Apologies to the board

[Allentownjake]

I've come on here with a great deal of misunderstanding of your membership.  My introduction to the board was reading you called me a dipshit and nominated me for DUmmie of the year.  I lurked for a while.

I'm going to give you my background.

I have a degree in Accounting.  I graduated with a 3.5 from Temple University in Philadelphia.  My father was a 1st Lt in Vietnam and a Ranger conditioning trainer.  My mother was a 1st Lt. in Vietnam and a nurse.

My father worked for 33 years for Western Electric, which became AT&T which became Lucent.  My father was forced into retirement when the CEO at Lucent ran it into the ground.

I was hired by Arthur Andersen right before the Enron Scandal.  I worked in securities compliance for Lincoln Financial Group for 5 years.  There was no opening in PA and I have an autistic brother I wanted to see more.

I worked for a private accounting firm for 6 months till I found another job because I had a new boss every month.

I worked for a healthcare company, till a manager was promoted with no experience in the field and I had difficulty explaining to her the auditing profession.  She targeted me for layoff because I said she probably shouldn't eliminate some processes and I went over her head.  Probably shouldn't have done that but I was worried about quality and she was unable to assuage me quality would not suffer.

When you hear my frustration with Corporate America, it generally comes with the fact, I don't feel I can depend on them as an employee.  Might be an unreasonable expectation but my father worked for 33 years and hard at the same place and was very loyal to his company.

Same with my mother with her hospital.

I just find them at this point in history to be totally unreliable institutions.   I mean I can't imagine what it is like to be an employee at RIMM right now.  2 years ago you were the top in the field.  Today, better have the resume ready, and you may have been doing your job well.

That is a company that screwed up with innovation.  I can't imagine what Wachovia or Countrywide employees feel like or those at Citi or AIG.

That is where some of my philosophy comes from.

[catsmtrods]

Would you feel better if you worked for GM and we all saved your job?

[Allentownjake]

Would you feel better if you worked for GM and we all saved your job?

I openly question management contracts that allow for severance not connected to performance and whether they are good or not.

However, it just seems companies aren't as stable as they were 20-30 years ago.  I openly wonder why that is.

Speed of communication? Bad management? Speed of technological advancements?  Leverage?

Don't know.

[Duke Nukum]

I openly question management contracts that allow for severance not connected to performance and whether they are good or not.

However, it just seems companies aren't as stable as they were 20-30 years ago.  I openly wonder why that is.

Speed of communication? Bad management? Speed of technological advancements?  Leverage?

Don't know.

Liberal education systems that don't teach sound principles but do teach "self-esteem."

And I apologize that this is a simplistic answer, there is more to it.  But when our institutions of "higher learning" are teaching us to be good feeling idiots, that is a major problem.

[Allentownjake]

Liberal education systems that don't teach sound principles but do teach "self-esteem."

And I apologize that this is a simplistic answer, there is more to it.  But when our institutions of "higher learning" are teaching us to be good feeling idiots, that is a major problem.

Culture of reality denial because you don't like reality.  

I always enjoyed the Bible.  Outside the miracles in it that I have never seen, I see real people and real lessons.

I love David and Solomon.  You see some very complex personalities with very human faults.

[RightCoast]

To be in business is to take a risk, to innovate that business is to take another risk, if the risks you take bite you in the a$$ then people lose their jobs. All companies have ups and downs, some just have downs. If there was a road map to the perfect job at the perfect company we'd all be standing in line.

You want a guarantee in life, become a teacher. Otherwise, get in line with the rest of us.

Life is a hard place, suck it up and deal; or jump out of a window.

[Carl]

Fwiw I have a high school diploma and failed as a dairy farmer when in 1985 I took an honest look at the numbers and they couldn`t add up.
That was 3 years out of high school,my only brother putting himself through college and two parents who at that point couldn`t physically take care of themselves independently.
We were broke,there was no knowing where the next nickel was coming from.

I took a job essentially as a paper boy in a small city about 45 minutes away from 5:00 am until 10:00am 6 days a week,then come back home and work on a neighbors farm the rest of the day.
Eventually got a job through a friend at a NAPA  store in 1988 and stayed there until 2000 when I took the current job.

I will never get wealthy and am fine with that,I learned the value of a dollar back a long time ago and how to manage money.
I have a Scotttrade account,an IRA and a 401k through work so all and all have done alright.

