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You needed to say these things before separating from your employer. In fact, you needed to say these things as they came up, rather than letting them pile on a
by azanar 17y ago
You needed to say these things before separating from your employer. In fact, you needed to say these things as they came up, rather than letting them pile on and form into a huge rant like this. I'm actually having a hard time following each and every point you have, even though some of the ones I can pick out seem pretty valid. It is overwhelming, and overwhelming usually means nothing is going to get done, because no one knows where to start.
I agree with the other comments so far that this shows a certain degree of passive-aggression which isn't particularly appetizing.
However, I will strongly disagree with the point in a couple of the other comments that the acceptable alternatives are: shut up, do as your told, and detach from your job as much as you possibly can while still performing it; part ways politely without indicating anything was ever other than you expected it. These take an adversarial stance that you and your employer have nothing more to offer one another than what was strictly agreed to as the job duties and wage, and that any such attempt at offering will only result in bad outcomes for the weaker party.
When did we get so fucking bitter and jaded? And when did we decide that this outlook was optimal? I honestly wonder if this sort of attitude contributes to polemics like this, because we insist that people have an seemingly infinite ability to remain stoic and bottle their frustration. The alternative of trying to separate emotionally from a job never, ever works. Doing bullshit for eight hours a day to fund eight hours of "recovery time" is not zero-sum; the effects are real, as much as people want to blame those effects on the mere state of being alive. You are not preprogrammed to be depressed; this is not a least-energy state!
The other option is to quit, but employees usually don't until the get to the polemic-spewing boiling-point of their frustration. It sneaks up on them, because they've been bottling it so long. Writing it and then deleting it is therapeutic, but doesn't accomplish anything. The next job will likely be the same, like a self-perpetuating prophecy, because a lot of employers suck, because a lot of employees within are trying every day to convince themselves they don't care. This is least-energy for the employer, not the employee.
If you really want to step off this cycle, perhaps it is time to admit what you've known all along: you do care what you are doing 8 hours a day, and who you are doing it for.
- cookiecaper 17y agoThanks for this post, I like it a lot and generally agree with it. But, it wasn't possible in my circumstance. I did try to talk to the super-high-level bosses (the bosses this letter was addressed to) once, and my immediate superior (Rocky in the letter) requested a meeting for me and the boss said "Absolutely not", and Rocky warned that I would be terminated by super-huge-boss if I pressed the issue further. This is the way they governed -- they had no care for what the peons thought and strongly believed in chain-of-command. Huge boss called us in one day to basically demand that we never address him and always go through Rocky. As such, I was scared to talk to the major bosses the whole time. They know what Rocky is like; they deal with him every day, too. I just don't know that they understand that overall impact it has on the quality of their product. I let Rocky know the issues as they materialized, of course, but as mentioned in the letter, as my favor with him waned my influence was eventually diminished to nothingness. The bosses just like to get in and out -- they run it as a business should be run, that is, with some amount of autonomy, but they also do a really, really bad job of keeping personnel informed, controlled, and happy. Everyone there, even the VPs with whom they interact daily, is scared of them, and this leads to bad business decisions because the subordinates do what they can to make things appear better than they are out of fear of retribution, not to mention all of the negative effects of bad morale. I did ultimately leave on principle and refusal to submit to disrespect and scare tactics, unlike everyone still there, and everyone who's been there for years. I'm starting my own thing now, and it's getting some traction and clients, and that makes me immensely happy. I'm hoping that it can stick so that I can be free of all of these petty concerns, and if I get a job that turns south, I can just blow it according to my will and dictates without any concern about how I'm going to look after my pregnant wife's physical needs. Independence is my real goal in the money-and-career part of life. It'd be great to be super rich and able to start programs and groups and schools and companies to promote peace, love, kindness, intelligence, reason, and so on, but that is all just a perk on top of the ability to not be held hostage by my employer. I must amass enough money that I can be a free person, and can choose who I work for, and not be forced to torture myself for months on end as described in this letter. If anyone would like to help me meet this end, my consulting firm is happy to hook you up with programming services, etc. cookiecaper@gmail.com . : )
- scotty79 17y agoFrom my experience I learned one thing. AVOID DUMB PEOPLE. Never work for dumb people. Never work with dumb people. No matter how beneficial for you the deal is (or seems to be) so far, if you notice that people you rely on are dumb, just quit as soon as you can. Dealing with dumb people almost always backfires hurting you financially and psychologically. I don't say that you have to quit as soon as somebody around you does something dumb, but you definitely should quit as soon as you learn that someone you rely on is dumb, even if he hasn't been dangerous for you so far.