Greetings and Salutations!
So I got let go from Ye Olde People’s Tractor Factory today. And before anyone gets all “harrumphing” in my direction, let me tell you, I’m not hurting nor upset… for that matter, you know that it’s a good thing that when you let go, that your response is relief.
As in “Ahhhhhhhhhh… now I no longer have to deal with THAT asshole anymore!” In this case, and out of respect for the company itself, I’m not naming names per se. That and my ‘termination/resignation’ has a clause that states I won’t disparage the place.
Which is fair.
In fact the place? I loved working there.
The majority of folks?
I really liked them.
As much as I’m capable of liking a civilian…
That of course was to be the case up until the new Manager for my department came in and got hired 18+/- months ago… A fucking British National on a 90-day Marriage Visa. Lord knows I –tried– to be cool with him. And then I got backstabbed by him, and I realized he was like every other mid-wit (compared to me) manager with an overwhelming need to ‘dig’ and ‘pick’ at shit.
Now granted, that yes, as my direct supervisor, while it was his job to make sure things were working well, there gets to a point where the term “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” comes into play.
Namely he wanted me to do worthless, shitty, busy-work while I was ‘on the clock’. That sort of shit is the bane of my existence. And in my role with the company, well let’s just say that if I had say 15 taskers for a particular day, that I could knock out what needed to be done in less than an hour. Two at the absolute max.
Which means making the required phone calls, sending out emails and the like, requests for reports and/or information, as well as insuring that I catalog all of these attempts and whatnot so we have a solid track on me doing my job.
Which became the problem.
I am capable of doing the entirety of the days work in and hour or two. That subsequently left me with remaining six hours on the clock to stick my thumb in various orifices… Add on that I positively hate busy work…
I don’t do well with that sort of “Look busy, Jeebus is watching!” crapola.
If your numbers are great, if your production is stellar and you have ZERO customer complaints? Leave the fucking guy/gal in question the fuck alone!!!
When I was a Call Center Supervisor with a team of 40 under me? I had one or two folks like that… I left them the fuck alone. And what I told them my only requirement was that when they were fucking off (i.e surfing the web and/or watching videos and the like on OiTube) that they keep it to themselves, and not upset the rest of the workforce.
ESPECIALLY the retarded blaq folks.
ONE of them was a black chick who was a fellow vet, who also happened to be an AWESOME Hoomon Bean… I might be biased but the fact that she also was a combat medic with a Bronze Star w/”V” for pulling dudes out of a burning truck under fire absolutely factored in. “Doc” is still one of my favorites from back then… Wherever she is, I hope things are cool… she deserves it.
Anyways…
THAT was the excuse to can me.
The fact that I fucked off on the clock.
Mind you I’m the only one who was picked out for this tracking. I know for a fact that almost ALL the others on the team fuck off as well… it’s just that no one else was subjected to the microscope factor.
Not that I’m concerned.
One is because they’re paying me one months’ severance, all my remaining vacation time (almost 50 hours) is being paid out, and my earned bonuses (for reviews on Google and what) as ALSO being honored. That and that my ‘release letter’ states plainly that I resigned LOL. Hell… I got to ‘twist the knife today’ as at 13:00 before the fateful meeting, I got ANOTHER 5 star Goolag review… the Client in Question was so pleased that they asked my opinion of what they wrote while I was on the phone LOL. My understanding is that I was one of the absolute top tier performers… so anyways….
Two is because I’ve already got like three fallback positions, one is going tomorrow to work for GunGirl as the in-house gun guru. The other juuuust fell into my lap, but it has MAD potential… More intel on that as it develops…
And third and lastly?
Instead of being all upset and butthurt, I’m chill AF about it.
Like strangely relieved and happy. Everything else is just icing on Ye Olde Cake. One of my frens that I talked to today about said-subject, when I told him about the severance and other parts of the package, told me he thinks it’s the “Please don’t come and shoot us” Severance Plan. I LOL’d!
Not that I’d ever do anything like that.
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Amen to that Aye?
So now?
Time to Chillax.