Will admit that there was some lucky breaks along the way and some stupid mistakes along with bitter disappointments.
You know what...that is life and everyone here has a unique but similar story I bet containing those basic elements.

To quote Frank "you accept,you adjust and you move on".
That really is what it is about.

There will be periods of discouragement,maybe even depression but you eventually stare the world in the eye and walk forward.
I am not being judgmental Jake or sarcastic,it just seems that you need to do a bit of reflection on what makes a person and how that has always been the American spirit and made this country.

I am just as appalled at what has happened in the last 20 months and it has forced me to alter plans I was making but am just not giving up that we will find our way eventually out of the rubble.

[BEG]

To be in business is to take a risk, to innovate that business is to take another risk, if the risks you take bite you in the a$$ then people lose their jobs. All companies have ups and downs, some just have downs. If there was a road map to the perfect job at the perfect company we'd all be standing in line.

You want a guarantee in life, become a teacher. Otherwise, get in line with the rest of us.

Life is a hard place, suck it up and deal; or jump out of a window.

I was going to say something similar. You said it better than I would have.

[RightCoast]

I was going to say something similar. You said it better than I would have.

Aw shucks...

[Allentownjake]

Good to get your prospective. 

I was lucky at Lincoln, they gave me exposure to leaders.  One of them was a former leader.

We had a CEO at Lincoln I liked.  Older guy.  Ian Rolland.  Was an actuary, worked his way up through the company.  Made some pretty awful mistakes and had some pretty great successes.

What he had, which I think is missing is a sense of honor. 

Ian was the CEO for 20 years.  He never made nearly as much in those 20 years as his successor made in 5.  He thought compensation might be a problem.  He took less risks and educated himself more when he took them because he knew if he failed it was his ass and his family in trouble.

I openly wonder if giving someone that much compensation makes them more prone to take higher risks.  It is an argument for the shareholders.

[BEG]

Fwiw I have a high school diploma and failed as a dairy farmer when in 1985 I took an honest look at the numbers and they couldn`t add up.
That was 3 years out of high school,my only brother putting himself through college and two parents who at that point couldn`t physically take care of themselves independently.
We were broke,there was no knowing where the next nickel was coming from.

I took a job essentially as a paper boy in a small city about 45 minutes away from 5:00 am until 10:00am 6 days a week,then come back home and work on a neighbors farm the rest of the day.
Eventually got a job through a friend at a NAPA  store in 1988 and stayed there until 2000 when I took the current job.

I will never get wealthy and am fine with that,I learned the value of a dollar back a long time ago and how to manage money.
I have a Scotttrade account,an IRA and a 401k through work so all and all have done alright.

Will admit that there was some lucky breaks along the way and some stupid mistakes along with bitter disappointments.
You know what...that is life and everyone here has a unique but similar story I bet containing those basic elements.

To quote Frank "you accept,you adjust and you move on".
That really is what it is about.

There will be periods of discouragement,maybe even depression but you eventually stare the world in the eye and walk forward.
I am not being judgmental Jake or sarcastic,it just seems that you need to do a bit of reflection on what makes a person and how that has always been the American spirit and made this country.

I am just as appalled at what has happened in the last 20 months and it has forced me to alter plans I was making but am just not giving up that we will find our way eventually out of the rubble.

My step dad lost his job after 23 years back in 1986. He worked for Enron by the way. He was in his 50's and scared shitless. He found a new job making more money than he was making at Enron, then a few years later he got an even better job. With both new jobs he had to move from Tulsa to Omaha and then from Omaha to Houston.

My husband was let go from his first "real job" out of college. We had just bought a house and had a toddler at the time. We were scared shitless as well. My husband worked three low paying jobs (all at the same time) until he found a new job. When he found his new "real job" it was in Lake Havasu City, we lived in Phoenix.  He would come home weekends and I stayed in Phoenix until we sold the house.  I had to keep the house spotless while working full-time and having a young child all by myself while trying to sell the house.  When my husband got a new job we moved from Lake Havasu City to Dallas. My husband has worked for the same company for over 16 years. The company was bought by a well known toy company a few years ago and they closed the office in Dallas last year. We had to move to shitty CA or my husband wouldn't have a job.  

The company closed the office in Dallas to make it more profitable.  If you have several brands and one isnt performing like it should you need to look at the reason why.  The company my husband works for (before they were bought out) made hand held electronic games for the most part.  With how fast things are moving in the game industry they needed to reinvent themselves or die. In that process you have to let some people go and reorganize. If the company refused to rethink the way they were doing things everyone would lose their job because the company would no longer exist.

