 |
|
Amuse
Blogs
Food
Life
Links
News
Pictures
Rants
Site
Tech
Words
One of my favorite bloggers, BusyMom, is just back from a somewhat lackluster getaway weekend with her girlfriends and has some advice on what NOT to name your new business.
(I would hasten to add at least one more, particularly for those of you opening a shop somewhere here in New England: Enough already with the "Ye Olde Shoppe", please.)
I have linked to the blogger at Violent Acres previously, as well, even though I don't ordinarily read her site. This was her rant recently about giving your employer as good as they give you back.
I agree with her in principle -- on the whole, most employers expect something akin to blood-oath loyalty in return for a mere paycheck, meanwhile they have no problem imposing absurd and arbitrary rules and conditions on people and cutting people off at the knees when it suits their short-sighted purposes. Redefining the employer-employee relationship in a way that balances the power a bit more fairly is something I think both sides need to address in a positive way.
I do think she's trying to excuse herself from some bad behavior in the way that she actually quit that terrible job. I shouldn't be pointing any fingers, to be sure, but she didn't even tell them she actually quit, and then sent her husband to collect her final paycheck. Even if you just up and quit on the spot (which I have done more than once, by the way), you should at least tell them that. I don't think two week's notice is necessary at all -- I completely agree that if an employer wanted to fire someone or lay them off they wouldn't feel obliged to give notice, so turnabout is fair play -- but you have to at least acknowledge what you've done.
This post resonates with me because my last job was so dysfunctional in so many ways, and yet that employer is routinely classified as a "best place to work". It makes you wonder who makes those judgments and if they ever actually talk to people who work "in the trenches" or if they just get a bunch of smoke blown up their asses from PR flacks armed with bullshit HR propaganda.
My friends and regular visitors probably know that I've recently started working an IT job again, but as a contractor rather than as a permanent employee. The company where I am right now is immensely bureaucratic (in part out of necessity, but in part just as a function of their culture) and not terribly employee-friendly as far as I can see. Being a semi-autonomous contractor goes a long way to leveling out the inherent inequalities in the employer-employee relationship. I highly recommend it.
Egads! How did I forget "Shoppe"!
Posted by Busy Mom [URL] at 02/23/07
© BrianKaneOnline.com 2000-2007