No, not the peanut butter!

I am not at all a religious person, but I do feel strongly about the Golden Rule--treating others kindly, even when they are not so nice to me.

Besides that, I’m pretty laid-back and I don’t usually let other people’s attitudes bother me too much. Life’s just too short for drama.

But.

About seven weeks ago, my company hired a middle-aged guy who I will henceforth refer to as Skippy. I actually do refer to him as Skippy when talking about him with my other coworkers.

Skippy is educated—he’s got a business degree and a law degree—and appears to be likeable enough. He was hired to do some forensic accounting here, and other odd jobs. One other thing: turns out that he’s the nephew of one of our clients. ‘Nuff said, right?

At work, I attempt to be amiable and charming and helpful, especially with recently-hired coworkers, since it’s never fun being the new guy. But after only four or so days of working closely with Skippy, it became evident that my congeniality would be tested mightily.

He’s fucking annoying. Seriously, people. He’s not dumb, and he’s not mean. He just annoys the ever-loving shit out of me.

First of all, as we all do here, he has his own private office, waaaaaay on the other side of our suite from my office. Unless he needs to specifically see someone on my end of the office, there’s no real reason for him to even be over here. Yet, from Week One of his tenure here, he began making rounds of the suite.

That, in and of itself, wouldn’t be so bad. Yes, I understand that occasionally you do need to give your eyes a break from your computer monitor and to stretch your legs.

What pisses me off is that he actually stops in the doorway of my office and cranes his neck, as if trying to determine what exactly I’m up to. That’s just plain nosy, and I detest nosiness. And he does it EVERY DAY, multiple times a day.

After about a week of enduring these ad-hoc check-ins, during which I stared, unflinching, at my computer screen, I tersely inquired, “Can I help you?” while he stood in my office doorway.

He shrugged and said in his goofy way, “Just taking a little walk around. You know, you gotta break every once in a while from that desk!”

“I wish I had the time for that,” I replied in an icy tone. The implication, of course, was that I was swamped and that he should take a hike.

But that leads to another reason that he pisses me off…the guy doesn’t know how to take a hint!

No matter how furiously I begin typing when I see him approaching my office as though I am completely engrossed in composing an important email message, no matter how quickly I pick up the receiver of my telephone and conduct a completely one-sided conversation with the dial tone in the hopes that he will leave me the hell alone...HE JUST STANDS THERE. Dumbly.

It makes me look bad! His timing is so impeccable; my boss just happens to catch him lollygagging in or near my office on a regular basis, and I’m afraid she thinks that I’m encouraging this behavior.

Finally, he’s one of those people who think he’s just so cute and funny. And he’s neither. He is constantly impressed with himself. He tries to joke around with me but I just allow myself a tight smile, not wanting to egg him on any further.

The thing that bothers me is how bothered I am by his presence and how UNLIKE me that is. I strongly disliked this guy from nearly Day One, and I usually get along with everyone. There’s just something about him that makes me want to vault over my desk and lunge for his throat whenever he stops by my office. If he were coming to me for genuine work-related issues, I totally wouldn’t have a problem with him. But I’m just way too freaking busy here to socialize. And truthfully, I only socialize with those whom I actually enjoy spending time.

And then I feel a bit guilty, because it’s not like the guy’s a genuine jerk or a child molester or anything. He’s just annoying as hell. I kind of berate myself for not trying harder to be nice to him. Although I actually tried that approach early on and learned that it doesn’t satisfy his need for attention (or whatever it is he’s looking for); it simply encourages him to continue being obnoxious and to seek more attention. Frankly, whenever I try to be nice to him, a little part of me dies inside.

The only thing that makes me feel a little better about all of this is that I am not the only one here who cannot tolerate him. If I were the only one who felt this way, then I could admit that the problem was likely within me and really had nothing to do with him personally. One of those “point your finger and three fingers point back at you” deals. But pretty much everyone here thinks he’s overbearing and aggravating. I almost pity him.

