Author Topic: Epic FU money stories  (Read 2794910 times)

WhiteTrashCash

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1983
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3500 on: December 10, 2020, 11:41:01 AM »
The biggest $ FU money story of all time:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/tesla-elon-musk-california-texas
Bye Felicia
Fellow Californian, laughing right along with you...

Yeah, I don't know why people think this is such a great thing, because now Elon Musk has to live in Texas. Ew.

Can confirm. Live in Texas. The tax savings are very much a 'you get what you pay for' kind of situation.
If you are as rich as Musk you more or less have your own small country surrounding you and it will be much the same wherever you are.

Which only further begs the question that if you can live anywhere,  why would you live in a shitty climate like Texas?

Because Texas is probably going to leave him alone and do whatever he wants. Regardless if it's a good idea or not.

Musk is also wealthy enough that he doesn't need to do his own shopping, so he won't encounter the wingnuts who open carry assault rifles to the grocery store in Texas.

AlanStache

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3166
  • Age: 44
  • Location: South East Virginia
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3501 on: December 10, 2020, 12:05:01 PM »
Moving to Texas would let him be more hands on with StarShip and the giga-factorie(s?) opening there .  StarShip is the path for him to become even more insanely rich and fulfill one of his major stated goals of getting people off this isolated single rock.  Also he was vocally opposed to the California covid restrictions vs Texas having fewer restrictions.  At this point he no longer needs to be around the west coast tech/vc infrastructure - they will come to him when he wants them.

BicycleB

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5259
  • Location: Coolest Neighborhood on Earth, They Say
  • Older than the internet, but not wiser... yet
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3502 on: December 10, 2020, 01:27:45 PM »
The biggest $ FU money story of all time:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/tesla-elon-musk-california-texas
Bye Felicia
Fellow Californian, laughing right along with you...

Yeah, I don't know why people think this is such a great thing, because now Elon Musk has to live in Texas. Ew.

Can confirm. Live in Texas. The tax savings are very much a 'you get what you pay for' kind of situation.
If you are as rich as Musk you more or less have your own small country surrounding you and it will be much the same wherever you are.

Which only further begs the question that if you can live anywhere,  why would you live in a shitty climate like Texas?

LOL.

Just got back inside after a brisk masked 45 minute stroll in my backyard. Tromping a lovely figure 8 of sorts there due to personal quarantine. Clear blue skies, 76 degrees F, the gentlest of breezes rustling the leaves. Terrible climate. Terrible!


haflander

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 379
  • Age: 33
  • Location: Dallas
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3503 on: December 10, 2020, 01:36:40 PM »
LOL.

Just got back inside after a brisk masked 45 minute stroll in my backyard. Tromping a lovely figure 8 of sorts there due to personal quarantine. Clear blue skies, 76 degrees F, the gentlest of breezes rustling the leaves. Terrible climate. Terrible!

Agree. Beautiful day in Big D as well, 78 right now. T-shirt and shorts, multiple walks with the dog outside, not to mention "working" from the patio.

Don't ask about August, though.

mm1970

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 10859
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3504 on: December 10, 2020, 02:37:45 PM »
LOL.

Just got back inside after a brisk masked 45 minute stroll in my backyard. Tromping a lovely figure 8 of sorts there due to personal quarantine. Clear blue skies, 76 degrees F, the gentlest of breezes rustling the leaves. Terrible climate. Terrible!

Agree. Beautiful day in Big D as well, 78 right now. T-shirt and shorts, multiple walks with the dog outside, not to mention "working" from the patio.

Don't ask about August, though.
Yeah, about 5-10 years ago my old boss and a different friend were trying to lure me to Dallas.  It was summer.  Hard no thanks.

Uturn

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 889
  • Age: 54
  • Location: Raleigh, NC
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3505 on: December 10, 2020, 02:51:05 PM »
I lived in Fort Worth most of my life, moved to NC about 3 years ago.  I have been back to DFW 3 or 4 times, and each time I think "nope, still don't miss it."

zolotiyeruki

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5591
  • Location: State: Denial
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3506 on: December 10, 2020, 03:23:33 PM »
I used to live in the Houston area.  I hated the climate.  But that was about the only I thing I disliked.  Everything else was fantastic--the people, the food, low housing prices, good schools, low taxes...

