talking to boss 4

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005, Thomas Bartkus

Well, mostly temporary. There are some govt workers (still civil service), some tenured professors where the tenure is good (there is some tenure where the tenure is worthless eg. where the tenure terminates or is up for review, or the appointment is tenured but the paycheck is not tenured, and, of course, the rich people who, since they are rich, don't need tenure because they already have tons of money and don't need a job (of course, they can also essentially be their own job since they can pay themselves anything they want). So, pardon me for making a little adjustment on your term *all*. Then there are guys like privates Grbutto that got a $180 mill retirement-severance package. Think you could live OK from age ~50 for the rest of your life on that?

Well, yes. But, you have to "juggle" your "beating the bushes" for more clients, too.

I only need to worry about kicking up enough dust to get new clients if I lose some old ones.

But the employer has lots of money; usually the employee does not.

WPR= Work Performance Review (where THEY can retroactively buttign performance standards so its impossible to meet them simply because its like raising the bar AFTER you start to jump). I've been there.

PIP = Performance Improvement Plan. Where THEY can buttign in the future performance standards much much higher than you can meet OR, if you do meet them, they can simply judge that you didn't meet them. I have not had this happen to me, but I've heard lots of stories. But the lawyer consultants tell managers how to do this so the fired employee will have a much more difficult time sueing for "wrongful discharge" which is less common today than 1-2 decades ago.

and they aren't

See above. I can tell you more. More screwing...is often described in the Wall Street Journal. Just today's issue has an article on large numbers of companies that are freezing their pension plans. eg. guys under 40 will have no more benefits accruing in their company. Not a termination (a screw) or a spin-off (another screw), but just that the company will make no more contributions to the pension for that worker (or, all in a clbutt). There were several other variations on this "screw the underlings" process. Then, of course, companies can be sold, merged, or aquired, which is another opportunity for simultaneous reorganization which does NOT include-- surprise,surprise--any more pension plans. So, what happens to the employee who gets transfered to the new company name (but still showing up at the same facility)? SOL, buddy. No pension. There are caveats on this, but a WSJ article about a couple years ago showed seveeral examples of how companies can get away with this. Its a crime against humanity.

And, I give myself a W-2 every year, too.

Well, I don't want to get in trouble with the IRS.

Yeah, its simple; they got the money. Its like the golden rule: thems that gots the gold, makes the rules.

But, the moral-ethical paradigm like some decades ago where "you do your work, you'll have your job as long as you wanted" is gone. In the good old days you retired and they gave you a gold watch. Today, its "f*** you" and a pink slip.

Funnier still the way employees are still intimidated by

Yeah, I've wondered why union membership has fallen off. What is it with people? Or, are they affraid the company will close and just subcontract the factory to China, Asian, etc.? But, some companies do this anyway today. I read this book: "Confessions of a Union Buster" by Martin Jay Levitt (not sure on the spelling of the last name) but its just that. A management consultant blabs all about all the dirty tricks employers pull off to block union formation. And, the author also talked about how docile and pbuttive the majority of people are. They are actually affraid to tell the boss: hey this deal is good for you and crappy for me, how about an adjustment.

Nah, it also comes from robber-barron CEOs and executives, too.

Come to think of it, that used to be me! Apparently,

Don't forget that THEY like young guys instead of old guys because the medical fringe benefits cost less, too. And, if they can stiff guys before they get vested in the pension plans, that just means more money in the till for the executives' pension benefits when rocking chair time comes. There are some other benefits to just hire young (eg. can pay them "entry level pay" instead of "commensurate with experience" pay). Get my drift?

Nah, its fun to do two things at once: i) tell the truth, and ii) gripe and vent.