So for now, I just try to ignore him and keep our interactions to a minimum. I’m sure he thinks I’m a total bitch, but I can live with that. Small price to pay for my sanity.

Labels: bitching, opinions, sheer idiocy, sheer insanity, work

You know, I was really sad to remove my last post because it was the first time in a while that I was actually feeling what I was writing about. So eff it. I'm reposting my thoughts from yesterday now. Identities have been changed as necessary.

Do you have a work boyfriend (or girlfriend)?

I do! His name is F and he's dreamy.

I first met F during a weeklong training that I attended at his company in North Carolina last summer. We hit it off right away. He's totally my kind of guy: flirtatious, hilariously funny and super-smart with a GREAT phone voice, which is convenient as we spend lots of time on the phone together during working hours. It also helps that I am his client, so he has to be really nice to me if he wants to get a good performance review from his boss. Heh.

Our telephone banter and email exchanges, which he peppers liberally with smiley and winky emoticons, help to make my workday go by faster and always put me in a better mood if I'm having a shitty day.

Here's an example of one of our many funny email exchanges from earlier this year, a few weeks before we met again for the annual conference that his firm sponsored in Arizona.

Me: PS – What type of thing does (insert F's company's name) do in San Fran in Sept? Amy said it was the BEST. I’m trying to refine my pitch to mgmt here to substantiate why I should go.

Him: It is similar to the conference coming up but on a grander scale. Some system user info and mostly industry stuff. Good for meeting others and having the round table discussions. I always went as a client and found it to be beneficial.

Me: Interesting. Wonder if I could get ASPPA credits for that. But I hate meeting people in group settings, I’m kind of shy and do better one-on-one. Thanks for the info.

Him: Not sure about the ASPPA credit...I will see if there is any info out there. And I'll make sure I call on you at my presentation :)

Me: If you do that, I will have to hurt you. Badly.

Him: Sweet! ;-)

Labels: funny stuff, work

If you visited this blog anytime within the last twelve hours or so, you'll now notice that I pulled my last entry.

This is not because I am trying to censor myself and/or my thoughts. It's simply to protect the innocent from any lasting professional repercussions.

I can see from my sitemeter that my earlier post drew quite a bit of attention from the wrong people and/or organizations, and I have no desire to get anyone in trouble.

Thanks for reading.

Labels: bad news, opinions, technology, work

After receiving an onslaught of sub-par resumes and cover letters for our administrative assistant job opening, I now know exactly how the judges of American Idol must feel during auditions. Today, I’m feeling a little more Simon Cowell-ish than I am den-mother Paula. These resumes have been absolutely dreadful.

I am a complete grammar/punctuation snob and I’m not afraid to admit it. Or shout it. Or bellow it from the mountaintops. And I am here to tell you that, sad but true, many people do judge you on your writing abilities, especially if that’s the only impression that is available to them.

Here are my basic suggestions on how to make a good first impression when sending correspondence to apply for a job:

-Use spell-check. This is a given. There’s just no excuse for sending professional correspondence without using it.

-Beyond spell-check, try to remember the difference between “it’s” and “its,” “there” and “their,” etc. If you don’t trust yourself to differentiate between these and similar homonyms, maybe you should ask someone who has more than a third-grade education to review your correspondence for you prior to sending it.

-Punctuation! I received an email this morning with a cover letter that read:

Hi My name is Illiterate Schmuck and I am interested in this position I am sending you my resume the best way to reach me is by cell phone 610-xxx-xxxx

Keep in mind that we posted an ad for an administrative assistant, and one of the main functions of the job is to send correspondence to our existing and prospective clients. Why would we want to entrust that task to someone who seems to have no idea when to use the most basic punctuation mark?!?!

-Lastly, what exactly does your email address tell the world about you? If it’s something like Hotmonkeylove69, thuglife4eva, or KKKnUSA, perhaps you should take a moment to create another free email account through Gmail, Yahoo! or Hotmail that is a little less...errr, loaded.

