Author Topic: Epic FU money stories  (Read 2794931 times)

Gone Fishing

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #550 on: September 03, 2015, 02:41:01 PM »

BlueHouse

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #551 on: September 03, 2015, 02:59:00 PM »
Back on topic here...

On a Monday morning this June I went into work at my job of 10+ years. I was in a good mood and didn't have any intentions of quitting. During the morning meeting something just set me off, and I spoke up in front of everyone and told them I thought that what our organization was doing was WRONG, IMMORAL, and that we should stop! Everyone's jaws just dropped. One of the managers in the meeting said, "Well, I don't think that one of us should be saying things like that. We all need to be on the same page." My supervisor chimed in and just basically repeated the company policy and told everyone that that's what we would be following.

When we walked out of the meeting my supervisor acted like nothing had happened. He gave me a list of a couple of routine things he wanted me to do that day, and I nodded my head and said okay. As soon as my supervisor walked away I  loaded all of my personal things into a vehicle, went back inside, gave everyone a big hug and wished them all a good life. Apparently no one realized I was quitting at the time. They all just thought I was apologizing for my outburst or not being a team player, or something.


Signed, Don Draper.

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #552 on: September 03, 2015, 06:25:21 PM »
Back on topic here...

On a Monday morning this June I went into work at my job of 10+ years. I was in a good mood and didn't have any intentions of quitting. During the morning meeting something just set me off, and I spoke up in front of everyone and told them I thought that what our organization was doing was WRONG, IMMORAL, and that we should stop! Everyone's jaws just dropped. One of the managers in the meeting said, "Well, I don't think that one of us should be saying things like that. We all need to be on the same page." My supervisor chimed in and just basically repeated the company policy and told everyone that that's what we would be following.

When we walked out of the meeting my supervisor acted like nothing had happened. He gave me a list of a couple of routine things he wanted me to do that day, and I nodded my head and said okay. As soon as my supervisor walked away I  loaded all of my personal things into a vehicle, went back inside, gave everyone a big hug and wished them all a good life. Apparently no one realized I was quitting at the time. They all just thought I was apologizing for my outburst or not being a team player, or something.


Signed, Don Draper.

ROFL

Taran Wanderer

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #553 on: September 04, 2015, 12:46:03 AM »
...and I watched a co-worker tell the bean counters to go fuck off within the last few days.

Damn it was good.  OK, so this guy was going to retire anyways in the next year or two.  But we're in a business that requires 1/10th hour charging to the various contracts.  This guy is, well, was, being run ragged with 20 different contracts to charge to.  The asshats in bean counting dinged him for supposedly not charging correctly.  Yeah, bullshit.  I've never seen anyone try his level best in a bullshit system.  Anyways, they tagged him for remedial training with his manager.  He sends out his retirement notice - first person on the e-mail is the asshat bean counter in the far off city, 2nd is his manager.

I think Shakespeare was wrong in his assessment.  The first thing we should do is kill all the fucking bean counting accountants.  THEN kill all the lawyers.

[No, no I'm not at all bitter about the bullshit from these fucking, moronic MBA bullshit spewing bean counting penny-wise, million dollar foolish idiots that don't know how to run a company.  They're driving it into the ground - this great American Success Story that was built by engineers and manufacturing workers].

This seems to be going around. Hire, hire, hire for accounting, HR, and sales, but no hiring for engineering and manufacturing people who get things done.  I don't know whether to feel better that I'm not alone or worse because it's happening everywhere.

Squirrel away

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #554 on: September 04, 2015, 03:48:57 AM »


Our director seemed really concerned that I was making an irresponsible, rash decision. She kept reminding me that I needed to think of my wife (SAHM) and young daughter and that I needed to have a job. I explained to her calmly that I had investments and savings, and that we would be fine. I told her that by my calculations my family and I should be able to live comfortably off of our investments indefinitely. At some point, I may choose to take another job or maybe start a business that interests me, but I shouldn't have to. At that point, the director got kind of quiet, and she said, "Wow, I wish I could do that. If I could, I'd quit too."

Hopefully you gave her food for thought.

Shane

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #555 on: September 04, 2015, 09:58:05 AM »
What was the wrong immoral thing?

Nice!  Sounds like you may have some things to share in the job secrets thread! (Sorry, but I can't seem to find it at the moment...)

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/post-secrets-you-know-from-your-previouscurrent-jobs/

Thanks!

There aren't really any "secrets" to divulge. It was more a difference of opinion. What my former employer is doing is completely legal according to the letter of the law. They have tons of attorneys they can hide behind that will argue in court for them that they aren't doing anything wrong. Many of my former coworkers, some of whom I have great respect for, believe that their employer is doing the right thing, and I respect their right to disagree with me. I'm just grateful that living a simple life and having FU money allowed me to stand up for what I believe in, and not have to back down from the Man.

G-dog

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #556 on: September 04, 2015, 12:01:12 PM »
This is why law, ethics and morals are really separate things. There may be a huge amount of overlap for all three, but sometimes it is just subjective or an area the law doesn't or can't cover very well.

My ethics teacher tried to drill into us that two people can find two opposite solutions to the same scenario, and both can be ethical because ethics is inherently subjective to some degree (and steeped in cultural, societal, family, and personal history).

Glad you had the means to step up and speak your mind, and leave when your company's values did not align with yours.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2015, 02:24:32 PM by G-dog »

eostache

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #557 on: September 04, 2015, 12:13:34 PM »
Back on topic here...

On a Monday morning this June I went into work at my job of 10+ years. I was in a good mood and didn't have any intentions of quitting. During the morning meeting something just set me off, and I spoke up in front of everyone and told them I thought that what our organization was doing was WRONG, IMMORAL, and that we should stop! Everyone's jaws just dropped. One of the managers in the meeting said, "Well, I don't think that one of us should be saying things like that. We all need to be on the same page." My supervisor chimed in and just basically repeated the company policy and told everyone that that's what we would be following.

When we walked out of the meeting my supervisor acted like nothing had happened. He gave me a list of a couple of routine things he wanted me to do that day, and I nodded my head and said okay. As soon as my supervisor walked away I  loaded all of my personal things into a vehicle, went back inside, gave everyone a big hug and wished them all a good life. Apparently no one realized I was quitting at the time. They all just thought I was apologizing for my outburst or not being a team player, or something.

When I walked back outside to the parking lot my supervisor was there. I walked up to him, shook his hand and said, "I'm going home." He was like, "What do you mean? Are you sick?" I said, "No, I'm just over it. I've got better things to do with my time. I don't want to be part of this anymore. I'm leaving." I hopped in the car and drove away. I could see my supervisor in the rear view mirror standing there with his jaw dropped.

At our main office I spent about an hour explaining to our director why I was leaving and why I didn't agree with our organization's policies. She was really nice and asked me to reconsider and stay. She proposed various scenarios that might allow me to stay on and continue working, but by that point I was really beyond wanting to continue working for the organization. I just told her I was sorry and that I was ready to move on.

Our director seemed really concerned that I was making an irresponsible, rash decision. She kept reminding me that I needed to think of my wife (SAHM) and young daughter and that I needed to have a job. I explained to her calmly that I had investments and savings, and that we would be fine. I told her that by my calculations my family and I should be able to live comfortably off of our investments indefinitely. At some point, I may choose to take another job or maybe start a business that interests me, but I shouldn't have to. At that point, the director got kind of quiet, and she said, "Wow, I wish I could do that. If I could, I'd quit too."

Fuckin A!

Kashmani

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #558 on: September 04, 2015, 12:34:46 PM »
...and I watched a co-worker tell the bean counters to go fuck off within the last few days.

Damn it was good.  OK, so this guy was going to retire anyways in the next year or two.  But we're in a business that requires 1/10th hour charging to the various contracts.  This guy is, well, was, being run ragged with 20 different contracts to charge to.  The asshats in bean counting dinged him for supposedly not charging correctly.  Yeah, bullshit.  I've never seen anyone try his level best in a bullshit system.  Anyways, they tagged him for remedial training with his manager.  He sends out his retirement notice - first person on the e-mail is the asshat bean counter in the far off city, 2nd is his manager.