The point of my post Jake is that you do what you have to. Be it move across county to keep your job or work three jobs to make ends meet. I think that is the difference between conservatives and liberals (in general). Liberals think they are owed job security even to the detriment of the company, where conservatives know they aren't.  


*edited to add: Enron had bought the company my step dad worked for (for a total of 23 years). When they bought the company we moved from Omaha to Tulsa.

[AllosaursRus]

Good to get your prospective. 

I was lucky at Lincoln, they gave me exposure to leaders.  One of them was a former leader.

We had a CEO at Lincoln I liked.  Older guy.  Ian Rolland.  Was an actuary, worked his way up through the company.  Made some pretty awful mistakes and had some pretty great successes.

What he had, which I think is missing is a sense of honor. 

Ian was the CEO for 20 years.  He never made nearly as much in those 20 years as his successor made in 5.  He thought compensation might be a problem.  He took less risks and educated himself more when he took them because he knew if he failed it was his ass and his family in trouble.

I openly wonder if giving someone that much compensation makes them more prone to take higher risks.  It is an argument for the shareholders.

You want to turn it around? get rid of all the government rules and regulations and let the private sector take care of it's ****in' self!

But noOOOOOOOOOOOO, we can't do that because according to guys like you, they're out to **** us!

I've got news for you "progressives", government interference has given corporate employees the backdoor in order to corrupt the system. If it weren't for red tape, most of these hosers would have been caught immediately if not sooner! They use the endless paperwork to hide their corruption!

You say you worked for Anderson/Cooper? Tell me they weren't privy to information that could have salvaged part of Enron! If you do, you're a damn liar! Were ya in on the shredding of documents, too?

Do ya feel good about bein' part of the "corporate cocksuckers", ( as you insinuate ), that screwed the Enron employees outa their retirement?

[Allentownjake]

I was hired by Andersen.  Never got to spend a day there.  I got my job offer in the spring of 2001 and was one of the most admired men on campus, in September of 2001 everyone was telling me how sorry they were for me.

Problem with accounting firms is limited liability.  You can't have limited liability in a professional practice.  Part of the entire premise of a partnership like Andersen or KPMG or Delloitte is if one of us is crooked we all go down, and for years that kept everyone more honest.

[MrsSmith]

Companies have always failed.  It's only recently that the government decided they needed to save any of them...and now workers have unemployment, Social Security, and all kinds of other bennies that weren't available, say, in the Great Depression.  Of course, that's the reason our country is tanking...

Speaking as a woman who went back to college with 3 kids, got a minimum-wage job after college, and spent years raising kids on next to nothing...you've got to learn to stand on your own, not depend on any company or boss to prop you up.

[Allentownjake]

Companies have always failed.  It's only recently that the government decided they needed to save any of them...and now workers have unemployment, Social Security, and all kinds of other bennies that weren't available, say, in the Great Depression.  Of course, that's the reason our country is tanking...

Speaking as a woman who went back to college with 3 kids, got a minimum-wage job after college, and spent years raising kids on next to nothing...you've got to learn to stand on your own, not depend on any company or boss to prop you up.

Its a little difficult right now.  You spend half your time making sure you do your own job, and the other half covering your ass for things others will blame you for.

Personally, I'm taking some time to do some manual labor and get my head right again.  Doing some personal cleaning up as well.  Getting rid of the cigarettes, I've been starting to drink a little too much, get myself back in physical shape.

After that I'll figure out what I want to do with my life, past surviving.  I'm lucky.  I have no children right now.  I can take a few months to get myself back in mental order.

I had some goals, I'm kind of disillusioned right now.  Till I get my head right and know what I want, I'm not going to find anything that satisfies me.

I also have more reasonable expectations of what I am and what I can do.

[MrsSmith]

Its a little difficult right now.  You spend half your time making sure you do your own job, and the other half covering your ass for things others will blame you for.

Personally, I'm taking some time to do some manual labor and get my head right again.  Doing some personal cleaning up as well.  Getting rid of the cigarettes, I've been starting to drink a little too much, get myself back in physical shape.

After that I'll figure out what I want to do with my life, past surviving.  I'm lucky.  I have no children right now.  I can take a few months to get myself back in mental order.

