Strange kinda day today

I just don’t get it - current job is doing all they can to stall for time (like seriously - how long do you think I will wait - a week/2? A month is unreasonable and if your hope is to stall me long enough to get the current offer to walk away - even if they did - I’ll remember and walk first chance I get after this knowing exactly who you are and how you work).

Then on the other side - got a recruiter literally calling every number or email of mine he can find pushing for a commitment. Keep in mind I told him we are good on terms and I am inclined to accept once formally offered - but since he can’t formally offer until doing background (2 weeks) I can’t formally commit and will continue with my scheduled interviews.

It gets a bit annoying as you are basically saying commit to us and then we will decide for sure we want you - and the calling my work and getting my office line and email and calling was both a ballsy and rather rude move. I mean I have you my cell and email to reach me - call me there/email me there and if I go silent for a few days - then maybe that’s appropriate. But if I email you at 9 and say I’m really busy today and will try to get in touch later - it’s not appropriate to start bombarding me with calls and e-mails at 3. It’s actually quite annoying when your trying to work. Wonder what he would think of a candidate who called his office or googled him and found a home phone/email or address and started calling them/emailing him personally or showed up at his house asking for updates ?!? Yea - probably exactly how I feel - I gave you 2 ways to contact me - if I wanted you to have more - I would have shared more. Use the 2 and gave you and quit trying to stalk me into submission.

 

Well, yeah, if he's saying they can't make a formal offer for two weeks, and you've said you're amenable to terms, there's no change in status, until they make an offer (or someone makes a better formal offer before then).
On the plus side, better than wanting out, and being stuck!

 

Recruiters / headhunters only get paid when they "deliver the goods", so of course, they pester you incessantly until you either accept a position, or tell them to F off.

When I was hunting, I would only give out a Google Voice # so if they got too crazy, I could either block them, or block them with the "this number is no longer in service..." message, which would at least get them to stop contacting me via phone. Email? Secondary account and again, could just add to "junk" so you didn't have to see them.

On current job / asking for counter offer - I never do that, and never recommend anyone do that personally. If you were bored / upset / frustrated enough to consider moving, and the thing that would make you stay is more $$$, well, whatever caused you to be bored / upset / frustrated doesn't change. Bank account may be fatter, but that's it. No improvement to your quality of life. Also, from employer's view, they now think you're going to bail any time a higher dollar amount is waived in your face and it may prevent them from actually investing in furthering your training or "importantness" to the company since they don't know if you're going to be around long.

If you're "waiting" on current job to match, and they are dragging feet, well, that's usually their polite way of saying "no thanks" and seeing if you do actually walk or stay. And, of course, if you stay, they know they have you and won't feel any need to do anything further to retain you.

 

Yea - I look at it like this. They can pull an offer or hire snd fire me after day 1 - likewise I feel no obligation to honor my commitment if something better comes along before starting.

As to current employer - I’m basically just waiting for someone to blow me away - not jumping on the first offer. I’m on the way out / they just don’t know it yet. I play them like I want to stay - give me more. They don’t - no harm - I move on like I planned. They do - I use that to leverage better terms from next job - saying potentially “I’m taking less - I want more work from home, a higher profit share or more vacation or something”

 

Damn - this situation is so fluid it’s leaving my head spinning.

The good - I guess it’s good at least. Another interview down today, a semi productive call with a head hunter on some out of state opportunities back home and another “1st interview” requested and completed. The “1st interview” is one of those stupid things - record a video telling us about you - answer some situational questions and then some job specific things - you record and send. Again - this is a past employer (immediately before my current job) huge company and a local job - who knows what next steps might be with them - last time it was literally a phone screen and your hired kinda thing - surprised me as I never had someone offer a job without ever meeting me (this was pre COViD). Given my experience - could be the same here with an offer - or could be a 2nd interview or a flat no. We left in good terms and my boss there liked me - but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the culture. Huge company and too many middle management types. I like smaller and a directly relationship with one boss and a connection to the senior leaders if needed.

Other interview today went ok - not 100% sold on the company or the job - pays well and feel I did ok. Didn’t feel like an immediate “connection” like some have - but a hefty increase and might just be the fact I was meeting with a senior leader and not a local direct reporting manager.

Bigger interview Wed - job I really want. Great fit for me and likely them. Only thing is they are ok with remote - but want me back in the home state - which I am not presently and don’t think they can/will pay relocation. So I need to sell them on my ability to work from home outside of their home state. Shouldn’t be that hard - I could live in their home state and be near 4 hours away from the home office - I’m 6 hours away now and travel back to near their home office every 3-4 months. If they are hood with bi monthly visits - I think it could easily work.