And this means y’all will be getting a LOT moar gun restoration poasts and projects. I have that .22 Bolt Action that I need to refinish, and then finish up the long-suffering SMLE that my fren helped me out with getting the barrel fitted.
The future’s so bright…
I gotta wear shades…
More Later
Big Country
Funny that shitcanning you will probably hurt them more than it will hurt you. That’s a good position to be in. I’ve worked for myself for going on 15 years now, and could never go back to being under the thumb of dumbshit busybody managers and HR harpies. The first job I ever got fired from had me bummed, mostly because I was young and still too concerned that it would make me look “bad. Fuck that noise.
Last job I quit before striking out on my own was working for an outfit run by two brothers who were both assholes. One was a raging drunk, the other was resentful of being forced into helping run the family business because the drunk older brother couldn’t cut it on his own. Then, during my tenure there, they both ended up embroiled in acrimonious divorce proceedings which made them even more pleasant to deal with. One Friday afternoon I and the younger (resentful) brother damn near came to blows in the rear parking lot and equipment storage yard over some stupid shit he wanted to blow all out to proportion.
Once he cooled off, I unloaded all my personal tools from the company truck, handed him the keys and company cell phone, and told him I was done being treated like a bitch. I was pissed for about 45 minutes when I got home, mostly from the adrenaline hangover of nearly having to beat his ass . Eased back in my favorite chair, relaxed, and the following Monday morning I was working for myself, and already pulling more hours then I’d gotten from the previous shithole in probably 6 months. Felt great about it, too.
Corporate America is an absolute shit show. Nepotism, Affirmative action, and stupidity rules the day. Honor , integrity and bravery are foreign concepts.
Heck, they will probably hire some (dot) Indian H1b. Then the whole place will be taken over by family members of the first and run into the ground.
Left on pretty much your own terms?
A plus
Buddy of mine’s attitude ( he’s floated around the whole Beltway Bandit/mil/gov interface forever) has been, “ fire me/ let me go. I’ll have a better job at 30% more in a couple of weeks”.
Congrats on having the gun work to fall back on. Sounds like a good place to be. Good luck and may blessings abound.
I don’t enjoy working for foreigners, especially Europeans. Sometimes I really think that the Brits seem to have forgotten that 1776 was a thing. Worked for a French guy once, newly minted MBA on a global assignment. For some reason he took a dislike to me, made me work at a desk outside his office. He was once on the phone bad-mouthing the company to one of his MBA buddies. He comes out and I’m glaring at him, he swallows and asks “you speak French, don’t you?”……”Merde, ouais” my reply. A while later I moved on to a different contractor gig with the same company, Irish woman was my boss this time, but she was great. Best wishes as you move forward, sounds like you have a plan. Having the VA as your medical backup is a real benefit, despite the inconveniences, sometimes.
If work is so good how come they have to pay you for it?
Mike Royko
Best thing I ever did was punch out of the rat race very early and learned to live simple, the stress level is well worth the reduction in pay.
And as far as I’m concerned aside from friends and family, the world can burn. There is nothing I can do to stop it so the next best step is to throw gas on the fire by not participating to speed up the process.
Even harder men behind me will do the rest.
Damn straight.
Did you call ICE on brit national likely past visa, and working when I thought you couldn’t while temporary status and even if working through the application processes…
This.
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS.
Send Poncey Gardner back to his blighted homeland.
THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
Getting fired, like getting arrested, are just part of the checklist of a full and complete life experience. I don’t trust anyone who says they never got canned, but maybe they just weren’t trying hard enough.
This too shall pass, and usually it’s God’s way of saying better things are ahead.
Interesting the lies we tell ourselves.
Frankly you ought to be doing firearm restoration as a core business and branching out to restoring other old stuff as it comes along. Get organized, put those skills to work and see if you can move a few of the completed projects. It seems to me like there would be a solid market for repairs, restorations, and doing consulting/customizations/upgrades on old shootin irons.
The American business world has to be the most toxic work environment on the planet. It is so universally negative that dark humor about it (Office Space, Dilbert), resonates with everyone who was ever immersed in it. Leave it behind and don’t waste any time or energy looking back. They are all about to go extinct anyway.
so what really happened? what line of work are you in? i think you have an excellent future in waste management.