Speaking from personal experience, when I receive a resume from an email address of Windowlicker22470, it goes straight into my Trash folder. Don’t let this happen to your C.V. Instead, create a secondary email account that simply contains some combination of your initials and numbers, which you can use exclusively for professional correspondence.

How to improve your writing if you feel it’s lacking? Very simple!

1. Go to your local public library.
2. Find these two books: The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, and Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss.
3. Absorb the information from these books and start applying it to your daily correspondence.

You’re welcome!

Labels: bitching, books, education, opinions, sheer idiocy, technology, work

Our firm has begun a search for an administrative assistant, and I am the lucky soul who gets to screen the resumes that are emailed to us. I posted the job listing on Craigslist not even twenty-four hours ago, and already I’ve been cured of any latent desire I might have had for HR as a possible career option.

Do people actually think about what they’re saying before they send these emails?

Do they actually proofread what they've written and not just rely on spell-check to ensure their messages make sense?

My favorite response thus far came to me just before noon today. In the posting, I had clearly spelled out my full name, first and last, and my email address listed in the posting also contains my full last name. This latest reply chopped half of my last name right off in the salutation!

The kicker was that, in the cover message, this candidate bragged about her "close attention to detail.”

Delete.

Labels: bitching, sheer idiocy, technology, work

After thinking about this for quite some time, I've made a decision to finish my degree.

This is something that I just need to do. Period. It's both a professional and personal goal for me. As much as I hate to admit it, the fact is that most people in business tend to make negative judgments on those of us who don't have that piece of paper.

I took four online classes through the University of Phoenix back in 2003-2004, but then I went to work for a firm that didn't offer tuition reimbursement. So I focused on attaining some professional licenses and certifications at that point.

I've been nagging my current company to adopt a tuition reimbursement policy since I was hired here, and I finally got them to agree to it. Previously, they didn't offer it, but I was informed this morning that they will reimburse me 100% of the cost of every class I take, provided I get a passing grade. How cool is THAT?

I applied to Widener's Exton campus yesterday and ordered transcripts from West Chester and the University of Phoenix. Now I'm going to make an appointment with the academic advisor for next week, so that we can put together an attack plan.

Assuming I'm accepted to Widener (and I don't foresee an issue with this), classes begin September 3.

I guess this qualifies as that "something major" I was hoping would happen when I wrote about it a few weeks ago.

Labels: education, goals, good news, money, work

Just received "the call" from my recruiter. I didn't get the job at Company X.

They decided, not surprisingly, to extend the offer to the other candidate who had actual real-life relationship management experience.

Oh well. It was a great experience for me and I got good feedback on it. The recruiter told me that both the local and West Coast people I met with really liked me, thought I was very poised in a stressful situation, and would definitely put me on the short list of candidates if another opportunity arises.

Boo.

Labels: bad news, work

I made it to the finalist round of the interview process with Company X!

This afternoon I received my itinerary from the HR rep of the company. I'll be flying nonstop to LAX on July 8, meeting with several managers from different departments within Company X on July 9 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., and flying home later that day. What a whirlwind! And here's where I'll be spending the night...lucky me!

As far as the actual meeting goes, I have been given a case study regarding a fictional company's retirement plan. I have to give a 15-minute Powerpoint presentation on plan investments, participant education, plan design, and fiduciary liability, and finalize it by making recommendations on how to improve the company's 401(k) plan.

I almost can't believe I made it to this point. I'm very, very excited but nervous!

Labels: goals, good news, travel, work

Cause I just got news that I'll be going to L.A. in two weeks!!!!!!!!

More later. :-)

Labels: goals, good news, travel, work

1. I had a two-hour long interview today at Company X, where I met with four people, including two very high-up people. I think it went well. I'll get feedback from the recruiter I'm working with next week.

