Scott's Crazy World

[Scott]

I never thought I'd bother with this but what the hell.....

Anyway. I got home from work and I'm pulling up the street to my house and I see lights flashing and ambulances and stuff outside my house. So right there my heart skipped a few beats. I live in a very nice neighborhood so I leave my doors unlocked at all times and my friends come in and out all the time so I could only think of the worst.

I finally get out of my car and run over to the police guy that I know and I asked what happened. He explained to me that some guy had fallen off his motorcycle and hit his head on the curb and died...... He wasn't wearing his helment thanks to Pennsylvania's new law that doesn't force people to wear helmets.....

As sorry as I am about the guy and his family, it really was a relief to know that something didn't happen to one of my friends or family. I get in my house and my poor dog was going nuts since everyone had been outside and the lights were flashing all over the place. So it took me a little bit of time to calm her down....

Since then the lights are still flashing and I'm getting annoyed. My dog keeps trying to jump up in my chair since she's been having to listen to all this noise all day and she's annoying the shit out of me...... and tomorrow I get to get up and go to work and fire two people. What a wonderful time this will be.

[Wezas]

Helmet laws are definately needed. A friend of a friend just came out of a coma because he was driving around without it. He has no idea how he crashed. No memory of what happened. He isn't quite walking yet, but at least his brain isn't damaged (the doctors weren't sure).

One of my brothers crashed a bike - broke his arm and swore them off forever. My other brother is talking about buying a bike. The only way I'd get one is if traffic got so bad that I'd need one to use the HOV lanes. Even then I'd probably get one of those crappy hybrids as a 3rd car.

[Red Devil]

OH NO HELMET LAWS ARE DEFINITELY NEEDED, CAUSE IN THIS OVERPOPULATED WORLD, WE NEED LAWS TO PROTECT RETARDS FROM THEMSELVES!!!, fuck you wezas, it's called natural selection

[Scott]

Fun day at work. I got to fire two people, which is always fun for me..... but that wasn't really the fun part. I had already fired two people and this guy knew about it when I told him to be ready in an hour to come up to my office. So I come down in an hour and the guy had packed up half of his stuff..... I just laughed a little and took him up to my office.

He was obviously shaken and I told him to calm down, he wasn't getting fired, so he relaxed a bit. Anyway, about the guy. The guy is probably the hardest working guy I've ever met. He does EVERYTHING that's asked of him. He hasn't missed a day of work in 2 years, and he's the guy I go to when I need something done on a deadline, even though there are more people who are above him. Once I forgot about a report that needed done and I gave it to him on Monday and told him that it was suppose to be done by Wednesday, but it should have been given out LAST monday, so I didn't expect him to get it done. Wednesday came around and sure enough, the guy had it on my desk complete. He must have worked all day at home......

Ever since I started he's never gotten upset or mad even though he gets passed up for promotions all the time. He went to college and had a 3.8GPA, but he had to drop out his last year because his wife and him had a child and he had to start bringing in the money. So unfortunately he is always getting passed up for promotions for people with degrees since the position is suppose to require a BS most people that get the position have a Masters degree. I've been pushing this guy for 6 months for a promotion, but I need to have it approved, which nobody would do. Finally, I got the approval and today was the day I was going to tell him.....

So, I have him in my office after thinking he was getting fired and I was like "How does an extra 10 grand a year sound to you, because you got it." I've never been more happy for someone at work in my life, he was so excited. I told him about how I had been trying for months to get him the position, and explained the reason to him. He responded "I know, I never thought I'd have the position, but I needed to get a job for my kid." But the funny part was I had better news for him. I told him I also got the company to pay for his college so he can finish. It took a lot of work, but this guy is worth it. I've never had a co-worker get up and hug me before until now......

My job is great.

[Hulkein]

Good story, I feel happy for the guy and I don't even know him.

What line of work are you in?

[Scott]

Originally posted by Hulkein
Good story, I feel happy for the guy and I don't even know him.

What line of work are you in?

