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And then i realized
https://mail.black-squirrel.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=32086		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Kaus [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:40 am ]
Post subject:  And then i realized
So I totally thought graduating with a BA and getting a new job outside of retail would make me:
A) Happier
B) Have more time to script
C) Spend more time with people (New Wife, Traders, Etc..) by proxy of no longer working insane retail hours.

What I learned is that while I am happier that I no longer deal with the public in a direct fashion. I now deal with new stress's and that corporate world is very disingenuous and lazy environment. Certainly there are smart, talented and driven professional's but there seems to be a overabundance of people who just get by and are under qualified.

I have found that I have less time to script and spend with the Corp. I was robbed of my honeymoon with my new wife, it was either new job or trip. Personally I think this is partly whats wrong with America in general. Sure I could have put my foot down and possibly have gone on my Honeymoon but there used to be a time that the institution of marriage actually meant something.

Unfortunately that was before my day, I partially blame my new position for my outlook on life. I deal with the low-lives on the internet via work and while I enjoy what I do I get to see how close we really are to total anarchy.

Is cynicism just taking over my life as I get older?

How did the generations before me deal with society as we became more apathetic, lazy and less family focused?

Any good books you can recommend on dealing with superiors that suck and survival in a corporate environment?

Whats your favorite color?

;-)
Author:  Archy [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 4:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
How to win friends and influence people - by Dale Carnegie.
An old book.. but still relevant.. it basically shows you how to deal with people effectively.. worth a read i reckon..
Author:  Micro [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 4:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
string FavoriteColor = Black;
string[] books = {null, null, null};

I just got may Butt chewed for an hour yesterday for a bunch of crap that really wasn't my fault. so, it is probably not a good day to ask me questions about life the universe and everything.

42 :)
Author:  Singularity [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
Kaus wrote:
Any good books you can recommend on dealing with superiors that suck and survival in a corporate environment?


Corporate America is a soul-sucking, life-draining, bastage of a construct. You spend 30 years of your life bound by cubicles, bumming around in meetings, pretending anything matters, but ignoring all the things that actually matter while trying your best to avoid work, yet you're still expected to put in massive hours for a boss you can barely stand. It creates child slaves of Men.

Yeh, no, I'm not bitter or nothin'.

I will never put a job ahead of my family again. When you're old, sick, and dying... it'll be your family that sticks around, not your job. Go take a week off and have that belated honeymoon.
Author:  Micro [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
Singularity wrote:
I will never put a job ahead of my family again. When you're old, sick, and dying... it'll be your family that sticks around, not your job. Go take a week off and have that belated honeymoon.

Yeah, that's one of the things my boss said in the meeting. That my job should be my first priority in my life and more inportant than anything else. He's primarly pissed off that I didn't answer my phone after 11:00 last Sunday night.

and I get bitched at for providing concise acurate answers to questions. He says that I'm "microblogging" on twitter. So now I'm adding 2-3 paragraphs of useless information to my answers. I repeated the actual answer 3 times in there somewhere, but they probably can't find it now and I get compliments on how much better I'm comunicating. What's the point of this?
Author:  Cruncher [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
I help people leave the rat race every day.

If you do what you love then you'll never work a day in your life!

Once you've determined what really excites you, find a way to start your own business, even if just on the side while working for corporate.

I retired almost 20 years ago when I started my business. I do what I love and people pay me for it! Amazing feeling!

But, you must be comfortable with being uncomfortable and taking risks. And the best part is, you trade one boss for many and it's up to you to keep or fire them! LOL

I've had employees, and there's a sense of "entitlement" I get from some of them. I would never presume that they would care about what we do like I do. But, just because your back-side kept my chair warm for 8 hours does not entitle you to a paycheck! In order for me to pay you, you must be generating revenue! It's as simple as that.

It's the small business owners who are driving the economy recovery, not large corporate business. The recovery started in this sector last fall. Forget trickle down - this is trickle up! :)

Take your honeymoon! Then find a way to earn a living doing what excites you and feeds your soul, not just your stomach.
Author:  LoneStar [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
Some things you'll need to survive any office space:

    Lighter and/or Matches: In case your Boss takes your Red Swingline stapler;
    Cordless Drill: For removing statically charged door-handles, and obstructive Cubicle walls;
    Roach & Bug Spray: Comes in handy if your office is relocated to the basement;
    Baseball Bat: Handy for Network-Printer jams or 'PC Load Letter' Error msgs;
    Overweight Hypnotherapist: Visit as often as possible until he croaks --mid-session;
    …and finally; Hawaiian Shirts, lots and lots of Hawaiian Shirts.

