Author Topic: Epic FU money stories  (Read 2794819 times)

RWD

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1250 on: September 05, 2016, 09:03:59 PM »
Enjoyed reading that.  :)

I think I have seen your username.  Were you on prospers.org?  Or the original prospers, before so many were undone, and cast into Outer Darkness?

Hmm... avatar matches signature.    /detectivework

I also read the prospers.org forums, mostly to follow Fred93. I never made an account though...

arebelspy

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1251 on: September 05, 2016, 10:51:32 PM »
Enjoyed reading that.  :)

Thank you; I enjoyed living it.  I am ashamed to say there were too many times when I was young and stuck around to be abased, because I thought I would starve my small family if I stood up for my dignity. 

I think I have seen your username.  Were you on prospers.org?  Or the original prospers, before so many were undone, and cast into Outer Darkness?
I was indeed. I was on the Black Friday conference call, in fact.   :)

(Was a mod on Prospers.org for awhile as well, but been a long time since I've been over there.)

Where you on this same username?  Feel free to PM if you don't want to post.  :)
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

HappyMargo

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1252 on: September 06, 2016, 12:30:40 AM »
Hi,

Not an epic story but personally satisfying.

I find my work very rewarding (challenging, meaningful, like my coworkers, still learning, generally fascinating what happens during surgery). However the long shifts, lots of "on call"time and very limited vacation time plus having to "ask" for permission to take time off got old fast. So for a few months I asked about going part time. We're short staffed so kept getting the response of "we're not cutting anyone's hours, let's talk again when we have more people."

Finally I said F... it and gave notice saying on xx date, I'm resigning my full time position but would like to continue on a per diem basis. They went with it (see part about being short staffed). It's been marvelous, minimal required shifts but can basically sign up for as many as I want, no call requirements and I tell them my availability, not ask when I can take off. So much more control over my schedule but still get to do work I really enjoy (when I want to be there).

Being FI and not needing the pay or the benefits made it a much easier call.  I wish that position of power for everyone.

Cheers

Maybe not an Epic story... but you're still my hero!

I've been mulling this very same career move over in my mind for quite a while now.  Love all the up-sides of Per Diem work (especially the "no call" & ability to pick/choose work days, allowing random long weekends with my DH for camping trips) but I'm still a bit nervous re: the uncertain income part.  "What if I don't get enough hours??"  Which, I think in reality, basically wouldn't happen because of a shortage of qualified OR personnel.  It's just fear holding me back.

However, I've selected a certain $$ amount for my investments to hit, once that threshold is reached, I am taking the plunge.  I look forward to joining you in the Per Diem ranks soon!

Mother Fussbudget

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1253 on: September 06, 2016, 03:04:44 PM »
Asshair#3 A cautionary tale.  Asshair#3 could arguably be *ME*, as in "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me".  Hence, this may belong on the 'anti-mustachian wall of shame', but I'll include it here to keep the series in the same thread. 
Timeframe:  1996-to-2003

By 1996, I was doing well at SG (software giant), my vested SG stock options were worth a good deal of money (~$2.5M).  But I had begun to get nervous about having a portfolio worth that much $$.  Nervous about whether my self-guided investing was good enough, or whether I should hire a financial consultant / analyst to help me keep my money invested wisely & safely.  As Will Rogers said, "The only thing more important than return on your investments, is return OF your investments".

Aside:  If you have similar concerns - DON'T WORRY!  Keep planning your investing, and investing to your plan.  You're as smart as any high-priced financial advisor IMHO.  Low Cost ETF's are the vehicles to use today - Total Stock Market, Total Bond Market, and REIT's are what I'm invested in today.  I only wish I had listened to my own advice in late 1999...

In late 1996 I was contacted by Asshair#3 - yes, a cold calling stock broker based in LA who dealt mostly with high-dollar-figure clients, many of whom were at SG.  I said I wasn't interested, but he convinced me to invest $100K with him, and he would use that amount to show how much he could increase my investments.  I maintained a separate account at Fidelity where I had grown a $33K initial investment to almost $800K, so I wasn't worried about losing $100K.

My plan:  pick a date, and do a 'sell-buy' - exercise the vested stock options, and SELL enough shares to generate enough cash to BUY the remaining shares outright, and hold those shares in my account for at least 1 year.  On that initial sell-buy, I paid short-term capital gains equal to my income tax rate (36%).  A year later, I could sell any remaining shares, and pay only 15% long-term capital gains taxes on those shares.  In the late 90's, SG stock was on a roar - rising, splitting, rising again, etc.

Asshair#3 was initially successful enough to convince me to do the sell-buy into an account with him.  In the fall of 98, I did the sell-buy, generating a >$1M tax bill (ouch! - I know...), leaving roughly $2.5M in stock value in that account.  I also moved some $$ into my original self-directed account, bringing it's total to over $1M, and life was good. 

I had always wanted to live on the water, so soon after, I bought a house on a large nearby lake for >$1M.  I wanted to pay cash, but Asshair convinced me to get a mortgage against my stock account - aka *margin* the stock against the lake house.  [In hindsight, I'm sure this generated a nice big kick-back for him].  For the first year or so, this presented no problem...  SG stock continued to climb.  Even the $10K annual waterfront tax bill was a small amount to pay to be able to walk out my backdoor, jump in the boat, and go play on the lake.

But in the fall of 1999 there was a highly publicized court ruling against SG that could potentially impact SG's stock growth.  I asked Asshair, and he said to "stay the course", that it could never get that bad.  "SG is the 'Ferrari' in your account".   At SG, I worked on a major Macintosh product, and solved 'Y2K software defects' in the software we were building - we found nothing too dramatic to solve.  But there was an end of 99 hysteria about Y2K that made me nervous.  I knew the stock market was an emotional market, not always built on actual value, but on *perception*.  That's why on Dec. 30, 1999 (Why do I remember that date so clearly?  It was my birthday), I realized I hadn't slept the previous night worrying over the stock market, and called Asshair#3 from a family vacation in Hawaii to say I wanted to "sell all shares in SG, pay off the lake house, and invest in something less risky - like bonds, and perhaps put some in some $$ in Apple." (I had worked on a Macintosh product the previous year which was doing well in the market, and thought Apple's stock price still had some growth room left - I was happy with the way Steve Jobs was leading Apple). I said I wasn't worried about any of the nightmare Y2K issues, but was worried about the overall emotion-in-the-market, so wanted to get into cash, and sit-it-out.   That day, my account value was north of $5M.  Needless to say, Asshair#3 talked me out of it - talked me out of selling.

Over the following 3 months, I saw SG's stock nudge downward in large part due to the highly publicized court ruling.  By March, the value had plunged erasing 5 years of stock growth.  But that time, I had been forced (twice) to sell shares to cover margin calls against the shares margined for the lakefront property.  In late March, I said I wanted to sell enough to pay off the mortgage, and hold the property in cash, but by then most of my fortune "on-paper" had disappeared.   Soon after is when he convinced me to invest in Enron. 