2. I found this kid courtesy of my friend's Myspace page. He is AMAZING.



3. Finally, we've been having quite a few dramatic thunderstorms around here lately. I've been trying so hard for a long time to capture lightning with my camera, but it's really tough. The other night, I finally succeeded, though the quality of the picture isn't great. To give you an idea of how hard it is to get, I took nearly 800 shots and captured only three pictures of lightning.



What's new with you guys?

Labels: goals, hobbies, music, Philly burbs, pictures, technology, work

In case you're wondering, I've made the blog private because I'm in the middle of the interviewing process for a job that I really, reeeeally want.

Normally, I don't really like to talk about these things in advance (I'm superstitious that way) but this new opportunity has been my ultimate career goal since I began in my field. And now I'm finally at a place in my professional life in which I've gained the experience, confidence, and credentials to be a viable candidate for this position.

I've already done several phone interviews with both the recruiter and the Northeast regional VP of client service of the company. On Friday afternoon, the recruiter notified me that I did a "fabulous" job on the phone interview with the VP, and that he wants me to come to the office and meet me in person. After that, if I'm still in the running, the company will fly me out to their HQ in Los Angeles, where I'll have to do some kind of presentation for a panel of big-wigs.

Trying hard to keep my cool.

Other than that, I've been indulging in my latest photographic obsession: taking long-exposure shots of waterfalls in the area.

My first outing was to the Valley Creek in (where else?) Valley Forge Park, not far from my office. The process of reaching the geographic location of this little waterfall was arduous. There was no parking near the creek, so I hiked about a mile through VERY tall grass, dragging my tripod and camera case with me. When I finally arrived at this particular spot, it was hot and humid and buggy. My mind began churning out incessant thoughts of chiggers and ticks and impending Lyme disease, and I almost convinced myself to turn around and go the hell home.

I stayed just long enough to take about 100 shots from various angles, using various exposure and ISO settings. I'll leave you with this one, my favorite so far.

Labels: goals, hobbies, pictures, work

Several months ago, I received an email from one of my coworkers that read:

Since you like writing, I’ll share my community service work with you.

Read below for the link to register as a judge for the InvestWrite program. Middle- and high- school kids write investment-themed essays and we judge them. It’s real easy work, all on the web. They always send certificates to celebrate my judging achievements as well.

It sounded pretty cool, so I signed up as a volunteer judge.

This morning I got an email from the organization that contained a link to the judging rules and to the five essays that I must judge.

I scrolled to the bottom of the email, where it stated:

Due to the tight time frame associated with the end of the school semester, please review and score the essays by 7:00 PM (EDT), Wednesday, April 16, 2008. We greatly appreciate your understanding regarding the urgency of this judging schedule.

Yowza! Now, I realize that these aren't doctoral-level dissertations that I'll be grading, but with the tax deadline tomorrow, this is the busiest time of the year for anyone in the financial services field. I'm a little surprised that the judging must be submitted one day after 4/15. That doesn't give a whole lot of wiggle room.

So I guess I have some homework tonight.

Labels: education, money, volunteering, work, writing

You've been forewarned. This is not going to be a well-organized or concise piece of prose here.

Tonight I completely tweaked. It was a long time coming, let me tell ya.

Tonight was just another night that has followed a disturbing and seemingly more frequent trend: I walked in the door from work after 7:30 p.m.

UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

I think I need to take up boxing, karate, or some other sport that encourages me to hit and/or break things on a regular basis, because in the past two weeks, my job has finally crossed the line from barely-managed chaos into absolute insanity. Folks, the business that my office does is currently held together with bubblegum and safety pins, and things are getting worse, not better. It just took me being out of the office in Arizona for five days for things to completely implode.

As a general rule, I hesitate to put anything too personal out here in cyberland most of the time. My normal M.O. is never to write anything that I wouldn't want my family, friends, or employer to see.

But guess what? I've had enough and the gloves are coming off now.

