Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Doing a job you don't agree with (long rant)

mystmarimatt · 02-21-2004, 01:42 PM

For near on 20 years, my father worked selling computer connectors for an Eastern Seaboard-based company, and he loved what did. In 1999, that company was bought out by a much larger corporation, which made a bit of a shakedown, so for the last 5 years, everything is in a constant state of choas and disarray, with company policies and setups lasting no longer than about 6 months.

My dad, a sales manager by this time, watched as his sales group was slowly take away from him, and his whole region changed. He used to be in charge of just Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Then he was in charge of Oregon, Washington and Colorado.

About a year ago, there was a MAJOR corporate shakedown, and his whole group was destroyed, and either fired, or moved around. My father is well-liked and very respected within the company, so the higher-ups always protect him when shit like this happens.

The new assignment he was given was given the inconspicuous tiitle of "Aerospace Sales." His major clients were Boeing, and Lockheed-Martin. A few months ago, Boeing opted not to renew their contract with the company, so my father was left with Lockheed-Martin.

For those of you who don't know, Lockheed-Martin produces pretty much all of the missiles for the military. Essentially, my father was selling 75% of the parts that go into the missiles, to L-M.

My father wasn't happy at all. Before, he knew he at least dealt with Boeing, but, I come from a family of complete pacifists. He was morally appalled by this assignment. He tried to take it lightly, and his good friends within the company would call him, say "Babykiller!!" into the phone, and hang up. (Not surprisingly, my brother and I were highly amused by this, and adopted it. Pissed him off to no great end. It was funny).

So, he just tried to deal with it, because he figured, after awhile, there would be another shakedown, and they'd move him again, and he figured the best way to go about things was to just sell this shit out of his products, and do well enough that he was offered another promotion (15 years as a sales manager, he was offered about 7 promotions, none off which he took).

Well, months passed, and nothing happened, band to make things worse, his immediate superior was an incompetent asswipe nobody liked, and things really heated up between them, and there was still no change, so about 2 months ago, my dad was on the phone listening to his Boss give a nice conservative sermon about what's going on in the world, how great what Bush is doing, and my dad finally goes off on him, about how morally offensive he finds this assignment, and how he was completely against the war in Iraq, and how he can't wait to be transferred.

After that conversation, he came out of his office in our home, looked at all of us and said
"Well, we might be short on money for a few months."

The next day, his Boss's Boss, a really good friend of my father called up laughing, congratulated him on talking back to his boss (like i said, nobody really liked him) and told my dad, he doesn't have any other positions open he could transfer my father to, but as soon as one opens up, he'll let him know.

Sometimes, it pays to speak up.

By the way, the company that he works for is Tyco Intl. They were folks whose CEO, Dennis Koslowski, was indicted for tax fraud.

02-21-2004, 01:42 PM	#9 (permalink)
mystmarimatt Omnipotent Ruler Of The Tiny Universe In My Mind Location: Oreegawn	For near on 20 years, my father worked selling computer connectors for an Eastern Seaboard-based company, and he loved what did. In 1999, that company was bought out by a much larger corporation, which made a bit of a shakedown, so for the last 5 years, everything is in a constant state of choas and disarray, with company policies and setups lasting no longer than about 6 months. My dad, a sales manager by this time, watched as his sales group was slowly take away from him, and his whole region changed. He used to be in charge of just Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Then he was in charge of Oregon, Washington and Colorado. About a year ago, there was a MAJOR corporate shakedown, and his whole group was destroyed, and either fired, or moved around. My father is well-liked and very respected within the company, so the higher-ups always protect him when shit like this happens. The new assignment he was given was given the inconspicuous tiitle of "Aerospace Sales." His major clients were Boeing, and Lockheed-Martin. A few months ago, Boeing opted not to renew their contract with the company, so my father was left with Lockheed-Martin. For those of you who don't know, Lockheed-Martin produces pretty much all of the missiles for the military. Essentially, my father was selling 75% of the parts that go into the missiles, to L-M. My father wasn't happy at all. Before, he knew he at least dealt with Boeing, but, I come from a family of complete pacifists. He was morally appalled by this assignment. He tried to take it lightly, and his good friends within the company would call him, say "Babykiller!!" into the phone, and hang up. (Not surprisingly, my brother and I were highly amused by this, and adopted it. Pissed him off to no great end. It was funny). So, he just tried to deal with it, because he figured, after awhile, there would be another shakedown, and they'd move him again, and he figured the best way to go about things was to just sell this shit out of his products, and do well enough that he was offered another promotion (15 years as a sales manager, he was offered about 7 promotions, none off which he took). Well, months passed, and nothing happened, band to make things worse, his immediate superior was an incompetent asswipe nobody liked, and things really heated up between them, and there was still no change, so about 2 months ago, my dad was on the phone listening to his Boss give a nice conservative sermon about what's going on in the world, how great what Bush is doing, and my dad finally goes off on him, about how morally offensive he finds this assignment, and how he was completely against the war in Iraq, and how he can't wait to be transferred. After that conversation, he came out of his office in our home, looked at all of us and said "Well, we might be short on money for a few months." The next day, his Boss's Boss, a really good friend of my father called up laughing, congratulated him on talking back to his boss (like i said, nobody really liked him) and told my dad, he doesn't have any other positions open he could transfer my father to, but as soon as one opens up, he'll let him know. Sometimes, it pays to speak up. By the way, the company that he works for is Tyco Intl. They were folks whose CEO, Dennis Koslowski, was indicted for tax fraud. __________________ Words of Wisdom: If you could really get to know someone and know that they weren't lying to you, then you would know the world was real. Because you could agree on things, you could compare notes. That must be why people get married or make Art. So they'll be able to really know something and not go insane.