Yes, the news on Enron was out, and it was clear the stock was going down, but Asshair's pitch was, "Come on - it's ENRON.  Surely they can beat this, and come out of this stronger than ever.  It's ENRON."  I had 10% of what was left in Bonds, ~$600K in cash, and most of the remainder still in SG stock.  (I know - facepalm).  He invested that ~$600K in Enron, and a half-dozen Dot-Com companies hoping to see the same kind of increases in those stocks that SG had seen in the late 90's.  But it was not to be...

Enron tanked.  ALL the Dot-Com stocks tanked.  In those stocks alone, I lost upwards of $600K.  SG stock tanked, and stayed low.  I finally closed the account with Asshair, and the story got back to his leadership, and got him fired.  [It was little consolation, as last time I checked, he's still active at another SoCal based stock firm]. The annual $10K (!) tax bill on the lakefront house (you read that correctly) had by 2003  became a burden, so eventually I sold the house - for a profit, but that ROI did not offset the stock losses.  Eventually moved into a more modest house in the area and paid down >40% up front.  But things were not good at home.   Later (2006) separation, and divorce followed, and after the lawyers bills, and 50/50 split, and once the dust settled, I was left with less than $350K in total assets, and monthly spousal support (including child support) bills. 

A hard story - true.  But all behind me.  I've learned a lot, and will never make the same mistakes again. I may never have as much money in my FI funds, but I've learned to be happy with what I have, and I will always listen to my own investing advice. Advice that's allowed me to grow my FI funds over the years to a point where FI is within reach.

. . . .

Next up... in 2004, I had my one true Epic FU money story....  Asshair#4 may have been a good coder, but was a terrible manager.  And even though I had seen my fortunes decrease, it didn't stop me from using what FU funds I had to pull-the-FU resignation trigger.

arebelspy

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1254 on: September 06, 2016, 03:09:50 PM »
Oof.. that December '99 call.. if only.  :(
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

hollow

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1255 on: September 06, 2016, 04:11:08 PM »
Was forwarded this email yesterday from an engineer at our company who had finally had enough...

That was amazing.

To those wishing to donate to this guy, I found a blog quite easily by searching for a phrase that stood out. He has a Paypal donate button.

Secretly Saving

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1256 on: September 06, 2016, 05:00:50 PM »
Holy shit.

I don't know what I would have done in the face of that kind of loss. 

Holy shit is what I thought too.  That must have been very painful to watch at the time.

  I love your positive outlook, Mother Fussbudget!

Northwestie

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1257 on: September 06, 2016, 05:22:29 PM »
Man - there's a lifetime of financial stories in that one installment.  My life is boring.

COEE

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1258 on: September 06, 2016, 05:38:30 PM »
This being said, I have never seen a story about using that FU money. Please, share your stories!!
"It was a cheap act of corporate extortion and I pulled it off."

Nice!  I'm going remember this and use it someday.  I think this is the best FU story so far... you quit - and got paid to go.  Incredible.  I'm curious what percentage of your salary your severance was if you're willing to share?

Bicycle_B

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1259 on: September 06, 2016, 05:59:20 PM »
Not sure what role, if any, FU money played in this guy's resignation (he had another job lined up), but it is an epic resignation letter:

https://troylaraviere.net/2016/08/30/dear-mayor-emanuel-i-resign-my-position-as-principal-of-the-1-rated-neighborhood-school-in-chicago/

That was a thing of beauty!  Wow!

That's awesome.

okits

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1260 on: September 06, 2016, 06:56:24 PM »
Mother Fussbudget, I'll be honest, I feel physically ill after reading that.  Thanks for sharing what must have been an incredibly difficult lesson and I'm glad you're happy and in a good place now.

Looking forward to the next story.

fredbear

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1261 on: September 06, 2016, 08:33:54 PM »
I'm curious what percentage of your salary your severance was if you're willing to share?

Severance was your full salary at the rate of a week for each year of employment, so 7 weeks or not quite 14% of my annual salary.  The meeting with K the Queen of HR would have been a triumph if I could have pulled it off.   My idea (pre-mustachian, but kind of an entelechy of mustachery if only it had worked) was to be paid none of it and have the whole of the severance dumped to my 401(k), which would have put it WAY past the company match, and indeed, very close to the annual limit for that year, plus fully and immediately vested.  Alas - damned impertinent rogue of a logician HR Queen that she was - K pointed out that 401(K)s were for employees, and a person receiving severance by definition was no longer an employee.

Dicey

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1262 on: September 06, 2016, 10:10:41 PM »
Crikey, MF! I had to pause mid-story to turn on a fan! What a story! I'm so glad you lived to tell the tale. To quote Rod Stewart, "and Mother what a lover, you wore me out"!

Years ago, Money Magazine (I think) profiled a bunch of Enron "winners" and put them on the cover of the issue. I always hoped they'd run a "Whatever happened to...?" follow-up, but that wouldn't sell magazines, would it?

I am glad you survived your horror story.

patrickza

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1263 on: September 07, 2016, 08:09:38 AM »
Mother Fussbudget, I'll be honest, I feel physically ill after reading that.  Thanks for sharing what must have been an incredibly difficult lesson and I'm glad you're happy and in a good place now.

Looking forward to the next story.
Same here. What a read, I broke out in cold sweats and it's not even my cash! Seriously well done on picking up the pieces and moving on with your life.

Fastfwd

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1264 on: September 07, 2016, 09:53:02 AM »
Not epic but still good story:
Have been working for a big international bank for one year and they tell me I have to start working 11am - 8pm. I tell them no I have kids and want to see them. They tell me you take it or you have to resign. So I tell them fire me then because I am not doing it. They tell me I would not get unemployment and would I be OK? Yes I would; I can retire now if I want to I just work for the luxuries now.


Long story short I resign because it's the same as being fired vs unemployment but I have to give 60 days notice per contract so I do this but don't work evenings. After 60 days they ask me if I want to stay longer because they have not found a replacement and I say no. Left and took the whole summer off while fielding multiple calls from recruiters looking for a very specific skillset that matches what they need and I have.

Satisfaction :)


MrMoogle

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1265 on: September 07, 2016, 09:57:21 AM »
Man - there's a lifetime of financial stories in that one installment.  My life is boring.
Boring is good.  You don't want to live in interesting times.

Mother Fussbudget

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1266 on: September 07, 2016, 10:14:15 AM »
Man - there's a lifetime of financial stories in that one installment.  My life is boring.
Boring is good.  You don't want to live in interesting times.
+1.  Boring is good.

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1267 on: September 07, 2016, 10:21:54 AM »
Not epic but still good story:
Have been working for a big international bank for one year and they tell me I have to start working 11am - 8pm. I tell them no I have kids and want to see them. They tell me you take it or you have to resign. So I tell them fire me then because I am not doing it. They tell me I would not get unemployment and would I be OK? Yes I would; I can retire now if I want to I just work for the luxuries now.


