Job Highs and Woes

[annabear]

So OK, from looking at the dates of most posts in this thread, I'm about 2 years behind. Story of my life.

I'm in a very strange position with my curent job. In April I will have been with this company for 6 years. I've progressed through positions and promotions nicely. The past 2 years have been.... interesting.... with an acquisition and team move to a different business model. While I still have a certain title, my duties haven't had anything to do with that title in quite some time. Seeing as how I was plucked up & moved into an entirely new job this past fall, my new duties have even less to do with my title now. I work well with minimal supervision and have no problem asking questions in order to get what I need to get the job done. BUT I do need clear direction which is sorely lacking at the moment. I feel like I'm in limbo. I'm not sure if this is what I want to be doing. Since I wasn't asked if I wanted to do this, my old position has been back filled and since I'm not sure if the usual timing guidelines apply to special projects, I don't even know if I can technically look for another position within the company. Oh, and I'm not even entirely sure who I'm actually reporting to - there's some debate going on about that.

TGIF.

[Couch Tomato]

I know that feeling of not knowing exactly what the hell you're supposed to be doing. So you were just moved into a new position and you had no say in it? And now your old job is filled?

I was perfectly satisfied with my job until I interviewed last month for a new one which I apparantly didn't get since I haven't heard back from them after interviewing twice (costing me 5 hours of work time). I'm really pissed about that actually. And yep I wrote them a nice little thank you letter. Sigh.

[annabear]

Yes and yes. I was told one day a few months back that I had been "chosen" for this new project and given a spiel about how prestigious it is to be "chosen", yadda, yadda, yadda. I really wasn't happy in my job anyway so I thought, OK, I'll give this a shot. Of course, which is probably the way with most big corporate projects, it's been sidelined several times already which leads to that "wth am I doing?" feeling.

Man, that sucks, Couchie. I had one like that last summer, making it through 2 interviews. Yep, it sucks when you don't hear anything back.

[Couch Tomato]

On the scale of 1 to 10 with I have a check I need you to cash and send the rest to Jamaica being 10, how scammy is this? My first thought was an immediate 100.

Dear Applicant,

We got your resume and your application for the job of Accounts Receivable Position as posted on www.craigslist.com.Our HR

Managers have gone through your resume and you have been considered as one of our possible candidate to be our Account Receivable Manager.

About us:

Founded in 1948,"BLUE GATE INC. Construction Inc is an European and African Invented Company, But has a Standardized branch here

in The States .We Buy, Produce and Distribute Constructing materials such as Crawler Cranes, Mechanical Crane and Marine

Equipment Worldwide, you can check out our European branch website ( website under construction ) .We have reached big

sales volume of Constructing Materials in Europe and Africa and now are trying to penetrate the USA/Canada market. Quite

soon we will open representative offices or authorized sales centers in the USA/Canada and therefore we are currently looking

for people who will assist us in establishing a new distribution! Network there. The fact is that despite the USA/Canada market

is new for us, We already have regular clients also speaks for itself.

Account Receivable Role:

Your primary task for now, as a representative of the company is to coordinate payments from customers and help with the

payment process.Once orders are received and sorted we deliver the product to the client. After this has been done the client has

to pay for the products but in most cases our clients prepay for orders or items they order for. About 90 percent of our customers

pay through Certified Checks or Money Orders drawn from the United State based on the amount involved. We have decided to open this new contract -to-hire job position for solving this problem.

Your First Primary task (Collection of Payments):

1. Receive payment from our Customers or Clients.

2. Cash Payment at your Bank or any cashing facilities near you.

3. Deduct 10 % which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed

4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage 10% to the information provided to you.

We are considering your application because you satisfy our requirements and we are sure you will be an earnest assistant

till we start running our branch office in your state.Get back to us with information below information, so that we can add your

mailing address to our Regional database and forward it to our customers for them to send payments.

FULL NAME ..................................................

ADDRESS....................................................

CITY..............................................................

STATE.........................................................

ZIPCODE....................................................

COUNTRY...................................................

PHONE NUMBER......................................

AGE...............................................................

CURRENT OCCUPATION...........................

MARITAL STATUS......................................

SEX................................................................

DO YOU HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT?.............

