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| lazy-ass techno snobs |
| 09.27.06 (1:45 pm) [edit] |
I can't say where I work or what I really do, but it's safe to say I have a good job and had to get started really really quickly. I needed to hire a full staff within two weeks of my first day -- for a new department, using all new technology that I didn't purchase or select. For the most part, I'm happy with everything. We have fancy plasma screens, lots of cameras, newfangled audio devices, what amounts to my own in-house tv studio, and carte blanche to hire whomever I please.Because I was initially terrified to be caught without staff, I took on a few people I now regret. About half the people I hired are great, including my right-hand person, to whom I'm hoping to offer a better position when I can. A few have flaked out. One guy had ties to New Orleans and frankly, way too much talent and experience for this job; one had to go back to school and take a class he thought he hadn't needed to graduate, and one just fell off the face of the earth. I'm not really disappointed about the last guy. I'd been wondering how to fire him and whether that was prudent. First of all, the guy showed up for his interview in jean shorts and flip-flops. WTF? He passed it off as being from Hawaii and not used to shoes. Uh, okay. I hired him because his work experience was stellar. But his attitude was not so, and I wasn't all that pleased. He was snippy with me because we're a PC house and not a Mac one -- not my decision -- the whole place is PC. Okay, fine. I can deal with that kind of crap. But he was snippy with students and instructors, and that doesn't fly. He begged off work at the last minute a few times for various reasons... the car was screwed up, the baby was sick, etc. One day, he was almost two hours late for work -- and never called me to say why. So when he just stopped responding to e-mails and calls, I took it as divine intervention. Now I have another guy I'm regretting hiring, but I can't let him go. I took him as a favor to a friend. He's her live-in boyfriend, and luckily he has some related skills. But the guy is 40 and he's never held a full-time job. He comes from money from what I understand, but I don't understand someone who just doesn't work at all. Forgive me.... his "job" is going to rock concerts at bars every night and taping them. He doesn't actually get paid for this; he gets free admission to almost everything and copies of all the music. And apparently he's E-Baying a bunch of old CDs he's got or something. But seriously, this is a job? I wouldn't care, but he's kind of weird to have around. One day, another employee came to me and complained that this guy was "stalking" one girl on one of the studio cameras... just leaving one of the five fixed cams on this girl, zooming and panning when she moved, etc. I caught up with him, pretended I just saw it, and laughingly said that the faculty might think he was stalking someone, and that I'd have to tell on him to his girlfriend. Another day, I went into our locked AV storage room and freaked -- I'd flipped the light on and found him sitting cross-legged in the dark. He was meditating, he said. Then today, we came upon a little glitch. We use Avid to edit DVs, but I needed to mask a second of audio on a .wmv and the Avid doesn't recognize them. After I figured out (with DH's help) how to jerry-rig the edit, it was fine. But Creepy Lazy Guy was bitchy about Avid. "Why are you guys using that?" he asked. "Why don't you just buy Final Cut Pro? It's not like you didn't have a huge budget here." Okay, we did, but that's not the point. This was endemic of this guy -- he's complained to me about the DVDs (take too long to finish), the slide scanner (too annoying to hook up), the control area (why can't they keep sodas on the control desk?), and a myriad of other things. Today, I got annoyed. "I tell you what. When you sit in my chair, you can make those decisions. Today, this is what we have. The man who designed this program and built our facilities is the one who does it for every major institution in the country, and I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing." Defensive, much? |
posted by: basild (reply)
post date: 09.27.06 (12:24 pm)
Whew. We have some odd duckys around here, but it sounds like you really have your hands full. I admire your restraint.
posted by: Orange (reply)
post date: 09.27.06 (5:12 pm)
I would completely understand if you opted to open up a can of whup-ass at the office. Just think of it as training for when you have whiny teenagers!
posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 09.28.06 (4:22 pm)
I'm with Orange... My comment would have been almost exactly the same... Wow. What on earth have you stumbled into? -Bet you love it sometimes though.
posted by: ROB4UNC085 (reply)
post date: 09.30.06 (10:15 pm)
very nice blog
posted by: celine14295699 (reply)
post date: 10.01.06 (12:18 am)
cool blog
posted by: scubadiva (reply)
post date: 10.01.06 (4:44 pm)
I wouldn't put up with that crap. Heads would roll. And I *hope* you've learned a lesson to NEVER hire someone as a favor to someone else. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad idea.
posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 10.02.06 (5:10 am)
Reply to: scubadiva
Very bad idea. I've done it too - a couple of times... I should have learned after the first time.
posted by: scubadiva (reply)
post date: 10.02.06 (8:08 am)
Reply to: surrogate
Hey, do you have any openings? I've got this friend.... LOL
posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 10.02.06 (8:18 am)
Reply to: scubadiva Uh, no... All full right now. But thanks for asking.