I think Shakespeare was wrong in his assessment.  The first thing we should do is kill all the fucking bean counting accountants.  THEN kill all the lawyers.

[No, no I'm not at all bitter about the bullshit from these fucking, moronic MBA bullshit spewing bean counting penny-wise, million dollar foolish idiots that don't know how to run a company.  They're driving it into the ground - this great American Success Story that was built by engineers and manufacturing workers].

It's all fun and games until a customer requests an audit of your charges and can find errors and starts disputing the charges, drags you to court, etc etc.  Or God forbid it's a gov't contract you've fucked up on.  Us bean counters aren't making up this shit because we like fucking with people, you know.

Us lawyers have been billing in 0.1s of an hour for decades, and many client's don't even allow block billing so that every call or email has to be set out separately. It's annoying, but that is what timekeeping software is for.

Us2bCool

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #559 on: September 04, 2015, 12:42:30 PM »
Glad to see this fantastic thread get resurrected. I happily witnessed an epic FU incident over the past few weeks.  "Diane" is one of the most competent people I've ever worked with, but and she has a very strong sense of justice.  "Mike" is not so competent, but got promoted to be Diane's manager in a classic case of "well, we either promote him or we fire him, and we don't have a good enough reason to fire him". 

Diane went on vacation this Summer, with plenty of notice, had it on the calendar, blah blah. That week, things got rough for Mike, and he unloaded his frustrations on his Director, telling him "and left on vacation without telling me she was going to be gone".

When she got back, Director told her about the incident. She went back to her desk and drafted a letter of resignation, handed it to the Director and said "I refuse to have any more interaction with Mike until I'm gone".  True to her word, she left this week, without having another job lined up. 

I don't really know what her financial situation is, but I know what her pay range is and that she enjoys living frugally, so I'd bet my 'stache she has one built up as well.

Adventine

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #560 on: September 04, 2015, 01:03:53 PM »
Oh, that must have been so satisfying.

Trudie

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #561 on: September 04, 2015, 03:12:53 PM »
...and I watched a co-worker tell the bean counters to go fuck off within the last few days.

Damn it was good.  OK, so this guy was going to retire anyways in the next year or two.  But we're in a business that requires 1/10th hour charging to the various contracts.  This guy is, well, was, being run ragged with 20 different contracts to charge to.  The asshats in bean counting dinged him for supposedly not charging correctly.  Yeah, bullshit.  I've never seen anyone try his level best in a bullshit system.  Anyways, they tagged him for remedial training with his manager.  He sends out his retirement notice - first person on the e-mail is the asshat bean counter in the far off city, 2nd is his manager.

I think Shakespeare was wrong in his assessment.  The first thing we should do is kill all the fucking bean counting accountants.  THEN kill all the lawyers.

[No, no I'm not at all bitter about the bullshit from these fucking, moronic MBA bullshit spewing bean counting penny-wise, million dollar foolish idiots that don't know how to run a company.  They're driving it into the ground - this great American Success Story that was built by engineers and manufacturing workers].

It's all fun and games until a customer requests an audit of your charges and can find errors and starts disputing the charges, drags you to court, etc etc.  Or God forbid it's a gov't contract you've fucked up on.  Us bean counters aren't making up this shit because we like fucking with people, you know.

Yeah from one fucking bean counter to another... I work with a lot of federal regulations in telecommunications where the most minor hock up can either result in an audit or the withholding of payments from the Federal Communications Commission.  I choose which battles to fight, but sometimes wish others understood that it doesn't take all that much frankly to get others up in your business.  Because we get federal payments how people account for their time on projects is important.

Nords

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #562 on: September 04, 2015, 03:18:16 PM »
Yeah from one fucking bean counter to another... I work with a lot of federal regulations in telecommunications where the most minor hock up can either result in an audit or the withholding of payments from the Federal Communications Commission.  I choose which battles to fight, but sometimes wish others understood that it doesn't take all that much frankly to get others up in your business.  Because we get federal payments how people account for their time on projects is important.
So one choice would be to make the tracking & compliance system more user-friendly.

Another choice would be to make life hard on the users.

Hmmm.  Tough choice.

C'mon-- who's going to defend a six-minute tracking interval?!?

Trudie

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #563 on: September 04, 2015, 03:28:01 PM »
I actually think the systems are user-friendly -- available in real time via computer/mobile.  I rarely have to address this issue with people, and not all issues involve regulated funds.

My issue with this is demonizing "bean counters" for being assholes just trying to split fine hairs to make others' lives difficult or defend things on the basis of "principle."  For instance, in my case certain government agencies that we rely on for funding can be pretty unreasonable when it comes to getting payments or auditing records for payments.

Very recently we had a $45K payment that was due to us from an FCC administrative agency get held up for weeks because when we last paid our regulatory fees bill to them my co-worker fat fingered a number and we underpaid by less than ten cents.  Solving the situation involved a ridiculous detour through a phone tree, then over-nighting a check ($20 courier fee) for ten cents.

We're all cogs in a wheel...

Tyson

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #564 on: September 04, 2015, 03:29:57 PM »
...and I watched a co-worker tell the bean counters to go fuck off within the last few days.

Damn it was good.  OK, so this guy was going to retire anyways in the next year or two.  But we're in a business that requires 1/10th hour charging to the various contracts.  This guy is, well, was, being run ragged with 20 different contracts to charge to.  The asshats in bean counting dinged him for supposedly not charging correctly.  Yeah, bullshit.  I've never seen anyone try his level best in a bullshit system.  Anyways, they tagged him for remedial training with his manager.  He sends out his retirement notice - first person on the e-mail is the asshat bean counter in the far off city, 2nd is his manager.

I think Shakespeare was wrong in his assessment.  The first thing we should do is kill all the fucking bean counting accountants.  THEN kill all the lawyers.

[No, no I'm not at all bitter about the bullshit from these fucking, moronic MBA bullshit spewing bean counting penny-wise, million dollar foolish idiots that don't know how to run a company.  They're driving it into the ground - this great American Success Story that was built by engineers and manufacturing workers].
Heh. Reminds me, we have a hiring freeze right now because the parent company of my division acquired yet another company.  We're still not at the level of staff we should have, yet we're bringing on new customers left and right. But...omg no money because we bought something else, guess we'll leave all the employees at their 150% workload for another few months!

Sad news Jlee, 150% workload is the new normal.  Get used to it.  :(

happy

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #565 on: September 04, 2015, 04:40:50 PM »
+1

nobodyspecial

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #566 on: September 04, 2015, 05:21:22 PM »
My issue with this is demonizing "bean counters" for being assholes just trying to split fine hairs to make others' lives difficult or defend things on the basis of "principle."  For instance, in my case certain government agencies that we rely on for funding can be pretty unreasonable when it comes to getting payments or auditing records for payments.
So the government bean counters are assholes then ?

Cpa Cat

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #567 on: September 04, 2015, 05:48:27 PM »
...and I watched a co-worker tell the bean counters to go fuck off within the last few days.

Damn it was good.  OK, so this guy was going to retire anyways in the next year or two.  But we're in a business that requires 1/10th hour charging to the various contracts. 

When I worked in public accounting, we also had to charge our time in 1/10th of an hour under specific time codes. I was at one firm where each and every week the lady in time of the time entries would call me on my phone and yell at me for charging to the wrong codes. It always came down the same thing: That code can't be charged to that client.

"Tax services 001" was different from "Tax services 002" which was different from "Tax preparation 002" and "Tax advisory 002." There were a bajillion similar codes, all available to select for every client. Sometimes I would try change it, but it would still be wrong, so she'd yell some more.

So my response was, "Well, what code should I use?"

And she'd yell, "I don't know! It's not my job to decide! You'll have to ask your supervisor!" (And of course my supervisor had no idea what I was talking about).

And I'd respond with, "But if you don't know what the right codes are, then how do you know that I'm using wrong ones. You must have a list."

And she would literally yell at me, "YOU CAN'T USE THAT TIME CODE! CHANGE IT TO SOMETHING ELSE!!!" and slam the phone down.