EMAIL ADDRESS.......................................... Your response to this email is important, so that we can be sure you want to work for us and reconfirm your mailing address

details we have in our database.We will be updating you as soon as the payment is being sent to you and you will be directed as

to where to have the remaining 90% of the money sent to, after the deduction of your 10% pay on any payments received and processed by you.

Regards

Management

[KAndre]

On a scale from 1 to 10...let me pull out my calculator...

furiously pecks at numerous keys...the calculator overheats...pulls out the old reliable TI...

I come up with 5.78 x 10(9) ± 2 (I restricted it to three significant digits).

I think I saw something very similar to that on "To Catch A Predator" or something.

There is not a legitimate business in the world that outsources its Accounts Receivables to a variety of independent contractors found on Craig's List with a 10% transaction fee (profit margin? What profit margin?). And a quick internet search gave me this site.

The cheapest one I could find was only $3,100 - but it was 55 years old and they very carefully did not mention whether or not it actually like, worked. New cranes, like the one they claim to "make", start at about $1.9 million. The words, "tripled verified bank to bank transfers" come to mind. At least, that's how my company does it. We don't even have the option of our clients paying by "cashier check".

[Couch Tomato]

Thanks, just didn't want to report somebody worngly. I swear I've put in 5 resumes on craigslist and I've gotten back 2 recruiters and a scam. Anybody that asked me if I have a bank account is immediately suspect. Not that there's anything to steal LOL.

[YSRN]

Please take our dirty money, launder it, take your cut, and send us the clean rest, thankyouverymuch.

I give it a

Forget that dude in Simon's chair.

[Ansamcw]

That is sooooo strange!!! Yeah too scary for sure!!!

[djs111]

What happens is people deposit a certified check, send the other money immediately, and then the check gets declared invalid days later.

Even giving them all the info they ask for is an invitation to identity theft.

I get this sort of thing and really dumb versions of the Nigerian money scam all the time.

[luckiest1]

Usually I like my job. I work in an IS department, doing computer programming. It has flexible hours, and I can pretty much do what I want. Yeah, there are internet filters that get on my nerves, but I spend waaaaaay more time surfing FCA and a few other Clay boards than I should.

For the last couple of months, I have been working on a program that would automate our client monthly service reports. I finally got them completed last week and ran them for all clients. The administrators for those clients then take them to their quarterly client meetings, to show the clients how well our company has performed the services we provide. The new reports are formated as pdfs, which means that once I run them, the administrators cannot change them. They used to get them in an excel format when they were done manually.

This morning I came into work to a frantic message from one of the administrators, to call him. Turns out our main client was going to be in the building today, and he was not happy with the way the numbers came out on the service report provided to him. He asked me if I could go in a fudge some of the numbers to make our company look better, and meet some pre ordained service requirements. I said sorry, no can do. He said the vice president is requesting this. I said sorry, no can do. He said we will lose this client if you don't. I started to sweat, and said sorry, no can do.

He called back and asked for the report in a different format, so I ran it for him in Word (looks exactly the same as the pdf). He called back again and asked me how does he alter the data in the Word doc? OMFG. I said sorry, I don't know. I'm sure he figured it out himself.

UGH. I don't get paid enough for this stress. I keep expecting the vice president to show up at my desk and fire me. LOL. I called my boss, who is on vacation in Florida, and let her know what was going on. I know she'll back me up if need be, but this could go over her head, too. I just won't be a party to such unethical practices. I won't.

Hee, rant over.

[FromClaygary]

Good Lord, I didn't even know this thread existed....I know, I know View new Posts.

Luckiest, I'm PM'ing.

Couchie~are you using the agencies in your area? They're way, way, way safer and more reputable than anything on craigslist.

[Gibby]

Hey, lucky, stick to your guns. I totally agree with your decision. You never know when dishonesty will come back to haunt you! I think you made a great decision.

[Couch Tomato]

you had to do it didn't you Lucky. heee. Now I'm gonna burn up this thread this weekend. I just know it.

You did the right thing and I know how hard that was!

[playbiller]

It happens in all jobs. I was asked to falsify the company spreadsheet once by fudging Accouts payable to show all bills paid and fudge receivable to show all payments received, but not to have the payable affect the banking statements. That is an SEC offense. You do have to draw a line in the sand. If they fire you for that, you can file a complaint. I just tell people to give it to me in writing.

