The title of this entry is from a song I've had looped on my iPod for entirely too long, Spanish Doll from Poe's album Haunted. Maybe I can blame the funk I've been in on it.
I think 'funk' is too strong a word. I'm not really depressed, I just have odd moments of blah. It'd be easy to attribute to all the crap I've been going through lately, but I'm fairly sure it's all hormonal. My hormones are fucked. I have no clue what is going on with them. Body, please fix yourself. Ktnx.
I mentioned in a previous post as to how I'm now unemployed. Ready for story time?
A month ago, the company I worked for was doing an upgrade at one of our sites. We had to perform a software update on our server on the site, and firmware update on a network device whose vendor we'd never dealt with before. Somehow, I managed to be the most experienced person with this device, and since it was my code that was being upgraded on our server, I was assigned the task of aiding our installer that was on site.
The entire night was a complete disaster. It started at midnight, and really shouldn't have taken more than an hour. It took me less than 10 minutes to get the new code on our server and verify that there were no issues. Unfortunately, the firmware update handled by our remote installer didn't go so well.
I originally asked that I be sent on site with the installer. Only one of our installers has ever done a firmware update on that kind of device before, and he was unavailable. It turns out that the installer they sent had received absolutely no training, so he had no clue what was going on. I ended up doing the firmware update myself, but there were a number of issues that came up due to a misconfiguration on the remote end. The end result was that I worked all day, worked all night, and left around 9:00 AM. The new code on our server was completely operational, as was the network device, although the additional functionality of the server code couldn't be used until the firmware update on the network device was complete. No big deal, as the site was still up.
A little over an hour after I left work, I got a call to come back in. They were going to perform the firmware update again with the vendor's support on the phone. I stated that the server update was complete, I'm not sure why they needed me. I was told to come in anyways. I'd been up for nearly 30 hours, and I wanted a shower. Sigh. So I went back to the office, and I ended up standing around doing absolutely nothing. I told the person that manages all of the installers that next time he should send someone that is properly trained. I was lacking a little tact, but at least I wasn't screaming or cursing. They really should be thankful.
First off, I'm a freaking developer. Not an installer. Not production support. Whatever. I didn't mind that much, although I was slightly annoyed that they made me come into the office for it. Everything I did I could have done just as easily from home, which is how I've managed updates before. I originally asked that I go on site, but for some unknown reason, it got shot down. If I had been on site, I could have had this thing fixed in no time at all. Did I get any thanks or "good job" for putting in all that extra effort, staying up all night, doing something that isn't my responsibility? Hell, no. I just get bitched at when someone else doesn't do their job right.
Later that afternoon, I finally managed to go home and get some sleep. I'd been busting ass for weeks trying to get everything in place for the integration of that new vendor. It didn't help that my back was killing me; I really can't stay in a chair that long. I was laid up all weekend. When Monday morning came around, I was still hurting quite a bit and I'd had little sleep because of it, so I sent an email to my boss telling him that I wasn't feeling well, so in lieu of taking a sick day, I was going to work from home just in case anything came up regarding the upgrade from Thursday night/Friday morning. He replied saying that was fine, and to get some rest. I stayed in bed most of the day, working on my laptop. I sent status updates as requested, and had a fairly productive day, considering.
I went back to work on Tuesday and worked the rest of the week. The following Monday, my boss calls me into HR's office and tries to fire me. Seriously, worst firing attempt evar. The reason cited was performance. He didn't actually do any of the talking, he left it all up to the chick from HR. She went on to tell me that I hadn't been at work on Monday and no one knew where I was.
Oh, hell no. I grab my laptop and forward her copies of the email I'd sent to my boss on Monday and his replies. Meanwhile, he's looking extremely uncomfortable and staring at the ground. I almost felt bad for him, but well, he was trying to fire me. What the fuck? Performance issues? Working 60-80 hours a week is considered a performance issue? Obviously, something's going on here.
When HR read the email, she looked a bit confused, and then almost angry that I fucked up her firing. Cry me a fucking river. So she's says to me "oh, I guess this is ok. But you can't wear tank tops or anything sheer anymore."
WTF??
