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Sinfest
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Canopus
Joined: 13 Sep 2010
Posts: 623
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 Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:19 am Post subject: |
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| Are you going to pull the creeper schtick or ...? |
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jwing
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 2089
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| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 5:28 am Post subject: |
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Green tea pumpkin seeds. Omnomnomnom.
I have a very complicated routine for my troupe this year. Today we spent the entire class just going over a single set of sixteen counts. Even with their hesitations and messups, it still looks totally awesome! (It's very fun to see stuff go from my head to their bodies; it always looks better than I think it will) |
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DeD CHiKn
Joined: 04 Aug 2006
Posts: 9867
Location: Baltimore, Maryla*gunshot*
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| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:08 am Post subject: |
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Dear Gary,
Can I have some of that job getting ability?
Also congrats on the work.
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I have a face, with a mustache.
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jwing
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 2089
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:07 am Post subject: |
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Wing1 has decided on a college. WWU. They accepted her with distinction and gave her a nice merit scholarship.
edited to add:
My manager supports me in what I do for the team. It's very nice. I've been arguing with a BigBoss this week over his unrealistic expectations of the team. To the point where his last email to me called me offensive. Anyway, Manager came in today (he's been sick for the last three days) and read our email exchange, told me he'd handle it and said "they just aren't used to getting push-back."  No yelling for overstepping my bounds or talking back to a higher up. |
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mouse
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 15474
Location: under the bed
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:18 am Post subject: |
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congratulations to wing1! scholarship and everything - way to go!
and yeah - calling an employee "offensive" does sound like he's not used to anyone standing up to him. hope that does get taken care of.
by the way - are you permanent there now, or still temporary? because if they haven't made a firm grab for you, they are idiots.
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Atrophy Annie
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 1599
Location: Your Mom
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 2:51 am Post subject: |
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| jwing wrote: | | Wing1 has decided on a college. WWU. They accepted her with distinction and gave her a nice merit scholarship. |
Yay! You should have Dogen show her all the best spots in Bellingham! That is, unless you'd rather not have a lecherous older man hanging around her. 
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Way to kill the conversation, Patty.- Trevor |
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jwing
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 2089
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 5:56 am Post subject: |
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| mouse wrote: | | by the way - are you permanent there now, or still temporary? because if they haven't made a firm grab for you, they are idiots. |
Yeah... that's complicated. There are 10 QAs. We judge the works of others, run projects, and basically set the standards for the team. Two of us are Leads, which means we're mini-managers, create the projects, etc. (I'm the Day Lead and the unofficial ruler of the office) Three of the QAs' contracts end next Thursday, four more at the end of the month. Two more leave by the end of March. Leaving a complete and utter asshole as the sole QA.
Manager and his boss have been trying since September to get the 100 Days waived for us. (I don't know if it's law or just company policy, but after 12 months of contract work, we must take a 100 day break from working at MS. We can work at other companies for that time, but we can't return to our team until after that break) They can't get it waived, so they are fighting for contract extension for some of us - to stagger the loss of knowledge. It's very tense at work as those leaving next week wait to hear if they should be looking for new contracts, or even if they'll be asked back in three months.
Me? I'm in the cat bird seat. If I get the extension, I have three more months of work. I can implement some of my plans, train a replacement leisurely, and hang out with really cool people. I'd start my 100 Days at the end of May, giving me June, July, and August to be with my kids; I wouldn't even talk to the recruiter about going back until we'd move wing1 up to college.
If I don't get the extension, I'm still not going back (assuming they want me) until wing1 goes to college, so that means I have six months of my real life back - being there when the kids leave and return from school, being all domestic, sleeping, working on my crafts and hobbies.
Manager thinks a decision will be made tomorrow (Friday) and is almost certain it will be positive. But like I said, I win no matter what. For the sake of my co-workers, however, who don't have a sugar daddy to spoile them, I hope the extensions are granted. (although it would be nice to sleep for a week or so)
I think the freedom of not needing this job is what gives me the courage (cojones?) to speak up and push back against irrational orders from the FTEs. That plus I like my co-workers; I'm the oldest by almost a decade and several are younger than my marriage. I tend to get MamaBear about them. |
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jwing
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 2089
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 5:58 am Post subject: |
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| Atrophy Annie wrote: | | jwing wrote: | | Wing1 has decided on a college. WWU. They accepted her with distinction and gave her a nice merit scholarship. |
Yay! You should have Dogen show her all the best spots in Bellingham! That is, unless you'd rather not have a lecherous older man hanging around her. |
I was hoping to arrange a meet up one day. Maybe in the summer when she goes up for a proper tour of the college. Dogen? What do you think? Any 'festers in the area want to meet? |
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Atrophy Annie
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 1599
Location: Your Mom
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 5:59 am Post subject: |
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You definitely need to meet up with us when Erika comes to visit in March!