The bad - the current employer seems intent on taking the low road. I told them I was looking and what I was offered. Seemed receptive at first - but has been acting completely unprofessional the last 4 days. Seems to sense they won’t be close and trying to milk what they can out of me before I hit the door - then will spin it as I quit because of workload or something. Basically a CYA move by my boss - and I made some clear I am not a fan. Just told him - have f you don’t want to make an offer/can’t make an offer - say that. Not pull this crap and try to make it look like it was my choice to leave. You know what I’ve been offered - you know what I generate for you so it’s time to decide - are you willing to pay me fairly or are you prepared for me to leave - sentiment aside - if f I’m worth x - don’t say I’ll give you 85% of x - citing economic conditions, your “loyalty” to me or whatever phase of the moon it is tonight. Bottom line you run a for profit company - and I am a for profit individual - either we agree on my value or we disagree and I move on to someone whose value more closely matches mine.

 

Today was a waste - said they wanted one thing - presented something completely different on terms.

4 hour interview - told them at the end I’d be happy to consider what we originally discussed - but new terms wouldn’t work.

More set Friday/Tuesday and waiting on at least 1 more to be set - seems a lot of places will waste time still

 

Well - once again things taking an interesting turn.

Had 2 calls on Friday - one out of state and one local

Local was a complete and total waste of my time - 8 minutes in and I could tell I had zero interest in ever working for these clowns. Seriously unprofessional and cut me off multiple times - just finally had to say enough is enough and end the interview.

The out of state though went well - this was set up by a head hunter. Liked the people I met with - and they seemed to like me.

Got an email this morning - asking me to either fly up to their HQ for a face to face (about 6 hour drive or 1 hour flight) or suggesting we could meet at a field office 3 hours away if I wanted to drive.

Just about talked myself into staying here too - I really don’t want to move - but gotta think if they are flying me somewhere that a. The interest is serious - not a time waste and b. The money we are talking is likely worth listening to - again - not gonna lay out cash to fly me in to offer me a few dollars more yearly - they are serious players per the head hunter and feels it could be a 40% raise based on job/experience

IDK what to do next - I guess listen to what they have to say. Current job “promises” they are going to take care of me come end of year - I’m still thinking it’s a stall tactic - promise something and if they can’t deliver - they at least had me turn down a competitors offer and possibly that opportunity won’t be there later. This offer though I feel would wait if I just told them I needed more time.

 

Damn - I swear every time I start feeling lazy - not wanting to make the move for more money and a likely better job - my manager says some stupider to make me realize how bad things have gotten.

Todays “words of wisdom” word from word on a half year review:

“ I’m not saying I’m the smartest person - but I’m smarter than you. You explain to people what you can do and when you can’t do it - why. Don’t do that - just tell them no and if they don’t like it - tough. They are the customer - they have no right to be informed or educated by you as their representative. You just need to tell them no and walk away - you don’t owe them anything else. If they ask why - say ‘because I said so’ and leave it at that.”

Yep - excellence in customer service in action right there.

BTW our employer regularly sends satisfaction surveys to customers - I’m still perfect for the year. Also audits our work - I’m a 5/5 on a scale where 3 is meets - 4 is outperform and 5 is extreme outperform. Last year only a 4.6….

There are no words for the level of stupid I have to deal with daily - I get it coming from customers and vendors - but dealing with it on a supervisory level is just unacceptable. This is the leadership I’m blessed with - how he remains employed is beyond me.

 

Kinda

I’m still at the old job - stupidly.

I met with a few places back home - they just felt like they were jerking me around. One wanted me - and said 100% work from home BUT they would expect me to come into the office every 2 weeks for a day of living over 100 miles away and 3x weekly if less than 100 miles away - and I had to live in either home state or an adjacent. I just told them I live 480 miles away now - and eventually would be open to returning very close to their office - but a. I’m not rushing to move - it would be within a year, no promises of any sooner and b. I wasn’t doing 3 days a week in office - 1 if I live within 30 miles, once every couple if I moved more than 30 miles from office. Expecting someone to potentially drive 300+ miles each way even every 3 weeks was a tad much. They didn’t like my terms I guess.