That should keep you going for a little bit 8)
Author:  John Pritchett [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 8:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
I worked in the corporate world for a couple of years out of college, back in 92-94 (ish). That was Multiservice, a small jack-of-all trades company who's primary cash flow comes from a fleet fuel credit card business (government fleets, Executive Jet, etc), but that also dabbles in a variety of other businesses, including (back then) the BBS scene (Metropolis) and game development. I worked in the fuel credit card division as a programmer. It really did suck the life out of me. I was clinically depressed. TradeWars saved me from that life. When I had the opportunity to work with Gary, I walked away from Multiservice and moved back in with my mom while I wrote v3. TW didn't make me wealthy, but I haven't gone back to the corporate world since. It helps to marry of doctor, of course ;) But I'm doing what I love and though there can be a lot of grind in videogame development, I have a passion for it and that carries you through.

I think that really is the key. If you don't love what you're doing, anything is going to be a grind. You should grind while you must, but always be working toward a way to do what you love. My brother, who's 44, just closed his construction business of 20 years to become an artist (http://donpritchettart.net). Who knows if he'll find success, but he's much happier doing it. Don ran his own business and has always loved construction, but he wasn't happy because his true passion is his art. There will always be something inside calling you to do what you love. For some, retirement is the only time they can follow that call. For a lucky few, they make a career of it.

While I was working at Multiservice, my life changed the day I realized that I wasn't limited to taking PTO days off. In a meeting with one of my bosses, they made the mistake of telling me that I can take as many days off as I want, I just won't get paid for them. After that, "sanity vacations" became the norm. I eventually cut back to a part-time schedule, in fact. The paycheck just didn't motivate me enough. I started using that extra time to work toward doing what I really wanted to do, game dev. Of course, your experience may be different, and your boss might fire you for missing too many days. But the point is, you should take full advantage of your options to get away from that place and recover your energy doing things you love with people you love (or at least like). Any good employer will see the value in that, because it makes you a better, more productive employee when you are there.

Good luck, Kaus, and seriously, keep your focus on your family. All you owe your employer is an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. That's the contract, and it must be a balanced one. Some employers think they own you. Now, your wife and kids will probably also think they own you, but in that case, they're right.
Author:  Promethius [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
Just to echo what some have said - always make your family first because those are the people that truly care about you and your happiness. Kids grow up so fast that you don't have a lot of time to be with them - age gives that perspective - you don't get "do-overs" and the worst thing to think is "I wish we would have".

A corporation's bottom line is pleasing the shareholders and performance. Some managers are a royal pain - they take employees suggestions/performance and use it to enhance their own importance. I've seen managers disregard their employees' suggestions and then see them implemented a few months later as the manager's suggestion.

I could tell you about the 26 people I have and how they perform, but then I would have go into detail on the individuals and their differences. The thing I know is that treating all the same does not work, and that is a big issue in most corporations - one size fits all.

I hope you find a manager that knows what he/she is doing. That can make or break your work in regard to happiness.

Sorry about the ramble, but I am late for a meeting (the bane of corp life). :(
Author:  Micro [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
The bad part is that this IS my dream job, and I love the work. I just hate my boss because he has turned it into a nightmare.
Author:  Singularity [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
MicroBlaster wrote:
Yeah, that's one of the things my boss said in the meeting. That my job should be my first priority in my life and more inportant than anything else. He's primarly pissed off that I didn't answer my phone after 11:00 last Sunday night.


I would make it very clear then.

I work from 8am to 5pm. After 5:15pm, I will not answer
my work phone. I do not work on weekends. If there's a
problem with that, perhaps we should start by reviewing
everyone's schedule (the boss's included) for the past
month.

MicroBlaster wrote:
So now I'm adding 2-3 paragraphs of useless information to my answers. I repeated the actual answer 3 times in there somewhere, but they probably can't find it now and I get compliments on how much better I'm comunicating. What's the point of this?


LOL, I couldn't stand doing that. Efficiency is a virtue
in business. Sounds like your boss is an idiot.
Author:  John Pritchett [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
When I was working as a tech behind Metropolis BBS at Multiservice, they actually instituted a program where, whenever there was any kind of trouble report like a router going down anywhere on their network (it covered several midwest states and down into Texas, I believe), it would activate the pager, and I as expected to make a note in a log about the event. Not do anything about it. Just make a note. Aside from being a ridiculous waste of resources (if you can automatically send a page, can't you just make an automated log entry SOMEWHERE), I was expected to do this over night. So I was getting paged every 15 minutes or so some nights. That's like something they'd try to pull in Abu Ghraib! After two nights of this, I just turned the pager off.
Author:  Singularity [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
Isn't there automatically a log of all the pages sent to a number?
Author:  John Pritchett [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
Logic doesn't apply :)
Author:  Micro [ Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: And then i realized
Yes he is an idiot, and he would fire me if i told him that. I didn't answer the phone bacuse I already knew he wanted me to work all night on a non-critical issue after I worked all day. I'm already looking for a new job.
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