3 days a week at CDC is just not enough. I like Dino and they do treat me nice there but no basta dinero. Found an ad in Sacbee for part time bookkeeper position 2 days a week and holy bajoly it is only 1 mile from home. Yes, me gusta mucho.
Interviewed with the owner, Glenn and the outgoing bookeeper, Andrea.Both seemed nice.This is most definitely a small time operation. There are only3 people working up in the front. All the action takes place in the warehouse where they import speakers and parts from China, assemble and sell domestically. At first, I liked Glenn. Seemed intelligent. He told me his story about how he worked his way up in the business and now runs this successful business. Chris and Tony were the two guys working up front. Both were pleasant.
The office isn’t much to look at, kind of scattered type look but what caught my attention the first day I started work was the large sign hanging on the wall above me that essentially was a rambling diatribe about immigrants and how they should learn English or get the hell out of the U.S. Most definitely inappropriate for a front office. This was my first clue to Glenn’s eccentric personality. The other thing that he mentioned frequently was how he was Polish and the self-deprecating humor that revolved around his ancestry. Like I give a flying fuck. Now the personality profile is starting to emerge along with the setup for the impending confrontation...
Security, security,he would tell me. I don’t like things laying around and I want stuff to be tighter, more secure." Yes, makes sense. I understood perfectly but the weird thing about it was that this was the most unsecure office environment I ever observed. All the computers were essentially wide open, even the bookkeeper computer. I figured that if they want to have it that way, fine. But I was going to at least make my own login password protected and leave the rest alone. Mind you, this is simple Windows XP login screen where you select a user and login, nothing else.
Last Tuesday, I was working on the computer and suddenly Glenn walked in and began telling me about how he was locked out of the computer all day Sunday and couldn’t get in. What the fuck? So I asked him what login he was using. Didn’t let me finish a sentence. I tried asking him to trace back what he was doing and again he essentially told me to shut up cause he didn’t want to hear it and I was wasting his time. Instead of explaining his problem which turned out to be ignorance he chastised me and would not let me get one word in. That was it. I had had enough of this asshole.
Believe me, I completely understand when someone says, hey I am really unfamiliar with how to operate a computer so please do not make any changes without letting me know first. That is a lot different than saying, hey, don’t fuck with my computer. I was nearly ready to attack him physically I was that angry. I really wanted to beat the living crap out of him at that point. I forced myself to calm down. It was quiet in the office and the time went by slowly. It was around 3 o’clock and I signed off and got up to go into his office but his phone rang and I had to sit down again. A half hour went by and he was finally off the phone. I calmly got up, picked up my sunglasses and cell phone and walked in.
"I am resigning," I said calmly. He told me to sit down and I proceeded to tell him that no one is allowed to treat me the way he did out there. He started trying to justify himself but I wouldn’t have any of it. It was getting hot and I was now raising my voice. Asshole. You think I haven’t seen this shit before? Ever work at a company where the boss is completely clueless, running around like the emperor without his clothes and lashing out at others instead of doing something about their ignorance? I could have been mean to him and make him feel as bad as me by saying you think your ignorance is anything but transparent? How about spending a couple of hours in a class to learn about the most important piece of equipment in your office instead of spending all your free time driving around a track at a 150 mph? Get a fucking life.
No wonder his assistants, Chris and Tony are so meek. They must be intimidated by his quirky nature. I really don’t get it. He bragged about his education - MBA and engineering degree so I figured he must be somewhat intelligent. But here you have it. You can have the best education in the world and still end up being an idiot when it comes to how to run a business and more importantly how to manage people. I have absolutely 0 patience for assholes like that.
Addendum: A couple of years after this incident, I happened to be at California Family Fitness and ran into a colleague of Glenn’s. I casually asked him about NSA and he said that the company was out of business and Glenn had fled to China to look for cheap labor for another business.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Monday, June 5, 2006
Living like a Bachelor
Pumpkin and wifey are in Taiwan. Okay, now what? It was too quiet but there were plenty of things to do, such as paint the pumpkin’s room pink, seal the grout, get high speed internet access up and running, weeding, daily watering, switch to Vonage and keep the place clean. No slobbing or slobbering allowed.
Meals tended to be simple, heat up a can of frijoles and slop on a tortilla with tomato and lettuce and salsa. I got to like raw cabbage in my quest for expedient food. Most meals were in front of TV on a TV table.
Got my bike set up. Ordered a pair of airfree tires from the only place on the web that sells them - airfreetires.com. I just don’t want to be one of those people on the side of the road trying to fix a flat tire. They are heavier but are designed to last forever. Took my bike to City Bicycles on Greenback and Sunrise and had a tuneup which cost me $100. I expected the bike to work and it did but only for a week. I started riding to work via the American River bike trail. It is about a 7 mile scenic ride that follows the river as it winds its way down thru Sacramento. Exit is Hagan Park to Dawes, to Malaga and left on Paseo which hooks into Mather Field. Thought I was riding at a pretty good clip towards the end of the week but still had not managed to pass even one person. Everyone, and I mean everyone was whizzing past me. Young, old, fat, thin, fancy bicycles, not so fancy bicycles, tight bicycle shorts with bright tee shirts with Italian sounding names, serious riders and not so serious riders. Yep, I was the slow poker and I was pushing as hard as I can. Part of the reason is that my bike is a mountain bike style bike and the ones that were passing me were mostly light street bikes but they all looked like they were not exerting any effort to go 20 MPH and I was huffing to get to 12 or 13. Such is life.
You have to understand that airfree tires look different that regular tires. They look flat but they’re not. One rider passing me said, "Hey, your back tire looks flat." Okay, I know. By the time I wanted to say my tires were special he had already disappeared into the horizon.