Psychstache

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1585
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3507 on: December 10, 2020, 04:29:33 PM »
I lived in Houston for 20 years. Hot and humid as balls and it rained at least once a day.

Lived in San Antonio for about 4 years. Hot as balls.

Currently live in Dallas and I've been here for about 10 years. hottest balls and then it also gets ridiculously cold sometimes.

Don't let a handful of days this time of year and like a week in April fool you. The climate here is shit and I stand by that statement.

haflander

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 379
  • Age: 33
  • Location: Dallas
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3508 on: December 10, 2020, 05:39:39 PM »
I lived in Houston for 20 years. Hot and humid as balls and it rained at least once a day.

Lived in San Antonio for about 4 years. Hot as balls.

Currently live in Dallas and I've been here for about 10 years. hottest balls and then it also gets ridiculously cold sometimes.

Don't let a handful of days this time of year and like a week in April fool you. The climate here is shit and I stand by that statement.

Ok, now you've really lost any and all credibility. Let someone from the Midwest or Northeast chime in and tell you what ridiculously cold actually means.

RyanAtTanagra

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1316
  • Location: Sierra Mountains
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3509 on: December 10, 2020, 05:50:43 PM »
Ok, now you've really lost any and all credibility. Let someone from the Midwest or Northeast chime in and tell you what ridiculously cold actually means.

Let's not.  Can we get back on topic?

dandarc

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5433
  • Age: 41
  • Pronouns: he/him/his
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3510 on: December 10, 2020, 06:00:15 PM »
Ok, now you've really lost any and all credibility. Let someone from the Midwest or Northeast chime in and tell you what ridiculously cold actually means.

Let's not.  Can we get back on topic?
It was late December of 2007. The City of Lansing, MI had just run out of salt for the roads, with no end to winter in sight. I got a call from a recruiter - "we have a position open on a project with the Florida Department of Children and Families." I didn't have much money, but I had some. That tiny pile of FU money gave me just enough of a sense of security to give my notice and take the new job in the warmer climate - started January 8th if I recall correctly.

Close enough?

RyanAtTanagra

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1316
  • Location: Sierra Mountains
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3511 on: December 10, 2020, 06:20:59 PM »
Ok, now you've really lost any and all credibility. Let someone from the Midwest or Northeast chime in and tell you what ridiculously cold actually means.

Let's not.  Can we get back on topic?
It was late December of 2007. The City of Lansing, MI had just run out of salt for the roads, with no end to winter in sight. I got a call from a recruiter - "we have a position open on a project with the Florida Department of Children and Families." I didn't have much money, but I had some. That tiny pile of FU money gave me just enough of a sense of security to give my notice and take the new job in the warmer climate - started January 8th if I recall correctly.

Close enough?

Good segway.  Bravo and thank you :-)

Alternatepriorities

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1632
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Alaska
  • Engineer, explorer, investor
    • Alternate Priorities
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3512 on: December 10, 2020, 07:05:33 PM »
Ok, now you've really lost any and all credibility. Let someone from the Midwest or Northeast chime in and tell you what ridiculously cold actually means.

Let's not.  Can we get back on topic?

Come on, it will be fun... I'd like to submit that "ridiculously cold" starts around -55 F when even the winter diesle/heating oil gels up and won't flow out of the tanks into the furnace anymore. Though I'd be willing to hear arguments for -44 F when propane stays a liquid at atmospheric pressure and the kitchen stove stops working.

Bring it back to the topic at hand, I submit that the warm comforting feeling of looking out the window at a fat pile of firewood in the yard as the mercury freezes solid (-38F) is very similar to the feeling of seeing a nice fat FU fund in the bank when the boss makes your blood boil!

markbike528CBX

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1899
  • Location: the Everbrown part of the Evergreen State (WA)
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3513 on: December 10, 2020, 07:31:01 PM »
-55F might be where the orange paint peals off the black boxes.

LennStar

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3672
  • Location: Germany
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3514 on: December 11, 2020, 04:24:05 AM »
-55F might be where the orange paint peals off the black boxes.
You win the Jackpot.

BlueHouse

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4132
  • Location: WDC
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3515 on: December 11, 2020, 06:05:05 AM »
then eventually the side gig became profitable enough that they quit their day jobs.