If they won't write it down, don't do it. E-mail is not good enough, has to be a signed copy. It is a pain in the ass and stressful as hell, but lying to clients won't get you very far in the company and if something went wrong when they found out the lie, you would be sacked.

[luckiest1]

Thanks for the support, guys. I know I did the right thing but it made for a very stressful day! Hopefully Monday will be a little smoother.......

[claytonic]

Nothing is EVER worth compromising your integrity for. A clear conscience is a soft pillow (I think I heard that mentioned in LTS).

[KAndre]

Oooh, this should go right here....

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

Sometimes, I think my boss' only purpose in life is to drive me BATSHIT INSANE.

He has to go to Dubai.

There is only one nonstop airline Houston to Dubai - Emirates Airlines.

Because he is a special, special boy, he not only is entitled to fly first class, he INSISTS on flying first class.

First class on Emirates is excessively nice, thereby excessively popular. And excessively expensive (to the tune of more than $14K).

But he WANTS first class. So I book it. And ticket it. And pick out his goddam seats.

And of course he changes the date when he wants to go.

So we exchange the tickets.

He wants to know why we didn't refund the tickets.

I sez, because you're still going, you still want first class, the price didn't change and there was one seat left.

He sez, but you had the tickets to Calgary refunded.

I sez, because we CANCELLED that trip. You weren't going. You didn't decide until the next morning that you were going anyway, just a day later.

He sez, I don't see the difference. And I don't wanna pay for the tickets NOW.

I sez, then you can't have the seat NOW. And you will probably lose the seat. And have to fly in, horror of horrors, BUSINESS CLASS.

He sez, I don't wanna fly business class.

Wash, rinse and repeat about FIVE TIMES IN A ROW.

I refrain from throwing crap at him. It is difficult.

[Gibby]

Geez, KAndre, is he stupid, or what? It doesn't seem like it's that difficult to figure out what you're trying to tell him.

Maybe these pics will help a little bit:

[claytonic]

O MG Gibby, that's too many sizzling hawt pics of Clay in one post, do you want my PC to catch fire?

[KAndre]

Ooooooo....Clay with my FAVORITE hair.

And my boss is just SELECTIVELY stupid...he somehow thinks if he whines enough, my answers will change!

[luckiest1]

I think I may be wallowing in this thread all week. My boss's boss is here from NB, and my boss is taking some emergency personal time this week. I may not survive.

[Couch Tomato]

just showing a bit of solidarity Lucky

[luckiest1]

Hee, thanks. Hour two of my extended lunch. I guess I have to go back soon and play nice. I am a "what you see is what you get" kind of person, I don't do well with niceties and fake conversation. I will be SO glad when this week is over. Afraid to open the boards in case she is lurking over my shoulder (which she has a habit of doing). Wants to know about everything on my screen.......even the minimized things. Overheard her talking with another employee about training me on that job (something waaaaaaaaaaaaay lower on the ladder that what I currently do) in case the other employee is sick or on vacation. FOAD!

[annabear]

I have an opportunity at work to apply for an opening in another area, one in which I would REALLY like to work. Openings don't come up all that often, so it's pretty competitive when they do. I wouldn't be crushed if I applied and didn't get it, but my worry lies in how applying might affect my current position. I would think my boss would understand that I'm not just looking to be looking (although...) and that this other position and area matches my career goals MUCH better than what I'm stuck in right now. Decisions, decisions....

[ldyjocelyn]

Good luck, and keep us posted annabear. I can understand your feeling on that....

I think I've mentioned my job woes here, or on the main thread. My boss is retiring at the end of the year. Her boss has basically forced onto us a "team management" system -- one director of the library split into 4 different people (who also have regular jobs to do besides). Well, so far, one of those people is about ready to quit (she's been wanting to leave for sometime, and now her husband has an interview that would take her away from the area entirely) and another one, I found out today, is also interviewing other places. This would leave 2 of us in the management team. We're behind on hiring -- and I'm personally thinking that no one in their right mind is going to want a job where they would be a manager but without manager's pay and benefits (and as far as that goes, authority). I've never been cut out to be a manager, and frankly, I would quit if I could too. Alas, I need to pay bills.

*prays to the lottery gods*