Chapter 3

[dias]

8 hours ago, Batya33 said:

LOL so she didn't act like a princess just had amnesia lol (I mean I think it's ok she chatted with you but a half hour is a bit much with a strange man without mentioning much sooner she's waiting for her date). 

Meh, big deal, we just chatted. Waiting for a date that might lead to nothing does not mean you can't talk to strangers. I know she wanted attention, this is how everything starts in dating, this is not the problem. The problem is all those gals want only attention and nothing more. They are happy only with getting the validation when a guy approaches them. Which is fine I guess from a woman's side but from a guy's perspective it is very frustrating to be turned down all the time. Sure it would feel nice if girls came up to talk to me (in a parallel universe I mean lol)

 

[Batya33]

1 hour ago, dias said:

Meh, big deal, we just chatted. Waiting for a date that might lead to nothing does not mean you can't talk to strangers. I know she wanted attention, this is how everything starts in dating, this is not the problem. The problem is all those gals want only attention and nothing more. They are happy only with getting the validation when a guy approaches them. Which is fine I guess from a woman's side but from a guy's perspective it is very frustrating to be turned down all the time. Sure it would feel nice if girls came up to talk to me (in a parallel universe I mean lol)

 

I disagree people who want to date or get to know someone for the right reasons aren’t focused on attention seeking or ego crap. They simply enjoy getting to know another person. I think women would start conversations with you in environments where people are meant to mingle. I started a conversation with my husband 29 years ago last month. Because he was new at our company and it was a welcome breakfast for the newbies. I’d looked at the bios they circulated beforehand - mid 90s- and realized we grew up sort of near each other plus he hadn’t been an intern the same time as the others so he knew no one. Please don’t get all bitter about women based on your individual experiences. 

[dias]

Why the heck am I getting frustrated with people on this project? If they don't care why should I ? It's not my company.

[Batya33]

3 hours ago, dias said:

Why the heck am I getting frustrated with people on this project? If they don't care why should I ? It's not my company.

I am like that too.  I know. You care because it's in you to care.  You're that kind of person.  And yes it's frustrating to feel frustrated when the others aren't pulling their weight.

[dias]

I am returning to Athens. The other engineer took one month annual leave so I am the only one supporting the application. There is no point of travelling right now since I work longs hours. Too expensive to pay for a hotel for no reason. 

Although I don't want to go back. I want to take my backpack and travel without obligations. Damn life.

And I don't want to travel in Europe anymore. I would like to travel in the US. Or at least Asia. Europe is boring.

 

[Jibralta]

On 11/9/2023 at 3:02 AM, dias said:

Why the heck am I getting frustrated with people on this project? If they don't care why should I ? It's not my company.

I have often asked myself the same question. Makes no sense. Yet.... I still care! 

Fortunately, it is not like that at my current job. Finally. But nothing is perfect, of course.

17 hours ago, dias said:

I want to take my backpack and travel without obligations. Damn life.

And I don't want to travel in Europe anymore. I would like to travel in the US. Or at least Asia. Europe is boring.

Can you figure out a way to do this?

[dias]

On 11/10/2023 at 2:02 PM, Jibralta said:

I have often asked myself the same question. Makes no sense. Yet.... I still care! 

I guess we both don't like it when people don't do their jobs properly. 

On 11/10/2023 at 2:02 PM, Jibralta said:

 

Can you figure out a way to do this?

No unless I quit my job which is definitely not going to happen. 

I could make an official request (which has to be approved from at least 3-4 managers) for working remotely from the US for a month or two (I think two months outside of Europe is the max).  Problem is, even if it's approved there would be a big time difference between  the US and the Netherlands (the client is a Dutch company). I would have to start working at 3am which I don't think I can handle. So I have to wait for my annual leave. 

 

 

 

[dias]

I went out with a friend on Saturday. I asked him if his girlfriend could bring one of her girlfriends as she knows I am on the market. Bad idea. Never again. It rarely works like this but I am trying to increase the chances every way possible. 