I'd rather not say where I work for many reasons I'd rather not get into. Basically I'm a manager of a call center, and help desk, but mainly I handle all contact with buisness partners and such. The people that pay my company hundreds of millions of dollars go through me.

[Hulkein]

Cool. Yeah I wasn't asking where you worked, just the field.

[Scott]

Well, at work they have decided to remodel my office. It's stupid because my office is in very nice shape, however they feel a need to spend like $10,000 on a desk. I'm not even going to use it because I'm afraid I'll knick it or something. However in the meantime I needed to be out of my office, so I needed to figure out what to do.

I'd figure I'd go down and make my face known to people. I normally try to go down and talk with I'd never see if I didn't make it a goal of mine. People get nervous around me, and I hate it. When I talk to most of them, they get all clammy and stuff. If I was ever uncomfortable around my boss, I'd leave.

I came prepared this time and bought 20 pizza's for everyone to loosen everyone up. Nope, didn't work. Nobody would get up to get a piece of pizza for fear of coming near me or something. So I stand on the desk and yelled "LAST PERSON TO GET A PIECE OF PIZZA GET'S FIRED!" That worked. Though everyone avoided me like the plague. So I just scheduled everyone for 10 minute meetings throughout the day so they had didn't have a choice......

What makes people fear bosses? I'm not a damn robot. I'm sitting in a room waiting for individual people to come and so I grabbed a football and tossed it to them when they come in. Most of them catch in then pretty much have no clue what to do. I know how to catch, throw me the fucking ball! Nope, most of them walk over, set the football down on the desk and just sit in their chair. Then the conversation starts.....

Which brings me to another point. All I hear is Mr. This, Mr. That, Sir...... My name is not sir... it's Scott. I'm 28 years old, you're not 12.... call me Scott. I introduced myself as Scott, I've said "call me Scott," but no....

I've made it a goal of mine to get these people to loosen up. I'm going down there everyday until these people catch on and stop fearing me. I just need to figure out a way to do it.... Pizza didn't work, football didn't work.....

[Latrinsorm]

Set up an actual game (any real sport will do), maybe? Do you have any grassy areas near where you work?
All I hear is Mr. This, Mr. That, SirHeh. I had a customer rebuke me once for calling her "ma'am" (she was like in her thirties and wanted me to call her "miss"...). It's not about age, it's about propriety. Some people just aren't raised to address their superiors by their first name. And hey, you can always fire the people who won't be a team player, right? ;)

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

I'd guess your employee's are afraid of you because you post here pretty frequently about how you fire them, and how you like it.

Just a guess though.

[Scott]

Originally posted by Suppa Hobbit Mage
I'd guess your employee's are afraid of you because you post here pretty frequently about how you fire them, and how you like it.

Just a guess though.

I enjoy firing people who deserve it. I do love to fire an asshole who does nothing, but gets paid more then people who work their asses off. I much prefer to give someone a raise then to fire someone.

People who sit around and do nothing but get paid deserve everything they get. They put more work on others, and they are a waste of a good desk. I would hate to fire someone because of "budget" reasons, but thankfully, I haven't had to do that yet.

Firing a worthless waste of space = fun
Firing someone because of budget reasons= would suck, and I hope I don't have to do it.

[Scott]

I'm sick of people who don't come prepared to interviews. Today I sat in a room listening to people who want a job. I simply cannot understand how people can show up at an interview and not be prepared enough for the simplest questions!

What is always a question that is ALWAYS asked? "What do you think makes you qualified for this job?" How can you not be prepared to answer that question? It's like showing up to your SAT's and not knowing how to spell your name. There are so many basic questions that are asked that people don't know what to say.

If you are going to be showing up for a job, show up prepared. You will not get the job if you sit there and stutter on every question. I understand some of the things that are thrown out there are something you have to think about, which is why I'll ask them. I can't stand when people respond with "what do you mean exactly? Do you mean like...." No jackass, I mean what I asked, stop stalling and answer the question.....

