All [my] Own Work
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 3:14 pm
As some of you may have surmised, I have the conflicted blessing of having a job with very little to do. In theory, I am an advisor to the Purchasing department (what is now called, "Supply Chain Management"), but they are not doing much these days. The only way I can justify my paycheck to myself is to consider that I'm doing everything that is asked of me (more, in fact), and I am prepared and willing to handle anything that is thrown my way. I jokingly tell my few trusted co-workers that my position is analogous to that of a fireman: I sit in the firehall all day, polishing the trucks and playing ping-pong, but when the fire bell rings I will be Johnny-on-the-Spot. But actually, nobody realizes how little I do. The people I do serve are thrilled with my support because I can respond to their inquiries instantaneously, which they have never experienced before I came here.
And though I really have nothing to complain about (I have experienced unemployment), my employer is, to be both crude and accurate, fucked up. They are horribly bureaucratic, with policies and procedures that pretend to ensure accuracy and prudence, but have the effect of promoting sloppiness and inefficiency. Just one quick example: I was asked today to sign off on a Purchase Order Change Notice that changed the shipping terms for some equipment we are buying. The supplier was going to ship the goods CIF, but now we are going to do it (changing the terms to EXW). We are getting an appropriate credit (about $20,000) for the shipping costs, and we can ship them for less than the credit we are receiving. So the change order itself is fine.
But our policies and procedures require that this change order be approved by eight (8) people, going up to a Director and a Vice President. It had been approved by three of them by the time I got the signature sheet. And yet the Memorandum was filled with typographical and logical errors, sentences that made no sense, and mathmatical errors in charts. I have told this Buyer to send me these things in advance, in WORD, so that I can edit them for her so that they won't be an embarrassment, but she usually doesn't think of it and - of course - this document has to go out TODAY or the world will end. Clearly, neither she nor the other people who signed it before me even read the document. But who cares? It's just a lousy $20,000 change order that she should have been able to do on her own, with maybe a quick review by her supervisor.
Not surprisingly, I have been scanning the electronic want-ads for another position - one that would have me doing something meaningful for a better company, and maybe making a little more money. At just a couple weeks shy of 63 years old, I feel very conflicted about changing jobs right now. I'm really pretty close to retirement, after all. But the only thing I see in my future here is more of the same or, worst case, they figure out what I'm doing and get me more involved in work that I find meaningless and wasteful.
Last week, I interviewed for a job that is much more in line with my background and seems like something that I would enjoy doing. In fact, I did exactly the same job for a couple other companies over the years, and even worked with the same customer group. During the interview, when asked about my "career plans," I candidly told them that I had none - I was looking to find a job for 4-5 years, after which I hope to ride off into the sunset.
A verbal offer followed the next day, and I have tentatively established a start date of September 17th. This gives me some to time to plan my departure, and maybe take a couple days off before I start the new job. It's a little bit more money, puts me into a better bonus plan, and they seem very keen to have me working for them. I assume that there is still the possibility that some glitch will come up in the process of getting and accepting the written offer, but it seems 99% certain that this will come to pass.
During the interview I asked my future boss what I could accomplish in the first year that would make him happy that he hired me. I noted his responses and I'm sure I can accomplish all of that and more. So I'm really looking forward to this.
No offense, but if this works out I will have a lot less time to spend on this BBS.
And though I really have nothing to complain about (I have experienced unemployment), my employer is, to be both crude and accurate, fucked up. They are horribly bureaucratic, with policies and procedures that pretend to ensure accuracy and prudence, but have the effect of promoting sloppiness and inefficiency. Just one quick example: I was asked today to sign off on a Purchase Order Change Notice that changed the shipping terms for some equipment we are buying. The supplier was going to ship the goods CIF, but now we are going to do it (changing the terms to EXW). We are getting an appropriate credit (about $20,000) for the shipping costs, and we can ship them for less than the credit we are receiving. So the change order itself is fine.
But our policies and procedures require that this change order be approved by eight (8) people, going up to a Director and a Vice President. It had been approved by three of them by the time I got the signature sheet. And yet the Memorandum was filled with typographical and logical errors, sentences that made no sense, and mathmatical errors in charts. I have told this Buyer to send me these things in advance, in WORD, so that I can edit them for her so that they won't be an embarrassment, but she usually doesn't think of it and - of course - this document has to go out TODAY or the world will end. Clearly, neither she nor the other people who signed it before me even read the document. But who cares? It's just a lousy $20,000 change order that she should have been able to do on her own, with maybe a quick review by her supervisor.
Not surprisingly, I have been scanning the electronic want-ads for another position - one that would have me doing something meaningful for a better company, and maybe making a little more money. At just a couple weeks shy of 63 years old, I feel very conflicted about changing jobs right now. I'm really pretty close to retirement, after all. But the only thing I see in my future here is more of the same or, worst case, they figure out what I'm doing and get me more involved in work that I find meaningless and wasteful.
Last week, I interviewed for a job that is much more in line with my background and seems like something that I would enjoy doing. In fact, I did exactly the same job for a couple other companies over the years, and even worked with the same customer group. During the interview, when asked about my "career plans," I candidly told them that I had none - I was looking to find a job for 4-5 years, after which I hope to ride off into the sunset.
A verbal offer followed the next day, and I have tentatively established a start date of September 17th. This gives me some to time to plan my departure, and maybe take a couple days off before I start the new job. It's a little bit more money, puts me into a better bonus plan, and they seem very keen to have me working for them. I assume that there is still the possibility that some glitch will come up in the process of getting and accepting the written offer, but it seems 99% certain that this will come to pass.
During the interview I asked my future boss what I could accomplish in the first year that would make him happy that he hired me. I noted his responses and I'm sure I can accomplish all of that and more. So I'm really looking forward to this.
No offense, but if this works out I will have a lot less time to spend on this BBS.
)