I am willing to compromise a lot (like a lot) but there is a line I don't cross. An acquaintance told me I appear to be very picky and fussy at first glance. I don't think I am that difficult to be honest. Yes of course, deep down I believe I deserve a girl like the Mexican girl I met in New Orleans*. However, I like to be a pragmatist too and I know angels like that are one in a million (I mean girls so beautiful who are adventurous, down to earth and have a proper job). Aside from the fact that the feeling has to be mutual which decreases the odds to 0.0000000001%. I feel with most people I can only give and have nothing to take (I mean for my criteria/needs). I don't want burdens. 

*She joked her Mexican friends wanted 15K to marry her if she wanted a green card**. I am like you can marry me for free and you would get European passport and British residency lol I see her posts on fb and it kind of saddens me that nothing happened. 

**15K is a bargain I believe btw, I would pay more than 50K easily. Any takers hahahahaha?

[Batya33]

Yes if the angel has to also be beautiful in an objective sense like arm candy model beautiful plus the other attributes plus wants to be with you that does narrow the dating pool. 

[dias]

That b*tch in HR.

HR shouldn't exist as a department. Glorified secretaries.....And they make more than engineers in some cases. Jeez, unbelievable. 

[Jaunty]

34 minutes ago, dias said:

That b*tch in HR.

HR shouldn't exist as a department. Glorified secretaries.....And they make more than engineers in some cases. Jeez, unbelievable. 

Maybe things are much different in Greece, but in the USA the labor laws and all things surrounding them are so complicated, and the culture so litigious, that  companies truly need a whole department to navigate all of it.   

[dias]

8 hours ago, Jaunty said:

Maybe things are much different in Greece, but in the USA the labor laws and all things surrounding them are so complicated, and the culture so litigious, that  companies truly need a whole department to navigate all of it.   

Things are not different in Greece. I have worked in many international companies here and in the UK, I had friends in the HR, I know exactly what they do. They do a lot of stuff like payroll, dealing with complains, (unnecessary) interviews and inductions etc etc. They are basically secretaries with a couple of certificates to learn about some basic legal things. There is the legal department with actual lawyers dealing with complex legal issues. The HR does the admin job. Is it necessary for someone to do this job? Yes of course. Should they get paid that much? Hell no. Half of what they are getting at most. Most people in HR do not have any substantial formal qualification. They have too much power within the company as well because everything has to go through them. 

No wonder why Elon Musk fired 2/3 of Twitter (or thereabouts), I would have done the same, even plenty of engineers are unnecessary. 

The core of every business is two things: 

1)Sales

2)Product/Service

In the IT that means salesmen and engineers. These are the key people. These are the people who do the actual job. The rest of the jobs are mostly admin jobs. If the average HR salary is X then the average engineering salary should be X*3. However, when a company grows so big that the owner can't really do everything alone inadvertently departments start operating on their own and this is where things go awry. 

If only that was the only nonsensical thing in this world. 

[Batya33]

7 hours ago, dias said:

Things are not different in Greece. I have worked in many international companies here and in the UK, I had friends in the HR, I know exactly what they do. They do a lot of stuff like payroll, dealing with complains, (unnecessary) interviews and inductions etc etc. They are basically secretaries with a couple of certificates to learn about some basic legal things. There is the legal department with actual lawyers dealing with complex legal issues. The HR does the admin job. Is it necessary for someone to do this job? Yes of course. Should they get paid that much? Hell no. Half of what they are getting at most. Most people in HR do not have any substantial formal qualification. They have too much power within the company as well because everything has to go through them. 

No wonder why Elon Musk fired 2/3 of Twitter (or thereabouts), I would have done the same, even plenty of engineers are unnecessary. 

The core of every business is two things: 

1)Sales

2)Product/Service

In the IT that means salesmen and engineers. These are the key people. These are the people who do the actual job. The rest of the jobs are mostly admin jobs. If the average HR salary is X then the average engineering salary should be X*3. However, when a company grows so big that the owner can't really do everything alone inadvertently departments start operating on their own and this is where things go awry. 

If only that was the only nonsensical thing in this world. 

Over the last 29 years - 22 of which I have worked outside the home -and also worked in private companies for about 2 years prior to and during college and grad school - I do not know what in the world I would have done without the staff who helped me including secretaries, mail room clerks, receptionists. 