Other was a very promising job - but opposite side of state (not preferred destination) and they just couldn’t get anything together. Did video - went well and they asked me to come to HQ and meet with execs - said they would fly me up (again about 550 miles away) - I said fine and gave them dates I could do it. Next day asked “do you mind driving in” - said I could meet them at a field office halfway between if that worked driving - or they can fly me - but I’m not driving 550 miles and spending 2 days of my time for free. They agreed that was asking a bit much - so asked if I could just do a video with their exec team - which we did. Again - went well, so asked me to drive - this time 2 days later. Said again - flight (you pay), meet me halfway or I would drive up and meet Monday if you pay me the cost of the flight. They couldn’t decide what they wanted to do - so I took it as a sign and bowed out.

 

And regarding the offer started all of this.

I initially accepted - but just got a feeling on it along with my hesitation to change.

Offer was good - almost too good. I asked around and no one had anything bad to say - but it would have pulled me out of the house all day - versus my current job which is pretty much home office work with occasional field work.

Then there was the type of work - they say do what you love and you’ll never work a day. Those people are idiots. I’m convinced anyone who tries to take a hobby and make a job out of it will eventually begin to hate the hobby.

It’s fun when your doing it in your spare time and dealing with people who are friendly and share a common interest. It becomes a job when you are spending all day dealing with idiots who feel they know more than you and feel you are just trying to cheat them. That’s my feeling on doing auto collision repair. Going out and doing restorations is fun as a project - doing small repairs and maintenance - again enjoyable when it’s for myself.

Spending all day being yelled at because your not paying for OE parts on someone’s 2012 Impala or being told your wrong because your estimate is half what their 2nd cousin told them it ought to be because that’s what he got in his accident is my idea of hell. Dealing with shops is the easy part of my job - dealing with customers can be rewarding - but it’s the general public and not everyone is exactly reasonable.

Finally - what I do now is much more advanced - to me auto estimating is simple and repetitive. My job routinely sees me handling major cases, complex liability and large property losses. Simple fact is I probably should be making more than I do - and the fact this job was paying more just underscores how under paid I am where I’m at. I just decided I needed to find another job doing what I do - not settle for a less challenging role just because it paid more.

Supposedly my boss did submit me for promotion - I believe he did. It’s title and pay increase - but who knows what level of pay bump I get. I plan on just focusing on jobs that can pay me properly and give me what I want - the opportunity to spend more time mentoring.

I look at it like this - I’m comfortable with what I make - it’s a decent living and for someone who never graduated anything aside from high school (barely) - I am doing fairly well. But I wouldn’t be in this position without a lot of people who helped teach me along the way - I never took an interest in auto body in high school - wasn’t until I was 26 and realized these guys were making serious money and working 7a-4p Monday - Friday. So I started learning from a co-worker who was a former shop manager - taught me the tips and tricks on repair and dealing with techs. A few years later - when I moved and needed a job - I applied and got one because of being able to talk my way through the interview and sounding like o knew what the hell I was doing.

Current employer hired me completely based on that experience - asked if I had construction experience - said beyond building a bird house in 8th grade shop - not really. They said that’s fine - you learned to fake your way through auto until you put it together- well just do the same for you on property - limit what you handle until you can handle anything - and that’s exactly what we did. I’m now part of their 2nd level team handling more advanced stuff - no formal training - just knowing when to listen and when to question without sounding like an ass asking the question - but also not accepting BS answers. I’m 48 and I can’t do this forever. Sometime along the line I’m likely to encounter some 20 something kid who didn’t give a shit for school but now has a wife/kid and wants something better for them than life in a mobile home and dad supporting them on a job making $14 at wal-mart or McDs. So it’s up to me to extend the same opportunity for on the job education I had I guess.

It’s sad - we have great vocational schools - but they do a shitty job of showing people careers that combine both blue collar skills and white collar jobs that use those skills. A former boss of mine summed it up first time I met him in a meeting many years ago - asked the room how many considered an insurance career in high school - of course no hands went up. He looked and said exactly - no one, you all thought you were going to be star athletes or college grads changing the world teaching future leaders or high ranking business people - but somehow you found your way here because it paid well and it was a career not just a job. That’s the problem we will face for years to come - no one sets out on this path - it just finds them.

 

This was my dad's approach to woodworking. He was one of those guys who could wave his hands in the air around a pile of wood and *poof* it's a hutch that someone would pay $8K for. He was just naturally THAT good at woodworking, building damn near anything.

I once asked him why he didn't do it for a living. He told me "...because it's my passion. I do this to relax. I can currently tell people that I work at MY pace. If I did this for a job, suddenly I'd be under the gun, under a timeline, beholden to people who would nickel and dime me, telling me they could get it done faster/cheaper/etc. I'm not going to put up with that concerning what I LOVE to do, so this will remain my passion, and not a job."

