Set the Date: Out with the Old, In with the New

I finally decided upon the date to leave the company and told the new Management about it. Otherwise, it will be impossible for me to keep my sanity. Every single day is a struggle. I have never seen people changing their minds about everything so frequently.

I have made a list of what I should accomplish before leaving the company.

My set date is March 1st 2019. Of course, this date may change. It is not set in stone but, for me, it is something that makes me calmer. Now, I have something to work and look for.

Our Office assistant decided to leave within a few months as well. The Accounting Company to whom we outsource the accounting business has also declared that they will no longer be in the picture after the end of this year. So, come next year, the place will look very different.

I am also leaving the Studio Apartment within 10 days or so. For about 10 months it will be a hassle to go to work and come home but, that's doable. 

I am saving like crazy. My plan after quitting is to go back to working part-time on a few select projects that come my way. My passive income is enough to handle my living expenses and the extra I might be making will be for travel and home improvement projects.

I am financially independent as of now but, adding some more on top of my savings will help a lot more in the long run.

I am also thinking of not buying a car at least for a while. It makes a lot more sense to use ZipCar and similar services. I will give it a shot for at least three months to see if that works but there is still a looong time to consider all these.

Decision Making and Responsibility: Out with the Old, In With the New

I am being buried under loads of work lately. On top of that, everybody is asking me everything.

I am so tired of having to answer all questions.

- The lawnmover is broken. What should we do?
- Get it fixed if fixing costs below such and such amount.

- We shall be letting this person go. What should we do?
-Ask the lawyer.
- The lawyaer says this and that. How should we proceed?
- Do this and that.

- May I leave ten minutes early?
- Yes.

- So and so has worked all night, shall I give him the day off?
- Yesss! Sure! (Or rather no, make him work like a slave so that he finally leaves the company and sues our artses off).

All day long I probably answer 100 questions 95 of which are plain simple or dumb. I simply cannot concentrate.

And no, they are not asking me all the time just because they look up to me or they value my opinion or they find me reliable. They are asking because they do not want to take on the responsibility associated with decision making.

Today, I stayed home to catch up on my work in silence. Thankfully, I only got 20 calls or so.

S.IT LOAD OF TROUBLE... LITERALLY TOO! : OUT wıth the OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

About 10 days ago, a bunch of idiots working on a construction project about half a mile from my office drilled and busted the sewage pipe and poured down concrete. Before anyone realized what was happenning, the sewage backed up and started filling our garden that is lower than the street level.

Basically people's s.it, is now sitting in our garden. The smell is mighty horrid, the garden looks like a swamp and the Landlord refuses to help. So, we decided to evacuate as soon as possible and started looking for probable office spaces. Needless to say, we will be suing the Landlord.

Our Office Assistant and I have visited several places with a realtor and came up with 3 alternatives. Tomorrow, we shall be showing those places to the CEO, CFO and the architect to decide which will serve our purposes best.

In any case, we cannot be out of this place before late April.

The ex-boss is glad, he barely escaped this hellhole. We always had small issue with the electricity and the infrastructure but the beauty of our garden and the peaceful location made it worth staying over here.

Now, we will be moving to a plaza type of office space with a Mall or very close to one and life will be different.

I am sure, the Mall will have a terrible effect on most of our staff's finances but they have to grow up and manage their money.

That's why I have been MIA lately. Too much stress... I am trying to cope with it by seeing my friends after work and during the weekend. I miss my mom but, do not have the time to go to Ankara these days. Let me sign off for now and call mom to see how she is doing.

Nobody puts T'pol in a Corner- Out With the Old, In With the New

You may recall the below scene:

Since I do not have hunky Patrick Swayze around, I had to stand up for myself.

I had summarized the application cost issue that I mentioned in my previous post and sent it to the new guy recommending to take smaller steps since it will end up being very costly.

Instead of thanking and saying "let's talk about it tomorrow. It does sound expensive but, I think we can justify that expense" or something like that, he chose to say:

"I cannot make you understand the urgency of this matter. Financial sector has been on the decline and we need all sorts of reports... blah blah... Your ex-boss must have hidden these facts from you etc." He also cc'ed the new CFO.

I took the CFO out and wrote to him:

"Your below comment was truly unnecessary especially with the CFO included. Besides ex-boss did not need to share with us anything. It was his boat, we merely worked for him".

My ex-boss is a very intelligent young man and he knew that doing what we do, it would not be possible to grow as a company. He needed to take risks which he was not willing to take. Therefore, he sold the company. SMART is written all over his story.

He responded by saying he did not mean to break my heart. So, obviously, he does not even realize that I am pissed, not heart broken.

This was strike 1 on his part and duly noted.

After all those due diligence work, these shmucks probably did not know what they were getting into.

Now I am changing my attitude. There have been issues pending due to cost reasons. Next week, I am inviting all subcontractors to provide quotes for whatever is necessary. I will bombard them with all these expenses and justify how important they are including the application. It will cost a ton of money and so be it.

Envy of Sisyphus- Out with the Old, In with the New

The new CEO is a bit too enthusiastic and energetic for the time being. He suggests something and when we tell him that it doesn't quiet work that way, he wants to try it anyhow and arrive at the same conclusion himself.

No problem! His time, his energy... Kind of like Sisyphus. I like him. He is always nice and smiling. Just a bit hyper, that's all.

The problem is, they have set out to change a lot of things all at once before understanding how everything works. They will lose more sleep than they intend to but, I guess, it is a part of learning.

For instance there is an application that we use to track sales and we chose to use it at a very basic level up until now. It is USD 25 per person per month and it works.

The new CEO comes from an international organization and he is used to the Enterprise edition of this application. The cost? USD 150 per person per month. In our case, only 7 people use it actively. If we decide to make it organization-wide, that will have to be USD 150x30 versus USD 25x7. Big difference... No?

