The cubicle crowd

[marina]

Wow, old boss literally just wrote me back, guess I'm getting that letter after all. That's cool.
He told me to write the letter myself. So now I guess I just talk about how great I am for a little bit. That's cool.

edited to say: he didn't just tell me to "write it yourself," like a brush off, although I guess it could be.

Seriously my new boss is making me question everything about my ability to do work in the worst way. I've had bad bosses, but I have never been this nit picked before, it's driving me crazy.

[DWarrior]

Originally Posted by marina

Wow, old boss literally just wrote me back, guess I'm getting that letter after all. That's cool.
He told me to write the letter myself. So now I guess I just talk about how great I am for a little bit. That's cool.

Nice.

A thing I've heard at a recent dinner party is despite the high unemployment, it's pretty hard to find people with experience now. So in my sophomoric mind, you have leverage to not get fucked by your current boss.

[marina]

Originally Posted by DWarrior

Nice.

A thing I've heard at a recent dinner party is despite the high unemployment, it's pretty hard to find people with experience now. So in my sophomoric mind, you have leverage to not get fucked by your current boss.

My problem, as I see it at the front of this job search is that I have a sort of precarious balance for a potential employer. I only have about 4-5 years of experience, not much supervisory stuff, mostly spread around in a general area, but no real focus. I'm going to be a wild card to an employer, I don't have a strong track record. I seem to have a lot of drive, but I don't have evidence of my effectiveness. However, I'm no longer asking for entry level pay, I want supervisor level money, although I'm still relatively untested. I think an employer will look at me like a crap shoot. On the one hand, they can get me for much lower on the salary range than they'd pay for a seasoned professional, they know that I'm not going to have the experience and connections of a more experienced person, but I am going to have a greater chance of being an innovator and a problem solver rather than a status quo type. Basically, an employer is going to have to decide if we want to be each other's experiments.

[bithead]

Originally Posted by marina

...I haven't been on much lately because work is a hellish shitstorm. My new boss seems to get worse by the week. She yells at everyone in the department, she nit picks and badgers us, she picks fights with me over the weekend about things I did or didn't do during the week. I've started looking for another job. I've also started documenting everything she says and does, although I don't know what I'm going to do with it, if anything. Every day has become a demoralizing nightmare. I can't believe this is the same job I use to look forward to coming to every day.

This sounds just awful, I'm sorry Marina. I really do feel for you. Be sure to keep an eye on your health; I know first hand that severe stress can sneak up on you.

[bithead]

Originally Posted by DWarrior

I try not to answer my email from home, since I know that won't lead to anything good for me (just people expecting me to answer my email) 24/7

Wise. VERY wise.

[bithead]

Originally Posted by DWarrior

Since you've been on both ends of the hiring process, what are your thoughts on Thank You notes? Do you send out emails or letters?

I didn't grow up with letters, so they seem anachronistic to me (I don't remember the last time I've sent a non-package letter, if ever). Is it a generational thing?

I think an e-mail the NEXT day (not a few hours later) is good. I appreciate receiving them. As long as you don't say something stupid in it, it has the benefit of reminding the hiring Manager of your name. It might even cause them to take a 2nd look at your resume and their notes (from the interview). Sometimes the hiring process is just a sea of faces, I'm afraid.

[dEadERest]

DW, your submission was nearly as traumatizing as that suicide call

[DWarrior]

Originally Posted by dEadERest

DW, your submission was nearly as traumatizing as that suicide call

lol, I think it actually gets worse right after they cut it off on the show. That submission took me like 10 takes in my thin-walled apartment. Strangely, my neighbors won't talk to me anymore.

I wanted to avoid getting the "oh he's just trying to be shocking" response, and I think I at least got that.

[fluxquanta]

Stanhope's new album may be his best yet. Do yourself the favor.

Also, bought Jesse Joyce's movie on Amazon as a digital download (with shitty DRM, but the DVD would take 10-14 to ship). Going to give it a shot now.

[campy]

D I laughed out loud when you interrupted your own masturbate story to offer tech advice...I was like "once a nerd, kinda always a nerd" in a loveable way.

:-)