Some People Never Learn
It's already Wednesday, but it feels like it should be Friday. Though, I have to work this Saturday so I don't know if this Friday is actually something to look forward too. It's been a pretty shitty week so far. When I left Friday after work it looked as though it was going to start raining. And it has rained up here ever since! Tomorrow or Friday were only supposed to get "scattered showers" but then back to straight rain until Monday or Tuesday. Lucky for me I have about a mile walk everyday outdoors.
Work has been pretty shitty this week as well. I've mentioned in the past about some of the run-ins I've had with the sales team. Their shit is ongoing, but there are peaks and valleys to their constant flow of shit. The past few weeks, we seem to be peaking. And just when you think you hit the peak, the prove you wrong and bring it up a notch. I've worked with some assholes in the past. But I have to say this group is the biggest bunch of assholes I've ever had to deal with. And their boss is an ok dude, but he never seems to learn. They bitch to him that customer service is making their life hell, he bitches to my boss, who comes to me, then I give him proof that it's not me or my team, its them and that we're just the scapegoats. He then goes back to the other dude, tells him it's his team's fault and then it just gets lost. Nothing gets done with it. I first came into control of some of the Canadian functions for my company almost a year ago and problems in his part of the organization were common then. They've gotten worse over time and much worse since we've moved operations here to Montreal. But one would think that gee, your team bitches to you, without hard concrete evidence, and you run calling for my head, then you get bitchslapped cuz you're wrong and you should have looked into things more first. Nah, not in this case. At times its amusing but many times its just a pain in the ass. Cuz I end up spending a good amount of my valuable time digging through issues to prove it's not my teams fault.
It's great cuz he'll go to my boss and use the "well John's young, and his team is inexperienced" ploy and when I come out the victor in 90% of these battles, I look even better. But what the fuck!? We work for the same company. Instead of working with me, they work against me. My boss is definitely aware of the situation as he doesn't come to me as often, though I know the sales VP goes to him just as often. But yet, I still spend time doing this just in case there is actually something we did wrong and that will just make his case stronger. But still its a huge pain in my ass and I don't think they'll ever learn. Kinda like a tard sticking his hand in a fire, getting burned, then doing it again right away and repeating the process.
The thing is that being the sales team, him and his department actually make the revenue that runs the company. Customer Service is a cost center that doesn't directly bring in new revenue. So if my boss was ever put in a situation where he had to choose between me and the other dude, well, I'd be sent packing. That's another reason why I play the game carefully.
Which brings me to my next gripe... I mentioned last week that I was going to try to have a discussion with the boss regarding my future up here. Whether I should just not renew my visa and stuff in October, or plan to stay on for the extra year. Well, he was out on Tuesday which is when we were supposed to have our weekly meeting and today I could have had that meeting, but with all the sales bs, I didn't want it to seem like I was using that as the basis for my wanting to discuss this topic. As in "solve the sales problem or come October, I'm gone". And there was no way I could have brought both things up in the same meeting and not sounded like one was going to influence the other. So I chose against having that discussion. The sad thing is, I can put up with the bullshit. What concerns me is what plans are going to be for next year and everything. So hopefully this shitstorm will start to bottom out soon and then I can broach that subject carefully in the coming weeks. Again, I honestly would love to stay up here longer than just the next 6 months (wow, I can't believe I've had a place here for 6 months already), but my status in the country is dependent on my job status. And if I have no job status, then well, I have to get out of the country with relative haste. That means, I have to cough up the money to move, break my lease, start a new lease in the States, again have to file taxes in the US and Canada. A lot of extra bullshit that I'd prefer not to be thrown into if I don't have to be. So hopefully it works out for the better.
Work has been pretty shitty this week as well. I've mentioned in the past about some of the run-ins I've had with the sales team. Their shit is ongoing, but there are peaks and valleys to their constant flow of shit. The past few weeks, we seem to be peaking. And just when you think you hit the peak, the prove you wrong and bring it up a notch. I've worked with some assholes in the past. But I have to say this group is the biggest bunch of assholes I've ever had to deal with. And their boss is an ok dude, but he never seems to learn. They bitch to him that customer service is making their life hell, he bitches to my boss, who comes to me, then I give him proof that it's not me or my team, its them and that we're just the scapegoats. He then goes back to the other dude, tells him it's his team's fault and then it just gets lost. Nothing gets done with it. I first came into control of some of the Canadian functions for my company almost a year ago and problems in his part of the organization were common then. They've gotten worse over time and much worse since we've moved operations here to Montreal. But one would think that gee, your team bitches to you, without hard concrete evidence, and you run calling for my head, then you get bitchslapped cuz you're wrong and you should have looked into things more first. Nah, not in this case. At times its amusing but many times its just a pain in the ass. Cuz I end up spending a good amount of my valuable time digging through issues to prove it's not my teams fault.
It's great cuz he'll go to my boss and use the "well John's young, and his team is inexperienced" ploy and when I come out the victor in 90% of these battles, I look even better. But what the fuck!? We work for the same company. Instead of working with me, they work against me. My boss is definitely aware of the situation as he doesn't come to me as often, though I know the sales VP goes to him just as often. But yet, I still spend time doing this just in case there is actually something we did wrong and that will just make his case stronger. But still its a huge pain in my ass and I don't think they'll ever learn. Kinda like a tard sticking his hand in a fire, getting burned, then doing it again right away and repeating the process.
The thing is that being the sales team, him and his department actually make the revenue that runs the company. Customer Service is a cost center that doesn't directly bring in new revenue. So if my boss was ever put in a situation where he had to choose between me and the other dude, well, I'd be sent packing. That's another reason why I play the game carefully.
Which brings me to my next gripe... I mentioned last week that I was going to try to have a discussion with the boss regarding my future up here. Whether I should just not renew my visa and stuff in October, or plan to stay on for the extra year. Well, he was out on Tuesday which is when we were supposed to have our weekly meeting and today I could have had that meeting, but with all the sales bs, I didn't want it to seem like I was using that as the basis for my wanting to discuss this topic. As in "solve the sales problem or come October, I'm gone". And there was no way I could have brought both things up in the same meeting and not sounded like one was going to influence the other. So I chose against having that discussion. The sad thing is, I can put up with the bullshit. What concerns me is what plans are going to be for next year and everything. So hopefully this shitstorm will start to bottom out soon and then I can broach that subject carefully in the coming weeks. Again, I honestly would love to stay up here longer than just the next 6 months (wow, I can't believe I've had a place here for 6 months already), but my status in the country is dependent on my job status. And if I have no job status, then well, I have to get out of the country with relative haste. That means, I have to cough up the money to move, break my lease, start a new lease in the States, again have to file taxes in the US and Canada. A lot of extra bullshit that I'd prefer not to be thrown into if I don't have to be. So hopefully it works out for the better.
posted by Surviving In The Burbs at 4/27/2005 08:25:00 PM
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