That might be the reason right there!

Holding someone back to force loyalty. Not really the person I would want to work for.

I used to think of this as salaried employees should be giving all their brain CPU cycles to the company.  Now that I have a life outside of my job, I no longer feel that way (for me), but I've seen enough people abuse their positions and "double dip" by doing outside work on company time that it still makes me leery.  And for a salaried employee, what exactly is "company time" vs. non-company time?  Most of my great ideas come to me at 4:30 am or in the shower in the morning. 

Then again, I just came to the conclusion that I've spent my entire life anxious about work --- even when I'm completely prepared and ready for anything, I'm still stressed and anxious. 

Anyway, FU money means I no longer care about this and people can do whatever they want.

snowball

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 274
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Montreal
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3516 on: December 11, 2020, 08:18:10 AM »
The fact that I have enough money now for leanFIRE is...increasingly turning me into a loose cannon at work, it seems.  (Might lead to an epic story eventually.  For now, I give you an anecdote.)

A few weeks ago I had a brilliant realization that I don't think would ever have come to me back in the days when I was more concerned about holding onto my job.  Context: The nameplates on our office doors consist of a plastic holder with a slip of paper, your name and title printed on it.  Normally Facilities staff come swap out the paper when an office is reassigned or a title changes.

But it's just a piece of paper.  Eminently self-replaceable...

And - my job title is so boring.  Hardly an incentive to continue OMY'ing, though my employer knows not that this is what I am doing.  But really, for my employer's own good, clearly my boring title is a morale / staff retention issue that needs to be addressed (she says virtuously).

Thought led to action within the hour, and thus...my new job title was born.

So far no one's noticed the change except a few people I pointed it out to, who found it hilarious.  I bet I can go literally years without anyone noticing on their own, especially since I retained the first couple of words from my official title.  You'd have to keep reading to notice, and who does that?  (I guess I will find out!)

My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.
« Last Edit: December 11, 2020, 08:23:30 AM by snowball »

Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 22281
  • Age: 66
  • Location: NorCal
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3517 on: December 11, 2020, 08:24:07 AM »
-55F might be where the orange paint peals off the black boxes.
Is there a ringing sound when that happens?

Adventine

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2422
  • Location: Memphis, USA
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3518 on: December 11, 2020, 08:39:13 AM »
The fact that I have enough money now for leanFIRE is...increasingly turning me into a loose cannon at work, it seems.  (Might lead to an epic story eventually.  For now, I give you an anecdote.)

A few weeks ago I had a brilliant realization that I don't think would ever have come to me back in the days when I was more concerned about holding onto my job.  Context: The nameplates on our office doors consist of a plastic holder with a slip of paper, your name and title printed on it.  Normally Facilities staff come swap out the paper when an office is reassigned or a title changes.

But it's just a piece of paper.  Eminently self-replaceable...

And - my job title is so boring.  Hardly an incentive to continue OMY'ing, though my employer knows not that this is what I am doing.  But really, for my employer's own good, clearly my boring title is a morale / staff retention issue that needs to be addressed (she says virtuously).

Thought led to action within the hour, and thus...my new job title was born.

So far no one's noticed the change except a few people I pointed it out to, who found it hilarious.  I bet I can go literally years without anyone noticing on their own, especially since I retained the first couple of words from my official title.  You'd have to keep reading to notice, and who does that?  (I guess I will find out!)

My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.

Got any openings for Team Coordinator for Rainbow Sparkles?

Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 22281
  • Age: 66
  • Location: NorCal
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3519 on: December 11, 2020, 09:13:50 AM »
The fact that I have enough money now for leanFIRE is...increasingly turning me into a loose cannon at work, it seems.  (Might lead to an epic story eventually.  For now, I give you an anecdote.)

A few weeks ago I had a brilliant realization that I don't think would ever have come to me back in the days when I was more concerned about holding onto my job.  Context: The nameplates on our office doors consist of a plastic holder with a slip of paper, your name and title printed on it.  Normally Facilities staff come swap out the paper when an office is reassigned or a title changes.

But it's just a piece of paper.  Eminently self-replaceable...

