Fifth Avenue Forum

First week of August...not the first Monday...

Why not the Monday?

Too many people are miserable on Monday, IMO. Want to catch somebody on a "happier" day.

I think he's calling back to a discussion we had a while ago about what the first week of the month is. First full week, not a Monday that falls on the 31st (partial week).

Haha nah, I just know that on a Monday - especially if that's one day past the time I was given - I don't want to be hassled by that. That's not where my mind is...

Let the person get into their work week, let them accomplish all the **** they need to accomplish after they do all the work they didn't feel like doing on Friday afternoon...just let them breathe...

Calling on the Monday immediately after a vague "deadline" expiration is like your friend saying, "I'll pick you up for lunch at noon" and then at 12:05 you text them, call them, and leave a voicemail in a 30 second span for me...I really don't like it.

Tuesday, mid-late morning or later, I think you're in the clear. That's my life though...

Is it also true not to follow up on Thursday afternoons or Fridays because people might forget to respond? Is that actually a thing?

Umm, I'm not sure I subscribe to that one. Especially the Thursday thing. Thursday is a legit work day. Friday morning is probably fair game. But after that, I mean, you're just putting yourself in a bad spot. If you try to get something done on a Friday afternoon and they lose it or lose track of it...then you're in a position where you have to do the "double text"...you have to follow up on your follow up and no one likes that...you're not some 19 year old intern trying to make it in sports where you're just hiding behind plants and waiting in parking lots just trying to get four minutes of some former athlete's attention to get a job...

Also, nothing I ever say is "true" really...I'm just out here saying stuff how it looks to me haha...I've had hire/fire power for years now, I dislike someone who doesn't work at my company calling me on a Monday after I told you I'd get back to you on that previous Friday especially...

^^^ True

So at the beginning of the year my boss, who was a colossal dadhole but probably only really bugged me specifically once in the year I worked or him- was removed from my department and replaced by a guy I knew pretty well, a director in the department where I’m a Sr. Manager. Really good guy. We get along pretty well. Working for him however is not going well. After 18 years of hands off bosses including a former Nuclear sub commander (new guy also a Navy guy) this guy wants to look over my shoulder constantly, question everything I do... offer suggestions that I’m not yet that Comfortable pushing back on him about....After 18 years of being trusted to do what it takes I feel like I’m failing even if he has not said so.

18 years seniority means this is a golden handcuff job and it is highly unlikely I’d get the same salary and bonus elsewhere- with two kids in college next year I need to stick around, but this royally sucks.

In an IS town hall right now. First order of change, white list/black list is no longer allowed, and is replaced by allow list/block list - not deny, but block.

*hopes they block fifthavenueforum.com*

*calls meow's IS staff to have fifthavenueforum.com blacklisted denied blocked*

So at the beginning of the year my boss, who was a colossal dadhole but probably only really bugged me specifically once in the year I worked or him- was removed from my department and replaced by a guy I knew pretty well, a director in the department where I’m a Sr. Manager. Really good guy. We get along pretty well. Working for him however is not going well. After 18 years of hands off bosses including a former Nuclear sub commander (new guy also a Navy guy) this guy wants to look over my shoulder constantly, question everything I do... offer suggestions that I’m not yet that Comfortable pushing back on him about....After 18 years of being trusted to do what it takes I feel like I’m failing even if he has not said so.

18 years seniority means this is a golden handcuff job and it is highly unlikely I’d get the same salary and bonus elsewhere- with two kids in college next year I need to stick around, but this royally sucks.

From a 3rd party with massive limitations on knowledge of the situation. This reads like a boss I had that was trying to learn what I did and would ask questions that seemed like they were challenging my competency, but were really methods to understand and try to improve my workflow. Unsure if that is the situation here, but maybe try a quick check on yourself with this mindset and see if it helps you make it more manageable.

In an IS town hall right now. First order of change, white list/black list is no longer allowed, and is replaced by allow list/block list - not deny, but block.

The redhats are going to be confused.

The town hall then went into the financial situation. IS needs to drop 10% of labor costs, and we're doing that with mandatory PTO. Not sure if it'll be enough, though. Next steps are mandatory 90-day furlough ("temporary", though I would take that with a grain of salt). If that isn't enough, some could be looking at pay cuts in the form of hours - keep the same salary, but cut our hours down. Again, said it was temporary, but who knows. Fun times indeed.

If I get furloughed, so I still work, just for free? I'm confused by this.

If I get furloughed, so I still work, just for free? I'm confused by this.

Nope, it's unpaid furlough, so you're basically 'temporarily' unemployed. You can file for UC benefits and all.

Furlough means that you can apply for government assistance, but you are still considered recoverable for the company the furloughed you. So you are unemployed, but with a job that can recall you whenever. Its like common people waivers.

If I get furloughed, so I still work, just for free? I'm confused by this.

Nope, it's unpaid furlough, so you're basically 'temporarily' unemployed. You can file for UC benefits and all.

Don't you keep your healthcare benefits when furloughed?

If I get furloughed, so I still work, just for free? I'm confused by this.

Nope, it's unpaid furlough, so you're basically 'temporarily' unemployed. You can file for UC benefits and all.

Don't you keep your healthcare benefits when furloughed?

We were told that we would keep our benefits, yes. I only receive vision benefits through my employer, as my wife's has better medical/dental coverage.

I don't think I'll be personally furloughed, but probably a few of my staff will be. We really run at minimum staff, so that should be interesting.

Somebody in leadership created a formula for figuring out who would be furloughed if it came to it. Judging by the criteria and scoring, I should be safe if it came to that, but you never know. I don't want to see anyone furloughed if at all possible.

All right, I got one for yous...

Our company gave the hook to six people as a result of decreased business. Our pay periods are twice monthly. They end on the 10th and 25th of each month. There has been some ongoing talk about layoffs and the like, so it's not a complete surprise to anyone.

So, Friday...the 24th...rolls through and no action was taken. Even though I was informed I'd be losing a couple people from my team (who I had loaned out for months anyhow). So I was like, "hmph, cool, maybe they found a way to keep these people..."

Monday rolls around, it's late morning...maybe 11 am, a little after...I have two missed calls from our legal guy and a Teams message. So I give him a call back and he goes, "hey, do you have another contact for [canned employee]?" and I said, "I have his cell phone number, just like you do...but nothing else." He goes, "Yeah, that's not working...straight to a full voicemail."

Naturally, I said, "well, just contact him on his work email or work phone." ...he responds, "We already shut those off."

So I closed the conversation with, "Well, he's gonna figure it out sooner or later then, eh...?"

So I'm thinking that that's an unfortunate way to find out in that one instance...but why are we gassing people mid-Monday morning on the first day of a new pay period anyhow...? That's dumb. Plant/grow.

I talked around with a couple people throughout the day and it turns out that they did it with all of them...cut the lines, then called. And I was like, "wow, that's really jacked up..."

A later conversation with someone says, "I guess we didn't learn a lesson I guess." And I said, "What do you mean?" He goes: A couple weeks ago when they let [some other chick] go, they cut her off the day before, she had to call her boss and say she was locked out...she was told to come in with all of her computer equipment so that IT could look at it, as she brings it in, they snag her as she's walking in the door and give her the ax.

And I thought, "Nah, no chance that's true..." so I pursued the rumor with someone else that doesn't talk to my original source and would have no idea of the story unless he saw it actually go down and he confirmed it!

What the **** kind of bananalands garbage is that...? Is that not terribly low rent or am I just an inexperienced, competent worker...?

Sounds extremely low rent

Fantastic from an IT Security perspective though.