Long story short I resign because it's the same as being fired vs unemployment but I have to give 60 days notice per contract so I do this but don't work evenings. After 60 days they ask me if I want to stay longer because they have not found a replacement and I say no. Left and took the whole summer off while fielding multiple calls from recruiters looking for a very specific skillset that matches what they need and I have.

Satisfaction :)

Nice, congrats and good job on not giving in.  For what it's worth, and I know it varies by state, but going from 1st to 2nd shift could be considered a material change in your job, and may have qualified for unemployment.  I definitely wouldn't take the employers word on it.

mm1970

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1268 on: September 07, 2016, 10:23:33 AM »
Oof.. that December '99 call.. if only.  :(

Always, right?  I started working at a start up company in Jan 2000.  We got bought shortly thereafter.  (So my options were not vested).

Fully vested, they were worth about $840k at the peak.  (but not vested).

In any event...I had a coworker who started before I did - by a year or two.  So he was partially vested.  He exercised his shares and opted to do the margin thing for taxes.  Then the 2000 crash happened...he ended up having to sell shares on the margin calls...in the end, he LOST money.  LOST money.

By the time I was vested the stock was 1/5 the price.  I, my friends, am a "same day sale" girl.

mtn

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1269 on: September 07, 2016, 10:26:51 AM »
Oof.. that December '99 call.. if only.  :(

Always, right?  I started working at a start up company in Jan 2000.  We got bought shortly thereafter.  (So my options were not vested).

Fully vested, they were worth about $840k at the peak.  (but not vested).

In any event...I had a coworker who started before I did - by a year or two.  So he was partially vested.  He exercised his shares and opted to do the margin thing for taxes.  Then the 2000 crash happened...he ended up having to sell shares on the margin calls...in the end, he LOST money.  LOST money.

By the time I was vested the stock was 1/5 the price.  I, my friends, am a "same day sale" girl.

I'd be curious to see a long-term analysis on many different companies to see if "same day sale" is the better option overall.

My dads company was bought out, and he had been slow to sell some options. Worked out well for him. Worked out *really* well for his manager, who hadn't sold any, which he admitted was a very stupid move that paid off. Another friend though sold as soon as the were available. That was a good move overall, but hindsight being 20/20 he was "out" of over $2mil.

deadlymonkey

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1270 on: September 07, 2016, 10:28:41 AM »
Not my FU story, I seem to have a string of good luck and liked all of my jobs EXCEPT my first one which was working on a factory loading dock at the company my father also worked for (a lesson into why education is good so I wouldn't ever have to do that work again).

Anyway, he was a warehouse manager for a large factor that makes ornaments.  It is a year round business but peaks in the fall as stores place orders for Christmas.  It is family owned and most of the employees are immigrants, I never met the owner, but his sons were incompetent and the definition of bad managers.  My father was older and has had Type 1 Diabetes since he was 10.  Fairly well managed but when he his sugar drops he needs to eat immediately.  Excellent worker and great evals and runs his warehouse very well compared to the some of the other ones in the area.  Owner's son is always micromanaging but my dad deals with it because he is older and the area is not really ripe with job prospects.  One day the son comes in and tells him he needs to move a pile of packaging from one area to another in prep for loading the next day.  He didn't need to assign that work as it was obvious and they were going to be doing anyway (standard procedure prepping truck for loading).  My dad's sugar is crashing because is hot in the warehouse and he had been doing a lot of physically demanding work.  He says OK, we are starting in 15 mins I just need to eat a sandwich real fast.  The son goes apeshit and starts yelling that he will not be disobeyed and to start immediately.  My father calmly reminds him that he is diabetic and needs to eat right now to prevent a medical issue.  No dice.  The son demands he put the sandwich down or be fired.  My father thinks for a second and then slowly takes a bite of sandwich.....promptly fired.  Has enough of a stache to last until the company makes a big settlement to avoid the lawsuit. 

Now my father is semi-retired working at an auto dealership driving cars around form point A to B because it is fun and he no longer needs to work thanks to incompetent manager and a sandwich.

Mother Fussbudget

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1271 on: September 07, 2016, 10:43:28 AM »
Oof.. that December '99 call.. if only.  :(

Always, right?  I started working at a start up company in Jan 2000.  We got bought shortly thereafter.  (So my options were not vested).

Fully vested, they were worth about $840k at the peak.  (but not vested).

In any event...I had a coworker who started before I did - by a year or two.  So he was partially vested.  He exercised his shares and opted to do the margin thing for taxes.  Then the 2000 crash happened...he ended up having to sell shares on the margin calls...in the end, he LOST money.  LOST money.

By the time I was vested the stock was 1/5 the price.  I, my friends, am a "same day sale" girl.

I didn't say much about that brokerage account I managed on-my-own, and rolled from $33K to >$1M in less than 10 years.  It's because I not only lost all but $350K in Asshair#3's managed account, but had to sell all but my emergency fund from the self-managed account to make up the losses.  And the $350K was split after the divorce... yada, yada, yada.

So yes - a cautionary tale.  Moral of the story: 
Plan your investing strategy, and stick with it - especially when it's VERY successful.  Don't second guess success.
AND...
If you're not sleeping at night because of volatility in the stock market, there's something wrong with your investing strategy, and you need to strongly consider changing to a more conservative investing stance right away.

My subconscious told me change was coming, but I allowed someone who had a vested self-interest in having me stay in an uncertain market (so he could make commissions off every crackpot trade he talked me into) to keep me from making the changes in investment strategy I felt were needed to 'Help Me Sleep At Night'.   

The flip-side is that if you're following your own investment strategy, you have only yourself to blame when the market, or your portfolio value "goes south".  But I can live with THAT better than the alternative.  Better the devil I know... 

Yes, it's been over 15 years now, but I'm in a good place financially mentally, etc. 
Thanks to all for the kind words. 

And yes, I thought about setting up one of those 'give a buck' websites to ask if people would help put me back-in-the-black, but... I still have a pinch of pride... ;-)  All the best! 

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1272 on: September 07, 2016, 10:51:31 AM »
My father calmly reminds him that he is diabetic and needs to eat right now to prevent a medical issue.  No dice.  The son demands he put the sandwich down or be fired.  My father thinks for a second and then slowly takes a bite of sandwich.....promptly fired.  Has enough of a stache to last until the company makes a big settlement to avoid the lawsuit. 

F yea!  I've seen too many people sacrifice their health because they're afraid of losing their job.  If only everyone had a stache, shitty employers/bosses might not exist.

mm1970

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1273 on: September 07, 2016, 01:21:52 PM »
Quote
The flip-side is that if you're following your own investment strategy, you have only yourself to blame when the market, or your portfolio value "goes south".  But I can live with THAT better than the alternative.  Better the devil I know... 