Then during my first review, I was told that I was taking too much time on timekeeping issues. So the next time she called to yell, I said, "I'm sorry, I don't have time for this. You're just going to have to figure it out. If you're having issues, go ahead and ask my supervisor what codes to charge it to."

I never heard anything about it again.

To this day, I marvel that a grown woman thought it was appropriate to yell at someone at work over time codes.

G-dog

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #568 on: September 04, 2015, 06:01:32 PM »
...and I watched a co-worker tell the bean counters to go fuck off within the last few days.

Damn it was good.  OK, so this guy was going to retire anyways in the next year or two.  But we're in a business that requires 1/10th hour charging to the various contracts.  This guy is, well, was, being run ragged with 20 different contracts to charge to.  The asshats in bean counting dinged him for supposedly not charging correctly.  Yeah, bullshit.  I've never seen anyone try his level best in a bullshit system.  Anyways, they tagged him for remedial training with his manager.  He sends out his retirement notice - first person on the e-mail is the asshat bean counter in the far off city, 2nd is his manager.

I think Shakespeare was wrong in his assessment.  The first thing we should do is kill all the fucking bean counting accountants.  THEN kill all the lawyers.

[No, no I'm not at all bitter about the bullshit from these fucking, moronic MBA bullshit spewing bean counting penny-wise, million dollar foolish idiots that don't know how to run a company.  They're driving it into the ground - this great American Success Story that was built by engineers and manufacturing workers].
Heh. Reminds me, we have a hiring freeze right now because the parent company of my division acquired yet another company.  We're still not at the level of staff we should have, yet we're bringing on new customers left and right. But...omg no money because we bought something else, guess we'll leave all the employees at their 150% workload for another few months!

Sad news Jlee, 150% workload is the new normal.  Get used to it.  :(

Too true, though I am not sure it is even new since this was my corporate life for about the last 7-10 years! Got tired of being lied to about hiring or workload allocation relief. Not my problem anymore.

MoonShadow

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #569 on: September 04, 2015, 06:07:08 PM »
I have actually used the phrase, "FU! I quit!", but I didn't actually have any money at the time, and it was quite stressful for my wife until I got another job.

JLee

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #570 on: September 04, 2015, 10:54:34 PM »
...and I watched a co-worker tell the bean counters to go fuck off within the last few days.

Damn it was good.  OK, so this guy was going to retire anyways in the next year or two.  But we're in a business that requires 1/10th hour charging to the various contracts.  This guy is, well, was, being run ragged with 20 different contracts to charge to.  The asshats in bean counting dinged him for supposedly not charging correctly.  Yeah, bullshit.  I've never seen anyone try his level best in a bullshit system.  Anyways, they tagged him for remedial training with his manager.  He sends out his retirement notice - first person on the e-mail is the asshat bean counter in the far off city, 2nd is his manager.

I think Shakespeare was wrong in his assessment.  The first thing we should do is kill all the fucking bean counting accountants.  THEN kill all the lawyers.

[No, no I'm not at all bitter about the bullshit from these fucking, moronic MBA bullshit spewing bean counting penny-wise, million dollar foolish idiots that don't know how to run a company.  They're driving it into the ground - this great American Success Story that was built by engineers and manufacturing workers].
Heh. Reminds me, we have a hiring freeze right now because the parent company of my division acquired yet another company.  We're still not at the level of staff we should have, yet we're bringing on new customers left and right. But...omg no money because we bought something else, guess we'll leave all the employees at their 150% workload for another few months!

Sad news Jlee, 150% workload is the new normal.  Get used to it.  :(
I decided to change my situation instead of getting used to it. I signed an offer letter with a ~$36k raise today.  Even if it's 150% workload, at least now it's 159% pay! ;)

golfreak12

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #571 on: September 04, 2015, 11:10:36 PM »
Back before 9/11 I had finished school with an accounting degree but was still working part-time(PT) and making decent money. I had no care in the world. 31 and never had a fun time job before. Life was fun.
When 9/11 came, the money disappeared and I was forced to find a real job. Its been 3 yrs since I've graduated so accounting wasn't really an option for me.
My buddy had parents who owned 25+ McDonalds. He's like, come work for me. I've work at McDonalds when I was younger so I accepted. I started as an assistant manager. After 7 months, I got bored and wanted to go back to my PT job.(I never quit in the first place. Work is picking up again). Shockingly to me, the higher up offer me a GM position. I was like "hell no". I'm good but I know nothing about running a store on my own but the idea of being on charge was too enticing.
My first store my inside a Walmart. Took me some growing pain but I once again I learned quick. I was now a rising star in the company. Made 40K+ which was the most money I've ever made in my life at 32. My store drove me crazy cause it was 24hr cause I would get calls constantly. I've asked repeatedly to close overnight buy they refused.
Then my brother in Cali bought a house and knew I always wanted to live there(I'm in Florida). He said I can come and live with him anytime as he has a room for me. I used this excuse to quit. I've saved about 20K by now and I figured to go to Cali for a year and blow it all. My brother lives in Sacto so my idea was to go snowboarding as much as I could. When I quit, the owner(my friend's dad) even came and talked to me and told me how I have a bright future at the company and I shouldn't leave.

So I go to Sacto and figured I'd be a bum for a year. Guess what ?? Within a week, I got a job as an Assistant manager at McDonalds. There goes the plan to be a bum. This is a smaller franchise with only 7 stores. They were behind the time as I came from a more advanced McDonalds. The things that I knew amazed them. I showed them better ways of doing Scheduling, inventory, food cost, etc......I would sit in monthly meetings only reserved for GMs and made them feel inadequate. After a yr in Cali, I got bored. All my friends were in Fla and decided to head back. Once again, the they tried to get me to stay, telling me their GMs are making high $50K++. Blah.....
I came to Cali with the intention to blow all my savings but after a yr, it grew.
When I decided to go back to Fla, of course I decided to take it easy and do nothing.
Another friend of mine(a McDonalds GM)), knew I was coming back and asked me to help him out a couple of days a week at his store. I was dumb cause he suckered me in. That couple of days a week turned weekly and then after a month he asked me to be his first assistant. I enjoyed working with the guy and didn't want the responsibility of running the store as I accepted. Things were going great until they decided to move my buddy to another store and bring another GM in. Didn't they know we worked as a combo ??
I was like fucked them and went to my back my PT job(yeah I know its a secret PT job). I already got my PT job back so I told them politely fuck you. You can't expect me to work under another GM and told them I already got another job. My last day on the job there, the VP came and talked to me asking me what would it take for me to stay. I told him I wasn't not BSing because I already got another job. I threw out the idea that if they mad me GM instead of bringing in another GM I would stay. He told me that he would get back to me.
The next day he called me and said the store is mine. I was shocked for a 2nd time. I had to tell the PT job that I couldn't continue with the job now.
So I ran that store very well.
As a franchise, the corporation grade us on 3 main things. Customer complaints, yearly in store reviews and mystery shops. Mystery shops was something all the stores take pride in. We also get bonuses for high mystery shop scores. My store had the highest average for the entire franchise and 4th in the Florida region.
So after a year or so at this store, I was about cooked. Trying to keep up the high mystery shop scores and everything else go me stressed out to no end. I even told my buddy(owner's son), I don't know how long I can last.
Then it happened. One month I let one of my manager in charge of the mystery shop periods. I was in my office doing paper work. We just happened to get a bad score when I was in the office. Let me restate that we had the 4th highest average in the entire Florida. I got ridiculed my our president in our voicemail where everyone can hear. He talked about how I was in the office and not helping out etc.......I was so pisssed off to no end. Highest core in the company and 4th in Florida and he's ridiculing me.
I actually used this excuse to quit. Before I was stressed to death but  I didn't know how to quit. I can now used this reason to quit. I think I shocked everyone when I told them I quit.
Everyday, my boss kept telling me the president would like to talk to me at the franchise office but I refused.
My last day, I went to the franchise office to return everything and I run into the president. He's like "golfreak", when you're done with that can you come to my office to talk. I said sure. After I was done, I took off. Didn't say one word. I was not going to give him a chance to convince me to stay. I've tried quitting this company so many times and they somehow convinced to stay everytime.
Weeks after I quit, my buddy(owner's son) and various people told me how pissed the president was cause I ran out on him. Haha.....
After I quit, I had a bit of money saved up so I decided to do nothing again for as long as I can. After 3 weeks, I was bored to death again. I decided to go back to the PT job and see if I can get a job again. Remembered I took the job and quit just over a year ago. Surprisingly, I once again got the PT job again.
This was in 2006 and I still have the same PT job and making more money than I ever did before.
If I didn't get married 4 yrs ago, I could have FIRE by now but I'm helping my wife get through school and once we become a 2 income household, we could probably retire in 10 yrs.
Sorry for the long story.....