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Way to kill the conversation, Patty.- Trevor |
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Pint
Joined: 06 Apr 2012
Posts: 571
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 6:06 am Post subject: |
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Yay for the Wings 
Work is great! The Army is treating me well and I am enjoying teaching yoga to beginners and looking for more knowledge/ways to teach. Got some new books in today so that I can focus my classes for brand new students.
Looking on the sunny side of life. Its the only side that matters right now. |
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Dogen
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 9326
Location: Bellingham, WA
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| jwing wrote: | | Atrophy Annie wrote: | | jwing wrote: | | Wing1 has decided on a college. WWU. They accepted her with distinction and gave her a nice merit scholarship. |
Yay! You should have Dogen show her all the best spots in Bellingham! That is, unless you'd rather not have a lecherous older man hanging around her. |
I was hoping to arrange a meet up one day. Maybe in the summer when she goes up for a proper tour of the college. Dogen? What do you think? Any 'festers in the area want to meet? |
Keep me in the loop. I'd be happy to escort you and your daughter around town for a day or two, show you the hot spots. My life is up in the air, and I'm not sure where I'll be by this summer, but if I'm in Bham I'm at your service. If I'm not I'll tell you everything I know about the hidden treasures of my little town - from the best hikes to the best places to get breakfast to what's open 24 hours (not much).
Does she know what she wants to study?
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"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. I’ll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman |
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Usagi Miyamoto
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 2167
Location: wish you were here
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:17 am Post subject: the technobabble is all Microspeak |
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| jwing wrote: | | Manager ... said "they just aren't used to getting push-back." |
This doesn't sound like the corporate culture I'm familiar with, but there can be a lot of local variation, by team, or role, or even by division. I don't know much about the role aspect, as I've always avoided the QA and PM side of things like it had cooties.
I was always happy to have a summer off - it only happened once it a while, but it was the best part of contracting, not considering the whole not getting paid part. The service limits and breaks are to satisfy an IRS regulation on the definition of a common-law employee, so they can't readily be changed. Officially, changing from agency to vendor status is also supposed to require a 100-day break, but vendors do not have the one year limit on contracts, and have more flexibility about work arrangements. One down side, vendors (or their agencies) have to pay rent for on-campus office space. On a couple of my vendor contracts, I'd work from home and just go in for meetings.
Switching to blue doesn't require any break at all, but then you don't have a chance at getting summers off anymore. On the plus side, the pay is better, you get vacation and sick time, and you don't have to buy your own insurance, but if your spouse is an employee, you already get all the benefits, so that part's likely a wash. I'm amazed at how some teams are just a skeleton crew of FTEs and dozens of contingent staffers, especially in QA. That's an awful lot of specialized knowledge that disappears on a regular basis, but somehow the loss never seems to translate into permanent headcount. When it does, though, if you've been doing the work, you've got a better than average shot at an interview loop.
If you can, you might want to lobby for vendor status when you go back after your summer hiatus. You can also shop around for agencies if you like; some pass more of the money along to you than others. I don't know who's best now, but I remember arranging a fairly sweet deal through Aditi some years back, where they agreed to pay me their cost for the benefits I waived. Not as good a deal as when I owned a one-third share of the vendor company I hired myself out through, but those days ended when they started requiring a million-dollar minimum in receipts to do business, and the price of corporate liability insurance went through the roof.
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mouse
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 15474
Location: under the bed
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:37 pm Post subject: |
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that...is the strangest employment model i think i've ever heard of. but i guess if the people in it are happy.....
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Dogen
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 9326
Location: Bellingham, WA
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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That's the way the departments at the university here work, except the employees aren't contractors. The administrative assistants don't work during summer quarter, I guess because the workload drops along side the enrollment. But they come back in the fall, so there's no loss to the department. It's not as odd as a year-round business losing skilled employees for months at a time, but it stills seems weird.
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"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. I’ll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman |
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mouse
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 15474
Location: under the bed
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:43 pm Post subject: |
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hm - i'm over on the research side, so we go year-round. i guess my thinking is in large part driven by the fact that i am single, and depend on my salary to live - so there is no way i could consider a job that left me without pay for 3 months. but it also seems really stupid from a business efficiency viewpoint - here you have someone like jwing, who has spent a year developing her skills, and learning the system so she is now writing manuals and just in general improving her value to the company....and then they drop her for 3 months? who fills her position while she's gone? what happens to that person when she comes back? how much time will it take her to get back into the groove when she comes back? what happens if she doesn't come back? you are essentially tossing all company history and training at regular intervals. granted, you probably have to pay a continuous worker more (and i would guess that's the business "reason" for doing this) - but there is more value in a proven employee than an untested one, i would think.
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