MY BOSS IS BATSHIT CRAZY. OK, maybe not crazy, but she is deluded, no doubt about it. She's also a bad manager with not very well-developed people skills. She's unprofessional. Unorganized to the extreme. And I also think she's a liar with questionable ethics. That last one I can't really get into here, but just take my word for it.

On a personal level, I suppose she's nice enough. She's also very bright and is a good resource for our industry.

But she has no place being a manager. She has no idea about, or appreciation of, how busy I am every single day. I am ONE person doing the work of at least two, and perhaps even three, people. My coworker was fired at the end of September 2007 and I was promised that the firm would be hiring another person to replace him within a month of that.

I sucked it up and took on a much heavier workload, thinking that if I could only keep it together for a little while, surely the position would be filled soon enough.

Haaaaa.

I've finally come to accept that I've taken over SO well that the company has just let me run with it.

Really, the thing that just kills me is the fact that she (the boss) is NEVER there. She wants to be a full-time stay-at-home mother and a full-time director of retirement plan services. Well guess what? You can't frickin' have it both ways. The management team at every other job I've ever worked at was in the office at least forty hours a week, minimum.

Conversely, she is more often absent than not, on mysterious "meetings" that we later learn are hair appointments, her kids' sporting events, and who the hell knows what else. She also coaches an intramural basketball team which means she leaves the office for long periods in the middle of the day. In January, we moved our office from one building to another, an undertaking that required a huge amount of preparation and work for us all. On moving day, she left us in the new office with the movers at 2 p.m. to go coach one of her damn games. Don't you think that the boss should be present during an event as major as an office relocation?

And it's beyond me how she's managed to retain any of her clients after all these years. She hardly ever returns phone calls. I've taken repeat messages for her in which the caller even asks me if she still works for the company! It's a disgrace and I am embarrassed.

I love what I do, but if someone I knew wanted to bring their business to us, I couldn't in good conscience recommend the services of this firm. There is no organization, no leadership, and morale is so low that it can't even be measured. Everyone I work with is constantly pissed off at the boss and yet NO ONE says anything to change the situation.

Welp, I finally spoke up today at our staff meeting. Finally.

She was explaining something to one of my coworkers and she looked over at me and referred to ME as the "daily val people."

I laughed out loud, which caused everyone to look over at me.

"'People'?" I repeated. "What 'daily val people'? As far as I knew, it's just me doing the work. Are there any plans to hire someone to help me?"

Hoo boy. If looks could kill, I wouldn't be laying in bed, typing this right now.

So we'll see what happens. Thank dog tomorrow's Friday.

Labels: bitching, sheer insanity, work

I've decided that I need to resume my Spanish lessons muy pronto.

A few weeks ago, our administrative assistant here stuck her head in my office doorway.

"You don't know Spanish, do you?"

I rolled my eyes and bit my lip. "Well, kiiiiiinda...I took it for seven years throughout high school and college. Why?"

She said, "There's a guy on hold right now who needs a Spanish speaker. He's got questions about his 401(k) account. Can you help him?"

And that, my friends, is how a can of worms opens. Sure, I'll help him. I love helping people...that's the main reason I work in this field, right?

I picked up the phone and told the man that I haven't spoken Spanish in many years, and asked him to speak slowly. I somehow figured out how to ask him to verify his Social Security Number, address, and date of birth...and that's where things went south.

I don't remember learning in any of the Spanish literature or Latin American culture classes I took in college how to discuss the finer points of company mergers and acquisitions, or how to invest money in your retirement account, or how to explain the tax implications of a distribution from said account. Hell, I didn't even know the Spanish translation of "mutual fund."

Somehow I muddled through it by frantically Googling "English Spanish dictionary" while murmuring "Lo siento, senor, un momento mas," punctuated by a lot of apologetic, nervous laughter. The poor man probably thought I was insane.

But it gets worse: just about an hour ago, our admin assistant again pokes her head into my office and says brightly, "Habla espanol?"