And - my job title is so boring.  Hardly an incentive to continue OMY'ing, though my employer knows not that this is what I am doing.  But really, for my employer's own good, clearly my boring title is a morale / staff retention issue that needs to be addressed (she says virtuously).

Thought led to action within the hour, and thus...my new job title was born.

So far no one's noticed the change except a few people I pointed it out to, who found it hilarious.  I bet I can go literally years without anyone noticing on their own, especially since I retained the first couple of words from my official title.  You'd have to keep reading to notice, and who does that?  (I guess I will find out!)

My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.

Got any openings for Team Coordinator for Rainbow Sparkles?
I'd hire you for that job in a heartbeat. Oh, wait...I'm FIRE.

Adventine

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2422
  • Location: Memphis, USA
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3520 on: December 11, 2020, 09:16:35 AM »
@Dicey for you, this sparkle specialist will always work for free ;)

Plina

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 663
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3521 on: December 11, 2020, 09:26:35 AM »
then eventually the side gig became profitable enough that they quit their day jobs.

That might be the reason right there!

Holding someone back to force loyalty. Not really the person I would want to work for.

I used to think of this as salaried employees should be giving all their brain CPU cycles to the company.  Now that I have a life outside of my job, I no longer feel that way (for me), but I've seen enough people abuse their positions and "double dip" by doing outside work on company time that it still makes me leery.  And for a salaried employee, what exactly is "company time" vs. non-company time?  Most of my great ideas come to me at 4:30 am or in the shower in the morning. 

Then again, I just came to the conclusion that I've spent my entire life anxious about work --- even when I'm completely prepared and ready for anything, I'm still stressed and anxious. 

Anyway, FU money means I no longer care about this and people can do whatever they want.

I think it is enough if I give my 40 hours per week as average of my brainpower  to the company. That is what they pay me. Some weeks it is less and some weeks it is more. My brain is unfortunately sometimes unable to shut off and steals a bit more brainpower. Because I have flexible workhours I don’t see it as as problem to do personal things during a workday, but I would not double dip.

I have never felt that I can’t express my opinion at a workplace but I also realize I care less about company bs the more money I have.

techwiz

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3716
  • Location: Ontario
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3522 on: December 11, 2020, 10:17:53 AM »
The fact that I have enough money now for leanFIRE is...increasingly turning me into a loose cannon at work, it seems.  (Might lead to an epic story eventually.  For now, I give you an anecdote.)

A few weeks ago I had a brilliant realization that I don't think would ever have come to me back in the days when I was more concerned about holding onto my job.  Context: The nameplates on our office doors consist of a plastic holder with a slip of paper, your name and title printed on it.  Normally Facilities staff come swap out the paper when an office is reassigned or a title changes.

But it's just a piece of paper.  Eminently self-replaceable...

And - my job title is so boring.  Hardly an incentive to continue OMY'ing, though my employer knows not that this is what I am doing.  But really, for my employer's own good, clearly my boring title is a morale / staff retention issue that needs to be addressed.

Thought led to action within the hour, and thus...my new job title was born.

So far no one's noticed the change except a few people I pointed it out to, who found it hilarious.  I bet I can go literally years without anyone noticing on their own, especially since I retained the first couple of words from my official title.  You'd have to keep reading to notice, and who does that?  (I guess I will find out!)

My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.

Love it.

We have done the same at our office, putting up nicknames, motivational/humorous additions.  We do not have clients coming to our cubicles and now with working from home those little moral boosting titles don't get seen at all. 

« Last Edit: December 11, 2020, 11:49:16 AM by techwiz »

lhamo

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3075
  • Location: Seattle
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3523 on: December 11, 2020, 11:14:56 AM »
The fact that I have enough money now for leanFIRE is...increasingly turning me into a loose cannon at work, it seems.  (Might lead to an epic story eventually.  For now, I give you an anecdote.)

A few weeks ago I had a brilliant realization that I don't think would ever have come to me back in the days when I was more concerned about holding onto my job.  Context: The nameplates on our office doors consist of a plastic holder with a slip of paper, your name and title printed on it.  Normally Facilities staff come swap out the paper when an office is reassigned or a title changes.

But it's just a piece of paper.  Eminently self-replaceable...