Yeah, I'm super conservative financially, which would not surprise anyone who knows me.  When the market was going crazy, it would never have occurred to me to try to not pay taxes and just use "gains" to pay taxes.

Our company stock was always very volatile.  The good thing is that you could make money if patient.  We had ESPP and we had stock bonuses (small ones) and we had stock options that we got each year.  So, no, the stock options that I got at $32 were never worth anything before I quit (when it was $24), but the options I'd gotten 4 years before at $12 made me some money.

I remember that year, we had a quarterly earnings report that was misunderstood, and badly. Our stock dropped like a stone, conveniently right before we got our options. These were immediately vested.  I think I had 100 shares.  Well, once the misunderstandings were worked out, we were back up.  So my price to buy was $75, and I sold within a month at $120.  A good quick $4500.  My coworker told me I was CRAZY for selling so soon, we were headed to $130!   I said, "meh, okay".

That was November, and by January (when my original shares started vesting) were were at $35 and by Feb we were at $25.  I wasn't so dumb anymore.

Mother Fussbudget

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1274 on: September 07, 2016, 04:28:00 PM »
Asshair#4 - My Epic FU Money story (2004)

I left SG on good terms in the fall of 2003 because SG wasn't doing much in web e-commerce.  I wanted to learn e-commerce, and web, so I left (on good terms) to join an existing travel related website company. I was hired as Test Lead for a project team to create a new website for the site's new acquisition company doing luxury travel.  Other teams did flights, rental cars, hotels, cruises, packages, etc.  The team was headed by a dynamic leader "Bob" [who later went on to run a discount hotel website, then a well known job/salary transparency comparison website] - Bob held everything together, and was a joy to work with.  Every employee was licensed as a travel agent, with the ability to get agent discounts, etc.

The team built two websites:  a travel-agent facing website, and a customer facing website presenting essentially the same data.  Every member of the team had two (2x) roles & titles - our 'real' role/title at the 'parent' company (ex:  "Test Lead") and a 'fancy' role/title at the luxury travel company (ex: "Quality Assurance Manger").

Asshair#4 was the Development Manager/'Director of Technology'.  The real job was to direct the developers who coded the website.  The 'fancy' role was just a title, but it went to the head of Asshair#4 to the point where he was not actually doing his DevMgr job while trying to appear to be the DOT in his own mind.  I reported directly to this DevMgr.  As a developer, he had the skills to get hired.  As a leader, he had practically no skills, little in the way of leadership ability.  This was a highly introspective individual who compensated for his employee's lack of psychic abilities by yelling and screaming when people didn't do things exactly as he wanted.

My test team was doing great work - we deployed the agent website, and a first round of the customer facing website.  As a reward, the entire organization was sent on a travel agent 'Familiarization' (FAM) trip.  Fly to Oahu & Maui, see the 5 star hotels we sold, tour the rooms, see the side-trips (baby turtles, adult turtles, dolphins) etc.  Sign Me Up!  But because the team was too large for a single trip, we decided to break this FAM trip into two trips - a skeleton crew would stay behind for trip #1, and travel on FAM trip #2.  With a new baby in the house, I chose to hold-down-the-fort as 'manager in the house', while the rest of the team had fun on a fully paid trip to Oahu & Maui. 

Soon after the FAM trip, Bob left to take a leadership position at a discount hotel website company in the CA bay area.  This left Asshair#4 with no boss until the company could fill the role.  In the meantime, Asshair#4 let it go to his head, and while trying to dress up his work as 'Director of Tech', and 'filling in' as Group Manager, his dev team was not getting the leadership they needed.  He happily started to scapegoat the lack of quality on the Test team (?) who were finding problems in delivered code, especially the test lead - me.  Talk of FAM trip#2 got very quiet as we were finalizing plans for our NEXT project - a rebranded luxury travel website  under an upscale name.  Total price tag for the new plan/work:  $5M. 

Asshair#4 called me into his office to confide in me that the company balked at the $5M price tag, and instead of sticking with the luxury brand, were going to shut down the larger luxury team, and offer local folks the choice of moving to CA bay area (where the acquired company was based), or transferring to other teams.   I asked if I could interview for test lead roles on other teams rather than relocate.  He agreed, so I setup interviews with other teams who were all familiar with my work quarterbacking monthly night-of-deployment sessions for the luxury team.  Two days later, after two (2x) interviews, I was offered a position on one of the more stable teams, and went back to Asshair#4 to tell him I'd been offered the position, and ask how much notice he wanted me to give to transition my responsibilities to other team members.  He hemmed, and hawed, and told me that actually I couldn't transition to the other team AT ALL  because he was going to have to put me on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP - see the ordeal with Asshair#2). 

I shouted, "WHAT!?!?!  You approved my interviewing on other teams, and I was hired right away, how could you even be thinking about a PIP?"  Asshair#4 said in his discussions with HR in preparation for breaking the news of the down-sizing to the team, he mentioned that I would be taking a role on another team, but had asked HR about what was involved in the PIP process in relation to *me*.   It was news to me, but was clearly a way for him to deflect poor work done by his direct reports on the dev team away from himself as a poor leader.  He needed a scapegoat, and picked me.  Unfortunately, because he 'mentioned a PIP' to HR, HR would not allow me to transfer to another team until I had *completed the PIP process*.  Asshair would be unable to 'transfer his problem' to another team.  I was VERY familiar with the PIP process having been on both sides of PIP's while at SG.  He said something about preparing the paperwork, and I let him know right then and there that this idea of a PIP was completely unfair, unwarranted, and unexpected, and I would not participate in any way.  I told him that if he was serious, he could have my resignation on-the-spot.   He didn't budge, so said "I quit", and left his office.  FU money, and zero tolerance for another PIP made this the ONLY decision.

I went to my office, packed my stuff, and left the building - stopping by HR on the way out to drop off my card key.

Later that day, from home, I logged into my email account out of habit, and noticed my account had not been deleted.  The team received a team-wide email from Asshair#4 trying to explain my quick departure without giving away that the team was going to soon downsize, and leaving more questions than answers.  I *RESPONDED* to this email saying that I was simply leaving of my own free will to pursue outside interests, and part of that was FINALLY going on my own FAM trip on-my-own time.  I wished everyone the best, but in a way that indicated Asshair didn't know what the fuck he was talking about in the original message. I wished everyone the best, and shut down my PC. 

The call to the luxury travel office in CA was fun - everyone there was shocked to learn of my departure, and were happy to help set up a familiarization trip to resorts in Puerto Rico for $0 behind Asshair's back.  Team members in the local office were also shocked, and wanted to take me out to lunch, which we subsequently did that Friday afternoon.  I never let on what was about to happen to the team, and left in a very professional manner. I didn't have a gig lined up, but FU money (after firing Asshair#3) made it possible to take some time, decompress, get my resume in order, and focus on getting a new gig.  I took my time, and had a new gig within 2 months - including the week in Puerto Rico!  One of the corporate VP's later asked me to lunch to understand what had happened - I told him the team did well under Bob, but Asshair#4 was no leader, and was so busy trying to look like a 'Director of Technology', that he was neglecting his main responsibilities as Development Manager.  Basically that Bob held the group together, and it fell apart under Mousey Asshair (which was the truth).

