RE: Silently screaming

["Brierley, Sean" <Sean -at- Quodata -dot- Com>]

I worked for a company, as tech pubs mgr, that was privately owned by a
family. They wanted to hire a friend. I reviewed the samples, nothing
stellar. The candidate asked for more money that I was making (I had been
turned down for a significant raise) and wanted to work from home.

I said: "no way can I figure out what she's getting done in a workday if she
doesn't work at the company with me for at least 6-8 months before working
from home." Furthermore, I had never managed a remote employee. Also, no one
else in the company, at all, worked from home, so no guidelines were in
place. I also explained how average the samples were, etc.

Regardless, they hired her at the wage she requested with her working from
home three-days per week to start. My salary got bumped up so it was a
little more than the new hire and it was made clear to me that I would not
be able to work from home. (As pubs manager, I now had two employees and an
open spot for a third, and most of my time was spent writing books, not
managing anything.)

I was extremely disappointed that I only got a raise based on the perceived
strength of an incoming new-hire, that I was shut out of the work-from-home
thing, even though I made it clear I'd trade my job position to get the same
deal as the new hire, and was further annoyed by the fact that my thoughts
had no weight in the hiring of the new employee. Anyway, within the month,
the employee in question was making end-runs to the owners and within three
months I'd found a new gig . . ..

Howsat for a silent scream?

Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Robert Heath [SMTP:rheath -at- eGain -dot- com]
> Sent:	Thursday, March 30, 2000 4:04 PM
> To:	TECHWR-L
> Subject:	Silently screaming
> 
> The coordinator for our tech pubs team is considering hiring a friend of a
> friend. She asked her friend to send a couple of writing samples, which
> she
> then forwarded to the rest of us for review. The first sample is a college
> essay discussing lesbianism in China; the second, an apologia for the
> Nation
> of Islam. My problem with these samples is not their political content,
> but
> their complete irrelevance to tech writing. However, our coordinator is
> seriously considering hiring the writer, who would have to relocate from
> NY
> to Sunnyvale, CA.
> 
> I have no question for all of you, just a silent scream. Well, perhaps one
> question: have any of you faced something similar?