Considering that I've seen people wear pajamas to the office, I can safely say we have a fairly lax dress code, much like many other small IT companies. That day, my outfit was completely acceptable (and much more stylish than hers; pastel sweater sets are so teh rage in her world): abercrombie jeans, and long green sheer shirt that tied up the front with a black gap tank top beneath it. She said she could see my middriff. I almost laughed at that one. Me, show my stomach? Yeah, right. And pigs fly. So I stood up to demonstrate the fact that I wasn't showing any skin. She started getting a bit snippy, and she told me that my back was showing, and she could see my tattoo.
Once again, WTF??
I don't even have a tattoo, and my back was not showing. Crazy. So I left her office and ran back to the dev room to tell my coworkers what's up. They were as shocked and angry about it as I was, if not more. After much discussion, we decided that it had to have been political - I must have pissed someone off.
I cornered my boss the next day, and he refused to tell me what was going on. It seemed kind of suspicious that all of this was happening 2 weeks before I was due to get my sign-on bonus. I mentioned that to him, and he didn't know anything about it.
Just to clarify, this boss isn't the same one I had before. My previous boss (seriously, best boss ever) stepped down as manager and became head developer because he didn't like dealing with the bullshit of management. The new boss had just been brought on, and work had changed a lot since then. Under my old boss, I was working from home at least 3 days a week. I didn't have to deal with politics, and I didn't have people bugging me. After the new boss started, morale plummitted. All the things I loved about our group were starting to slowly disintegrate.
I knew that if they were trying to get rid of me, it had to have come from someone fairly high up, and they probably wouldn't give up, so I started looking for a new job. I hated looking on computerjobs and monster, because I loved my job so much. My coworkers were some of the best people I've ever worked with. Despite all the bullshit, there was nowhere else I'd rather be.
Last week, someone decided it would be a good idea to change the office hours, but only for development. I'm still trying to figure out why, but the best I could come up with is that they did it specifically to have a reason to get rid of me. Everyone knows that I carpool with Google Boy, so I couldn't get there an extra hour early. I told my boss that after I got my bonus - which it looked like they were trying to ignore - I could get a car and I'd come in whenever they wanted, I don't care. It's not like I've ever had time to sleep after starting this job, anyways. He did his little nodding, sighing, and ignoring the issue thing (man, has he got that down), and work progressed as normal.
Two days later, I was called into the CEO's office and fired. Wow. That's hardcore. I mean, my boss couldn't fire me, apparently his boss didn't have the balls to fire me, so they sent me to the CEO to be fired. I guess they figured I wouldn't put up much of a fight. The CEO is fairly intimidating, and I don't think anyone has ever said no to him. He told me I could finish the day, and to let all my coworkers know what they needed to know before I left. Reason cited for getting rid of me? Performance, once again. Well, considering I've only seen him in the office once in the past 2 months, how would he know anything about what was going on with dev? Someone was obviously whispering in his ear. It still pisses me off that I don't know how to be angry at about this.
When I told my coworkers, we all went on a walk and cornered my boss. He wouldn't really tell us much, other than that it was a political situation that predated him. Ok, yeah, whatever. Everyone's angry and scared. If they could get rid of me for such a bullshit reason, who is next?
Monday, that question was answered. They fired my ex-boss' wife. She had been working there a number of years. I think their reason for firing her was something about not needing her anymore. Yeah, obviously training isn't a priority at that company. Way to go, guys.
All of this happened just a few days after I left Mike. It's been kind of rough, but I'm not too upset about it. I found out that Chad is moving back to Oklahoma with Nathan later this summer, and that's been weighing on me much more than anything else. It's a lot to get hit with all at once. I'm staying pretty optimistic, my default mode. I think I'm almost done here. After Nathan is gone, I no longer have a reason to stay in Atlanta. I'll probably end up in San Francisco or New York, my two favorite cities. We'll see.
For now, I'm working a few small consultant jobs, and Google Boy just put my resume in at Google. Mike's boss just told him that they wanted to take me on at what I consider exorbitant rate. If it was temporary, I guess that'd be ok, but that'll be kind of awkward. I miss him at the oddest times. It's difficult, but I can handle it. I'm doing ok.