Turns out that I was SO helpful that the man I spoke to a few weeks ago gave my name ("Laura" en espanol) to the rest of his Spanish-speaking coworkers at the company. I believe I'll be hearing from them all in the coming weeks, since the company was bought and is discontinuing the 401(k) plan for its employees, and everyone will be entitled to withdraw their money.

So I need to find out how I can take a business Spanish class. There are lots of community education classes in my area but they are more geared toward conversational Spanish.

Any ideas?

Labels: education, goals, work

We're in Sedona now! My conference ended in Phoenix this afternoon, and we got on the road around 3 p.m. The Ritz Carlton hotel was UNBELIEVABLE.

I've taken TONS of pics in the past three days, but here's just a few that I took today on the drive up here.

It's gorgeous here, incidentally. The temps are in the mid-70s. Quite a nice change from the low 40s in Philly!

Tomorrow we have our trip to the Grand Canyon--can't wait!

I took this picture from the passenger seat of our rental car, going 80 mph up I-17 North from Phoenix to Sedona. I can't believe the image came out as clearly as it did but am thrilled! This is my latest screensaver.

Labels: pictures, travel, work

I've been feeling pretty un-creative lately, sorry.

Work has been crazy. We're in the throes of tax time and everyone is calling for tax forms and distributions from their retirement plans, not to mention those who need reassurance about the roller coaster swings of the stock market lately.

Let's see...oh yeah, I'm getting ready to travel again for work. This time, I'm going to Phoenix for a two-day conference at Charles Schwab. My company is putting me up at the Ritz-Carlton in the apparently swanky area of Phoenix called Camelback. Not too bad, eh?

I'm totally looking forward to it. I'll get to see my cousin who relocated to Phx last year, plus I'll have a chance to pal around with a couple Schwabbies who I'm very friendly with.

Even better, The Huz and I are spending a few extra days out there after the conference ends. We're going to rent a car and drive to Sedona, and then up to Flagstaff and catch a van tour to the Grand Canyon for a day. He's never been to either place, and I can't wait for him to see the Canyon. Also, I'll be taking the Nikon with us, so I'm hoping for some great photos from all our travels.

So that's it, really.

Oh yeah...I finally broke down and bought an ovulation test kit at Target last week. So we'll see...

Labels: marriage, travel, work

Sounds like a lot of fun, eh?

Being the wonderfully compliant (except for right now) patient that I am, I will be following my doctor's orders to stay off the computer for the remainder of the weekend.

I started developing a wicked pain under my right scapula on Wednesday at work. Those familiar with me might remember that I get little knots in that area from either bad stress or just plain old overusage of my mouse/computer...or lately, the way work has been...BOTH.

I went for a massage after work on Wednesday, hoping it would help. It didn't. Actually, it made it worse. By the time I got home at 8 p.m., I couldn't move my head at all without a searing pain shooting up my back and into my neck.

I took a Flexeril and went to bed. Of course, didn't help that The Huz had been on a business trip in Kentucky since Sunday. I was all alone, in so much pain. Sniff, sniff.

I woke up yesterday and still couldn't move; in fact could barely get out of bed. I called out of work but still spent 75 minutes on the phone with our assistant, helping her handle some of my workload. Is that dedication or just insanity?

The Huz got home late morning and I was able to get in to see my doctor. He told me I'm having trapezius spasms and that I need to give my right arm complete rest from anything strenuous or repetitive for the next few days. He wrote me a note for work, explaining that I can't return until Monday. Then he gave me some scripts for an anti-inflammatory and a painkiller (Ultram, not Darvocet, dammit).

So I just wanted to give my cyberbuddies an update, and an explanation as to why I'll be scarce in the next few days.

PS - The good care and loving attention I received yesterday from The Huz was definitely the nicest Valentine's gift I could ever get. Thanks honey!

Labels: bad news, bitching, health, marriage, work

A year ago today, I was fired from a job that I honestly believed I would retire from.

I was gutted. I'd never been fired before, and I hadn't received any kind of warning about it from my boss.