I worked secretarial and receptionist very briefly during college. Mom was a bookkeeper for years in the 70s then customer service at a major insurance company for many years - and she worked hard and was committed and dedicated and did real work.  Our families have a really strong work ethic whether it's admin or managerial (I am not really a manager now in my part time work but I had high level managerial responsibilities in one of my jobs for about 6-7 years). 

I have friends in HR who work very hard.  It might look like paper pushing just like people think teachers have "summers off" and if they are preschool teachers they just "play".  Outsider perspective.  And to me inaccurate. I agree with Jaunty.

[dias]

 

[mylolita]

On 11/17/2023 at 8:11 PM, dias said:

That b*tch in HR.

HR shouldn't exist as a department. Glorified secretaries.....And they make more than engineers in some cases. Jeez, unbelievable. 

It’s all total, overpaid, useless bs! 
 

Good morning howdy doody 🤣

 

x

 

 

[mylolita]

On 11/18/2023 at 6:03 AM, dias said:

Things are not different in Greece. I have worked in many international companies here and in the UK, I had friends in the HR, I know exactly what they do. They do a lot of stuff like payroll, dealing with complains, (unnecessary) interviews and inductions etc etc. They are basically secretaries with a couple of certificates to learn about some basic legal things. There is the legal department with actual lawyers dealing with complex legal issues. The HR does the admin job. Is it necessary for someone to do this job? Yes of course. Should they get paid that much? Hell no. Half of what they are getting at most. Most people in HR do not have any substantial formal qualification. They have too much power within the company as well because everything has to go through them. 

No wonder why Elon Musk fired 2/3 of Twitter (or thereabouts), I would have done the same, even plenty of engineers are unnecessary. 

The core of every business is two things: 

1)Sales

2)Product/Service

In the IT that means salesmen and engineers. These are the key people. These are the people who do the actual job. The rest of the jobs are mostly admin jobs. If the average HR salary is X then the average engineering salary should be X*3. However, when a company grows so big that the owner can't really do everything alone inadvertently departments start operating on their own and this is where things go awry. 

If only that was the only nonsensical thing in this world. 

I agree, and I was one of them Dias! (Well, not HR, but admin - who was over paid and front of house with private health care, company car and expenses paid for! ((It was a huge American company!))

 

I always see it like this - in that company, if the human resource staff and the recruiters all picked up and left, the whole thing would still run perfectly for the month. It the engineers, the directors, and yes, the sales team picked up and left, the thing would have been crumbling in utter chaos by the end of the day! It says a lot.

 

I myself will admit my job was fluff! I took the money for sure, it helped us secure our first house, but it was fluff non the less. I imagine the speed typing and note taking I did back then could all be easily checked off to AI and computer systems now. I mostly answered the phone and helped entertain clients coming in for sales meetings. Again, fluff! Nothingness! 
 

I was on quarter of what one of the head project managers took home, and they also had law degree’s specific to construction. Kind of crazy. You also have to remember that the guys hiring these admin girls are let loose for the most part and tend to hire young girls who make a good cup of coffee and wear a tight pencil skirt and say “sure Chris”. Y’know what I mean! The whole salary scales got a re-haul eventually after I left, I heard this on the grape vine, because it was unfair and corrupt, but you take what you can when offered a job and make hay while the sun shines! 
 

I did encourage everyone to ask for pay rises though - as often they were too lazy to look for new staff and would be lax and cave into demands. I realise now why the whole thing went bankrupt - HA! 
 

Anyway! Long way of saying, I agree, and, it’s not fair or equal, or proportionate! 
 

x

[dias]

I am 1.5 months at the company and got 2 certifications. In a company of 60K people worldwide with 50K of them being engineers only about 200 have the first certificate and about 20 the second one. You can imagine the surprise of my colleagues and managers. 

Why is this beneficial for the company? Because in order to get big clients and projects they need to have an X number of engineers with some specific certifications. Or in other words they benefit by winning contracts and making money. I don't make money directly of course. It might help getting a promotion or a petty pay-rise in a year or so which as always won't be good enough for me. It's more about thinking long term.

1)It would increase my chances of getting into an American project next year since they are not many engineers around with this specialization and hopefully provide sponsorship. 

