Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tuesday meeting...

The owner of the company said it wasn't that big a deal that I would be gone, replacing me would be easy. Everyone wants to hear that, right? His assistant who is leaving in June, on the other hand, would be a challenge to replace, what with his background in urban planning and all.

I'm so glad they won't need to call and ask me how to do things after I'm gone, because it's all so obvious and any moron could do my job, right?

I know I shouldn't care, but I don't want residents to suffer needlessly just because someone didn't take time to prepare for my departure.

*shrug*

What can you do?

Counting today, 8 more days of this job, and then I'm moving home. I am counting the minutes, matter of fact.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boy, that guy has a hard time keeping good help. A

Rabbit said...

Illegitimi non Carborundum.

Rabbit.

Anonymous said...

He can fill your position but he can't replace you. Eight days it is his problem, go rope a tumbleweed.

ben

Christina RN LMT said...

He shall soon see how valuable you truly are, when the profits start plummeting! His loss.

Jay G said...

Forget 'em, phlegmmie. It's too bad the residents will suffer, but that's not your concern any more.

Go home. Enjoy.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful how the bosses always think you can be replaced easily. I'm retiring in 3 months and they have decided my duties can simply be spread among the rest of the staff. They seem to forget that every time someone leaves I'm the one that has gotten the majority of that person's responsibilities -- even when they did replace. And they forget the reason for that is other staff didn't have the ability to handle those responsibilities so it had to come to me. I'm not going to worry about what falls apart -- I've spent 2 1/2 years trying to prepare them for this. I can't take a day off without coming back and having at least 1 thing facing me that no one else could handle. And I have made it very clear I am not available for phone calls after I leave.

My advice is keep your attitude. If they don't care, why should you? Don't give them your new number and don't worry about your residents -- they will simply have to adjust.

Jon said...

The good thing is that it reinforces your decision to go elsewhere, and gives you the opportunity to demand a much higher salary if they call begging for you to return.

At one time, I had a boss that was the rectum of Satan. Years after the job, he asked if I'd hire him, which I didn't. The owner of the company I worked for told me I should have hired him, just for the satisfaction of firing him the next day.

phlegmfatale said...

A - I suppose there's an input/output aspect of that equation

Rabbit - damn skippy.

ben - look out, tumbleweeds!

Christina - I expect it won't be pretty, but that's not my doing.

Jay G - true - I wasn't paid to be responsible for the tenants indefinitely

Anonymous - Thanks for those words. I can only imagine how the frustration has worn on you over these past 2 1/2 years. Best of luck to you in your upcoming retirement. Catch a fish or two for me. :) Or just put your feet up.

Jon - You did the right thing, just not hiring the wastrel. Vengefulness has its time and place, but even hiring the guy for a day would only have prolonged the unpleasantness of dealing with him. But you are right about the reinforcement - I have often thought how this has reaffirmed the wisdom of my choice to settle Elsewhere.

OrangeNeckInNY said...

When my ex-boss laid me off, due to the downturn in the economy (and also because he put all his eggs in one basket), he found out it took 3 people to take my place. And he had the nerve to tell me I get paid too much. Schmuck.

As for all his eggs in one basket, he focused the firm in designing government-funded group housing for the disabled (mental, physical, etc.) so that when funding dried up, so did the work coming into our firm. He had no other work to fall back on, so the lay-offs began. The first people to get laid off were me and the last guy he hired months before.

Well, Mr. Smarty-pants thought he was making a good move by laying me off, saying I was overpaid. I chuckled inwardly. Let's see, I was managing the network and servers (at least an $80k a year job) and cranking out construction documents (at my experience level, at least another $75K a year job) and he had the gall to tell me the $54K a year he was paying me was too much?

Well, when I was gone, he had whoever he had kept employed, continuously email me for instructions on how to maintain the servers. Needless to say, a lot of those emails went unanswered. The emails stopped and I have to laugh because he's spending a lot more money on an independent IT firm to manage the network and servers, than he was paying me to do it and produce construction documents.

The point is, you're not easily replaceable.

(Yeah yeah, I know this post sounds a lot like it was about me...heh) :)

drjim said...

Hang in there, kiddo! You *know* you'll be missed, but not by Da Boss. It's your *real* customers, the renters, who will miss you.

Buck said...

I'm thinking you can have GREAT fun just thinking up all sorts of suitable responses for when your phone rings at the new place. I'd write 'em down, too... just so's ya don't forget a particularly great one!

Other than that? Let it go... life's too short to mess with idiots, yadda, yadda.

Kevin said...

Phlemmy, that was a crappy thing for your boss to say.

rickn8or said...

The proper response to a boss that thins you can easily be replaced is to wait for the first "Where is, how do I, what about..." is: "I'm an independent consulant now; I charge $250 an hour with a 2-hour minimum, the meter is running, do you have your credit card handy?"Gar-ON-TEE it will be the only call you get.

Old NFO said...

Personally I think the old navy response is appropriate... FIGMO... :-) Go ENJOY your new life and home!

HollyB said...

Tell NH to STFU next Tuesday. When he calls, and he will unless pride gets in the way, tell him you would be happy to be a Consultant and set a price for your valuable knowledge and expertise.
I know you care about your residents, but after next week they won't BE your residents anymore. And when they begin to leave in droves, perhaps NH, the true poopy head, will realise just how much of a resource he lost with your departure.

phlegmfatale said...

OrangeNeck - Penny wise and pound foolish. I've seen a lot of that here. They lost a lot when they lost you. Good on you for getting out of there!

drjim - I've already been hearing from the residents, and that is heart-warming.

Buck - I'm just going to do the best I can for the next 7 days at the office, and then it's out of my hands. I'm moving on.

Kevin - I thought so. I couldn't tell if he was mostly trying to flatter his assistant who was right there, or just to insult me. It was probably both. *shrug*

rickn8or - Hmm. A tasty prospect.

Old NFO - well I learned something right there! FIGMO. Sounds like a plan. :)

Holly B - I'm going to be the soul of restraint Tuesday, Hols. I don't know if he's capapble of recognizing how he's ill-treated the people who have worked the hardest to support him. Oh well, I wasn't put on this earth to educate him, either.

Anonymous said...

Do NOT leave your new phone number with the company; change your cell. It is the ultimate revenge.
LawMom

Thud said...

Anything you can leave behind to make life a little awkward?

TOTWTYTR said...

I won't bore you with the details of my story, but the guy that replaced me has TWO assistants where I was told that I couldn't have any. He's finally stopped calling me because I told him that I wasn't in the business of doing his job for him.

Anonymous said...

I left a gov't job after 15 years-caretaker in a zoo for 10 and in the office and supervising the daily zoo activities for 5 years. When the 'men' in authority had a p*ssing contest and one decided he knew best. He didn't want any input so I let him do it all. I hate to think of the animals that suffered needlessly. I quit answering their e-mail requests for information on how to do what. I've never actually been happier since I left. Quite liberating, actually.

NotClauswitz said...

The boner with the background in "urban planning" is going to be like hiring an MBA to do real accounting - feet up on the desk "visualizing" a
"strategy" and working up an insanely complicated spreadsheet to nowhere - doesn't actually accomplish much.