Yeah, so I guess I owe an explanation.
The new job is going well, productivity wise and project coolness wise, but damn, the boss and I are not getting along for the past couple weeks and I’m not sure how long we’re going to be able to keep it together. I don’t like going in in the morning and when I’m leave for the day I have to recharge my attitude so that I’m not a prick to everyone I come across.
As the saying goes “The struggle is real.”
Sorry y’all, but I walked blindly into a den of stress junkies. I’m about solutions, and I have solutions to that which ills the shop, but not the power to enact them. I’m working on it, but in the mean time, I’m an insufferably rude asshole.
Find somewhere else to go that will appreciate your talent.
My favorite expression when my boss bothered me was always, “You know, a nickel an hour would move me?”. He always decided he needed me more then I need him. (And I always had something else out there.) Hell, one time I took two weeks of vacation to try another job that a friend had set me up with. Made ~two grand on my vacation, heh,heh.
Sorry to hear that it’s become so hard to go in every day, especially when you think that solutions are obvious. Hope things improve, but maybe that’s why the last guy left. He may’ve given up on changin’ something that’d had too much momentum to bend its course.
1) Swallow the bile, at least for several weeks; smile, wave, be a team player.
2) While swallowing, investigate other options. There may be some.
3) Fully understand the principle of “act in haste, repent in leisure.”
4) Consider starting your own business
a) Investigate – fully and completely – what that means
1) Money (up front for space, equipment, supplies, support staff, etc.)
2) Cash flow (future money, especially “when” and “how much”
a) customers-the people who provide that money
b) effort require to obtain and keep customers
b) resource availability (employees, outside support (bookkeeping, etc.)
c) credit (inventory suppliers, equipment suppliers, etc.)
5) Evaluate marriage/partnership in light of #4, a) through c)
6) Plan
1) accumulate resources ($$$)
2) accumulate resources (partner/marriage support)
3) establish financial foundation for startup VERY lean years
4) establish fallback plan ($$$ in case it doesn’t work out)
7) ACT !!
1) find new employer(s) more suited to you
2) pull plug, build own business
8) THINK OUTSIDE THE %@#$* BOX. Sometimes, becoming a production shop is the right answer, sometimes becoming a very small high precision specialty shop is the answer. Do not ever forget that there is considerable overlap in those two extremes. That overlap often pays lots of bills. You will have to pursue the business in any event, prepare for that.
At a minimum, consider what/who you are versus “needs of the business.” What is it actually that the biz does, and how does it do it, are you the right person for that particular mission, is it the wrong mission for you as a person. If it’s a production shop, perfection gets in the way; if it’s a precision detail shop (“specialty fabricator”) volume production techniques get in the way. Ask for outside consultation (NOT people in any possible way associated with the biz, however remotely – it WILL get back that you’re asking “impertinent” questions). Is your problem with ownership, management or staff? What is your level of influence? Were you hired for your skill or your vision? Or, were you just a “good hand” that was available to fill a need?
Nothing wrong with starting your own shop, just be sure you’re intellectually, emotionally, financially and matrimonially prepared for that particular hardship, because it is a severe hardship, certainly for the first few years, sometimes longer. And, that you have a fallback plan, especially a financial one. Two fallback plans is better.
What are the odds that the boss will listen, AND, do something?
Merle
Thanks for not being an insufferable rude asshole when we had lunch. You’ll figure it out. Of that I am sure.