Postscript:
Most of the team transferred to other roles on other teams.  1-2 out of 20 transferred to CA.  The rest left the company... including Asshair#4 who left to become a plain old software developer at another company.  I hope for their sake that company never put him in a leadership position again.  I still have many friends from that company, and am sure I would be welcomed back with open arms, but the Asshair soured the experience.

TomTX

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1275 on: September 07, 2016, 05:10:36 PM »
I'm curious what percentage of your salary your severance was if you're willing to share?

Severance was your full salary at the rate of a week for each year of employment, so 7 weeks or not quite 14% of my annual salary.  The meeting with K the Queen of HR would have been a triumph if I could have pulled it off.   My idea (pre-mustachian, but kind of an entelechy of mustachery if only it had worked) was to be paid none of it and have the whole of the severance dumped to my 401(k), which would have put it WAY past the company match, and indeed, very close to the annual limit for that year, plus fully and immediately vested.  Alas - damned impertinent rogue of a logician HR Queen that she was - K pointed out that 401(K)s were for employees, and a person receiving severance by definition was no longer an employee.

You are receiving severance payment based on your work as employee. Most likely you were still an employee during the discussion.

By her logic, you shouldn't get that final paycheck either since you were no longer an employee.

Zaga

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1276 on: September 07, 2016, 05:23:17 PM »
I'm curious what percentage of your salary your severance was if you're willing to share?

Severance was your full salary at the rate of a week for each year of employment, so 7 weeks or not quite 14% of my annual salary.  The meeting with K the Queen of HR would have been a triumph if I could have pulled it off.   My idea (pre-mustachian, but kind of an entelechy of mustachery if only it had worked) was to be paid none of it and have the whole of the severance dumped to my 401(k), which would have put it WAY past the company match, and indeed, very close to the annual limit for that year, plus fully and immediately vested.  Alas - damned impertinent rogue of a logician HR Queen that she was - K pointed out that 401(K)s were for employees, and a person receiving severance by definition was no longer an employee.

You are receiving severance payment based on your work as employee. Most likely you were still an employee during the discussion.

By her logic, you shouldn't get that final paycheck either since you were no longer an employee.
I got a severance payment once, and it was indeed completely ineligible for 401-K.  Not even the usual amount that I had withheld, and no match.  Made me sad!

LeRainDrop

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1277 on: September 08, 2016, 08:10:14 PM »
I'm curious what percentage of your salary your severance was if you're willing to share?

Severance was your full salary at the rate of a week for each year of employment, so 7 weeks or not quite 14% of my annual salary.  The meeting with K the Queen of HR would have been a triumph if I could have pulled it off.   My idea (pre-mustachian, but kind of an entelechy of mustachery if only it had worked) was to be paid none of it and have the whole of the severance dumped to my 401(k), which would have put it WAY past the company match, and indeed, very close to the annual limit for that year, plus fully and immediately vested.  Alas - damned impertinent rogue of a logician HR Queen that she was - K pointed out that 401(K)s were for employees, and a person receiving severance by definition was no longer an employee.

You are receiving severance payment based on your work as employee. Most likely you were still an employee during the discussion.

By her logic, you shouldn't get that final paycheck either since you were no longer an employee.
I got a severance payment once, and it was indeed completely ineligible for 401-K.  Not even the usual amount that I had withheld, and no match.  Made me sad!

Severance can be structured in different ways.  Case in point, I got "severance" over a several-month period, was considered an employee during that time, employer paid my benefits as usual, and I cranked up my 401(k) contributions for those severance payments so as to max out my 401(k) account early in the year before I was no longer employed.

Bee21

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1278 on: September 09, 2016, 04:25:44 AM »
I am famously short tempered but very resilient in hopeless job situations. Until a certain point of course. I was once overworked and underpaid for a private language school for 3 years. Treated fairly poorly and expected to be grateful because i was an immigrant and what a favour they were doing me for employing me and paying me peanuts, even though i made a lot of money for them. We were in the middle of salary negotiations (with low pay, crazy hours, unfair pay as usual) when i was told that i am expected to work an additional 100 hours that year, to be on call  work on saturdays etc. I told him i would consider his generous offer, updated my cv in the library and bought the local paper. There was an ad for a one year teaching contract and they interviewed me that afternoon, offered me the job on the spot, so by 4pm i was able to tell the boss, that i am not renewing my contract. I had about 6 months worth of e fund at that time. The best thing ever.

I had 2 other lunchtime job application situations 3 years later, in a different continent, with similar results.

Job 1- weekly contracts. We found out how many days we would be teaching every Friday. One Friday morning i got a call from a temp agency that they have a monthly contract for some office job, i said yes without even asking what it was. I had about 120 dollars at that time. Told the lady who showed up with next weeks contract that she can give those days to someone else.
 
Job 2
I ended up doing an 18 month stint in that place doing some mindnumbing paper pushing.i hated the fact that they refused to offer  me a longer contract  (was renewed monthly for 18 month) even though it was obvious that they were happy with my work and they needed me. I finally had enough, applied for the first ok looking permanent job, took the new job and simply told them at the end of the month when they wanted to renew me for an other month that i am not signing it, thanks a lot for the experience but i prefer job security.

So yeah, keeping people on short term contracts indefinitely can bite you back.

I almost slammed the door on my current employer last week. Getting really close. My husbands job is a bit rocky, and i dont want both of us to be unemployed, so i just went for a loooong walk at lunchtime instead of applying for something. Must be getting old. Though we have enough to maintain the current lifestyle for a year, or indefinitely with some drastic changes, so i am tempted.Very tempted. Mmmm. Might update my cv, just in case.....

MostlyBearded

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1279 on: September 09, 2016, 08:05:35 AM »

Now my father is semi-retired working at an auto dealership driving cars around form point A to B because it is fun and he no longer needs to work thanks to incompetent manager and a sandwich.

Ha! Absolutely love this one :)

jlajr

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1280 on: September 10, 2016, 12:49:40 AM »
Well done!

And great writing. Enjoyed reading that.  :)

+1

Undecided

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1281 on: September 10, 2016, 10:11:19 AM »
Holy shit.

I don't know what I would have done in the face of that kind of loss.  Perhaps hire some out of work tattoo "artists" to emblazon "Come on -- it's Enron!" across the guy's forehead?

Easy come, easy go.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2016, 10:17:44 AM by Undecided »

FIREby35

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1282 on: September 11, 2016, 07:54:46 AM »
I have not read everyone's stories yet, but I do have my own epic FU money story.