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW PART -3

Yesterday, my boss got paid for the sale of the company and signed the final contract. The celebration in the evening was at Zuma. It was bittersweet for me.

The venture capital employees, their lawyers, my ex-boss (whom I consider a brother from now on), his financial consultant, his three lawyers and I was there along with the new boss and the new CFO. I and my boss  managed to sit next to each other. He shared little tidbits from his day and we had good laughs. He kept giving me very valuable key points. I guess the rest of the people who did not know us well enough, finally  understood the strong bond between us.

The food was superb but I doubt that I would go there out of my own budget unless it is a very special occasion. So expensive!

I am 51 and I was the oldest person at that dinner table. I feel old!

Since we all live in the same neighborhood and since, I do not drink much at all, I drove both my old and new bosses to our office to pick up their cars. (our office is in the same neighborhood that we live). The head of the venture capital company kept telling me my cargo was too precious so, I should be careful. I told him, I intended to kidnap them both and ask for hefty ransoms. Lol!

Today they packed the ex-boss' personal belongings and it was a sad look. That office will never be the same without him.

Well, it is the end of an era for sure...

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW - 2

Today is the day our boss gets his money and then signs the final contract. Tonight there will be a celebration dinner with a few of his close circuit including yours truly and the new management.

This week, the new management upset me by offering a very small raise to my salary and two added bonuses at the end of the year, if the goals are met. I challenged it and had my salary increased by 13% plus one bonus salary at the end of the year.

Yesterday they have sent a contract which has very risky issues for me to sign and I told them I needed time to go over it with "my lawyer". After I said that they told me to take the time to do so seemingly impressed that I already have a lawyer. Huh! Who do you think you are dancing with?

I cannot accept any risks that would be a potential problem for my money in the bank and my possessions. I have worked 30 years to have what I have and there is 0 risk I am willing to take. Unfortunately the New Trade Law in this country is loaded with lots of risky issues for upper management of corporations. Very stupid but it is what it is. Well, call me a consultant, I do not need to be a COO.

These things are popping at the very last minute and are being handled very unprofessionally for an investment company that has many acquisitions already. Their communication sucks.

We shall see how we will handle this contract which I am not willing to sign as is. If it is a deal breaker, let it be.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW - 1

Yesterday, I made an announcement to the company inviting everyone to a barbecue party next Friday to say goodbye to our beloved Boss. I just cannot believe it is time to say goodbye. Needless to say, it is very emotional for all of us so, it took a lot of thinking on my part to write what I wrote. I did not want to make it too mushy, or sad, or too much fun or too much anything. After I finished and sent it to All, I went to the garden, sat on a bench with a cup of tea and cried my heart out.

Here is what I ended up writing:

"Dear ACME Family,

It is almost time for dear John's promotion from being our boss to brother for all of us.

The barbecue on the 19th will be the means to wish him all the best in his new chosen path of his life journey.

We thank him for building this successful company that many envy, for choosing us as his team mates and we all wish, his decision will carry him on to health, happiness and joy filled new adventures.

Taking the opportunity, from the bottom of my heart, I wish all of us that this important change in our lives will be the best for all."

Writing these simple sentences took me a good half hour.

Everybody chipped in for a gift and I added the extra required to buy him a Boss watch from all of us and we are making a huge card with photos and our signatures to be given to him on the 19th.

Very difficult...

An idea...

I think, the change in management will occupy my thoughts in the coming few months during which I will need to keep my cool and observe and evaluate and eventually decide my next course of action.

There are a few things that are important:

1. Respect for me, my team and our soon to be ex-boss. I do not think I can handle bad-mouthing anything we have done before.
2. The way the new team interact with me like; whether they will see me as a part of the new team or a representative of the old "regime".
3. My salary.

Since I am paying a family debt, the logical thing is to stay until at least that debt is gone which is September 2019. That is a long time and patience is not a virtue of mine. However, if I act out of logic instead of emotions, I can make this work.

Writing is a great outlet and coping mechanism so, I decided to use it. I have a handful of readers here but they all comment and write positive feedback. I thank all of you guys for that very much.

I want to come up with a special heading where I will talk about only what is happening at work and how I am coping with all that. So, anyone who doesn't want to read about that can skip it.

I am thinking of using OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW as a standart header. I will also use a special tag so that, I can differentiate my normal posts from work related posts.

I have been accumulating funny, stupid, weird things from my previous jobs with the intention to sit down and write my memoirs some day. A special tag and a special heading will help for that too.

I thought about a new blog dedicated for this but, no! That is too much for me to deal with. This is my place and I like it just the way it is.

The Meeting

The Meeting went well. He told me a little about the assesment but, he said that I am a critical asset at least five times. He also signaled that the result of the assesment is not all that important.

It looks like they need me and I am happy to stay unless the new CEO is a total jerk lol!

He also told me that my Technical Team Manager will also be assessed. Now that worries me. He is an incredible smart guy, self-motivated, devoted to his job. However as I have been informed, this particular assessor is a bit aggresive and very direct. My guy operates on a somewhat short fuse. I do not want him to flunk this.

I have a friend who is a coach and I am going to visit him tonight to seek his help and pick his brains. May be if he has time, he can sit down with my Technical Team Manager and give him some clues as to have to handle the assesment.

I feel like I am responsible for all of the current staff and that it is my duty to keep them well informed, motivated and also to keep them from being mistreated in terms of salaries and benefits in the new organization. Since this is a major change, the current staff needs to be encouraged and motivated to embrace this change and turn it into something that benefits them. They are good people.

What a challenge this is gonna be! Unless the new CEO is a total jerk (I am a bit old school and have a problem with big egos. I like to be respectfully treated).