Thursday, May 22, 2008
So annoying
As I have already related, I was hugely frustrated last week, not getting a promised call to arrange an interview for this past Monday. The recruiter I was dealing with couldn’t answer any questions and was entirely lousy at his job. He had said “in their defence, they can’t reach anyone on the phone.” That’s their defence? They are so inefficient that they can’t reach people by phone. I felt much better knowing that!
Anyway, as soon as I decided I was going to work on Monday after all, I knew what was going to happen. It was just so obvious that I confidently told a few people. And sure enough, at 3pm on Monday, my phone rang:
“Hello. This is Raj from [don’t want to say the name]. I thought you were coming in to see us today.”
I went off, ignoring Raj’s efforts to interrupt me:
“I thought so also. I waited 3 days for a promised call. I booked a non-refundable bus journey for Monday and because I was staying home for an extra night, I caught a later bus than usual on Friday and got home at midnight, so my weekend was greatly compromised. I first arranged with my manager to take today off, then told her on Friday that I would come in today as I wasn’t going to lose money for no reason.”
I actually said more than that. His response?
“That’s OK.” Had he apologised, I would have been very nice about it.
“No it’s not OK! I think you owe me an apology!”
He apologised; at first, disingenuously, then more genuinely. I told him I could come in on Friday and just possibly next Tuesday, although I’d prefer not as next week is my last week. He said it would be difficult to get the necessary people together but would get back to me.
I called him yesterday:
“I told you I would have problems getting the people together and the assignment isn’t firmed up. And last time things didn’t work out, you got upset”
He absolutely hadn’t told me that the assignment wasn’t firmed up. I had told him that I would want assurances that the assignment was real before taking a day off and losing pay. I started to tell him what really happened in our Monday conversation, but cut myself short. It wasn’t worth it. Clearly, this guy is a conceited, thoughtless, condescending fucking prick, and nothing I said would make him see that he had done anything wrong. I was going to take Monday off and lose a full day’s pay, which he was fully aware of. And he didn’t even have an assignment for me! He could have waited for June 2nd when it would cost me the fare money from Brooklyn to Teaneck, but no, that wasn’t soon enough for me to interview for a non-existent job.
So I am lucky that the company is so inefficient that they couldn’t reach people by phone in 3 days, because if I’m annoyed by the company now, I would have been much more so had I taken a day off.
And if Raj does call me at some point, which I sincerely doubt he will, I will tell him that I will be happy to sub-contract but would prefer not to take the assignment as his company’s employee. If they want me enough to call, maybe that will work. It’s actually more honest that way as I feel fairly confident in predicting that they will not keep me beyond the one assignment anyway – unless everything falls magically into place and they have something else lined up. So why be an employee with the job security of a consultant but the lower salary. I want the money to go with the lack of security. If I might be looking for work again in a few months, my next job had better pay enough to buffer my bank account enough that I can survive a while out of work.
Unfortunately, that would appear to be my fate as of June 2nd. I do have a couple of not greatly promising leads, but things seem to have quietened down again. Fortunately, I am slightly better prepared for a short while out than I was 4 months ago. It will be a few weeks before I start to really worry. Hopefully, it won’t come to that.
Viagra Online
Anyway, as soon as I decided I was going to work on Monday after all, I knew what was going to happen. It was just so obvious that I confidently told a few people. And sure enough, at 3pm on Monday, my phone rang:
“Hello. This is Raj from [don’t want to say the name]. I thought you were coming in to see us today.”
I went off, ignoring Raj’s efforts to interrupt me:
“I thought so also. I waited 3 days for a promised call. I booked a non-refundable bus journey for Monday and because I was staying home for an extra night, I caught a later bus than usual on Friday and got home at midnight, so my weekend was greatly compromised. I first arranged with my manager to take today off, then told her on Friday that I would come in today as I wasn’t going to lose money for no reason.”
I actually said more than that. His response?
“That’s OK.” Had he apologised, I would have been very nice about it.
“No it’s not OK! I think you owe me an apology!”
He apologised; at first, disingenuously, then more genuinely. I told him I could come in on Friday and just possibly next Tuesday, although I’d prefer not as next week is my last week. He said it would be difficult to get the necessary people together but would get back to me.
I called him yesterday:
“I told you I would have problems getting the people together and the assignment isn’t firmed up. And last time things didn’t work out, you got upset”
He absolutely hadn’t told me that the assignment wasn’t firmed up. I had told him that I would want assurances that the assignment was real before taking a day off and losing pay. I started to tell him what really happened in our Monday conversation, but cut myself short. It wasn’t worth it. Clearly, this guy is a conceited, thoughtless, condescending fucking prick, and nothing I said would make him see that he had done anything wrong. I was going to take Monday off and lose a full day’s pay, which he was fully aware of. And he didn’t even have an assignment for me! He could have waited for June 2nd when it would cost me the fare money from Brooklyn to Teaneck, but no, that wasn’t soon enough for me to interview for a non-existent job.
So I am lucky that the company is so inefficient that they couldn’t reach people by phone in 3 days, because if I’m annoyed by the company now, I would have been much more so had I taken a day off.
And if Raj does call me at some point, which I sincerely doubt he will, I will tell him that I will be happy to sub-contract but would prefer not to take the assignment as his company’s employee. If they want me enough to call, maybe that will work. It’s actually more honest that way as I feel fairly confident in predicting that they will not keep me beyond the one assignment anyway – unless everything falls magically into place and they have something else lined up. So why be an employee with the job security of a consultant but the lower salary. I want the money to go with the lack of security. If I might be looking for work again in a few months, my next job had better pay enough to buffer my bank account enough that I can survive a while out of work.
Unfortunately, that would appear to be my fate as of June 2nd. I do have a couple of not greatly promising leads, but things seem to have quietened down again. Fortunately, I am slightly better prepared for a short while out than I was 4 months ago. It will be a few weeks before I start to really worry. Hopefully, it won’t come to that.