I worked at a law firm with 13 attorneys, straight out of law school at 26. I had lots of options because I went to a regionally respected law school and finished near the top of my law class. I rejected many offers for salary positions and chose this firm because it allowed me to create my own practice. We split fees based on various percentages. There was no cap on my earnings.

Fast forward 3.5 years. I was 29 years old. My practice had exploded. There were basically two problems. First, by the time of the FU incident I was making more money than anyone in the firm and I was the youngest person there.  Second, the managing partner and the office administrator were incompetent, bitter and creating a toxic work environment.

A key part of the story is that 6 weeks prior to the FU incident, the managing partner used $10,000 of my money, without permission, to pay all the partners salaries because they had "cash flow issues." They money was paid back a week later. This signaled financial shenanigans on top of being totally, totally toxic.

One day, the managing partner approached me and said she wanted to renegotiate my deal AND audit every case for the appropriate percentage from the prior two years. The renegotiation was ridiculous. The audit was a major, totally unwarranted affront to my integrity - from a person who had just taken $10,000 of my money!

So, I went home with my wife - coincidentally an auditor and accountant. We performed the audit ourselves and ran all the numbers. I discovered that for the prior two years, less than 1% of my income had come from their referrals. I was a major profit center for the firm - generating over $250,000 for the firm over the prior 24 months. And, in fact, the toxic office administrator had intentionally mis-categorized my referrals thereby underpaying me.

Fortunately, I had been on the MMM train since the beginning and had an FU money war-chest of a couple hundred thousand dollars. Interestingly, the MMM choices had been the object of much curiosity since everyone knew I was making a lot but spending very little. Why are you riding your bike to work? Why did you buy such a "modest" house for your income. Why don't you get a new car? Those are actual comments.

So, the FU moment arrived when I delivered a renegotiated contract proposal to the partners. I proposed to pay them a flat monthly fee that amounted to 35% of what they were currently getting. I proposed that if they ever held any of my money without legal authority or permission they pay $1,000 per day for the privilege. Egg on the face of managing partner who had not advised anyone of the $10,000 "cash flow" issue or her proposed audit and renegotiation.

A comment this board will particularly appreciate in response, "We can't take this deal, we'd have to reduce our salaries and our budgets are set to our salaries." Facepalm.

During the wind up phase, the toxic, money stealing office administrator - who had been around long enough to have a way, way over-inflated sense of importance - spoke up during a tense conversation about splitting remaining funds. I looked at her and said, "You have no ownership in this firm, I have never been in business with you and don't want to hear anything you have to say." Hahahahaha. Her jaw dropped. Her upper lip trembled with rage. She didn't say a freaking word. It was the best moment of the entire thing, even better than the contract proposal.

Long story short, I opened my own law firm one week later. I now pay 20% less in overhead. I work dramatically reduced hours because I have actual, dedicated staff for just me - which they would never give me. Also, my gross receipts are up about 10% in the first 12 months. Life is good.

As a post script - the incompetent managing partner hired a guy to fill my office. Remember, that office was earning over $250,000 for the firm in the proceeding 24 months. The guy was paid a salary for six months - rather than have his pay tied to his productivity. Eventually it came out he was a total fraud who lied about being licensed in our state (he did have a different, faraway state). He even filed court documents without the appropriate license. He was fired immediately and the office remains vacant, producing zero profits. Schadenfreude? Yes.

Also as a disclaimer, there are many, many attorneys who are great at servicing their clients but not so good at business. In the event I needed legal help, I would immediately hire any of these attorneys - except the managing partner. 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.

I have an update to this story. Recently, one of the partners of this law firm left and decided to open his law firm, right across the hallway from me. I got a little inside info that had remained hidden for two years.

It turns out the Managing Partner and the toxic office administrator were totally in cahoots to oust me from the firm. After I delivered my proposal, described above, there was a meeting where the partners were going to respond. Apparently, it had been the topic of conversation that it would not make sense for me to continue to pay larger and larger sums of money and they would eventually have to change my deal - which is what I was asking for.  So, my proposal was not a surprise and they were willing to work with me.

Enter the managing partner and administrator: the administrator entered the partner meeting and tendered her immediate resignation if she had to continue to work with me. She then walked out. This would have created a temporary chaos and she was the paralegal for the firms' founder who no one would override. So, they didn't make me a counter offer and instead asked, "If we don't keep him, will Administrator come back." To which managing partner replied immediately, "I'll talk to her about that." Moments later, the resignation was withdrawn and my fate was sealed. The partner who just left the firm - because the same managing partner and toxic administrator were costing him lots and lots of money and stress, said he was in shock at how the whole group had been so masterfully manipulated.

If you recall the story from above, I told her off AFTER she had done all this. It only makes it sweeter.

As they say, living well is the best revenge. I've had my own practice for two years now. I've doubled my net worth. I work 20-30 hours less per week and make more money. Life is good. They really did me a huge favor.

P.S. My leading theory on why the office administrator wanted me gone is that if I had stayed I would have been forced to address her purposely mis-coding my cases and, thereby, underpaying me. This would have been very bad for her as a major breach of trust. So, I think she knew that if I stayed her shenanigans would become a mini-office scandal and potentially she could lose her job. She went for the jugular when she had the chance. Why the Managing Partner was so upset? I think it had to do with calling her out on the $10,000 in front of everyone. But why did they turn their eyes to me prior to the $10,000 blow up and coding discovery? I'll never really know.

arebelspy

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1283 on: September 11, 2016, 12:37:18 PM »
But why did they turn their eyes to me prior to the $10,000 blow up and coding discovery? I'll never really know.

Greed.  You were making so much, and they were going to actually have to give it to you, instead of keeping it themselves.

Thanks for the followup!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
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LeRainDrop

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1284 on: September 11, 2016, 01:19:03 PM »
But why did they turn their eyes to me prior to the $10,000 blow up and coding discovery? I'll never really know.

Greed.  You were making so much, and they were going to actually have to give it to you, instead of keeping it themselves.

Thanks for the followup!

Greed AND jealousy.  Amazing story, FIREby35!

starguru

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1285 on: September 11, 2016, 06:10:34 PM »
I have not read everyone's stories yet, but I do have my own epic FU money story.

I worked at a law firm with 13 attorneys, straight out of law school at 26. I had lots of options because I went to a regionally respected law school and finished near the top of my law class. I rejected many offers for salary positions and chose this firm because it allowed me to create my own practice. We split fees based on various percentages. There was no cap on my earnings.

Fast forward 3.5 years. I was 29 years old. My practice had exploded. There were basically two problems. First, by the time of the FU incident I was making more money than anyone in the firm and I was the youngest person there.  Second, the managing partner and the office administrator were incompetent, bitter and creating a toxic work environment.