Alternatepriorities

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #572 on: September 05, 2015, 01:35:09 AM »
There are people with awesome stories on here...

I worked for a small engineering firm for the first eight years after I finished college and saved about 1/2 my pay over that time. There were financial ups and downs and money was always a little short. In early 2012 the company hit a really rough spot and announced 12.5% pay cuts for everyone (to their credit the owners took a temporary 100% cut). My coworkers were mostly living paycheck to paycheck and one objected mid meeting that he'd loose his house. After the meeting I walked into my bosses office and told him "there are 9 of us in the department, if I leave that's 12.5% for everyone else." He told me I didn't have to do that. I said, "I've saved enough to cover my needs for a decade and I want to see the world." I agreed to stay 2 months finish up the projects I was working on and come back in a year. The week I left they gave everyone back their 12.5%. I spend the next year living out of my carry on backpack. They tracked my progress on a world map in the hall...

When I returned a year later things were still looking a bit shaky so I moved to Alaska. My boss kept telling me I was doing great at my new job but I wasn't enjoying it. Last year after a 12 months and a 25% raise I gave them six weeks notice without anything lined up. They were a little shocked I could give that much notice and seemed to really appreciate it. I took and 800 mile bike trip and then followed my girlfriend to the middle of nowhere Alaska since she needed a job more than I did. Last fall i started a business and then found some interesting local work. Oddly enough I'm making better money now and having a lot more fun at work. I see my 'stache as a polite "no thank you" fund that provides financial flexibility until i reach full FIRE. Hopefully I'll never need it to be a full "F-U" fund but it's nice to know it's there if I do.

shelivesthedream

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #573 on: September 05, 2015, 02:29:36 AM »
Quote from: Alternatepriorities link=topic=18251.msg795475#msg795475
After the meeting I walked into my bosses office and told him "there are 9 of us in the department, if I leave that's 12.5% for everyone else." ... They tracked my progress on a world map in the hall...

Oh wow, I just love this

Faraday

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #574 on: September 05, 2015, 09:22:34 AM »

...After the meeting I walked into my bosses office and told him "there are 9 of us in the department, if I leave that's 12.5% for everyone else." ....

The week I left they gave everyone back their 12.5%. I spend the next year living out of my carry on backpack. They tracked my progress on a world map in the hall...
...

Awesome story!

Kudos to you for recognizing and acting on the opportunity, and kudos to your former employer (at the small business) for being HONEST and actually letting the employees keep the 12.5% windfall you produced!!!

What I love most is that you kept everyone as friends - good enough friends that they tracked you on a map and cared about what you did after you left. That little business full of great people is a rarity in this cold old world.

Time to head over and check out your 'blog ...

Faraday

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #575 on: September 05, 2015, 12:56:21 PM »
I have not read everyone's stories yet, but I do have my own epic FU money story.

...awesome story here...

They really are competent, professional people - but bad business and money managers. In the end, I maintained great relationships with everyone except the managing partner and the office administrator.

So, wait: do the rest of the attorneys realize the financial risk they are taking by being associated with managing partner and her little rat-on-a-leash? Why wouldn't they get messed with the same way you got messed with?

FIREby35

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #576 on: September 05, 2015, 01:52:39 PM »
I have not read everyone's stories yet, but I do have my own epic FU money story.

...awesome story here...

They really are competent, professional people - but bad business and money managers. In the end, I maintained great relationships with everyone except the managing partner and the office administrator.

So, wait: do the rest of the attorneys realize the financial risk they are taking by being associated with managing partner and her little rat-on-a-leash? Why wouldn't they get messed with the same way you got messed with?

Very good question. This actually does happen. One of my friends, and partner at the firm, has told me at least two stories where exactly this sort of thing is happening. Unfortunately, he is also the one who sets his spending to his salary. Actually told me he would like to leave but doesn't have the funds.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2015, 03:46:43 PM by FIREby35 »

Faraday

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #577 on: September 05, 2015, 08:18:13 PM »
I have not read everyone's stories yet, but I do have my own epic FU money story.

...awesome story here...

They really are competent, professional people - but bad business and money managers. In the end, I maintained great relationships with everyone except the managing partner and the office administrator.

So, wait: do the rest of the attorneys realize the financial risk they are taking by being associated with managing partner and her little rat-on-a-leash? Why wouldn't they get messed with the same way you got messed with?

Very good question. This actually does happen. One of my friends, and partner at the firm, has told me at least two stories where exactly this sort of thing is happening. Unfortunately, he is also the one who sets his spending to his salary. Actually told me he would like to leave but doesn't have the funds.

Dear God In Heaven Above...a lawyer...someone with what I regard as a great deal of personal and professional power...can be that STUCK?!?
I guess being a wage slave can happen to ANYone.


Spiffsome

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #578 on: September 06, 2015, 03:29:49 AM »
As a lawyer, I can tell you that we fall onto the same goddamned hedonic treadmill as everyone else. I've got a book called 'The Pinstriped Prison' which describes how big firms deliberately use this effect to keep their new hires from leaving. Give a new graduate a $10,000 loan (referred to as the 'golden handcuffs' - repayable if the graduate leaves in the first year) for office clothes and gear, watch them piss away all of their new income on the flashy lifestyle the partners indulge in, then they realise that they can't leave because they can't save the $10,000  because of their new spending level.

'Millionaire Next Door' describes how the lawyers in their studies were less efficient at accumulating wealth than teachers, because of the inflated lifestyle expectations that come with law firm work. A lot of people are in the legal field because they're motivated by external reward, and law is a great way to get cash and social approval. Once that external reward gets tied to spending as much as you earn, they're stuck.

Paul der Krake

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #579 on: September 06, 2015, 05:45:02 AM »
As a lawyer, I can tell you that we fall onto the same goddamned hedonic treadmill as everyone else. I've got a book called 'The Pinstriped Prison' which describes how big firms deliberately use this effect to keep their new hires from leaving. Give a new graduate a $10,000 loan (referred to as the 'golden handcuffs' - repayable if the graduate leaves in the first year) for office clothes and gear, watch them piss away all of their new income on the flashy lifestyle the partners indulge in, then they realise that they can't leave because they can't save the $10,000  because of their new spending level.
I have seen this happen first hand with relocation packages. Dude wouldn't quit over a mere $3,000 that the company paid him to move to the area. Household income over $200k, and worried about $3k? smh

Jakejake

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #580 on: September 06, 2015, 09:18:35 AM »
FU Story from my dad: He worked as a mid level manager in a huge corporation, and had enough years in for a  pension plus FU money. He was informed that he was getting a new supervisor - a guy he's dealt with before that he had no respect for (incompetent, rude, etc). The new supervisor announced that everyone needed to make an appointment to see him individually, to introduce themselves and discuss goals. My dad made his appointment. He walked in carrying a large cardboard box. He said "Hi, my name is __, and these are all my personal things. That's all you need to know about me." And he walked out.

And a couple from me:
1. Working for a micromanaging idiot abusive boss in the federal government, I finally hit the FU point after he followed me into the woman's room to yell at me while I was on the toilet - in a bathroom where the stall doors didn't even close because of the building's foundation settling. I decided for the sake of other employees still stuck there, that I would let his boss know what was happening. We had a staff of maybe 10 people, and one by one they were dropping like flies since he was transferred in. One got a medical disability for mental stress. One had a stroke - on the job. I could see I was starting to have stress related health issues.