I had some goals, I'm kind of disillusioned right now.  Till I get my head right and know what I want, I'm not going to find anything that satisfies me.

I also have more reasonable expectations of what I am and what I can do.

I seriously don't think things are different now.  There have always been companies that were fair with employees and companies that weren't.  Employees have far more rights now than before...the one good thing unions did.  But no one has ever been able to just trust that his or her hard work would forever earn them a good place in the company.  Just look at how many people worked 30 years in one place...and got nothing but gold watch and a pat on the back in "Thanks."  This world is not fair, and you can't look to it for true security...and never could.

[Carl]

Its a little difficult right now.  You spend half your time making sure you do your own job, and the other half covering your ass for things others will blame you for.

Personally, I'm taking some time to do some manual labor and get my head right again.  Doing some personal cleaning up as well.  Getting rid of the cigarettes, I've been starting to drink a little too much, get myself back in physical shape.

After that I'll figure out what I want to do with my life, past surviving.  I'm lucky.  I have no children right now.  I can take a few months to get myself back in mental order.

I had some goals, I'm kind of disillusioned right now.  Till I get my head right and know what I want, I'm not going to find anything that satisfies me.

I also have more reasonable expectations of what I am and what I can do.

Jake,if this is all honest and upfront then you have had an unrealistic expectation that doing certain things guarantees you a certain outcome.
That isn `t realistic and feeling that government should make it happen takes a persons self respect away.

Stop with that and take a deep breath.

[Allentownjake]

Jake,if this is all honest and upfront then you have had an unrealistic expectation that doing certain things guarantees you a certain outcome.
That isn `t realistic and feeling that government should make it happen takes a persons self respect away.

Stop with that and take a deep breath.

I'm taking a break for a few months.  I can.  I'll figure out what I want to do and do it.  I've had a difficult 3 years with a broken engagement, my mother's cancer, and my father dying of cancer.  Life isn't fair, but if you have no kids or no wife you can figure it out.  Better I do that now.

I've worked elections ironically enough first as a teenager for a republican for judge.  You can have a great candidate, the right strategy, work hard, and still the other guy might win for something stupid like his name is similar to another politician or the order the candidate is on the ballot, or because your party has a bad leader right now and people are just voting simply based on anger at that leader.

I know that.  I'm just going to figure out what to do.  Besides, we are in an economic depression.  Not in the labor force and not spending anything other than on food leaves a job for someone to feed a minor that is dependent on them.

No one else is hurt by me doing this and I'm not taking a government handout.  I think it is moral.

[Habsfan]

Can I ask you a quick question?

Who is that guy on your avatar?

[Chris_]

Can I ask you a quick question?

Who is that guy on your avatar?

It's a gay vampire.  Didn't you see 'Twilight'?

[Habsfan]

It's a gay vampire.  Didn't you see 'Twilight'?

No I haven't. I just see a guy who needs to bathe/shower and who has an anger problem.....

I purposely keep away from Twilight. 

[Allentownjake]

Can I ask you a quick question?

Who is that guy on your avatar?

Gaius Baltar.  He is an interesting character from my favorite TV show.  

His world blows up because he was stupid enough to give the defense keys to a race of robots (mostly because the one robot is hot and pretending to be human) and he spends the rest of the show doing crazy stuff.  He redeems himself at the end somewhat and becomes a basic farmer and lives with the hot robot.  The way they tell the story is better.

He always thought his father was stupid for being a farmer.  

Battlestar Gallactica, probably one of the better written shows recently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Baltar

In fairness to Gaius, this was the Robot

http://www.ghostofaflea.com/archives/CapricaSixContinued.jpg

[Allentownjake]

It's a gay vampire.  Didn't you see 'Twilight'?

Gay is one of the characters least qualities.  The opposite is what gets him in trouble, and me at times.

[Habsfan]

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Portal:Main

Gaius Baltar.  He is an interesting character from my favorite TV show.  

His world blows up because he was stupid enough to give the defense keys to a race of robots (mostly because the one robot is hot and pretending to be human) and he spends the rest of the show doing crazy stuff.  He redeems himself at the end somewhat and becomes a basic farmer and lives with the hot robot.  The way they tell the story is better.

He always thought his father was stupid for being a farmer.  

Battlestar Gallactica, probably one of the better written shows recently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Baltar

sorry... but I live over at

Memory Alpha

 

Seeing as I don't know if the link works (being a probie) I will trust it does.

[Habsfan]

It didn't ....