A Day in the Life

Expounding ...

Ok, I realize it was a bit unfair to whine without giving actual details, but I didn't want to bore you. I dropped off a coworker at the mechanic to pick up her car, and en route we got to talking about things we don't like about management. She's been here a while, and divulged such gems as:

A) Our best secretary has been working here for more than twenty years, well before the current owners came along, but she still gets paid tiddles. When she was offered a job by one of our customers for more than twice the pay, the owners wouldn't release her, threatening to sue if she took the job. Although the customer is not a direct competitor, some of the services they provide are similar, and the boss made it clear that she couldn't go. She didn't even get a raise.
B) Our best technician has been here seven years. She is brilliant, and is the only one here who really knows the ins and outs of the time and attendance systems we specialize in. She is amazingly loyal, and frequently works long hours without requesting the additional compensation she is due. Several of us agree that this place would fall apart without her. Recently, when she expressed dissent over certain issues, management made it clear in no uncertain terms that she is expendable. When my immediate manager quit, she was promoted and took over the position, but still retained most of her old responsibilities. She got a lousy 1$/hr raise, and has been working 12-14 hour days for the past six weeks. The bosses haven't demonstrated a bit of appreciation. Instead they just load her with more work and chastise her for not getting stuff done, even though she's easily doing the work of two full-time jobs. She told me yesterday that she used to love her job, and that now, for the first time ever, she seriously wants to stay in bed and call in sick.
C) The owner and his wife sold their stock in the company a few years ago to start an employee owned share system (ESOP) which I thought is pretty neat. They used that as leverage for justifying the exceptionally low pay rate to new employees, myself included. It never occurred to me that the two longtime employees, including the aforementioned secretary, will not be eligible to benefit from this. Also, the owner is still receiving a pay check from our company, even though he spends 80-90% of his time working with his new startup, which currently hasn't made any money. This didn't bother me initially, but then I realized that when the startup does become profitable, only he and a couple others will benefit, not the rest of us who are paying his check. Basically, they're milking a core of hardworking, underpaid people for their own benefit, and using the ESOP arrangement to blind the new people to what's really happening.

All that was just added to the previously sensed lack of caring, evidenced especially in the biting tongue and arrogant demeanor of the boss's wife.

It's funny, but I really hadn't given it much thought today. Hopefully I'll forget again by tomorrow.