He found out I made an appointment with his boss and blew a gasket - claiming that I needed to go through my chain of command if I wanted to talk to his supervisor, like I was seriously going to ask if it was okay with him if I lodged a complaint against him. We ended up having a meeting with his boss, the three of us, because he wouldn't let me go alone.  His boss seemed to think it might be a personality conflict between just us two, with blame to share equally, until the point where I said I already had picked up the paperwork to quit - I showed them the stack of outprocessing papers, and I just thought they needed to know they were losing the whole team because of him being abusive.

My boss lost it when he heard that, and started yelling that this was "just another example of her making a unilateral decision that affected everyone in the office." (Those words are burned into my memory, almost 20 years later!) I asked him, do you mean I should have asked your permission to quit? That was exactly what he meant, that I was overstepping my bounds by making that decision for myself. I'll never forget looking over at his supervisor and seeing her sitting there in stunned silence, with her mouth hanging open.

After the meeting, she found me another job at the same paygrade at the same facility, but a different building. I worked another 5 or so years there and was very happy.

2. In my current job, we unionized a few years ago. For young parents, people at the start of their careers, folks without savings, that's a pretty scary thing because sometimes retribution from management can get ugly. I was able to go in and be the lead negotiator for our contract because if they fired me for it, I just didn't care. And I was more effective than the other two people negotiating on my side because they were too emotionally invested and would create scenes, yelling, using emotional manipulation, going off on tangents about their personal circumstances. I could calmly state "for me this isn't an issue, but I need to stick to this point because the other employees won't sign off on this, and here's why ..."   I got called a communist a couple times by their lawyer (!) but we got the contract signed, and have better working conditions because of it.

In both those things, I didn't actually have to fall back on my FU money, but having it there meant I didn't have anything to lose by making conditions better not just for me, but for the other employees as well.
« Last Edit: September 06, 2015, 03:16:02 PM by Jakejake »

Faraday

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #581 on: September 06, 2015, 12:39:38 PM »
I started reading these stories for the "epicness" of taking control and telling others to shove it, but now I am reading them to reinforce why we do what we do - gaining control over our own lives. For me, these stories have gone from "Hell yeah!" to "Dear God I'm glad I wasn't there". My rush of glee has turned into terror that there are people in this world who get away with that kind of oppression in the office.

I tremble with thankfulness that I've found these forums and that I can build a stash. My employment situation is pretty good compared to those stories, but I've lived through past jobs under pretty similar situations.

In one previous job, the owner of the business would monitor purchases by their employees to determine if they were being "paid too much" in salary. His son would express obvious and direct displeasure at seeing employees have a nice home or car. Seems they had visualized a kind of ranking that everyone had to fall into, that extended all the way to the family's living situation.  Don't want your employees living better than the boss man, no sir!

Of course, being frugal would be ideal in that situation, but you sure wouldn't want info about your stash to get out.

I just need a few more years....just a few....
« Last Edit: September 06, 2015, 02:08:44 PM by mefla »

ghsebldr

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #582 on: September 06, 2015, 12:53:15 PM »
Sold the nursery and property in SoCal and moved back to Washington to try semi retirement. After starting another nursery to feed my Farmers Market habit it was getting into fall so nothing to do out in the greenhouses.
 I was driving by a Fred Meyer (Kroger) distribution center and they had the normal sign out for help wanted so I decided I'd try it for the holiday season. Got hired on as a temp like everyone else only $12 an hour but I wasn't looking for the money. After a couple of weeks throwing product from pallets to a beltline I was starting to limber up (at 52 yo) and getting in the swing. I mentioned to one of the 20 something regular employees that was a line supervisor that it was starting to feel good working hard for a change. Well a couple of days later I report to my end of the line where there were 12 pallets of stoneware plates and bowls maybe 40 pounds a box but lots of boxes on a 5' tall pallet. Usually they have a person to spell you after a short burst so I cranked them out for about a half hour lifting and tossing when a regular employee walked by with a big smile on his face, I started to notice a couple of the other regulars were watching me work (the regulars didn't have to actually DO anything, they were regular employees) so I looked over to my supervisor and gave her a nod requesting her toward my work area. When she sauntered over she asked if I was getting a good workout, I said I was and needed my second to fill in while I got some water. She just smiled and said that all the other temps were on the other side of the line doing a rush job so I said here work my line for me while I get a drink. She said that supervisors didn't have to do the actual labor that's why they had temps. I looked at her and said that retired people didn't have to either, handed her  my strips of upc codes said see ya and walked away. The regulars were really smiling as I walked by and flipped them off.

 As I was leaving their parking lot I noticed the seasonal help wanted sign in the DHL lot so I pulled over there went in and started 2 days later. Tossing boxes again but was it ever fun. The supervisors were working just as hard as the seasonal employees which was really really hard for 5 hours then the sort was done and everyone went home. Loaded empty 53' trailers from a belt system that came all the way into the truck with you. I had always been a machinist before starting our first nursery so I liked nice straight rows and stacks of freight.
Best hardest job I ever had. I worked that for a few Christmas seasons then DHL got out of the package business. One last note about FU money, After working at DHL for a little over 2 months at our daily pep talk my Station boss called me out  and says HR wanted me to start cashing my damn checks.For the rest of the time there over the 3 years I never cashed a check until the end of the season. My fellow workmates used to kid me about being rich. Far from it but this was all just extra cash. So F u to one company and thank you to the other.
« Last Edit: September 06, 2015, 02:09:43 PM by ghsebldr »

big_slacker

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #583 on: September 06, 2015, 01:54:27 PM »
Great thread, love reading these stories! I have a little bit of $$ but also FU skills. I'm instantly employable if I decide I don't like where I'm working or want to move.

I don't want to post all the details on a public forum, but I worked at a place with a friend as my boss. He is very smart, loyal and I work with him still to this day as a consultant for his own business. We built a great and secure IT network a this place and brought them into the modern era from their former patched together ridiculousness.

His boss was weak and I believe faked/weaseled his way into his position. My buddy's firing was engineered by this guy, and I was passed over for his spot in favor of a blustery, insecure #2.

About a month of both of them asking me to do sloppy work, unethical and in one case illegal things I had enough. Took a book of documentation into the C level exec's office and said I was quitting. After a short meeting going over all the bullshit she asked if I thought this was all coming from the director or the new manager. I said both, but the director hired him right? If anything he's the constant in all the poor decisions around this place.

She did ask me to stay but I said I'll just go work somewhere else thanks. Asked if I would be ok financially doing this. I said no problem, no help needed. So I dropped the grenade and walked out basically. Director got canned and based on linkedin hasn't really done much career wise since.

My buddy and I on the other hand have had plenty of career success since, so the good guys do win sometimes. I've never wanted to be in a position where the douchebags have control. I wonder what the world would be like if everyone had the option?

Faraday

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #584 on: September 06, 2015, 02:51:30 PM »
My buddy and I on the other hand have had plenty of career success since, so the good guys do win sometimes. I've never wanted to be in a position where the douchebags have control. I wonder what the world would be like if everyone had the option?

The world should always be this way. Not that I want employers to get the short end of the stick, but employees need options...way more than they need all the crap they buy with their paychecks. It's horrible to be stuck in a job where you are being mistreated. The world is full of incompetent crazy people who get hired into management positions. How the hell that happens, I just don't know.

ender

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #585 on: September 06, 2015, 03:06:08 PM »
1. Working for a micromanaging idiot abusive boss in the federal government, I finally hit the FU point after he followed me into the woman's room to yell at me while I was on the toilet - in a bathroom where the stall doors didn't even close because of the building's foundation settling. I decided for the sake of other employees still stuck there, that I would let his boss know what was happening. We had a staff of maybe 10 people, and one by one they were dropping like flies since he was transferred in. One got a medical disability for mental stress. One had a stroke - on the job. I could see I was starting to have stress related health issues.

He found out I made an appointment with his boss and blew a gasket - claiming that I needed to go through my chain of command if I wanted to talk to his supervisor, like I was seriously going to ask if it was okay with him if I lodged a complaint against him. We ended up having a meeting with his boss, the three of us, because he wouldn't let me go alone.  His boss seemed to think it might be a personality conflict between just us two, with blame to share equally, until the point where I said I already had picked up the paperwork to quit - I showed them the stack of outprocessing papers, and I just thought they needed to know they were losing the whole team because of him being abusive.

