- Location
- Marine Park
I had the pleasure of working with someone once whose forte was team building. He was moved around by this company to different departments to boost moral and create genuine "team" and "family unity". In the years since, I've never met anyone so apt at building communities and the man is a true genius.
The first time I met him I was still working as a consultant and he headed the department that I was trying to get hired into. The gig was that you worked for 6 months as a consultant and then if they liked you they'd hire you as an employee. I had made the cut after my 6 months of indentured servitude but when my "hire date" came the company was hit by a bit of a scandal. The senior employees found out that while they had been denied raises for the last two years, all new employees were being brought in at higher wages than they had been paid! The company announced that there would be NO NEW HIRES until this "error" was sorted out. This left me in limbo. Would my 6 months of consultancy be extended? Would I be terminated? Would I be stuck as a consultant for another 6 months, a year?
It turns out that this "scandal" was nothing new, it had just come to a head at a very unfortunate time for me. It had apparently been going on for a year before I got there. I had a meeting with the head guy I mentioned in the beginning of this rant and I voiced my concern to this "team building" maven. I said:
"Hey Mike, I have a real concern here. We're consultants for 6 months after which we can be hired. My group was selected to be hired but the issue of the pay discrepancy has put that on hold. My fear is that since this has been an issue for over a year it may be another year until it is solved. What happens to us in the meantime?"
Now this man is a seasoned executive, and I expected "execu-speak" to come out of his mouth any second. I imagine he'll say "We're working on it, hang in there, we're doing everything we can, only a little while longer" you know, all that crap. Instead he said to me:
"I'll be honest, you're a temp. Right? Essentially you're a temp. This is what being a temp is all about. We've all done it. It sucks, but such is the life of a temp. Will it take another year to sort this out, it might. It really, really might. Will your consultancy be terminated in the meantime? It might. You know, there are no sure things in life. Was that helpful?"
Now at first I couldn't believe what I had heard. This was the single biggest jerk I had ever met. Then it sunk in, this was the only straight up person in the whole company. I gained an immense amount of respect for him that day and as time went by and I got promoted I got to work along side him. That was how he handled every situation. You often did not get the answer you wanted to hear or even one that would "fix" a situation, but you always got an honest one and you always knew where you stood with him and that was more valuable than anything.
I was thinking of this today because of the general mood around here and the drama and what not. We've lost a lot of good people in the last week and our community will suffer their loss. Both Jim and Ronen are really good hearted and helpful guys who will be missed. I can't help but think of my boy Mike Kaplan and how he might have handled this situation differently. Life is unfair, G-d is unfair, Business if unfair and all three know the IRS is unfair and it's ok. Unfair isn't what upsets people "unfair" only upsets children. What upsets people is the unknown, for example if you tell someone, "this is how it is and yes it is unfair." People can handle that, we all deal with that everyday of our lives and it's ok as long as people are upfront with it. It's only when its not talked about or quelled that these things can get out of hand. I'm not saying that anything was handled unfairly or anything like that but sometimes the correct response to someone screaming "This isn't FAIR!" is "yes you're right, it's not and that's the way it is."
There's really no need to respond to this or further comment but mods please don't close the thread. Closing the thread is just missing the point of the post. (although it would be kind of funny to close the thread and say "this may not be fair, but it is the way it is"
The first time I met him I was still working as a consultant and he headed the department that I was trying to get hired into. The gig was that you worked for 6 months as a consultant and then if they liked you they'd hire you as an employee. I had made the cut after my 6 months of indentured servitude but when my "hire date" came the company was hit by a bit of a scandal. The senior employees found out that while they had been denied raises for the last two years, all new employees were being brought in at higher wages than they had been paid! The company announced that there would be NO NEW HIRES until this "error" was sorted out. This left me in limbo. Would my 6 months of consultancy be extended? Would I be terminated? Would I be stuck as a consultant for another 6 months, a year?
It turns out that this "scandal" was nothing new, it had just come to a head at a very unfortunate time for me. It had apparently been going on for a year before I got there. I had a meeting with the head guy I mentioned in the beginning of this rant and I voiced my concern to this "team building" maven. I said:
"Hey Mike, I have a real concern here. We're consultants for 6 months after which we can be hired. My group was selected to be hired but the issue of the pay discrepancy has put that on hold. My fear is that since this has been an issue for over a year it may be another year until it is solved. What happens to us in the meantime?"
Now this man is a seasoned executive, and I expected "execu-speak" to come out of his mouth any second. I imagine he'll say "We're working on it, hang in there, we're doing everything we can, only a little while longer" you know, all that crap. Instead he said to me:
"I'll be honest, you're a temp. Right? Essentially you're a temp. This is what being a temp is all about. We've all done it. It sucks, but such is the life of a temp. Will it take another year to sort this out, it might. It really, really might. Will your consultancy be terminated in the meantime? It might. You know, there are no sure things in life. Was that helpful?"
Now at first I couldn't believe what I had heard. This was the single biggest jerk I had ever met. Then it sunk in, this was the only straight up person in the whole company. I gained an immense amount of respect for him that day and as time went by and I got promoted I got to work along side him. That was how he handled every situation. You often did not get the answer you wanted to hear or even one that would "fix" a situation, but you always got an honest one and you always knew where you stood with him and that was more valuable than anything.
I was thinking of this today because of the general mood around here and the drama and what not. We've lost a lot of good people in the last week and our community will suffer their loss. Both Jim and Ronen are really good hearted and helpful guys who will be missed. I can't help but think of my boy Mike Kaplan and how he might have handled this situation differently. Life is unfair, G-d is unfair, Business if unfair and all three know the IRS is unfair and it's ok. Unfair isn't what upsets people "unfair" only upsets children. What upsets people is the unknown, for example if you tell someone, "this is how it is and yes it is unfair." People can handle that, we all deal with that everyday of our lives and it's ok as long as people are upfront with it. It's only when its not talked about or quelled that these things can get out of hand. I'm not saying that anything was handled unfairly or anything like that but sometimes the correct response to someone screaming "This isn't FAIR!" is "yes you're right, it's not and that's the way it is."
There's really no need to respond to this or further comment but mods please don't close the thread. Closing the thread is just missing the point of the post. (although it would be kind of funny to close the thread and say "this may not be fair, but it is the way it is"
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