I left work that afternoon, sobbing so violently that I could barely drive. As soon as I'd arrived home, I headed straight to my computer, not even taking off my coat. I sat down, updated my resume, and immediately sent it to three firms whose job postings I'd found online.

Four days later, I had two interviews set up. I wound up cancelling one of them because after some consideration, I decided I wasn't interested in the job. But I did go to the other interview, and that's how I got here today.

Despite the stress of my job (and there is LOTS of stress!), I can honestly say that I love what I do. There are some aspects that I could definitely live without, but overall I enjoy going to work and can't imagine not doing it. I've gained so much good experience from this job, and I've definitely grown professionally. I also managed to get the NASD Series 65 certification, which is something I certainly wouldn't have done if I were still working at the old firm.

Next week, our office is moving to a new building. I will have my very own office, which excites me--Milton is a nice guy and all, but lately I've been jonesing for some privacy. Not to mention these days he's not only murmuring the song titles and artists' names for every song, but also has been singing along to a good bit of them. Argh!

One year ago today, I was frightened and extremely depressed. Inconsolable, really. I couldn't have imagined how well things would turn out for me. But once again, the entire experience has shown me that everything really does happen for a reason.

Labels: accomplishments, memories, work

Edited to add: My legal consultant has advised me to remove the name of the firm that is being discussed in the below post. Thanks. -Lori

The one topic of conversation that didn't get much play at our party last night was the large, locally-based financial services company where several of my family members and many of my friends work. Most of them were in attendance at our party last night, and this company usually winds up being a major discussion piece at our get-togethers.

I'm especially surprised no one was talking about the big issue--that is, the fact that this company is allegedly discontinuing their annual bonus. That's been a huge conversation-starter around here for the past six months or so.

I can't imagine what the fallout will be if this really does happen. This is most definitely a big deal; the company's bonus every June is the sole reason so many disgruntled employees work there. And EVERYONE I know who works there (and I know a lot of them!) is disgruntled, especially since their CEO came into power in the late 90s.

For some of the more tenured employees, the bonus equates to 30% of their salaries! It has always been touted by this company's PR machine as one of the primary benefits of working there. Sure, the company's base salaries are quite low compared to other firms in the industry, but the employees benefit from the "total compensation package" that includes the annual bonus, blahblahblah fishcakes.

Many people assume that there will be a mass exodus of employees from the company after the (alleged!!) announcement is made about the discontinuance of the bonus. But my question is this: where exactly will all of these people find other jobs if this does happen? This company is the largest employer in Chester County. I can't imagine what will happen if there is a huge glut of ex-employees from this company floating around the Philadelphia job market looking for new positions.

Based on the stat counters I use to track my visitors to this blog, I know that I have a bunch of readers from this company. What do you guys think? Remember, this blog does give you the option of posting anonymously if you don't want to leave your name!

Ideas? Thoughts?

Labels: family, friends, gossip, local news, money, opinions, work

Let me preface this by saying that I'm hesitant to write about this, but in the spirit of blogging naked (or at least...errr...semi-nude), I will forge ahead.

A couple months ago, a guy joined our firm. A very nice guy, married, in his mid-forties, four kids, and probably a white picket fence too.

He and I share an office for the present time. I lucked out because he's into music as much as I am, and so we happily rock out all day long to my Sirius internet radio.

The problem? He talks to himself. A lot. And not just about anything. No, he murmurs the artist name and song title to every. song. that. comes. on.

All day long.

Remember, Sirius is totally commercial-free. Do you know how many songs per day they play?

I've taken to calling him Milton when describing him to my family and friends, naming him after the unforgettable and perpetually murmuring character in the film Office Space who is obsessed with his stapler.

My mom never saw the movie, of course. So then I began a YouTube quest to find a clip of Milton to illustrate my point in a way that mere words could not. And I came across this hilarious recut of the movie that recreates it as a suspense/thriller.

Enjoy.

Labels: family, funny stuff, movies, work