Re: "Sorry you're not the right fit" - After "all is fine" for 4 weeks

["Chris Morton" <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Getting a call from a former acquaintance at HP, I left that company to
join a five-person training and documentation team—all contracted—at an
independent organization that runs the state electrical grid. They were
undergoing a multi-million dollar hardware and software migration, led by an
inexperienced manager who was wholly out of his depth.

Within a week our tenured sponsor quit due to the insanity, leaving our
departmental head with no interface with management. Try as he may over the
next several months, he could never get the green light to move forward.

At first I tried to appear busy, then it just became a complete farce. I
spent my days writing code to massage my ever-growing MP3 collection, all
the while feeling really lousy about the situation. Try as we may, we could
never get the go-ahead nor the time we needed with the SMEs, they being
all-important Ph.D.s with no time for techwriter peons. As a matter of fact,
they wouldn't even say "hi" in the hallway or restroom. It was a very
paranoid and downright hostile environment in which to work, I assure you.

The organization had a new CEO who was trying to make an impression, and had
already churned through several outside consultancy firms. The latest to
come in was Accenture, armed with their clipboards and spreadsheets, as
always. Meanwhile, the J2EE Web services upgrade was continuing to falter.

Soon we learned that our departmental head (a really great guy) got a call
over the weekend telling him not to report to work on Monday. Since they
wouldn't let him back in the secured building, his personal effects sat in a
box for several weeks until an admin eventually felt sorry and mailed them
to him. I didn't have to think twice about clearing out my cube and, sure
enough, my weekend call came about three weeks later. The only question I
have at this point, I think, is why they permitted me to hang out for a few
more weeks.

Hopefully I won't be adding a new installment to this saga; the events over
last weekend, and this morning, were very weird indeed!

I'm beginning to think that only 100% dysfunctional places would ever hire
me. Although my three years at HP was pleasant for the most part, I did have
issues there with a "girl's club" promoting "managers," they having no
personnel (only project) management qualifications. HP's review process was
(is?) so SNAFU that it was nothing more than a popularity contest, with no
real metrics upon which to base any useful performance evaluation.
(Hopefully that's now changed under CEO Mark Hurd's leadership).

> Chris

On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 9:17 AM, David Brown <browndavidc -at- hotmail -dot- com>wrote:

>
> Dear Yannia,
>
> I give motivational talks to unemployed and underemployed job seekers and
> the observation that they did you a favor is very accurate.
>
> In my talk I frame it as:
>
> Be thankful to those who do not help you.
>
> Just every time that I've seen these types of situations this has been
> true.
> Things always turn out for the better because of the situation.
>
> Change is opportunity.
>
> You'll do fine.
>
> Keep on pushing and don't let this get you down.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Dave> Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:55:28 -0600> From:
> pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com> To: sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com> Subject: Re: "Sorry
> you're not the right fit" - After "all is fine" for 4 weeks> CC:
> techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> > You give me hope! Thanks for sharing this
> story. I especially liked the part> about "pulling 20 years of experience
> out of play." That struck a chord for> me.> PT> > On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at
> 9:27 AM, Sharon Burton <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>wrote:> > > I worked at a
> place with a really bad fit. I spent 2.5 years trying to fit> > in because
> the work was interesting and I saw that I could do a lot of> > corporate
> good.> >> > When I was told that I needed to stop mentioning previous
> projects I had> > been on that related to this one because it upset people
> in the room, I> > stopped talking about how I'd solved this issue before and
> maybe we could> > do> > the same here. Thus, pulling almost 20 years of
> experience out of play.> >> > I spent 2.5 years trying hard to be a person
> who "fit" there. I was really> > miserable the entire time. It was as bad as
> being in my second marriage. I> > felt that who I was as a person was
> offensive and upsetting to everyone and> > just being in the room annoyed
> them. 10 hours a day. 5 days a week.> >> > Now I have a job I adore. I was
> so happy to get out of the bad fit place. I> > couldn't believe how well I
> was treated at the new job for the first 6> > months. Now I'm used to it but
> I still appreciate it!> >> > They did you a favor.> >> >> > sharon> >> >
> Sharon Burton> > 951-369-8590> >> >> > -----Original Message-----> > From:
> techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> > [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+sharon <techwr-l-bounces%2Bsharon><techwr-l-bounces%2Bsharon>=> >
> anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]On> > Behalf Of Pinkham, Jim> > Sent:
> Monday, November 24, 2008 6:52 AM> > To: Yannia Vodrovich;
> techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> > Subject: RE: "Sorry you're not the right
> fit" - After "all is fine" for> > 4 weeks> >> >> > Yannia, I think both your
> response and the advice you're getting are on> > tack.> >> > There are
> companies that have a certain pathology that even the> > best-intentioned
> can unwittingly stumble into. Sounds like you found one> > and> > got a
> quick, merciful escape, without much damage done. Congratulations!> >> >
> Taking stock on what you could have done differently and seeing if you can>
> > learn from it is wise. I suspect it was pathology, not punctuality, that>
> > was> > the real issue here. Nonetheless, another time, you'll know, if you
> put> > yourself in a similar situation, to dot all the I's and cross all the
> T's> > until and unless expressly told differently.> >> > It takes more
> homework, but especially if you're after a longer-term> > commitment, it's
> wise to get the word on the street about a prospective> > employer before
> you ever commit. Talk to people in the department, if you> > can. Talk to
> vendors. Talk to ex-employees. Spend some hang time in the> > local coffee
> shop near the office -- or wherever employees or those who> > know> > them
> congregate. What kind of reputation do they have in the community?> > It's>
> > not bulletproof, but it can tell a great deal, and spare you a lot of> >
> grief.> >> > Jim> >> > -> >> >
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> >> > ComponentOne
> Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing> > solution.
> Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or> > HTML and
> publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals.> >
> http://www.doctohelp.com> >> > Help & Manual 5: The complete help
> authoring tool for individual> > authors and teams. Professional power,
> intuitive interface. Write> > once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user
> authoring and version control!> > http://www.helpandmanual.com/> >> > --->
> > You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- >
> >> > To unsubscribe send a blank email to> >
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> > or visit> >
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/pro.techwriter%40gmail.com>
> >> >> > To subscribe, send a blank email to
> techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> >> > Send administrative questions to
> admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit> > http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources
> and info.> >> > Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:> >
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat> >> >> > > -- >
> "You can only become truly accomplished at something you love....Pursue the>
> things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take
> their> eyes off you."> > - Dr. Maya Angelou>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> > ComponentOne
> Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing > solution.
> Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or > HTML and
> publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. >
> http://www.doctohelp.com> > Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring
> tool for individual> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive
> interface. Write> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and
> version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/> > ---> You are currently
> subscribed to TECHWR-L as browndavidc -at- hotmail -dot- com -dot- > > To unsubscribe send
> a blank email to > techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> or visit
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/browndavidc%40hotmail.com>
> > > To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> > Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit>
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. > > Please move
> off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:>
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Access your email online and on the go with Windows Live Hotmail.
>
> http://windowslive.com/Explore/Hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_access_112008
>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
> solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor,  Microsoft Word or
> HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals.
> http://www.doctohelp.com
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
> http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- 
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/salt.morton%40gmail.com
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing 
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor,  Microsoft Word or 
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. 
http://www.doctohelp.com

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat