I ordered the FreeBSD cd, and the credit card was declined. That's odd. It's a company credit card. "Oh, we didn't get the payment there in time. Wait a couple of days and try it again." Denied again. Finally I just gave it to the accounting folks, and the cd showed up like 2 weeks later. That was but a small hint of things to come.

The owner's daughter has been hired as a purchasing/accounting type person to help our growing pains since my boss quit. She is now in his office, which she and the owners keep locked. This is pointless because everyone in the office has a key. When we were told she was coming in to work, it was originally to do pro bono work on a regular 9 to 5 schedule. She wouldn't be paid at first. Then we found out that she was being paid for the time that she was "working" (which she really wasn't working), but her check was coming out of our San Jose office. This wasn't too bad. I didn't mind as long as my hard work wasn't paying for her sorry butt.

Then when my boss quit we got told she'd be working regular shifts with us as our purchasing agent, and she'd be in his office. Her paycheck also now comes out of our coffers (which are already lean enough as it is). To date, she has come in on time only once or twice. Now I run a laid back schedule. If you're within 15-20 minutes of the mark, you're there on time. Our hours are typically 9-5. If you make it in by 9:20 or so I'm not complaining. She came in at 10:00 or so today, and I was utterly amazed. Typically she shows up anywhere between 12:30 and 3:00 (which does us no good because the day is more than half gone at that point).

Let's make it interesting while we're at it. Monday afternoon at about 4:30, I turn around in our office to see someone completely foreign walk into our nether areas towards our community sink. My co-werker and I both looked at each other with the same thought written on our faces: "Who the fuck was that, and why is he back here?" My co-werker left shortly thereafter without saying anything. As I was walking out at 5:15, I noticed she was in her office, her sister was there, both of their boyfriends were there (one of them was the strange fellow we'd seen a few minutes prior), and 2 other people were there that I had no idea who they were. One of them was at our main accountant's computer plucking away at something. That is a security breach of monumental proportions.

I took it upon myself as lead tech basically (which I'm not really, my co-werker and I are equals...but I have more brass) to install Windows 2000 professional on the main accountant's system. This would then remove any possibility that some chucklehead would be logging onto that machine without some serious know-how. Next day, I got a phone call from the owner. "Why did you put Windows 2000 on that machine?" He really tried to dress me down, but I stuck to my guns. I explained to him the exact circus that the office had become, and I told him exactly how I had put the installation on the machine (by removing the original drive to preserve it, and replacing it with a better drive). I explained to him that it was a security risk that he might be able to live with, but I was not about to accept under any pretense.

My dressing down got a little lighter at that point, though I sensed he was still miffed at me. Now they have taken the original drive from off my desk and hidden it in the "locked" office. These kinds of high schoolish antics might fly somewhere else, but this is not professional behavior. This man entrusts me with a very large portion of his company's assets and responsibilities. Yet when I make an on the spot decision that affects the security and management of our local office, he flies off the handle. Very unprofessional, in my opinion. Maybe I did overstep my bounds on that machine, but someone had to ante up the sack to do it.

Those are just the least of our worries. This morning the company cell phones got turned off for lack of payment. All 3 of the owner's daughters have cell phones. I'm curious to know if their cell phones were turned off as well for lack of payment. I know the owner's wasn't turned off because if it was, he'd be out of a job down in the San Jose office. I also found out (on the lowdown) from the main accountant that the health insurance will not be renewed when the time comes. We have heard nothing on either issue from the owner or his wife (co-owner and finance manager). They didn't tell us the phones were going down. I needed it very much this morning and it wasn't available. I have 6 saved voicemails I need to respond to. I can't get to them because of this now. The health insurance isn't such a big deal for me. I can live without it because I very rarely see the doctor, and I don't lead an active, risky lifestyle. What galls me is the fact that we haven't been told any of this yet.

This tells me that they do not consider us to be people who are in the same boat. They don't realize that we have a lot invested in this company as well. I will grant you, I don't have near as much the financial stake that they have invested, but my co-werker is in his 40's. He doesn't have a lot of options when this company goes out of business. This company is going out of business. They can't live without me at the moment, and if the owner has to replace me it'll take him away from his responsibilities in the San Jose office. That'll force that office to close, and it's the only office making money at the moment.

I used to be happy at this job. Even with my old boss's micromanagement, I was happy. I woke up in the morning, and I smiled a cheery smile as I downed 44 ounces of Pepsi. Now I wake up with the thought: "Fuck, I have to go to work." It courses through my head first thing every morning now. That's not how I want to be.

It's time to rebuild the resume. I have to go find a little slice of happiness somewhere else.
posted at 11:37 PM