Here we go again
I figure if I keep trying to be consistent, eventually it'll start ... right ... maybe?
As you (non-existent person who passionately follows my utterly unused blog) may have noticed, I tweaked the Style Template, got my favorite font (Finger Paint from Google Fonts) installed, and am once again typing blog posts ... or at least this one.
A lot has changed, farewell Soul Cancer
The last posts on the blog were just records of a walking challenge happening at my previous job. So it sorta makes sense that I need to bring you up to date with the bare minimum facts.
- I refer that job, and employer as "Soul Cancer"; a moniker I might add I actually began using in my day to day interactions with my friends and family, to the point that it actually became a part of their vocabulary.
Professional Re-enactment - Friend: "Hey you still at Soul Cancer?"
- Me: "Yup."
- Soul Cancer never really had their act in order. From the beginning (of at least my time there), they had old impractical practices, It was common for me to say that the only thing the company did competently, was incompetence. And horrid managers, dear lord don't get me started on that. (Think 80's management style a la Office Space Lumberg, only not comedic, full of micromanagement, nepotism, active career sabotage, you name it, I saw it there.)
But I hear you say
You: "You're being pretty harsh there Tangent"
Me: -enunciating slowly- "SOOOOOOULLLLLL CANNNNNCERRRRRRRRRRRR"
- Soul Cancer got bought out twice in 2 years. That's where it gets difficult to explain because if I start using the names of who bought who, it becomes BLATANTLY obvious who I'm calling Soul Cancer (Originally it was just the original Soul Cancer, but then the 2 other companies that did the buying also were ... jerks. (let's use the PG-13 friendly naming conventions for this post.)
Soul Cancer went from a Private Company to Public One. (Losing Value in the Process, we'd know because the retirement plan was in Employee Owned Stock, which tanked.) Rhopalocera bought Soul Cancer, but Rhopalocera pretty much shot themselves in the foot financially doing it, putting them in a position where CORVUS CHEESE'S bought them, as well as a bunch of other online printing/design companies. All of this in the span of about 2 years.
- DUN DUN DUN! COVID!
It became apparent with the slow but sure firing, restructuring, sending in professionals that Ultimately CORVUS CHEESE'S knew what they were doing (business acumen-ly speaking). They were going to make Soul Cancer and Rhopalocera profitable once again. And a process that would probably have taken 3 to 5 years of restructuring, replacing key management, and understanding the systems became instead ...
- You're laid off.
- You can't use your Paid Time Off
- Oh and you have to pay US for this because we're not paying for your Health Insurance while you're on COVID layoff.
A few MONTHS of unemployment later
- We're changed our minds, you'll come back for 2 months, then you're all permanently fire.
- No joke, brought a couple of us back literally to tell us they were firing us.
- OH BTW, since you didn't use your PTO from last year, we're not rolling it over.
- Yup, people who had earned PTO from the previous year, only got a small fraction of it. They kept the rest.
So yea, they had business acumen, the cut throat, use COVID as a reason to fire everyone that we were going to fire over the next 3 years anyways.
- But I am Finally Free of Soul Cancer
It seems like I've been fairly specific here, but please recognize that this is less than 10% of what I could say on the subject. Laws in the State and laws passed to protect businesses during COVID federally pretty much allowed the corporations in question to do whatever they wanted to do. The whole thing still reaks of private and public lawsuits, which will only get worse as time reveals exactly how many client contracts were breached in the hasty but PURPOSEFUL shutdown.
You: "Hasty but purposeful?"
Me: "Like ... send out an email that we're not going to finish projects we've already started, give them a phone number and email address to contact for refunds or to complete their projects quickly, then fire all of the people who check those email accounts, and disconnect that phone system the next day."
You: "But how are they ..."
Me: "What? I can't hear you, you have to use this email address no-one looks at or call this number that literally is "out of service" now."
Stimulus and the Job Hunt
I spent a good portion of the layoff at the start of COVID when we thought we'd be back in 2 months job hunting, working on my resume, playing video games, streaming. That 2 Months became 9 Months, they brought a few of us back to tell us we'd be fired in 2 months (Strangely just enough time for all of the previous year's owed PTO to get past the "You lose it" cut-off due date. effing anyone they didn't bring back out of lots of money)
The job hunt was a fairly depressing time for me. Originally a tech person, I'd now been out of technology for nearly 8 years. I can't remember how many "You don't have any certifications" (Apparently a Master's Degree in Technology doesn't count for anything); "We're pursuing other candidates" and other permutations of "You have no skills, your degrees mean nothing, and so forth"
Which I mean, when you're struggling through all of this, of course your brain makes every polite comment and application that doesn't go anywhere into a directed attack against your person.
So I hope you're taking what I say with some salt, cuz I complain about it; but I'm sure it wasn't that bad. I KNOW that I was lucky and well off for the entire thing. Between stimulus money, savings, low rent and so forth ... There's a lot of people out there who lost their homes, went hungry, and were destroyed by their own emotions and turmoil about not being able to provide for their kids.
A new Job, a new apartment, a newer new job
I got a position back in technology. I won't talk about a whole lot of details on the new job just yet, because while its exciting, sometimes I worry about stability.
And let's face it, when a company hires you; they will invade your life.
It's not entirely their fault, we live in a society when any faux-pas or social media misstep will get hundreds of thousands to millions of people tweeting the company that employs said person to fire them. In the last 30 years culturally we've blurred the line between after-hours, personal opinion, and corporate identity.
I don't like it, but as a streamer, and a blogger (at least today) What I say and do is a public forum.
So if you're my employer reading my blog or watching my stream, realize you are my employer. You pay me to be someplace and do something from 8-5. You do not get to dictate what I do or say outside of those hours. We're not a family. Our identities are not connected. You are defined by the service you provide to others, not by the identities of those you employ.
And that's why they call me Tangent ... what were we talking about?
The Blog!
Its back!
The Future!
I want to have at least monthly updates, but I think I would like weekly updates
Why?
- I'm losing weight doing intermittent fasting, I think:
- People would like to see pictures of what I eat
- Maybe some recipes too
- and Explanations of how I'm fasting
- I'm studying for a whole bunch of technology certifications!
- A place to track that, as well as talk about it would be fun.
- I want to stream and or record a pod-cast
- Seriously, there's this guy named Luhsteesay ... its probably best if you don't think about the pronunciation on that one, but he's funny as hell.
- I've done radio-esque things in the past and have a million topics in a notebook to bring up.
- As well as a place to share my innermost darkest thoughts for anyone to read and judge!
Intermittent Fasting, Tech Certifications, Podcast, Stream
Exciting no?
