"I'm not really... a verbal person"
I went to see Big Bang on Tuesday. The show was good but the people who run the show particularly the audience was horrid. Apparently it doesn't matter if you have a ticket to the show that doesn't guarentee that you get into the show. Normally, this would have made me livid. I mean if you're a tourist only in time for a few days and you want to go see your favorite show, you get tickets and then you get turned away with the empty promise of "maybe next time", you ain't gonna like your favorite show much after that. I had to do some major sweet talking n order to get in and that was after the warm-up had already started. Yeah, great magical night for Mom. To me it was just a bad memory of my former life.
Don't get me wrong I think what airs will be funny and cute but I couldn't help but think the entire time, I could do this better. The actors had so many great moments that the director repeatedly missed and could have made the show that much better. In the end, it was a rather disappointing evening. The most disappointing part was how dumb the audience was though. I mean its a show aimed at nerds and most of the audience was one joint short of needing a helmet.
I was dead tired as I didn't get to sleep until after 1:00 am and then got up around 6:30 am (yeah, slept in). Not much to do at work on the last day, did a bit more training for a couple of the new girls. Then around 3:00 pm I went to Jessica who hadn't spoken to me all day and quite frankly I think she had no plans to despite the fact that she needed to hand over my final check. We talked a bit where she tried to get me to confront her and discuss my exit interview. She was itching to get her hands on it. I told her that I was better at writing down my thoughts than verbalizing them. I know anyone who’s met me knows that's a lie but by the time I was done I had her nodding her head in agreement. There was no point in "verbalizing any issues" to a brick wall. If she had any reaction it would be unreasonable.
Then I went to the very end of the office and started saying my goodbyes. I made it only a few desks down before I had to head back to my desk. Took care of some work, and then went back to saying goodbye. I made it down the line to a couple more desks when Veronica, whom I'm rather close to, refused to say goodbye partly because she didn't want to and partly because it was only 4:20 by that time. I said goodbye to a few more people then headed back to my desk to finish up a little more work and send the following goodbye letter:
Well, kiddies on occasion it’s been fun; on other occasions not so much. There's been tears; there's been laughter, and I think we all know which caused which.
I'm off to brave and a new civilization known as the Deep South. And as I look bravely ahead, fearing only inbreds with guns, I look back fondly at my time here and the Robinsons May that used to be across the street. Seriously, 2 Macy's in a 3 block radius? What is up with that?
Keep in touch; I want all the gossip [insert email addy]."
I went back, finished my goodbyes and headed back to Veronica's desk. Gave her a hug, then another hug and just as we were getting teary eyed two of the attorneys Joe and Carl (aka Baby) came by to do their respective Louis Armstrong and Wookie impressions as part of my goodbye send off. Mind you Joe is a squirrelly white guy doing the Louis Armstrong impression which stopped everyone in the office - compelled to gather round. He sang a What a Wonderful World and it was a dead on impression. It was hilarious and which gave Veronica an excuse to be in tears by the end of the song. Carl’s turn came up to which he said, “I don’t where you people got the idea I sound like a Wookie.” Joe, “But you’re really tall.” Carl, “Are we drinking after this or what?” Joe, “Yeah, yeah. Ryn, we’re takin’ ya out after work? Are you done yet?” “Almost. I just have send out my exit interview.” Half the office: “Can be BCC’d on that?”
Went back to the desk, sent off the exit interview to most of the office and gave Grumpy Bear a hard copy - he has trouble opening attachments… email… programs on the desktop… he likes the idea of technology, he just has no idea how to use it.
I got some emails today about the exit interview from co-workers. Pertinent portions of the exit interview are as follows:
Why are you leaving the company? Relocating out of state
What did you enjoy most about working here? Benefits particularly the 18 days of PTO.
What did you enjoy least about working here? The “pay raise” which didn't cover cost of living and means that I am essentially earning less than last year, the time I was sexually harassed and then told that I had to apologize for being harassed, and also being threatened with termination for being sick one day and asked to sign a written warning without so much as an initial verbal warning.
What could the company have done or provided to help you become even more productive? Listened… without insisting that any criticism is either whining or a personal attack. Being punished or chastised for pointing out problems and requesting help is not conducive to keeping good employees.
Actually, I have to praise the macro system that was put in place this past year. It has been wonderfully helpful and upped productivity overall. It was much appreciated.