My boss lost it when he heard that, and started yelling that this was "just another example of her making a unilateral decision that affected everyone in the office." (Those words are burned into my memory, almost 20 years later!) I asked him, do you mean I should have asked your permission to quit? That was exactly what he meant, that I was overstepping my bounds by making decision for myself. I'll never forget looking over at his supervisor and seeing her sitting there in stunned silence, with her mouth hanging open.

After the meeting, she found me another job at the same paygrade at the same facility, but a different building. I worked another 5 or so years there and was very happy.

The nice part about people like that is they are pretty easy to give enough rope to hang themselves with.


Wolf_Stache

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #586 on: September 06, 2015, 06:00:33 PM »
As a lawyer, I can tell you that we fall onto the same goddamned hedonic treadmill as everyone else. I've got a book called 'The Pinstriped Prison' which describes how big firms deliberately use this effect to keep their new hires from leaving. Give a new graduate a $10,000 loan (referred to as the 'golden handcuffs' - repayable if the graduate leaves in the first year) for office clothes and gear, watch them piss away all of their new income on the flashy lifestyle the partners indulge in, then they realise that they can't leave because they can't save the $10,000  because of their new spending level.
I have seen this happen first hand with relocation packages. Dude wouldn't quit over a mere $3,000 that the company paid him to move to the area. Household income over $200k, and worried about $3k? smh

This is my situation right now. I held off on quitting because I wanted to hold out a year so I didn't have to pay them back the money. However, the situation just kept escalating. So put in my resignation last week (should have just done it back in June, but I thought if I could get HR involved things would improve. I was so so wrong).

I have the cash to pay it back, but it does make things tighter for me on looking for a new job, now I have to find something within 2 months instead of 6.

Faraday

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #587 on: September 06, 2015, 06:13:41 PM »
As a lawyer, I can tell you that we fall onto the same goddamned hedonic treadmill as everyone else. I've got a book called 'The Pinstriped Prison' which describes how big firms deliberately use this effect to keep their new hires from leaving. Give a new graduate a $10,000 loan (referred to as the 'golden handcuffs' - repayable if the graduate leaves in the first year) for office clothes and gear, watch them piss away all of their new income on the flashy lifestyle the partners indulge in, then they realise that they can't leave because they can't save the $10,000  because of their new spending level.
I have seen this happen first hand with relocation packages. Dude wouldn't quit over a mere $3,000 that the company paid him to move to the area. Household income over $200k, and worried about $3k? smh

This is my situation right now. I held off on quitting because I wanted to hold out a year so I didn't have to pay them back the money. However, the situation just kept escalating. So put in my resignation last week (should have just done it back in June, but I thought if I could get HR involved things would improve. I was so so wrong).

I have the cash to pay it back, but it does make things tighter for me on looking for a new job, now I have to find something within 2 months instead of 6.

Yeah. HR exists to protect MANAGEMENT from lawsuits, not humor the employees. I'm an IT professional who supported HR departments....so I'm not making that shit up. I have a co-worker at the current job who just now discovered that.

So....how are you fixing it. This is a thread of epic stories, not "oh man, I suck so bad...."
« Last Edit: September 06, 2015, 06:15:49 PM by mefla »

Wolf_Stache

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #588 on: September 07, 2015, 03:52:49 PM »
This is my situation right now. I held off on quitting because I wanted to hold out a year so I didn't have to pay them back the money. However, the situation just kept escalating. So put in my resignation last week (should have just done it back in June, but I thought if I could get HR involved things would improve. I was so so wrong).

I have the cash to pay it back, but it does make things tighter for me on looking for a new job, now I have to find something within 2 months instead of 6.

Yeah. HR exists to protect MANAGEMENT from lawsuits, not humor the employees. I'm an IT professional who supported HR departments....so I'm not making that shit up. I have a co-worker at the current job who just now discovered that.

So....how are you fixing it. This is a thread of epic stories, not "oh man, I suck so bad...."

Ok, here is my semi-epic horrible story:

I started at this job at the tail end of February/beginning of March.

Right of the bat there were problems. The person who had previously done this job was still there and training me. His "training" went a bit like this:

Trainer: So I pull this number into this spreadsheet -
Me: Wait, where did you get that number and how do you know to put it there?
trainer: I just know.

Further prodding gets me nowhere. So I basically receive NO training, despite having a trainer. The trainer also gives me a workbook of things that are behind that need to be done ASAP. Some of them are tax returns that are two years past due. Others are things still not done that are related to a merger the company went through the year before I started. I get so sick the first two weeks I'm there that I collapse and am rushed to the emergency room.

Meanwhile, my boss keeps dropping more and more duties on me. My first week I took over all cash forecasting, all the fixed asset stuff, Construction licenses, and became their key user for the new EPR system that was supposed to be going live May 1st.

By April I was in charge of:
  • Cash Forecasting
  • Construction Licenses
  • All Fixed assets, including Construction in Progress, gathering backup documentation for all FA purchases, and disposals
  • Approval of all FA invoices before they are paid and reporting on all outstanding FA Purchase Orders
  • Depreciation Forecasting
  • Depreciation monthly entries
  • Monthly prepaid allocations
  • Reconciling all Inter-company accounts at the end of each month (this place has about a dozen different offshoots in Europe, Asia, America, Africa, etc)
  • Sales tax for all 50 states including registration, renewals, and filings

By the end of May, go live had been pushed back to October 1st. Meanwhile I was given new duties on TOP of all the duties listed above:
  • all the User acceptance testing assignments
  • all the system master data validations
  • writing all the procedures & documentation
  • the assignment to train everyone in finance on how to use the new system

By June I had the following duties ADDED To my plate, and remember I'm STILL in charge of everything above as well:
  • Credit Card management of all corporate credit cards
  • Registering fleet vehicles with the Dept of Motor Vehicles
  • Signing off on all outgoing ACH and WIRE payments
  • Filling out the monthly Financial Statement package
  • Management of all corporate insurance

In the middle of June one day I get so stressed out that I basically have a complete meltdown at work. I go to my boss, begging for help where I'm told I'm just 'not working hard enough.' I walked out of her office, went in the bathroom and cried for an hour. I was VERY VERY tempted to just walk away that day and never come back, but the aforementioned 'golden handcuffs' convinces me to stay and try to get things under control. At this point I've not even been there 4 months and had two breakdowns.

In July I have another meeting with my boss where I tell her I'm overloaded, and ask her to give me priorities. She refuses, tells me 'everything' is a priority and reiterates that the reason I'm behind is that I'm not working enough and not working hard enough. Also, she gives me a list of more duties that she's going to be transferring over to me in the near future.

I begin to cope by literally dropping every task that someone is not asking me for right at that moment, but I'm enough of a stickler that the undone tasks are stressing me out.

At the beginning of Aug I go to HR, and ask them to moderate a meeting between me and my boss. During that meeting, I'm VERY honest with the fact that I haven't been doing a lot of tasks on my list simply because of the lack of time. She FREAKS OUT about the merger related tasks that still aren't done, and insists I do them NOW. She does finally agree to take ONE tasks off my list of duties, but since it is one of the things I hadn't been doing it doesn't affect my workload in any way.

Later in the month she uses the excuse that she took that one task off my list to try and give me three more tasks.

I write a resignation later, and on August 26th go in with the letter in hand to try and have one more conversation with her about my workload.

Now, remember, it is a month before go live. Because of my crazy task list above I've had time to do zero training and written zero documentation and zero procedures. I'm the ONLY one in the department that even knows how to log into the new system.

She doesn't budge so I hand her the letter with my last day as Sept 11th. She FREAKS OUT, but finally calms down long enough to ask if I'll stay until after go live if she takes everything off my tasks list except the training, documentation, and procedure documentation.

So it all works out for me. I have a job for 2 more months, time to job hunt, and since the amount I have to pay back is prorated  it means that I'll only have to pay back about 1/4 of the starting bonus.