And - my job title is so boring.  Hardly an incentive to continue OMY'ing, though my employer knows not that this is what I am doing.  But really, for my employer's own good, clearly my boring title is a morale / staff retention issue that needs to be addressed (she says virtuously).

Thought led to action within the hour, and thus...my new job title was born.

So far no one's noticed the change except a few people I pointed it out to, who found it hilarious.  I bet I can go literally years without anyone noticing on their own, especially since I retained the first couple of words from my official title.  You'd have to keep reading to notice, and who does that?  (I guess I will find out!)

My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.

Got any openings for Team Coordinator for Rainbow Sparkles?

I can send you my C.V that shows I am eminently qualified for Senior Technical Advisor, Doing Whatever the Fuck I Want Division.

desk_jockey

  • CM*MW 2023 Attendees
  • Bristles
  • *
  • Posts: 326
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3524 on: December 11, 2020, 11:54:15 AM »
Thought led to action within the hour, and thus...my new job title was born.
[...]
My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.

Yes, self-confidence in one’s ability and standing within the company multiplied by FU money should lead to new and improved job titles.   An abbreviated version of my official job title is Bid Manager.   On multiple occasions in internal use, that title has been changed to Bid Messiah. 

Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 22281
  • Age: 66
  • Location: NorCal
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3525 on: December 11, 2020, 12:15:29 PM »
@Dicey for you, this sparkle specialist will always work for free ;)
Awww, but instead of working, let's play together instead. After the pandemic, of course.

Aegishjalmur

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 293
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3526 on: December 11, 2020, 01:42:40 PM »


My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.

That is hilarious.... The sad part is that most people are so burned out on buzzwords and business speak that they will assume it's just an obscure code or new phrase and will not question it as they don't want to appear out of the loop....

Alternatepriorities

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1632
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Alaska
  • Engineer, explorer, investor
    • Alternate Priorities
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3527 on: December 11, 2020, 01:44:40 PM »


My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.

That is hilarious.... The sad part is that most people are so burned out on buzzwords and business speak that they will assume it's just an obscure code or new phrase and will not question it as they don't want to appear out of the loop....

I start to tune out about the third buzzword.

markbike528CBX

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1899
  • Location: the Everbrown part of the Evergreen State (WA)
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3528 on: December 11, 2020, 04:12:21 PM »


My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.

That is hilarious.... The sad part is that most people are so burned out on buzzwords and business speak that they will assume it's just an obscure code or new phrase and will not question it as they don't want to appear out of the loop....

I bet people assume it is a variation on "agile" , I mean if you can have a scrum leader, the idea of Dragons dropping Pixiedust isn't that farfetched.

snowball

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 274
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Montreal
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3529 on: December 11, 2020, 05:52:04 PM »


My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.

That is hilarious.... The sad part is that most people are so burned out on buzzwords and business speak that they will assume it's just an obscure code or new phrase and will not question it as they don't want to appear out of the loop....

I bet people assume it is a variation on "agile" , I mean if you can have a scrum leader, the idea of Dragons dropping Pixiedust isn't that farfetched.

Lol, this is not that sort of workplace.  Pretty conservative, too.  If this came to the attention of the powers that be, I would definitely be told to take it down...though I don't think I'd be fired.  (But if I were?  Awesome epic FU story I'd be telling for the rest of my life!  So, not a deterrent.)

LennStar

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3672
  • Location: Germany
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3530 on: December 12, 2020, 06:30:48 AM »
My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.
Sound cool to me! You certainly don't want to be without one when a Dragon turns up spraying Pixiedust everywhere.

Did you get that from a book or so? I am quite sure I read (very similar) that before somewhere. Sounds like something Terry Pratchett would put onto his door when he was still PR guy for an atomic power plant. But I don't think it's from there.

Since I always correct the commas of my boss, maybe I should rename myself Senior Advisor for Arcane Epistemological Grammatical Correctness.

You guys know what? I open a thread. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/your-fu-job-title/
« Last Edit: December 12, 2020, 06:38:46 AM by LennStar »

Zaga

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2903
  • Age: 44
  • Location: North of Pittsburgh, PA
    • A Wall of Hats
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3531 on: December 12, 2020, 07:25:14 AM »
One time someone gave my husband the nametag maker at his job at the movie theater.  So for awhile he was "Thagar, Destroyer of Worlds, Taker of Tickets".