Other comments? Remodeling the office, essentially slapping a coat of paint on the walls and putting in new carpet, was an unnecessary expense. It did not improve the office, it managed to lower morale and the expense of the remodel should have gone to helping make work easier for the employees. The mess, the smell and the fact that no one including the designer had a sense of color makes the place look tacky. The employees themselves did not see any quality of improvement in their life at the office. To the contrary in fact when the break room was made smaller and harder to get around, this was a nonverbal way of telling the employees that the administration really doesn’t care about its employees. Why would a quality employee want to stay at a place that finds so many ways to tell them they are not appreciated? The money should have gone to better copiers, updating the billing system for the copiers & fax machine, getting a better fax machine that can handle over 35 pages and multiple faxes at once.
The new macro system the company put on the computers this year was brilliant and wonderfully helpful. That most assuredly helped productivity. Its easier and quicker to get out all sorts of form documents so much so that it helps me to better multitask; I could sit on the phone trying to reach whomever while also using that time to draft a simple pleading like an IME notice and not have to concentrate too hard since all I have to do is fill in the blanks. The idea though that potential employees are being tested on a system that is so specific to our company does seem rather ludicrous and inane. Why are we putting the cart before the horse? The only people who should know this system are those who work here.
Which brings me to hiring practices for new secretaries. The current test is filled with over specific questions about deadlines and aspects of the law that have nothing to do with our practice field. Why does it not include questions about basic discovery deadlines? Or filing fees? Or what attachments does a complaint filed in LA need? Why do we even have a spelling test? We use computers with spell check. The ability to spell is not a part of this job. What is a part of this job is knowing how to use a computer, general office equipment and knowledge of the legal system, We could use a grammar and punctuation test. We need the typing test but also one that shows they know the basics of Word, Outlook and Legal Solutions. These poor hiring practices are coming out of the current HR’s lack of experience in the field particularly as a secretary.
That lack of experience and knowledge in the field is demonstrated through the fact that Jessica is not acting as the champion for the staff as she should. Instead Jessica is acting as the partners’ “yes man” and while that’s all well and good for an ego that needs to be stroked it does not make for better business. She tells the partners what they want to hear not what they need to hear to increase productivity and revenues. The recent restructuring of the LA office was an opportunity for Jessica to not only let the partners know what a bad idea that restructure was particularly with a staff that was already complaining about being understaffed but also to boost morale by proving all of us wrong and that she really can improve office life. The "restructuring" was also an insult to a number of the attorneys, particularly the newer, younger attorneys, in effect saying their work wasn't important enough to warrant use of a secretary. Isn't their work, the partners work though?
Haha, I’m not verbal.
Yeah, so after work, a few of us headed out to the bar down at Arnie Morton’s. Baby wanted to do shots but apparently my choices were too fruity says the boy who wanted Jager. Black licorice? Ew. We finally settled on Patron and although Baby really wanted to get into a drinking contest with me, we managed to get him to settle down and just buy “sippy drinks”. Twenty minutes turned into an hour, an hour turned into a few and we all got a lot of bitching done. Basically we all trashed talked for hours.
I finally headed home. Met up with Mom and went out again for more food and drinking. I’m so glad I don’t have a hangover today.
So, I quit in the middle of the week because I had this lunched planned with a friend who is flying out today and won’t be back until about the time I leave. Otherwise, I was gonna quit on Friday. Anyway, she calls this morning and says that she’s running way behind and can we meet later in the day. I figured she’d do this so it’s fine. We plan to meet later in the day.
Just after 1:00 pm I get a call from the office. It’s Veronica whispering and tearful sounding because they just fired Raquel (the office manager for the LA office and the only person in HR who would stand up for the employees). Huge shock to the entire office and there was no explanation as to why just that Raquel would be replaced at some point in the future. Some of the people were in tears; some of the attorneys slammed their doors and refused to come out of their offices. And Grumpy Bear, who makes these decisions, has conveniently been away on “vacation”. This was so planned for when he and I were both way, because everybody knows that if they fired Raquel when I was there I would have stormed into the owner’s office and given him what for.
Oh, random note I forgot to mention before, one of the partners (the crazy one) came up to me to say goodbye at one point, I had purposefully skipped the partners for many reasons. The dude started crying and finally dashed away to cry in office because he was so upset I was leaving. Talk about not appreciating what you have until it’s gone.
Yeah, so now I’m waiting to hear more detail on Raquel’s firing. I went to my lunch with the friend who is also a former co-worker from this same office and was going to tell her the news. She never showed up though. I waited like 30 minutes, finally ordered food to go and left. I called her a few times to see what happened, left a couple messages. It has been 4 hours since our scheduled lunch and still nothing. She better be dead or severely injured ‘cause right now, I’m done with her. Dude, if I hadn’t scheduled this lunch/afternoon out, I would have worked two more days had two more days of income and Raquel would have at least two more days of income. This just adds to my being pissed off.
My wrist is tired.