After the announcement went out that I was quitting, IT (whom I'd been working closely with on the new system implementation - BTW their jaws hit the floor when I repeated my bosses claim that I wasn't 'working hard enough') offered me a job with them for $25K more a year than I'd been making in accounting. I declined, because F*** this company.

Tyson

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #589 on: September 08, 2015, 05:48:37 PM »
This is my situation right now. I held off on quitting because I wanted to hold out a year so I didn't have to pay them back the money. However, the situation just kept escalating. So put in my resignation last week (should have just done it back in June, but I thought if I could get HR involved things would improve. I was so so wrong).

I have the cash to pay it back, but it does make things tighter for me on looking for a new job, now I have to find something within 2 months instead of 6.

Yeah. HR exists to protect MANAGEMENT from lawsuits, not humor the employees. I'm an IT professional who supported HR departments....so I'm not making that shit up. I have a co-worker at the current job who just now discovered that.

So....how are you fixing it. This is a thread of epic stories, not "oh man, I suck so bad...."

Ok, here is my semi-epic horrible story:

I started at this job at the tail end of February/beginning of March.

Right of the bat there were problems. The person who had previously done this job was still there and training me. His "training" went a bit like this:

Trainer: So I pull this number into this spreadsheet -
Me: Wait, where did you get that number and how do you know to put it there?
trainer: I just know.

Further prodding gets me nowhere. So I basically receive NO training, despite having a trainer. The trainer also gives me a workbook of things that are behind that need to be done ASAP. Some of them are tax returns that are two years past due. Others are things still not done that are related to a merger the company went through the year before I started. I get so sick the first two weeks I'm there that I collapse and am rushed to the emergency room.

Meanwhile, my boss keeps dropping more and more duties on me. My first week I took over all cash forecasting, all the fixed asset stuff, Construction licenses, and became their key user for the new EPR system that was supposed to be going live May 1st.

By April I was in charge of:
  • Cash Forecasting
  • Construction Licenses
  • All Fixed assets, including Construction in Progress, gathering backup documentation for all FA purchases, and disposals
  • Approval of all FA invoices before they are paid and reporting on all outstanding FA Purchase Orders
  • Depreciation Forecasting
  • Depreciation monthly entries
  • Monthly prepaid allocations
  • Reconciling all Inter-company accounts at the end of each month (this place has about a dozen different offshoots in Europe, Asia, America, Africa, etc)
  • Sales tax for all 50 states including registration, renewals, and filings

By the end of May, go live had been pushed back to October 1st. Meanwhile I was given new duties on TOP of all the duties listed above:
  • all the User acceptance testing assignments
  • all the system master data validations
  • writing all the procedures & documentation
  • the assignment to train everyone in finance on how to use the new system

By June I had the following duties ADDED To my plate, and remember I'm STILL in charge of everything above as well:
  • Credit Card management of all corporate credit cards
  • Registering fleet vehicles with the Dept of Motor Vehicles
  • Signing off on all outgoing ACH and WIRE payments
  • Filling out the monthly Financial Statement package
  • Management of all corporate insurance

In the middle of June one day I get so stressed out that I basically have a complete meltdown at work. I go to my boss, begging for help where I'm told I'm just 'not working hard enough.' I walked out of her office, went in the bathroom and cried for an hour. I was VERY VERY tempted to just walk away that day and never come back, but the aforementioned 'golden handcuffs' convinces me to stay and try to get things under control. At this point I've not even been there 4 months and had two breakdowns.

In July I have another meeting with my boss where I tell her I'm overloaded, and ask her to give me priorities. She refuses, tells me 'everything' is a priority and reiterates that the reason I'm behind is that I'm not working enough and not working hard enough. Also, she gives me a list of more duties that she's going to be transferring over to me in the near future.

I begin to cope by literally dropping every task that someone is not asking me for right at that moment, but I'm enough of a stickler that the undone tasks are stressing me out.

At the beginning of Aug I go to HR, and ask them to moderate a meeting between me and my boss. During that meeting, I'm VERY honest with the fact that I haven't been doing a lot of tasks on my list simply because of the lack of time. She FREAKS OUT about the merger related tasks that still aren't done, and insists I do them NOW. She does finally agree to take ONE tasks off my list of duties, but since it is one of the things I hadn't been doing it doesn't affect my workload in any way.

Later in the month she uses the excuse that she took that one task off my list to try and give me three more tasks.

I write a resignation later, and on August 26th go in with the letter in hand to try and have one more conversation with her about my workload.

Now, remember, it is a month before go live. Because of my crazy task list above I've had time to do zero training and written zero documentation and zero procedures. I'm the ONLY one in the department that even knows how to log into the new system.

She doesn't budge so I hand her the letter with my last day as Sept 11th. She FREAKS OUT, but finally calms down long enough to ask if I'll stay until after go live if she takes everything off my tasks list except the training, documentation, and procedure documentation.

So it all works out for me. I have a job for 2 more months, time to job hunt, and since the amount I have to pay back is prorated  it means that I'll only have to pay back about 1/4 of the starting bonus.

After the announcement went out that I was quitting, IT (whom I'd been working closely with on the new system implementation - BTW their jaws hit the floor when I repeated my bosses claim that I wasn't 'working hard enough') offered me a job with them for $25K more a year than I'd been making in accounting. I declined, because F*** this company.

Soooo, the companies perspective it "Hey, we f'd you up for months and months.  Please stick around a bit longer, otherwise you put us in a difficult position".  Yeah, I know what I'd say to that....Hahaha.

Cpa Cat

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #590 on: September 08, 2015, 08:04:50 PM »
As many of you are aware, I am FIRE'd, but I have a fake job as a self-employed CPA. I like doing taxes and being a CPA is kind of fun.

But I have this weird client. He was one of my first clients and he started as a tax/accounting client, but over time his requests got a little outside of the norm of what you would normally ask your CPA to do. Like shopping for his health insurance, dealing with his property insurance company, drafting letters to various organizations, paying his bills. He even gave my phone number to his mortgage company so that I could "handle" his mortgage refinance. Obviously, I'm not charging this guy enough, because he seems to view me as his personal assistant.

So today, as a courtesy, I sent an email letting know a few of my clients that I'm going on vacation.

About 30 seconds later, I get a call from him: "Before you go on vacation, I need you to submit an invoice for a government contract."

So I reply with, "Um... I don't know how to do that, so I don't think it's going to be possible."

Him: "This is something I'll need you to do monthly. It's really easy, I'll walk you through it. "

Me: "This really isn't what I do. I am a Certified Public Accountant... And my E&O insurance isn't going to cover me if I make an error on something like this. You're going to need to find someone else to do that."

Him: "Other accountants have done it for me in the past. Anyway, I would need more notice than 5 minutes before it's due if I were going to find someone else."

Me: "I think you've misunderstood our professional relationship. I'm not your employee. I said no. It's not open for negotiation."

Him: "I'm sensing some tension. Let's talk about this some more when you've calmed down."

I told him: "Good luck with that." And I hung up. [I must have been calm, because I didn't tell him to shove his phone up his A$$.]

The true beauty of being FIRE'd: I don't need that guy's check to pay my bills.

Taran Wanderer

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #591 on: September 08, 2015, 08:08:38 PM »
As many of you are aware, I am FIRE'd, but I have a fake job as a self-employed CPA. I like doing taxes and being a CPA is kind of fun.

But I have this weird client. He was one of my first clients and he started as a tax/accounting client, but over time his requests got a little outside of the norm of what you would normally ask your CPA to do. Like shopping for his health insurance, dealing with his property insurance company, drafting letters to various organizations, paying his bills. He even gave my phone number to his mortgage company so that I could "handle" his mortgage refinance. Obviously, I'm not charging this guy enough, because he seems to view me as his personal assistant.

So today, as a courtesy, I sent an email letting know a few of my clients that I'm going on vacation.

About 30 seconds later, I get a call from him: "Before you go on vacation, I need you to submit an invoice for a government contract."

So I reply with, "Um... I don't know how to do that, so I don't think it's going to be possible."