2)If the first scenario does not work out, it would be much easier finding another job with a lot more money. I might start working as a contractor, I believe I could make 500-600 euros per day. In London I think I could chase for 100K+ at that point. 

For now I want to get back to Youtube because it's gaining traction. I am also planning to travel a lot next year (I mean travel whilst working remotely). The client wants me to visit the offices in Amsterdam so the Netherlands is on list, I want to visit a friend in Cyprus, my grandmother in Poland, I have booked tickets to visit bro in the US in March (certainly one stop in Miami this time)...that's until May. Then maybe somewhere else in Europe. I would like to visit Asia at some point. We will see. 

[dias]

I went out in an area I had never been before. I scanned a few bars trying to spot if there is any potential to meet women. I saw a woman sitting alone at a bar chit chatting with the bartenders so I decided to give a try. I tried to start a conversation, we chit chatted a little bit, there wasn't any connection or interest. She was a lawyer anyway, very bad sign...away from us. 

Then I found another jazz bar/pub in the next street. Again I saw two girls sitting at the bar (which is a good indication-when they are more than two and sitting at a table forming a circle is a no-go), one good looking blonde and one very hot brunette. The brunette was smoking and about to finish her wine. I sat next to her and I said "can you handle a second round, I am buying". She smiled and she said she is leaving in 3 minutes, her taxi is on the way, her mother had her birthday or something and she had to go. She smiled and she thanked me at least. I couldn't resist, I really fancied her so after a minute I asked her if her mother would forgive her if she was half an hour late. She smiled again and she said her taxi was almost there. (I could see the app on her phone so the taxi was not a lie, the mother was most likely an excuse). When she picked up her stuff, I stopped her and told her next Saturday same hour same place, are you going to be here? She said most likely yes. I suspect she is a bartender there but her shift had ended before I arrived. It would explain her good looks and the sexy vibe. I told her I will be there. 

Scanned a few other bars but there was no potential so I left. I had drunk already two beers, I didn't want to drink more for no reason. 

Why did I say Saturday, I can't wait until Saturday. I really fancied her, even the 5-6 sentences we exchanged it made me smile. It's an achievement to get a smile from a gal these days, the resting b*tch face is the default in most of them. 

[Batya33]

Can I ask why you didn’t ask for her contact info?

[dias]

7 minutes ago, Batya33 said:

Can I ask why you didn’t ask for her contact info?

I don't know, I had a feeling it was too early and she wouldn't give it. In the past I got numbers but either they never replied or they were wrong numbers lol. Same hour same place next Saturday is more solid, she either comes or not. I would be there for a beer regardless. 

[mylolita]

28 minutes ago, dias said:

I don't know, I had a feeling it was too early and she wouldn't give it. In the past I got numbers but either they never replied or they were wrong numbers lol. Same hour same place next Saturday is more solid, she either comes or not. I would be there for a beer regardless. 

LET’S GO! 
 

Fingers crossed and beer at hand! 
 

x

[Batya33]

59 minutes ago, dias said:

I don't know, I had a feeling it was too early and she wouldn't give it. In the past I got numbers but either they never replied or they were wrong numbers lol. Same hour same place next Saturday is more solid, she either comes or not. I would be there for a beer regardless. 

If a man had asked me that I'd have assumed his interest was lukewarm at best - he was interested in seeing me only if it was convenient for him.

[dias]

Boy!! I would gladly dance with those chicks. 

 

[dias]

I think I need to ask my dance teacher to learn this routine instead of hip hop. Looks a lot more fun. Hip hop is quite fast, until you learn the steps perfectly it's like you are rehearsing for marching. But this is easy when you have the body and sure it would be so much fun doing it hahahaha. Jeez and I became an engineer, what a shame...

 

[dias]

The dance teacher wants me to join the stage performance in December. I told her I am not ready but she insists it will be fun. So now I have to practice at home because I am already behind others. When you look at it, hip hop does not look so difficult but when you do it, it does take a lot of practice to do it correctly and fast. It's like very fast aerobics. I get tired quite fast and I have been working out for 14 years consistently. I really like it though, it's really fun.

I certainly prefer it from coding. I virtually burnt out recently so my brain resists to work now. It's one of those periods.