 

Yea - it really gets old quickly.

I still get a few autos my way - but it’s 99% if I touch it - it’s not being fixed.

Regularly handled custom/classics/bikes and heavy equipment for a year and a half prior to starting this job - I hated it. I’d say 25% of m customer base was intelligent, realistic and knew what they had and what it was worth - those 25% took about 5% of my time and made the job enjoyable - could talk to people who knew their stuff, learn a bit more detail on certain things from the experts in those particular specialties and just enjoyed the work.

Then there were the other 2 groups - people who knew nothing about what they owned (50%) - spent more time having to explain things to them - annoying at times but generally receptive once they realized I knew my stuff. Some real winners there - my personal fave was the guy with a Mustang Cobra - thing had all the badging and he meets me wearing his Cobra coat - point out to him he doesn’t own a real Cobra - it’s just a 6cyl with badges - he can’t believe it. Argues I have to be wrong and I screwed up the VIN. Just said that’s possible but doubtful as a VIN has a check digit and it was clear - further more I popped the hood and asked how many cylinders a Cobra had. 8 of course - I nodded in agreement and then asked how many plug wires he counted? Starts cussing under his breath - then showed me the bill of sale from last year clearly identified the car as a Cobra. Told him I’d recommend filing a complaint against the dealer who sold it to him - but clearly what he bought wasn’t what was represented on the Bill of Sale. Felt bad - but someone saw this sucker coming and gave him a “great deal” on what he wanted and wasn’t smart enough to identify.

Then there were the “experts” - 25% of the customer base who took 75% of my time. These guys were the know it alls - who knew Jack shit! Rather than being uneducated- they read something and believed it ti be true - regardless of what all the other reputable sources said. These were the types of owners who felt buying a 15k bike and adding 30k in customization made it a 60k bike - not a very well dressed 15k bike. They’d go on to me how their vehicle was a “one of a kind” - as I showed them the stuff they dressed it up in was all from the same catalog. Of course there stuff was always “immaculate” in their estimation too - even when I’d show condition guidelines and photos on what true show quality rides look like and what goes in to getting something to that level. Again - it amazed me when someone would rattle off how great their prized possession was - and I ask how many shows they entered into and what they had won ? Inevitably the answer was none and some feeble excuse as to why they don’t participate in shows. Always seemed that everyone else was either stupid or jealous of them - reality is people would try to help or they didn’t get what they felt was proper recognition (or realized they didn’t have the goods to start with). Can’t tell you how many of these peoples said “you’ll hear from my attorney” - oddly I never heard from any.

 

And it ain’t over yet….

So latest blow up with my current employer happened….sadly I should have seen this coming but not wanting to change and trusting leadership burned me. No one to blame but myself here.

Job says “we need you in Florida” then sends out an email - “we need help in SC” - well SC is a hell of a lot closer to NC than Florida - so I ask “can I take SC and send who you were going to send there to Florida - after all I’m already cleared for 2 days off later next week and this say instead of flying me back and forth 2x - I can just drive it easily. Well - after 3 minutes of calling me every name in the book - guy in HQ tells me I’ll go where he tells me to go when he tells me. Umm - sorry, no that’s not how this works. Reminded I agreed to help as needed and got nada for it - just helping the company meet its needs. If they can’t help me - then I can’t help them. Went absolutely apeshit when I said that. Again - not my boss and I don’t care - told my boss and he agreed. Turns out they had me down as “indefinite” in Fla - no return date - just as long as they wanted and that clearly wasn’t what any reasonable person would agree to do.

So I was getting my annual “anniversary” email together for tomorrow. - started with 5 other people from across the country 4 years ago. We always keep in touch a few times a year and when we are back at HQ at the same time. 1 left last year so 5 of us total left - sent the emails and 2 bounced (meaning no longer employed) - kinda shocking as one just got promoted and other I just saw 3 months ago. Got messages out via social media to see what happened - but it’s clear things are going to shit everywhere.

Thought what the hell - why not try the job that started all this and just see if they still have an interest. I ain’t too proud to acknowledge a mistake and worst they can say is piss off and never call me again. Recruiter was actually very receptive to my call and said he will run it by local management to see if they ever filled the spot - should know by Monday. Again - not holding out hope - but hey, if it works out - I can quit knowing I busted my ass trying to make things work and won’t be afraid to give HR an earful on the clown today and names of 2 other employees who left as well.

