The days off from blogging are usually weekends, but yesterday, I just couldn’t do it. My mind was somewhere else, it was just not focused on the blogging world as it used to be. But that’s ok, because today I’m back at it again, mopping up the blogging world and trying to come up with more interesting content then the next guy.
Our shipping manager leaves today. He’s a semi-famous DJ in the Seattle scene, and has been chosen to tour with a subsidiary of Pepsi/Mt. Dew and will be getting paid more than the forty hour work week that he seems to not really care about anyways. He leaves us behind, in an interesting state.
The company hired a new inventory manager. He’s cool. He’s quiet, but he can get the job done. That doesn’t mean that our company even knows what his job entails or what he’s suppose to be doing. In fact our company is backwards sometimes.
How backwards?
Well, let me share with you a little story that happens all the time.
The UPS truck comes by everyday to drop off boxes. The I.T guy usually unloads it with the help of the Marketing Manager.
Who do you think does IT and Marketing while the UPS truck is dropping boxes off?
Not me, Not the marketing manager….
We don’t have a photographer right now.
Who is taking photos?
Who’s editing photos?
Who’s Uploading photos and writing descriptions?
Me.
But Jorge…don’t you do I.T?
Not while we don’t have a photographer.
So they pay me a certain wage to work on the website, the website doesn’t get updated, because I’m unloading boxes, we’re not #1 in most natural searches online, and yet we manage to make web sales and they are rising.
Oddly enough, we manage to do any sort of work.
Then there’s the topics of Computers. That’s right, Computers. I bring my own computer to work. I bring my laptop and working independently on it, and I don’t get reimbursed for that. This week we were given permission to order computers. The manager wasn’t exactly too thrilled, or even excited for the possibilities of not having new computers at our desks, instead of our own laptops. He actually acted as if he was being insulted by being asked to purchase a work station for our department. Sadly, after 4 days, he finally placed the order. We will finally have computers at work. But man was it like pulling teeth.
I noticed that I’ve adopted a condescending tone towards my boss. I need to stop that, before I place him in a position like myself. The owner of the company (my boss) is NOT meant to be a social connection of mine, or else I lose focus of who has the power to fire me or to write my checks or to agree to a raise. Respect is a must in such cases.
As for the hiring.
The owner held interviews for a new warehouse position.
It was funny to see the clear distinction of applicants that came in.
The first few people were uptight, polo wearing applicants, and they had no idea what to expect. Our motley crew of people wearing hooded sweatshirts, hobo gloves, and freezing were not exactly thrilled to see such a spectacle, but it was so funny.
The funniest of applicants came in dressed in a full suit. Granted, it was a she, and she had the skills to get the job done….just none of the flair or understanding that the position requires. What? Flair? Well, the position is not just to do a job, but to be at our warehouse with our web development team, which is NOT easy. We are not NOT corporate, our tongues are NOT watched, and we don’t care about who’s listening. Maybe that’s something we need to change, but it’s not going to happen easily…that’s for sure.
When going to an interview, maybe it’s NOT the best thing to over dress.
That’s what I’ve learned.
I’m not an expert, I’m only 24, but I never really do.
This week is closing, and I’m glad. It’s a harsh reality to have to live in the mundane. The mundane, the monotony, the frustrations and all that is abounding is hard to deal with. Especially when you realize that your childhood dreams have been flushed into a reality of being an adult, and having to rise up daily to a challenge void of real friends or family.