Him: "This is something I'll need you to do monthly. It's really easy, I'll walk you through it. "

Me: "This really isn't what I do. I am a Certified Public Accountant... And my E&O insurance isn't going to cover me if I make an error on something like this. You're going to need to find someone else to do that."

Him: "Other accountants have done it for me in the past. Anyway, I would need more notice than 5 minutes before it's due if I were going to find someone else."

Me: "I think you've misunderstood our professional relationship. I'm not your employee. I said no. It's not open for negotiation."

Him: "I'm sensing some tension. Let's talk about this some more when you've calmed down."

I told him: "Good luck with that." And I hung up. [I must have been calm, because I didn't tell him to shove his phone up his A$$.]

The true beauty of being FIRE'd: I don't need that guy's check to pay my bills.

The nerve of some people amazes me...

(Him, not you!)
« Last Edit: September 08, 2015, 08:10:10 PM by FlatWave »

dragoncar

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #592 on: September 08, 2015, 08:16:08 PM »

G-dog

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #593 on: September 08, 2015, 08:40:38 PM »
@cpa cat
"Him: "I'm sensing some tension. Let's talk about this some more when you've calmed down."

Hahahaha! Re: your retort and hang up - Way to go, this was long overdue! I like how it is your fault that he doesn't have time to find someone else to fulfill a deadline he just told you about (for an issue out of your scope).

big_slacker

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #594 on: September 08, 2015, 09:18:20 PM »
Yup, when I was self employed it was always about the 80/20 rule. Fire that 20% that take up 80% of your time and energy. :)

As many of you are aware, I am FIRE'd, but I have a fake job as a self-employed CPA. I like doing taxes and being a CPA is kind of fun.

But I have this weird client. He was one of my first clients and he started as a tax/accounting client, but over time his requests got a little outside of the norm of what you would normally ask your CPA to do. Like shopping for his health insurance, dealing with his property insurance company, drafting letters to various organizations, paying his bills. He even gave my phone number to his mortgage company so that I could "handle" his mortgage refinance. Obviously, I'm not charging this guy enough, because he seems to view me as his personal assistant.

So today, as a courtesy, I sent an email letting know a few of my clients that I'm going on vacation.

About 30 seconds later, I get a call from him: "Before you go on vacation, I need you to submit an invoice for a government contract."

So I reply with, "Um... I don't know how to do that, so I don't think it's going to be possible."

Him: "This is something I'll need you to do monthly. It's really easy, I'll walk you through it. "

Me: "This really isn't what I do. I am a Certified Public Accountant... And my E&O insurance isn't going to cover me if I make an error on something like this. You're going to need to find someone else to do that."

Him: "Other accountants have done it for me in the past. Anyway, I would need more notice than 5 minutes before it's due if I were going to find someone else."

Me: "I think you've misunderstood our professional relationship. I'm not your employee. I said no. It's not open for negotiation."

Him: "I'm sensing some tension. Let's talk about this some more when you've calmed down."

I told him: "Good luck with that." And I hung up. [I must have been calm, because I didn't tell him to shove his phone up his A$$.]

The true beauty of being FIRE'd: I don't need that guy's check to pay my bills.

happy

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #595 on: September 09, 2015, 05:27:35 AM »
As many of you are aware, I am FIRE'd, but I have a fake job as a self-employed CPA. I like doing taxes and being a CPA is kind of fun.

But I have this weird client. He was one of my first clients and he started as a tax/accounting client, but over time his requests got a little outside of the norm of what you would normally ask your CPA to do. Like shopping for his health insurance, dealing with his property insurance company, drafting letters to various organizations, paying his bills. He even gave my phone number to his mortgage company so that I could "handle" his mortgage refinance. Obviously, I'm not charging this guy enough, because he seems to view me as his personal assistant.


This is obviously the problem!….sheesh,  senior accountants here charge like a wounded bull ( up to $500/hr).  No way you'd get them to shop for deals on health insurance etc.

The joy of FU money :) and  now you don't have to worry about telling him you've tripled your charge rate.

Faraday

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #596 on: September 09, 2015, 08:36:32 AM »
As many of you are aware, I am FIRE'd, but I have a fake job as a self-employed CPA. I like doing taxes and being a CPA is kind of fun.

But I have this weird client. ....

That's an awesome story! You gotta tell us if there ends up being any more to it. I have this feeling he'll be back....?

The_path_less_taken

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #597 on: September 09, 2015, 09:22:49 AM »
As many of you are aware, I am FIRE'd, but I have a fake job as a self-employed CPA. I like doing taxes and being a CPA is kind of fun.

But I have this weird client. He was one of my first clients and he started as a tax/accounting client, but over time his requests got a little outside of the norm of what you would normally ask your CPA to do. Like shopping for his health insurance, dealing with his property insurance company, drafting letters to various organizations, paying his bills. He even gave my phone number to his mortgage company so that I could "handle" his mortgage refinance. Obviously, I'm not charging this guy enough, because he seems to view me as his personal assistant.

So today, as a courtesy, I sent an email letting know a few of my clients that I'm going on vacation.

About 30 seconds later, I get a call from him: "Before you go on vacation, I need you to submit an invoice for a government contract."

So I reply with, "Um... I don't know how to do that, so I don't think it's going to be possible."

Him: "This is something I'll need you to do monthly. It's really easy, I'll walk you through it. "

Me: "This really isn't what I do. I am a Certified Public Accountant... And my E&O insurance isn't going to cover me if I make an error on something like this. You're going to need to find someone else to do that."

Him: "Other accountants have done it for me in the past. Anyway, I would need more notice than 5 minutes before it's due if I were going to find someone else."

Me: "I think you've misunderstood our professional relationship. I'm not your employee. I said no. It's not open for negotiation."

Him: "I'm sensing some tension. Let's talk about this some more when you've calmed down."

I told him: "Good luck with that." And I hung up. [I must have been calm, because I didn't tell him to shove his phone up his A$$.]

The true beauty of being FIRE'd: I don't need that guy's check to pay my bills.



;-0

You rock!

"Dear Sir,

In light of our last conversation, I thought this would be a good time to go over my billing policy.

I will continue to do your TAXES at the same rate as last year, although next year that fee will double.

I currently will accept phone calls for advice and other transactions at the hourly rate of $350 per, with a one hour minimum. To clarify, that means that if I pick up the phone = you owe me $350. Email reading/writing will continue to be $350 an hour. With a one hour minimum. One email = you owe me $350.

Since I have no idea how to submit the form you mentioned, I anticipate that there will be a studying/learning curve: this takes time away from the things I am supposed to be doing, so that will be $500  per hour for that portion.

And you are absolutely right that 'notice' should be given when terminating a financial relationship: please consider this to be 365 day notice. On this date next year, all the fees previously mentioned will double.

Thank you for your understanding. Before you call me, please re-read this document as calling/emailing will be costly, and these fees are non-negotiable, and effective immediately. CPA Cat"

mm1970

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #598 on: September 09, 2015, 12:55:35 PM »
I just want to say, I love this thread.

LouisPritchard

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #599 on: September 09, 2015, 05:17:17 PM »
Well I just quit a $120K a year job after 6 years with the company. Claiming the local management treats the employees like shit would be an understatement. They've gone so far as to trespass on private hunting leases and threaten peoples jobs over it if they press charges. They started in on me for not coming in on my days off, pretending I didn't exist, canceling my vacations, some yelling and screaming and threatening my job, and petty crap like that. I told them a year ago I was going back to school to get the remaining classes I needed to sit the CPA exam, buying a house with cash, packing my stuff and moving across the country back home. All I heard was that I was full of shit and would never leave, cant give up that pension after all. I bought the house back in June and they just said it must be a rental property. So couple weeks ago I wrote a nice long resignation letter with all the crap they've been pulling along with dates and sent it to HR and walked out the door for good, a 2 week notice would have just amped up the harassment so I didn't bother. Had a nice exit interview, they wanted more details, sounds like HR will be paying them a visit to investigate. Starting my last couple of classes tomorrow, hope to get some work doing tax prep this season and take the CPA exam afterwards towards May/June. It's nice not having a mortgage or car notes.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!