I feel with you.
I was once a call center agent for a US banking institute in Germany. I worked in customer complaint.
I wont tell too much.
I worked x years there and while I admit I was not the best I did my job and wanted to be there for the rest of my life. Good money and the people I worked with were ok, except one or two who were one or two levels above me.
But then they decided that the old people were too expensive and we were pushed to leave, getting ridiculous orders or being sent home (until you get tired of sitting at home doing nothing while drawing full pay – but the threat was, so the union guy told me, the longer you stay home, the less severance pay you get.)
So, I trained my replacement and was let go.
And you know what?
My replacement was a temp hire who cost them more them me and he quit before 6 months had passed. I would still be there, but they wanted me gone.
And something funny.
Some years later I entered my new workplace and found out that while I was on holiday they had hired a new co-boss. The head of my department in the old company. The one who had given the order to fire me. But she was let go by my new company after about 6 months.
If everyone would quit training their replacements the wouldn’t be able to replace us…
It’s been my experience that those I know that have been fired, it’s usually an incompetent or psychotic boss. My girl was let go in January after suffering with a psycho chick asian boss.
At my gig, I have a timesheet to fill out every month. It’s (supposedly) used to track project time. I have to submit a plan outlining how many development hours I plan to spend, then these are tracked. Fact is, it’s bullshit. I have no clue how long it’ll take. It’s a tool to cull the herd if they need to. Fine. It’ll be a relief for me should it happen.
My company was bought by a huge dopey gynocentric corp. My last boss spent decades managing field engineers. He didn’t give two shits what we were doing as long as our deadlines were met and the customers were happy. I even had him call me and ask if I were out and about today, or could I deal with a problem he needed fixed.
When you get cut loose these days, especially in tech, it helps to be flexible. Trying to get back on the same ratwheel can take a long time, especially if you are over 50. Use it as an opportunity, like you are doing. Last thing in the world I’m going to do if I get cut loose is get a job doing the same damn thing.
Hey BCE, off topic, but I have noticed over the last couple of weeks or so that I am unable to get to your site using a stateside VPN address. I can get here by switching to a Canadian VPN location. Recent event, not sure what changed. Just FYI.
Glad to hear you are landing on your feet quick.
If the dude really was hired on a 90-day marriage visa, he was likely not authorized to work in the USA.
You could always drop a dime to ICE for shizzle & giggles.
BTW, doesn’t being “resigned” screw you out of Unemployment Benefits?
Yep it does…
not sure about Flor Ida, but if you “resigned” instead of letting them fire you, you fucked yourself out of 40 or so weeks of U.I. – which the “Tractor Factory” would get dinged for. It’s a two-fer, the “Tractor Factory” and .fedgovco on the hook for $ while you… do what you do.
Raff-out-roud!
E very body screws off on the clock. There was a time I would look for abandoned bowling balls scattered throughout the city. Who would abandon a bowling ball is beyond me. Anyways I would take these bowling balls and drive up to the top level of the parking garage and launch them off.
Pretty much the majority of my career was screwing off on the clock but when it came time to do the dirty work nobody else wanted to do I handled it like a champ.
It’s probably a blessing you got let go. I don’t know what you did at Ye Olde Tractor Factory but maybe six months from now they could close their doors forever.
Now is the time to get the hell out of Florida…
I once got my boss (GM) and his right hand (OPSMGR) fired for impropriety. If I couldn’t win the lottery, it was the next best thing.
I reported them to HR, then offered to resign, but the regional manager was like please don’t do that, let us investigate.
They had been trying to push me out for about a year, but got themselves pushed out instead.
Three months later the CEO and RM swooped in and escorted GM out of the building. OPSMGR was offered a demotion and refused and resigned.
The irony was, the OPSMGR was super conservative and hated the Colorado Dept. Of Education, but they were the only ones who’d give her a job, so she ended up working among the woke that she hated so much.
And, the GM never had a real job again. He was in his late 50s and this was 2012, Denver tech doesn’t like old white guys.