His boss thought it was funny so he got to keep it.

Mr. Green

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4485
  • Age: 40
  • Location: Wilmington, NC
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3532 on: December 13, 2020, 04:52:47 PM »
So far no one's noticed the change except a few people I pointed it out to, who found it hilarious.  I bet I can go literally years without anyone noticing on their own, especially since I retained the first couple of words from my official title.  You'd have to keep reading to notice, and who does that?  (I guess I will find out!)

My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.
This jogged a memory from a dark time in my career.

In my early 20's I worked a tech job in a fairly toxic environment where a lot of money was being thrown around. I changed the nameplate on the wall of my cubicle to say "BOLO" (be on the lookout). Below that I had the quote "Status is buying things you can't afford to impress people you don't even like." I was pretty bitter. Lol

No one ever said anything.

NorCal

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1454
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3533 on: December 14, 2020, 07:20:32 AM »
So far no one's noticed the change except a few people I pointed it out to, who found it hilarious.  I bet I can go literally years without anyone noticing on their own, especially since I retained the first couple of words from my official title.  You'd have to keep reading to notice, and who does that?  (I guess I will find out!)

My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.
This jogged a memory from a dark time in my career.

In my early 20's I worked a tech job in a fairly toxic environment where a lot of money was being thrown around. I changed the nameplate on the wall of my cubicle to say "BOLO" (be on the lookout). Below that I had the quote "Status is buying things you can't afford to impress people you don't even like." I was pretty bitter. Lol

No one ever said anything.

I love these petty forms of subversion.

Mine was my second deployment to Iraq, and I was DONE with the whole thing. 

One of my jobs was keeping track of all 750 of our people.  I had to know who was in country, who was on leave, who was in the hospital, etc.  I would stand up in our morning meetings and brief the commander on what had changed in the prior day.  Everyone listened to me drone on, no one cared, but I had to do it anyway.

One day, the Good Idea Fairy decides to put this whole briefing in PowerPoint and have the whole presentation loop 24 hours a day to make the TOC (tactical operations center) look high-tech out of a movie.  Since no one cared about my in-person briefing, I knew they could care less about my PowerPoint slides.

I updated the slides for about three days.  Then I decided to see how long I could go without updating the slides before someone noticed.

Those slides were not updated for the remaining 8 months of the deployment.  Even as I briefed different numbers every single day.

LennStar

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3672
  • Location: Germany
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3534 on: December 14, 2020, 08:56:11 AM »
Did the slides include a date?

BicycleB

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5259
  • Location: Coolest Neighborhood on Earth, They Say
  • Older than the internet, but not wiser... yet
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3535 on: December 14, 2020, 09:30:47 AM »
I once attended an accounting class by a guy who used to run a bank. He started out in tech support, more or less, during the early computer days when the "computer department" generated reports because no one else had computers.

When he became department head, there were 150 reports generated for the company. His first act was to stop sending them. His plan was to permanently cancel any report that no one requested during the next 90 days. Half of the reports died.

He didn't have to leave his job to say FU to unnecessary work!

markbike528CBX

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1899
  • Location: the Everbrown part of the Evergreen State (WA)
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3536 on: December 14, 2020, 12:18:13 PM »
I once attended an accounting class by a guy who used to run a bank. He started out in tech support, more or less, during the early computer days when the "computer department" generated reports because no one else had computers.

When he became department head, there were 150 reports generated for the company. His first act was to stop sending them. His plan was to permanently cancel any report that no one requested during the next 90 days. Half of the reports died.

He didn't have to leave his job to say FU to unnecessary work!
Wow, real life TPS reports.

dandarc

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5433
  • Age: 41
  • Pronouns: he/him/his
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3537 on: December 14, 2020, 02:18:55 PM »
I once attended an accounting class by a guy who used to run a bank. He started out in tech support, more or less, during the early computer days when the "computer department" generated reports because no one else had computers.

When he became department head, there were 150 reports generated for the company. His first act was to stop sending them. His plan was to permanently cancel any report that no one requested during the next 90 days. Half of the reports died.