After a week, the back 2 spokes broke. I immediately took the bike back to the bike shop and the mechanic said maybe the problem is the tires. I called up the guy who mfrs the tires and he said no way. In any case, City Bicycles fixed it for free and it worked for another week then broke down again. This time I took it to Bob’s Cycles on Fair Oaks. They had the bike for nearly 3 weeks and I just took it home a few days ago. So far so good but I haven’t really put the bike thru its paces yet.
Meals tended to be simple, heat up a can of frijoles and slop on a tortilla with tomato and lettuce and salsa. I got to like raw cabbage in my quest for expedient food. Most meals were in front of TV on a TV table.
Got my bike set up. Ordered a pair of airfree tires from the only place on the web that sells them - airfreetires.com. I just don’t want to be one of those people on the side of the road trying to fix a flat tire. They are heavier but are designed to last forever. Took my bike to City Bicycles on Greenback and Sunrise and had a tuneup which cost me $100. I expected the bike to work and it did but only for a week. I started riding to work via the American River bike trail. It is about a 7 mile scenic ride that follows the river as it winds its way down thru Sacramento. Exit is Hagan Park to Dawes, to Malaga and left on Paseo which hooks into Mather Field. Thought I was riding at a pretty good clip towards the end of the week but still had not managed to pass even one person. Everyone, and I mean everyone was whizzing past me. Young, old, fat, thin, fancy bicycles, not so fancy bicycles, tight bicycle shorts with bright tee shirts with Italian sounding names, serious riders and not so serious riders. Yep, I was the slow poker and I was pushing as hard as I can. Part of the reason is that my bike is a mountain bike style bike and the ones that were passing me were mostly light street bikes but they all looked like they were not exerting any effort to go 20 MPH and I was huffing to get to 12 or 13. Such is life.
You have to understand that airfree tires look different that regular tires. They look flat but they’re not. One rider passing me said, "Hey, your back tire looks flat." Okay, I know. By the time I wanted to say my tires were special he had already disappeared into the horizon.
After a week, the back 2 spokes broke. I immediately took the bike back to the bike shop and the mechanic said maybe the problem is the tires. I called up the guy who mfrs the tires and he said no way. In any case, City Bicycles fixed it for free and it worked for another week then broke down again. This time I took it to Bob’s Cycles on Fair Oaks. They had the bike for nearly 3 weeks and I just took it home a few days ago. So far so good but I haven’t really put the bike thru its paces yet.
Saturday, June 3, 2006
Traveling to L.A.
Flew down to Burbank this weekend for a short stay and see wifey and pumpkin off to Taiwan. Stayed at Eric and Teri’s Friday and Saturday night. The flight was scheduled for 1 AM Monday morning so I took pumpkin and wifey late Sunday night. Couldn’t believe how crowded LAX was at 10:30 PM on a Sunday evening. Long lines of Indians dragging huge suitcases and boxes snaked out of the terminal. On the other side, an equally long line of Chinese passengers waited outside. At 12:30 AM it was time to board. Said goodbye and pumpkin started crying. She had me baobao her for the whole time we were in the airport up until the time we said goodbye.
Now the adventure, so to speak, began. First thing Monday morning my brother dropped me off at Budget rent a truck in Van Nuys. The arrangement was to pick up my mom’s sofa and loveseat and haul back to Gold River. Now I just needed a little help. And that wasn’t hard to find at all. After picking up the truck, I drove down Van Nuys Blvd and headed right on Oxnard. Looking over to my right, a group of jornaleros were running towards me, waving their arms wildly and yelling at me. I stopped and they nearly fought each other to get inside. I told them solamente necesito un par de brazos, nada mas and then a short guy named Jose pushed his way in and said "I can help you" in somewhat broken English. Everything loaded up fine plus some additional items that I didn’t really ask for but mom wanted me to have anyways such as plates and end tables and lamps. Paid Jose a $20 and I was alone to drive back up to Rancho Cordova. First stop was 99 Ranch market to pick up some lunche and drinks. Drove about an hour and a half and made my first stop at bottom of Grape Vine. There is a cluster of fast food restaurants and gas stations right there off to the left and I sat and pigged out for about an hour. The rest of the drive was loud Mexican music all the way. As one station got weak, I simply switched to another station that got stronger. Made it back to Rancho Cordova around 6:30 and called Melody’s husband Jim to help me unload.Ah what a relief. Now I was home alone, literally!
Now the adventure, so to speak, began. First thing Monday morning my brother dropped me off at Budget rent a truck in Van Nuys. The arrangement was to pick up my mom’s sofa and loveseat and haul back to Gold River. Now I just needed a little help. And that wasn’t hard to find at all. After picking up the truck, I drove down Van Nuys Blvd and headed right on Oxnard. Looking over to my right, a group of jornaleros were running towards me, waving their arms wildly and yelling at me. I stopped and they nearly fought each other to get inside. I told them solamente necesito un par de brazos, nada mas and then a short guy named Jose pushed his way in and said "I can help you" in somewhat broken English. Everything loaded up fine plus some additional items that I didn’t really ask for but mom wanted me to have anyways such as plates and end tables and lamps. Paid Jose a $20 and I was alone to drive back up to Rancho Cordova. First stop was 99 Ranch market to pick up some lunche and drinks. Drove about an hour and a half and made my first stop at bottom of Grape Vine. There is a cluster of fast food restaurants and gas stations right there off to the left and I sat and pigged out for about an hour. The rest of the drive was loud Mexican music all the way. As one station got weak, I simply switched to another station that got stronger. Made it back to Rancho Cordova around 6:30 and called Melody’s husband Jim to help me unload.Ah what a relief. Now I was home alone, literally!
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