I ran into him at DIA checking in for a flight, we were going to have a beer together after clearing TSA but I never saw him.
My American offshore oil search company was bought by a British company because we were so successful at overseas work.
They actually told me that this was the reason.
We were successful because we sent managers to live in country while the job was ongoing. Sure, this was an added expense, but it meant that there was a local guy who could visit the oil company in person to smooth out any problems that came up, and there are ALWAYS little problems like this.
So we spent pennies to earn dollars.
The first thing that Brit company did was recall those guys to do this liaison work from their home office just outside of London.
In a few years, that Brit company went under.
Britain is a failed empire full of overly confident schoolboys and head girl types who as a requisite of looking in control need a population of galley slaves attached to HQ standing at the ready to power the oars.
Him a brit, you a old vet, see maybe some resentment here on his side?
But also just for fun, you know anyone at ICE? Maybe he never really got married or it was a pay for visa marriage?
Well, congratulations are in order for getting a fair deal AND for not burning bridges with YOTF. My prediction is that within 6 months thgt Brit poof will be canned and there will be phone calls asking their top producer to PLEEZE come back!
Second, enjoy a few days decompression but get to full time work (or real shekels) as soon as possible, maybe even for 20% more funds. That was my minimum to shift jobs, 30% did happen once and it was one that was long term stable to retire from. Dot Mil manufacturer with pretty good long term business to boot. Retired in 2018 and never looked back.
Lastly, if your armorer gig can be a weekend and after hours on the full time new employer you snag, keep it. You are at an age where you should be stashing extra cash in the stock market through Edward Jones or some such, in a risk level for aggressive growth. When you hit 59 you shift over to less risk and more dividend paying stock or money market investments.
Oh, BTW – the 14 year single malt from Glenlivet at Costco is a freaking bargain at 50 bucks/bottle and it is GOOOD stuff, I highly recommend it.
Worked in an steel mill during the 80s, the foreman was an real bag driver that dint do safety very much. I pointed out an few things that could get the place shutdown if not remedied cuz I thought I was doing them an favor, he threatened to shitcan me! IQRT!
A few years later he got hisself lectrocuted.
Gods works in mysterious ways.
I’m just going to say that some of the comments to this post are pretty fucked up. And the handles … who the fuck are these people? Anyway, good entertainment I guess.
You’re better off now that you’re gone from that job. I got fired after 24 years at a company and realized that I’d stayed waaayyy too long. Fuck the assholes who don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground.
Dude – you should devote time to smithing. Work at the gun shop for that girl.
Congrats on leaving on your terms. When you feel relief upon leaving a job, it usually means you’ve stayed too long. It will be interesting to see what happens when the people in upper management notice the drop in productivity and sinking reviews. The smithing/ guru job sounds like it would be good as you really seem to enjoy it. If the money is good, why not? On to the next adventure, right?
tfA-t was an employer in his day
i would show up at the jobsite and everybody would be busy producing, when i left, it was smoke, soda, and shoot the shit break… my customers would tell me so.
MURKA!
There’s a reason that birds sing early in the morning…
They don’t have to go to fuckin’ work.
If you feel relief in being severed from a job it is a sign it was bad job.
You sent the first person I know oge that has been screwed by an interloping brit manager. The Brit that almost ruined Geissle is well known.
Want the weak to rule over
BCE, my last job I was working at a Megalo Bank and raking in fat cash but it was a ball buster of a job.
Finally an asshole Brit was made head of our division and he and I had had “issues” when I’d been working in the UK the year before. I knew I was a “dead man walking” and he was gunning for me.
Luckily a little birdie told me a big RIF was coming that had a sweet package.
I volunteered for it and had a new gig lined up.
Best thing that happened to me !! I took a big pay cut but man was I happy at my new job and I’m still there 18 years later.
The guys I worked with all bailed within a year and we all say that we miss each other but never that company or job.
Sometimes good things can come from a change like that. I know the economy blows right now and it’s harder getting a gig when you are over 50 but maybe you can get a new gig you like better than your last one.
Maybe with no woman around now to blow your money between your vet money and gun smithing you can get by without having to work for some asshole ?