What is up, peeps?! I am back after a brief one day hiatus (Margaritas fucking rule. That is all, I don’t care if it is a gay drink) and I am happy to say I have landed on my feet. A few call backs and an interview already so things are going alright. Not from the specific job I WANT but you cant win them all. Its about who you know, not what you know and I am living proof of that shit.
So today I am going to do something rather rare. Usually I get on here and I rant or I call women stupid or Black people stupid and as we all know I have been very good at that. However, I am not going to do that today. I am actually going to tell you about someone that has done more for me in only five months of knowing him than anyone else that isn’t related to me. Oh, and hasn’t let me crash on a couch drunk. This man is hands down my favorite manager ever. Bar none.
This person took a chance on me when no one else would. I was in a weird situation at my previous/current/previous/now current again (NEW HAPPENINGS!) employer where I needed to have VP approval to return. I interviewed for six jobs in which I was told SPECIFICALLY that they wanted me on their team but they did not want to go through the process of getting the signatures. I understand that rules are rules no matter how shitty but that is fucking stupid. So several times I had to go through the rigmarole of pulled offer letters and broken promises before finally, at the urging of another friend and former teammate, this man took a chance on me. He put HIS name and HIS reputation on the line to bring me in because he believed in me. Now I have a reputation around this company of being….a man of extremes. I am either joking around and having fun or I am digging in someone’s ass for not doing their job correctly and that is looked at as being very….well, crazy. You know what? He didn’t care. I have only had one other manager tell me that he/she believed in me and sincerely mean it and he was one of them. I may seem like a jaded, foul-mouthed, disrespectful prick but that meant a lot to me. More than any award or accolade I ever received from anyone else because I know damn well he meant it.
It wasn’t how he treated me that made me happy to work for him or made me post this. It was how he treated EVERYONE. He has been with said company for almost 10 years and he has worked for, with and over a LOT of people. You know what? I never found anyone that said a negative thing about him. NO ONE. Now you know damn well you know five people that don’t like YOU right now (Hell, I can name ten people off top of head that don’t like me. IN THIS ROOM!) so you know how difficult it is to make a good impression on people. Even with that difficulty, everyone I ever met that knew him said that he was the best manager or the best teammate they ever had. That is real talk right there. HIP HOP LINGO! I know for a fact that when I told people I was working for him they all said “He’s freaking awesome” or “You have a great leader in your corner” which made me happy to come to work everyday. Not for the company because I trust them less than R.Kelly at an 8th grade Sadie Hawkins Day dance with video equipment and 10 gallons of water. I worked, and his team worked…for him.
We respected him. Now I cannot speak for everyone and for anonymity reasons I keep names out except the people you already know (Or are on my friends list on MySpace in which you know the rules. My friends are fair game to my wrath!) but I can honestly say that there isn’t a person on my team that didn’t enjoy working for the man. Hell, other teams begged to come to his team because of how awesome a unit he had put together and how great of a manager and leader (Two separate things no matter what your directors say) he was. His employees respected him, peers respected him and most importantly those above him USED THE HELL OUT OF HIM. We all know that in corporate America when people abuse you for your skill and use your ideas as their own that sadly it is a sign that you are doing a great job.
Not going to go into specifics but needless to say no matter how great you are people will do anything to save themselves. When put in a corner you see the best out of people and you also see how spineless, cowardly and overall douchebagish people can be. He got screwed over and I will leave it at that. I will say this though and leave it at that: more people think highly of this man than want to bitchslap those in charge. Trust me; if anyone needed a bitchslap it was those asshats. More people asked about his wellbeing than I have ever known after what happened. That is a sign of respect and admiration that very few will ever have from me. I am talking David Hasselhoff/The Rock/Optimus Prime respect. Okay…maybe not Optimus Prime:
Sorry, NO BODY TOPS PRIME! Still mark out for this scene 20 plus years later! Man…that is totally a recap of what happened to him. CORPORATE AMERICA IS MEGATRON….but no where near as badass. Oh, back to the point. I want to end this with one statement someone told me: “He brought me in and I don’t want to work for anyone else.”
That says more about him than anything else I could type so I will end it with that. That is dedication. That is well past ballin. That is….Burtonesque.
Okay, I was just looking for a reason to put a “Big Trouble In Little China” clip up. Jack Burton is the man and you know it. I had to put something up about how I felt because he deserves it. Much like I deserve me some Mandy Moore but…not until she lifts that restraining order. The law is a cruel, cruel mistress. I will be back up tomorrow. Stay up, peeps.
AND 28 MORE DAYS UNTIL IRON MAN!
Chachi Out.