A key part of the story is that 6 weeks prior to the FU incident, the managing partner used $10,000 of my money, without permission, to pay all the partners salaries because they had "cash flow issues." They money was paid back a week later. This signaled financial shenanigans on top of being totally, totally toxic.

One day, the managing partner approached me and said she wanted to renegotiate my deal AND audit every case for the appropriate percentage from the prior two years. The renegotiation was ridiculous. The audit was a major, totally unwarranted affront to my integrity - from a person who had just taken $10,000 of my money!

So, I went home with my wife - coincidentally an auditor and accountant. We performed the audit ourselves and ran all the numbers. I discovered that for the prior two years, less than 1% of my income had come from their referrals. I was a major profit center for the firm - generating over $250,000 for the firm over the prior 24 months. And, in fact, the toxic office administrator had intentionally mis-categorized my referrals thereby underpaying me.

Fortunately, I had been on the MMM train since the beginning and had an FU money war-chest of a couple hundred thousand dollars. Interestingly, the MMM choices had been the object of much curiosity since everyone knew I was making a lot but spending very little. Why are you riding your bike to work? Why did you buy such a "modest" house for your income. Why don't you get a new car? Those are actual comments.

So, the FU moment arrived when I delivered a renegotiated contract proposal to the partners. I proposed to pay them a flat monthly fee that amounted to 35% of what they were currently getting. I proposed that if they ever held any of my money without legal authority or permission they pay $1,000 per day for the privilege. Egg on the face of managing partner who had not advised anyone of the $10,000 "cash flow" issue or her proposed audit and renegotiation.

A comment this board will particularly appreciate in response, "We can't take this deal, we'd have to reduce our salaries and our budgets are set to our salaries." Facepalm.

During the wind up phase, the toxic, money stealing office administrator - who had been around long enough to have a way, way over-inflated sense of importance - spoke up during a tense conversation about splitting remaining funds. I looked at her and said, "You have no ownership in this firm, I have never been in business with you and don't want to hear anything you have to say." Hahahahaha. Her jaw dropped. Her upper lip trembled with rage. She didn't say a freaking word. It was the best moment of the entire thing, even better than the contract proposal.

Long story short, I opened my own law firm one week later. I now pay 20% less in overhead. I work dramatically reduced hours because I have actual, dedicated staff for just me - which they would never give me. Also, my gross receipts are up about 10% in the first 12 months. Life is good.

As a post script - the incompetent managing partner hired a guy to fill my office. Remember, that office was earning over $250,000 for the firm in the proceeding 24 months. The guy was paid a salary for six months - rather than have his pay tied to his productivity. Eventually it came out he was a total fraud who lied about being licensed in our state (he did have a different, faraway state). He even filed court documents without the appropriate license. He was fired immediately and the office remains vacant, producing zero profits. Schadenfreude? Yes.

Also as a disclaimer, there are many, many attorneys who are great at servicing their clients but not so good at business. In the event I needed legal help, I would immediately hire any of these attorneys - except the managing partner. 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.

I have an update to this story. Recently, one of the partners of this law firm left and decided to open his law firm, right across the hallway from me. I got a little inside info that had remained hidden for two years.

It turns out the Managing Partner and the toxic office administrator were totally in cahoots to oust me from the firm. After I delivered my proposal, described above, there was a meeting where the partners were going to respond. Apparently, it had been the topic of conversation that it would not make sense for me to continue to pay larger and larger sums of money and they would eventually have to change my deal - which is what I was asking for.  So, my proposal was not a surprise and they were willing to work with me.

Enter the managing partner and administrator: the administrator entered the partner meeting and tendered her immediate resignation if she had to continue to work with me. She then walked out. This would have created a temporary chaos and she was the paralegal for the firms' founder who no one would override. So, they didn't make me a counter offer and instead asked, "If we don't keep him, will Administrator come back." To which managing partner replied immediately, "I'll talk to her about that." Moments later, the resignation was withdrawn and my fate was sealed. The partner who just left the firm - because the same managing partner and toxic administrator were costing him lots and lots of money and stress, said he was in shock at how the whole group had been so masterfully manipulated.

If you recall the story from above, I told her off AFTER she had done all this. It only makes it sweeter.

As they say, living well is the best revenge. I've had my own practice for two years now. I've doubled my net worth. I work 20-30 hours less per week and make more money. Life is good. They really did me a huge favor.

P.S. My leading theory on why the office administrator wanted me gone is that if I had stayed I would have been forced to address her purposely mis-coding my cases and, thereby, underpaying me. This would have been very bad for her as a major breach of trust. So, I think she knew that if I stayed her shenanigans would become a mini-office scandal and potentially she could lose her job. She went for the jugular when she had the chance. Why the Managing Partner was so upset? I think it had to do with calling her out on the $10,000 in front of everyone. But why did they turn their eyes to me prior to the $10,000 blow up and coding discovery? I'll never really know.

Wow.  Fucking lawyers.  No offense.

If I understand correctly, they were screwing you over by reclassifying your work so they could pay you less.  I'm surprised you let that go so easily. 

Sounds like that practice has serious ethical issues.  Have you considered reporting them to any applicable oversight?

Exhale

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1286 on: September 11, 2016, 09:51:03 PM »
Asshair#2 is a combo-creature of someone I'll call Agnes - my group's test manager - and a {redacted} test-lead I'll call Luna.

Why is that relevant? Also, the term is "dyke" unless your talking about a geographical feature.
I saw that and thought it was some random car-speak that I didn't understand.

Apologies all around.  It bothered me more than anyone, and was poor attempt to be descriptive, and instead came off as offensive.  I've updated the OP to indicate the effect of the behavior - this Asshair's unwavering vehement and consistent prejudice against men (misandrist).  It was a large factor, but one I could not address, mention, or even acknowledge within the office political environment without giving the perception of being a white-male misogynist insensitive anti-feminist.  (Hopefully none of which could ever be used to validly describe *this* Mother Fussbudget)

I've updated original post, but it would require a MOD to edit quotes by others
Thanks for the follow-up and apology. Gold. Star.

Ditto and many thanks! Truly appreciate you doing this.

FIREby35

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1287 on: September 12, 2016, 06:30:24 AM »


Wow.  Fucking lawyers.  No offense.

If I understand correctly, they were screwing you over by reclassifying your work so they could pay you less.  I'm surprised you let that go so easily. 

Sounds like that practice has serious ethical issues.  Have you considered reporting them to any applicable oversight?




It was actually the non-lawyer who did the miscoding :) It wasn't a lot of money, maybe a few thousand dollars out of a few hundred thousand dollars. Also, the other attorneys in the firm are influential. For example, they could sabotage a judicial application or some other appointment. Although, with FIRE as a goal you can imagine that isn't super high on my priority list. But still, it was not really in my interest to make enemies.