Then another twist - now I’ve got ANOTHER place wanting to interview me next week. Solid company - similar job and pay is a little better. No guarantees of course - but nice to know there are still opportunities out there. It’s been 22 years since I was out of a job for more than a day - not looking to end that streak and just don’t trust the current job at all anymore. A lot of promises made lately but actions speak louder to me. Will be the first time in quite a while anyone has ever called me an MF’er or SOB and aside from a department manager at a part time job I had 18 years ago on a power trip - will be the only time a manager/coworker ever said it. Wanted to just tell them say it again and there will be real trouble - but caught myself. It goes much easier when you share the report with HR when they don’t have you threatening them back and you just walked away. Guess some people don’t understand they have alot more to lose than me or just feel they are above the rules.

 

And so it’s over (at last).

Went back to the first company to approach me - said I’m on board if you’ll have me - they came back with a “revised” offer - less money and kinda acknowledged the workload might be higher than I was lead to believe. Told them - same money, don’t care about the workload - silence.

In the mean time - that other job that approached me pretty much gave me everything I could ask for - opportunity to work remote now and said if I want to come back to working a local territory - they have spots back home and will pay to relocate me and give a generous bump in pay. Can’t do the relocation for 9 months - wife’s govt job is just too good to leave and she has a 9 month probation remaining before she can apply to transfer back to home state. So in the mean time we stay here and enjoy working 100% remote.

They matched the pay I was originally offered - and had chance to interview with the person who will be my direct supervisor (whom I really liked - to me that was the #1 thing about changing jobs - having the opportunity to feel out my manager and just gauge what kind of person they are and might be to work for).

I’m officially off the job market and signed again. Going to be fun letting the current employers HR staff know I’m done and why. As much as current boss annoyed me at times - I still enjoyed working for him and feel bad leaving as it creates a big role to fill. At the same time - some of our mid level exec types made life unbearable and I can’t wait to turn tables on a few. Never be dumb enough to call someone a stupid MF’er and SOB on a corporate email and if you do at least be smart enough to apologize the next day for loosing your cool. Also - vague threats rarely scare anyone and can put you in a very tough spot to explain to legal as to why you feel it was appropriate to threaten a lower level employee. Hate to screw with anyone’s living- but hey - if your pulling in 5x the average salary and your pulling this crap - odds are I’m not the first it’s happened to - just the first who had a chance to walk and report their dumb ass without fear of retaliation.

 

Seriously - how screwed up is the job market right now ?!?

So getting MORE calls since walking from the old job - recruiters reaching out wanting to talk opportunity.

I’d love to say everything is going great and no thanks - and it is to an extent - but I’m also getting spooked by the new job already. It’s clear they had a “hire first - plan later” attitude - my boss has 6 people who do 4 different roles. On top of that - he “surprised” us by letting everyone know he was taking the week off this week and then extending that another week Thursday.

Then he drops there will be a meeting at HQ in a few weeks and prepare to drive up and bring my gear

 

Sorry got cutoff there…

So yeah - boss is taking a previously unannounced vacation till end of the year and then we are having a department wide meeting in a few weeks in which we are told to bring our computers and gear to…sorry - but that just sounds fishy to me. Talking with some others - this came as a surprise too.

Again - if something is up - I’d rather they just tell me now and not play a game. I have options and can walk away unharmed. Fueling the suspicion is the work volume - it’s been absolutely nothing - and I’m sitting here asking “why are they paying me THiS much to do this job”. Really expected a much higher volume and it’s just not there. I’m thinking again someone panicked - was given a budget knowing it’s hard to hire people and spent money to avoid losing it…and now they are just waiting for the bean counters to come in and say “no - you gotta loose some people” - hoping that normal attrition got them down to a right size and avoided the headache of starting the hiring cycle all over again.

I 100% do not regret leaving my last job though - amazing how you realize how toxic some places are after walking away. It’s just a very tight labor market out there and not every employer is completely honest on the front end - and some will absolutely overpay to get talent if they are allowed. Got a feeling that if I’m not ask to turn in gear at the meeting - they are gonna ask me to relocate closer to HQ and cover some open position there - which I’m not really interested in doing. We talked about it at time of hire and I did say eventually I might consider if the money was right - but that eventually was a 1-3 year timeframe. Again - nothing wrong with listening to others I guess and being prepared to bolt if the news is bad. Could be a hell of a lot worse - I’ve lived through downsizing and layoffs before - and it’s a lot nicer having options BEFORE the ace falls.