[Myshel]

Scott I have the feeling you don't smile a lot. If you want your people to not fear you, open up to you, ect., try to get to know them personally. Smile, say hello, ask how they are, simple people skills. When someone says "hello MR. .... " smile (pleasantly) and say "no please.. call me Scott, I prefer it". Shake hands, good job comments, open up yourself a bit to others. People fear what they don't know.

[Blazing247]

<If you are going to be showing up for a job, show up prepared. You will not get the job if you sit there and stutter on every question. >

Not everyone interviews well. A buddy of mine is probably the most intelligent human being I've ever met, and I'm sure you'd turn him down for his lack of social skills in the interview. I don't think he cares, because he's pretty happy at Bloomberg, but my point is that you can't formulate a true impression of someone from one interview. I can fudge any interview because I have charisma and am good at bullshitting. Doesn't mean I'm more fit at doing the job than the guy with the 160 IQ that stutters when you say "How you are you doing?"

[Scott]

Originally posted by Blazing247
<If you are going to be showing up for a job, show up prepared. You will not get the job if you sit there and stutter on every question. >

Not everyone interviews well. A buddy of mine is probably the most intelligent human being I've ever met, and I'm sure you'd turn him down for his lack of social skills in the interview. I don't think he cares, because he's pretty happy at Bloomberg, but my point is that you can't formulate a true impression of someone from one interview. I can fudge any interview because I have charisma and am good at bullshitting. Doesn't mean I'm more fit at doing the job than the guy with the 160 IQ that stutters when you say "How you are you doing?"

Interviews are very important. It's putting you in an enviroment just like the work place. What good is a person that has to sit in front of people who pay money to the company, and just sits there and stutters when asked a question. You come prepared, you'll do fine. If it was an interview for someone who was going to be doing data entry or something, then it's not really a problem. It's a problem when the job requires you to meet with people and answer questions and work out problems.

It's not difficult to answer the simple questions. I know when I throw someone on the spot with crazy question that I don't expect a immediate response that just blows me out of my chair. It's the simple questions that should be answered without any problems.

If you show up at an interview and you:
A. Know what the job is
B. Know YOUR qualifications
C. Know many of the question ahead of time

You better show up with the answers memorized. How can you show up to a job and not know the answer to "what do you think qualifies you for this position" and expect to be hired.... That answer is what you spend time on before you show up. You know it's going to be asked, so showing up without knowing what you are going to say is coming unprepared.

Your friend may be the smartest person in the world, but it doesn't mean he's the best person for the job.

If you're friend couldn't get through the simple questions like:

Why should I hire you?
Why do you think you are the best person for this job?
What can I expect from you if I hire you?
What are your qualifications?

Then I don't know what to say. I know not everyone likes sitting in front of a desk while being drilled with questions, and I understand people get nervous. I try to make interviews as calm as I possibly can, and I tend to throw things in between questions so the person can relax, but if you can't answer me the above questions, then you are not qualified for this position. Not knowing your answer already ready is like fucking up on a resume or not following directions on paper I give to you ahead of time. If you screw up on a resume or don't answer questions or follow directions on the company resume given to you..... You aren't getting the job.

[Edited on 9-4-2004 by Gemstone101]

[Scott]

Originally posted by Myshel
Scott I have the feeling you don't smile a lot. If you want your people to not fear you, open up to you, ect., try to get to know them personally. Smile, say hello, ask how they are, simple people skills. When someone says "hello MR. .... " smile (pleasantly) and say "no please.. call me Scott, I prefer it". Shake hands, good job comments, open up yourself a bit to others. People fear what they don't know.

I do pretty much everything you've said. I have a feeling that the reason is that the people in that part of the company don't know me. I wish I could change that but I have other things that I need to do.

Everyone else I get along and is comfortable with because they are around me all the time. I unfortunately can't go down there everyday and talk to them, I wish I could but I can't. I say hello to everyone of them everytime I see them, and get down there when I can (even when I'm done and suppose to be going home.)

The more I get down there, the more people can open up. I haven't really updated anything here but most of them are coming around. It just takes time, and 15 minutes a month to talk to them individually isn't enough time for me to get to know them and for them to get to know me.