a couple of weeks prior, and she told me that Nadine's group was really stable, and that people rarely left. Then suddenly, she was taking a position with another company--and not even a good company, at that! Adrian is just a few years out of college. I figured maybe she didn't know how good she had it there. Or maybe she just wanted to try something new. Maybe the girl is an adventurer!

But then, during the course of my meeting with Nadine and Pei, Nadine talked about reasons why a project sometimes shifted from profitable to unprofitable. She said that a lot of times, it had to do with the people who were working on it. For example, she said, Eve "had a very limited ability to bring a project from 2D to something that could actually be built," and Adrian was "just so junior..." It made me wonder if Eve and Adrian had been asked to leave in the kindest of ways. Because I know that Nadine and Sandra were sad to see them go. They threw them a party and everything.

Adrian's last day was two weeks ago. She left everyone a card, including me. Even though I'm the newbie there, she filled the whole inside of my card with really kind, thoughtful things. I was like, Wow. 

There's more to this story, but I have to go. So...... to be continued.....

[luminousone]

Ack! You leave us in limbo!

(I think I remember you did that once before…)

[Jibralta]

Lol I forgot! Busy weekend! I'll remember later, when I get home from work. I do want to write down these thoughts.

[Jibralta]

On 6/26/2021 at 4:00 PM, Jibralta said:

Adrian's last day was two weeks ago. She left everyone a card, including me. Even though I'm the newbie there, she filled the whole inside of my card with really kind, thoughtful things. I was like, Wow. 

OK. So, to continue....

Adrian left everyone these really nice cards, with thoughtful messages inside. In my coworker Omar's card, she thanked him for always taking the time to patiently explain everything to her. Then she added something like, "If I had played my cards like you, I might not be leaving right now."

As a little background, Omar knows all of the software inside and out. He's really good at mastering processes in general, and is the go-to guy for pretty much all of them. He started as an intern, just like Adrian. But he's been there for six years, whereas Adrian has only been there for two. 

I don't know what cards Adrian was trying to play, but I now suspect that she had, in fact, been asked to find another job. It's a little disconcerting!!

[Jibralta]

That wasn't really worth the cliffhanger, was it? lol.

[dias]

4 hours ago, Jibralta said:

That wasn't really worth the cliffhanger, was it? lol.

Hahahahahahahaha

[Jibralta]

A couple weeks ago, I posted about encouraging my former coworker, Janelle, to apply for a job at my company. Well, she did, and she got an interview!  It was on Tuesday. I saw her briefly as she was taking a tour with the HR lady. She kind of creeped me out a little with her "Hi!" Not sure why... maybe it was just the awkwardness of the situation.

I'm ambivalent about her getting the job. Part of me wants her to get it, and part of me doesn't want her to get it. I like Janelle's demeanor, but I don't actually know her very well. We never worked together on anything, but she's always seemed very knowledgeable and competent. I do get the sense that she's a bit downtrodden. 

The part that doesn't want her to get the job is remembering the dismal vibe from the Job 5 office. What if she brings it here with her? 

I guess that's ridiculous. 

Anyway, almost immediately after Janelle left, my phone rang and it was Sandra and Nadine asking me to join them in the upstairs meeting room. I had wondered if anyone was going to pump me for information about Janelle, but I didn't expect it would be that fast! I wondered if something crazy had happened...

It turned out not to be about Janelle at all. They called me in to give me a bonus! Turns out they always give bonuses at this time of year, and they didn't want me to feel excluded! They cautioned me that wasn't as much as the other got, but what do I care? I wasn't expecting anything! They also got everyone a membership to a local arboretum. Really nice.

 

[boltnrun]

That's great!

Could Janelle been feeling down at Job 5 because of the dismal atmosphere?

[Jibralta]

I'm sure Job 5 probably affected her on some level. 

That job was weird. It had this great energy and it was often a lot of fun to work there. But at the same time, it was sooo dysfunctional and toxic. 

Janelle got along with everyone there pretty well, even more so than I did. I was actually stunned that they laid her off. I though she was mobbed in. 

I get the impression that Janelle just feels kind of bad about herself in general.

I remember a couple years ago, we were having a Christmas party after work. The restaurant was about 20 minutes west of the office, and Janelle lived about 30 minutes south. She was talking to me and another coworker, trying to figure out if she should go home first, or go to the party straight from the office.

I said, "You can come to my apartment. Leave your car on my street and we can take the train in." She was really excited about that.

But then I mentioned that my boyfriend would be home and that we'd all be going together. Janelle was suddenly like, "I don't know... Maybe I'll just go to Eddie's." And that's what she did. Which was fine with me, but it always stood out as odd that my boyfriend being there made her change her mind. It gave me the impression that maybe her family life isn't so good.

But of course, I could be way off.

[luminousone]

On 7/2/2021 at 3:09 AM, Jibralta said:

I'm sure Job 5 probably affected her on some level. 

That job was weird. It had this great energy and it was often a lot of fun to work there. But at the same time, it was sooo dysfunctional and toxic. 

Janelle got along with everyone there pretty well, even more so than I did. I was actually stunned that they laid her off. I though she was mobbed in. 

I get the impression that Janelle just feels kind of bad about herself in general.

I remember a couple years ago, we were having a Christmas party after work. The restaurant was about 20 minutes west of the office, and Janelle lived about 30 minutes south. She was talking to me and another coworker, trying to figure out if she should go home first, or go to the party straight from the office.

I said, "You can come to my apartment. Leave your car on my street and we can take the train in." She was really excited about that.

But then I mentioned that my boyfriend would be home and that we'd all be going together. Janelle was suddenly like, "I don't know... Maybe I'll just go to Eddie's." And that's what she did. Which was fine with me, but it always stood out as odd that my boyfriend being there made her change her mind. It gave me the impression that maybe her family life isn't so good.

But of course, I could be way off.

Maybe. Only she would know. She might be shy around men, or worried that she would be the third wheel, or maybe she is gay and had designs on you. 
 

Lol on the “cliffhanger “. We won’t have that story tied up until you check with Adrian about why she left. Just tell her we all need to know, haha!

[Jibralta]

7 hours ago, luminousone said:

Lol on the “cliffhanger “. We won’t have that story tied up until you check with Adrian about why she left. Just tell her we all need to know, haha!

Lol, nothing awkward about that!

"So, Adrian, how did you screw up? I'm not just asking for myself. I've blabbed about it on the internet and others want to know, as well."

Hahahaha