FunkyStickman

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1288 on: September 12, 2016, 06:44:58 AM »
Update on my, erm, "working" situation:
They divulged info for voluntary separation packages this week.
The numbers were pretty dismal.... but it's either that, or risk getting let go and getting nothing.
We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

Wife told me "for once, I'm totally not worried. We're prepared for this financially."
Put a huge smile on my face.

Secretly Saving

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1289 on: September 12, 2016, 07:54:00 AM »
Wife told me "for once, I'm totally not worried. We're prepared for this financially."
Put a huge smile on my face.

That must have felt great.  You have the ability to weather a storm because of the financial plans you've made and you have a wife who feels confident despite the upcoming uncertainty! 

Sibley

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1290 on: September 12, 2016, 09:28:32 AM »
Wife told me "for once, I'm totally not worried. We're prepared for this financially."
Put a huge smile on my face.

That must have felt great.  You have the ability to weather a storm because of the financial plans you've made and you have a wife who feels confident despite the upcoming uncertainty!

Similar stuff at my company (it's hit the news now, so I have no fears). I'm not eligible for the voluntary separation, but I did update my resume. Don't expect anything will happen until mid 2017, if not later. And considering the number of emails I get from recruiters, I have no worries about finding a new job if its necessary.

Apples

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1291 on: September 12, 2016, 10:42:00 AM »
Wife told me "for once, I'm totally not worried. We're prepared for this financially."
Put a huge smile on my face.

That must have felt great.  You have the ability to weather a storm because of the financial plans you've made and you have a wife who feels confident despite the upcoming uncertainty!

Yes!  That's a wonderful feeling.  Well done.  My DH quit his job on the spot almost 2 years ago now, and spent 2 months going to local places sniffing out the perfect job.  We weren't worried financially in the least.  It feels so good.  Glad you guys have that.

arebelspy

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1292 on: September 13, 2016, 03:28:15 AM »
Similar stuff at my company (it's hit the news now, so I have no fears). I'm not eligible for the voluntary separation, but I did update my resume. Don't expect anything will happen until mid 2017, if not later. And considering the number of emails I get from recruiters, I have no worries about finding a new job if its necessary.

Why not be proactive and follow up with some of the recruiters now, while you don't need to, rather than hope stuff is still available when it becomes necessary?  Often worth a switch anyways for a raise.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Metric Mouse

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1293 on: September 13, 2016, 09:31:05 AM »
Wife told me "for once, I'm totally not worried. We're prepared for this financially."
Put a huge smile on my face.

That must have felt great.  You have the ability to weather a storm because of the financial plans you've made and you have a wife who feels confident despite the upcoming uncertainty!

Yes!  That's a wonderful feeling.  Well done.  My DH quit his job on the spot almost 2 years ago now, and spent 2 months going to local places sniffing out the perfect job.  We weren't worried financially in the least.  It feels so good.  Glad you guys have that.

One of the best feelings in the world, for sure.

Vertical Mode

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1294 on: September 13, 2016, 10:46:17 AM »
Similar stuff at my company (it's hit the news now, so I have no fears). I'm not eligible for the voluntary separation, but I did update my resume. Don't expect anything will happen until mid 2017, if not later. And considering the number of emails I get from recruiters, I have no worries about finding a new job if its necessary.

Why not be proactive and follow up with some of the recruiters now, while you don't need to, rather than hope stuff is still available when it becomes necessary?  Often worth a switch anyways for a raise.

Also take into account that, if layoffs happen in bunches, you're going to be competing with a flood of others for the same positions. If you reposition yourself ahead of the wave, you're off-peak relative to when all of your former colleagues are looking. Who's to say that these same recruiters aren't also talking to your coworkers?

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1295 on: September 13, 2016, 11:08:00 AM »
Similar stuff at my company (it's hit the news now, so I have no fears). I'm not eligible for the voluntary separation, but I did update my resume. Don't expect anything will happen until mid 2017, if not later. And considering the number of emails I get from recruiters, I have no worries about finding a new job if its necessary.

Why not be proactive and follow up with some of the recruiters now, while you don't need to, rather than hope stuff is still available when it becomes necessary?  Often worth a switch anyways for a raise.

Also take into account that, if layoffs happen in bunches, you're going to be competing with a flood of others for the same positions. If you reposition yourself ahead of the wave, you're off-peak relative to when all of your former colleagues are looking. Who's to say that these same recruiters aren't also talking to your coworkers?

I've heard more than one story here of people, amidst rumors of layoffs, were proactive and found a great new job before they happened, while everyone else stayed, clutching their job hoping to survive.  Everyone that got cut was now competing with everyone else for the few jobs out there, often taking something lower paying because it's all that was left.  If you have a year I'd start considering offers, even if you're really picky about them.

TheBeardedIrishman

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1296 on: September 13, 2016, 11:18:41 AM »
My fu moment came in February  of this year after three years in sales making a ton of money as a young lad however I caught my higher up management taking money out of my comission and putting it into their own . . STEALING.. when I started asking questions they become very defensive. . So I quit right after making a sale. . Literally walked out and said I am going in a different direction. . Fast forward to now my wife and I own our own company buying and selling real estate and we have double our net worth within that time frame. . I often want to call and instead of saying fu  say thank you so so much for what you did. .

Dicey

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1297 on: September 14, 2016, 10:41:12 AM »
My fu moment came in February  of this year after three years in sales making a ton of money as a young lad however I caught my higher up management taking money out of my comission and putting it into their own . . STEALING.. when I started asking questions they become very defensive. . So I quit right after making a sale. . Literally walked out and said I am going in a different direction. . Fast forward to now my wife and I own our own company buying and selling real estate and we have double our net worth within that time frame. . I often want to call and instead of saying fu  say thank you so so much for what you did. .
Loved your last sentence! Badass indeed.

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1298 on: September 14, 2016, 10:48:55 AM »
Wife told me "for once, I'm totally not worried. We're prepared for this financially."
Put a huge smile on my face.

That must have felt great.  You have the ability to weather a storm because of the financial plans you've made and you have a wife who feels confident despite the upcoming uncertainty!

Similar stuff at my company (it's hit the news now, so I have no fears). I'm not eligible for the voluntary separation, but I did update my resume. Don't expect anything will happen until mid 2017, if not later. And considering the number of emails I get from recruiters, I have no worries about finding a new job if its necessary.

How to do you initially connect with recruiters?

Sibley

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Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #1299 on: September 14, 2016, 12:06:37 PM »
Wife told me "for once, I'm totally not worried. We're prepared for this financially."
Put a huge smile on my face.

That must have felt great.  You have the ability to weather a storm because of the financial plans you've made and you have a wife who feels confident despite the upcoming uncertainty!

Similar stuff at my company (it's hit the news now, so I have no fears). I'm not eligible for the voluntary separation, but I did update my resume. Don't expect anything will happen until mid 2017, if not later. And considering the number of emails I get from recruiters, I have no worries about finding a new job if its necessary.

How to do you initially connect with recruiters?

In my case, they connect with me on linked in. I ignore them.