He didn't have to leave his job to say FU to unnecessary work!
Wow, real life TPS reports.
Ours was called "Project Tracking System" - PTS - at large mutual insurance company I worked for out of college. My direct boss back then had a striking resemblance to Milton.

ysette9

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8930
  • Age: 2020
  • Location: Bay Area at heart living in the PNW
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3538 on: December 15, 2020, 08:42:14 PM »
Oh god, the meaningless reports.

I took a manager position at a test laboratory and I got this stack of reports delivered to my desk on weekly metrics. You can imagine that with a department of engineers and a lot of repetitive tests you can generate an almost unlimited number of reports. I had the guy in charge sit down and explain them all to me and realized that most were legacy things for an odd-duck manager who had been retired for years but had ruled with such an iron first that a lot of his nonsense policies were still in place. I took pleasure in first axing the dead tree weekly ritual and then working with my counterpart leading a sister lab to pare down the reports to only those that were actually meaningful.

It feels sacrilegious  as an engineer to say no to more data and graphs but there really is a thing as too much.

Same company, different job, my name plate was under a small section of the cubicle farm titled “Entropy Studies”.

BicycleB

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5259
  • Location: Coolest Neighborhood on Earth, They Say
  • Older than the internet, but not wiser... yet
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3539 on: December 15, 2020, 09:13:11 PM »
Really titled "Entropy Studies"? And you had to cut down the reports that were continuing by momentum? LOL

SwordGuy

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8944
  • Location: Fayetteville, NC
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3540 on: December 15, 2020, 09:15:05 PM »
Oh god, the meaningless reports.

I took a manager position at a test laboratory and I got this stack of reports delivered to my desk on weekly metrics. You can imagine that with a department of engineers and a lot of repetitive tests you can generate an almost unlimited number of reports. I had the guy in charge sit down and explain them all to me and realized that most were legacy things for an odd-duck manager who had been retired for years but had ruled with such an iron first that a lot of his nonsense policies were still in place. I took pleasure in first axing the dead tree weekly ritual and then working with my counterpart leading a sister lab to pare down the reports to only those that were actually meaningful.

It feels sacrilegious  as an engineer to say no to more data and graphs but there really is a thing as too much.

Same company, different job, my name plate was under a small section of the cubicle farm titled “Entropy Studies”.

I used to work for a Dutch multi-national shipping firm.    One of the megacorporation companies had a business deal where they prepared a report, then went thru a manual ritual to confirm that their printed report matched their business partner's printed report.   It gets better.   The business partner company was purchased by the megacorporation and then they were migrated to work off the exact same database.

And, you guessed it, they still met to manually confirm that their printed reports matched!   Took them years before someone figured it out!

Alternatepriorities

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1632
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Alaska
  • Engineer, explorer, investor
    • Alternate Priorities
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3541 on: December 16, 2020, 12:12:31 AM »

I used to work for a Dutch multi-national shipping firm.    One of the megacorporation companies had a business deal where they prepared a report, then went thru a manual ritual to confirm that their printed report matched their business partner's printed report.   It gets better.   The business partner company was purchased by the megacorporation and then they were migrated to work off the exact same database.

And, you guessed it, they still met to manually confirm that their printed reports matched!   Took them years before someone figured it out!

They weren’t meeting to review that report in Aruba by any chance?

SwordGuy

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8944
  • Location: Fayetteville, NC
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3542 on: December 16, 2020, 06:52:29 AM »
Nope.  Rotterdam.  Even the Dutch didn't like Rotterdam. :)

snowball

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 274
  • Age: 43
  • Location: Montreal
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3543 on: December 16, 2020, 06:09:08 PM »
My new title? Section Head, Dragon and Pixiedust Wrangling.
Did you get that from a book or so? I am quite sure I read (very similar) that before somewhere. Sounds like something Terry Pratchett would put onto his door when he was still PR guy for an atomic power plant. But I don't think it's from there.

Possibly I did?  I don't think so, but I've read a LOT of books in my life, lol.  Things do pile up in your subconscious.

Hmm.  Now that I think on it, it may have been partially inspired by the Head Bug Wrangler title that Kareen Koudelka snags instead of lab assistant in A Civil Campaign...

GeeVee

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 11
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3544 on: December 19, 2020, 09:34:30 AM »
Only a small story.. I am a senior manager at a small sized company and usually swan around in the office pretending to be a SWAMI. One day the company owner said to me “Don’t get me wrong, but you don’t work over-time”. I replied “Don’t get me wrong, but I have a life”.

I do a very specialized job at the firm and am a major fee earner for the company. The owner wanted to hire a guy from outside the industry to become the general manager to alleviate his work load.  Anyway, I laughed and said “I will not accept a manager who is going to tell me how I will do my job. I will stick a note on my door stating ‘No talk. No touch. No eye contact”.

General manager from outside the industry is hired and starts overseeing the entire company but me to his great annoyance. I report directly to the owner of the company when and if necessary, but usually am doing my own thing solving complex client problems and taking care of internal company issues. General manager tried to boss me around, but I shut him down immediately politely and professionally. Being a pretend SWAMI rocks..I will act for the good of the company only and disregard office politics. Just 3 years more of being pretend SWAMI..then I will be the real thing.
 
« Last Edit: December 19, 2020, 09:37:05 AM by GeeVee »

BicycleB

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5259
  • Location: Coolest Neighborhood on Earth, They Say
  • Older than the internet, but not wiser... yet
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3545 on: December 19, 2020, 03:07:13 PM »
Only a small story.. I am a senior manager at a small sized company and usually swan around in the office pretending to be a SWAMI. One day the company owner said to me “Don’t get me wrong, but you don’t work over-time”. I replied “Don’t get me wrong, but I have a life”.

I do a very specialized job at the firm and am a major fee earner for the company. The owner wanted to hire a guy from outside the industry to become the general manager to alleviate his work load.  Anyway, I laughed and said “I will not accept a manager who is going to tell me how I will do my job. I will stick a note on my door stating ‘No talk. No touch. No eye contact”.

General manager from outside the industry is hired and starts overseeing the entire company but me to his great annoyance. I report directly to the owner of the company when and if necessary, but usually am doing my own thing solving complex client problems and taking care of internal company issues. General manager tried to boss me around, but I shut him down immediately politely and professionally. Being a pretend SWAMI rocks..I will act for the good of the company only and disregard office politics. Just 3 years more of being pretend SWAMI..then I will be the real thing.

A hard but good line you take there, much respect @GeeVee. Epic in that you act confidently while not actually FI. Epic!

GeeVee

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 11
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3546 on: December 20, 2020, 04:44:26 AM »
Thank you, @BicycleB. Over the years, I have seen the ego inflating effect the title manager has on people and have found those people incredibly boring. As such, I am trying to be the manager which I would like have had myself, somebody who will stand up for what they believe is right and protect people who need protection regardless of the fall out. I also treat the owner of the company with kindness and take over work from him as well when he gets overwhelmed.

On the other hand, a coworker said that “you can try to mess with Geevee, but the last thing you want is Geevee messing with you.”  Kindness should not be taken as weakness. I have very firm boundaries.

Sandi_k

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1536
  • Location: California
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3547 on: December 20, 2020, 11:07:47 AM »

Hmm.  Now that I think on it, it may have been partially inspired by the Head Bug Wrangler title that Kareen Koudelka snags instead of lab assistant in A Civil Campaign...

Love the reference to LMB - my favorite SF series of all time. I <3 Miles.

Wolfpack Mustachian

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1864
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3548 on: January 01, 2021, 06:53:49 PM »
FU money moment: One day before vacation, learn that I have a new "interim" boss in the monthly revolving door that is management. Then that afternoon, email says that new boss wishes to meet *later* that afternoon. Then in the evening, new boss texts me several more times to meet. Did not reply. The last thing I needed was some seed of concern planted in my mind right before vacation by my interim boss! Thx, FU money!

This is great! Avoiding nonsense like whatever "emergency" needs your attention by someone who doesn't even know anything that's going on because they're new to their own job right before you're going to be on vacation and not work on it is a wonderful FU money application!

Fru-Gal

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1174
Re: Epic FU money stories
« Reply #3549 on: January 01, 2021, 07:52:15 PM »
Thx for getting it exactly, @Wolfpack Mustachian -- I proudly shared this with my mom & she did not get it at all LOL. Hmm maybe because I did not say anything about FU money? Regardless, does not 100% require FU money to do this, this is basic mental health preservation/boundary-setting.