Ahh, corporate malfeasance. My favorite sport. Al the more delicious when the ‘athlete’ is defrauding the public interest or a non-profit.
The Chron has the story of Greg Colley, who allegedly stole almost $4 million from a non-profit agency charged with the lofty duties of running a garage in Golden Gate Park. Colley, the former CFO of the Music Community Concourse Partnership, could serve more than 14 year.
Poor guy must’ve broken two mirrors.
No Comments » | 
corporate malfeasance | Tagged: corporate malfeasance, greed | 
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Posted by jobknobber
Perhaps Theodore ‘Ted’ Kaczynski, a.k.a. The Unabomber, wasn’t such a fan of show & tell as a lad.
Because he sure as hell isn’t now.
According to the New York Times, the rightly-in-jail-forever, domestic terror-committing, murdering Unabomber wrote a letter of complaint regarding the placement of his former 10 x 12-foot cabin within a display at the Newseum, a, well, duh, museum devoted to the news in Washington D.C.
The Old Grey Lady’s short article sez: “Mr. Kaczynski’s complaint focused on the public interest generated by the F.B.I.’s loan of the cabin to the Newseum”
See, Teddy, had you not bombed the fuck out of a bunch of stuff — an estimated 16 bombs, injuring 23 and killing 3– this would be a moot point. Talk about “a stitch in time.”
No, you want to talk weird? The Unacomplainer should be railing against the fact that a WEB VERSION OF HIS HUT is on the Newseum’s Web Site. He’s probably unaware of it; they don’t genreally let imprisoned douchebags access the net, IIRC. But if he could, he’d be less than thrilled. The informative, interactive Web display aims to provide we visitors with “a closer view at the life of a mad hermit.” Mad Hermit? An accurate description, I suppose, but doesn’t that make this horrible man seam rather charming and roguish?
Observe for yourself — an unwanted tribute to an odd career choice. What did he expect — a gold watch?
No Comments » | 
Uncategorized | Tagged: crazy, nutjobs, unabomber, WTF | 
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Posted by jobknobber
Well blow me down. According to some article from some news service, when people are treated rudely in the workplace, it’s a bad, bad thing.
The headshrinker quoted in the piece claims that “75 percent of workers say they’re treated rudely at least once a year” and that it harms workplace productivity. Why, the poor dears may up and quit? The horror.
Seriously, if only that were the case. Why, simply be <i>ruuuuude</i> and your sensitive little incompetents will get out of your hair? I wish!
Speaking as a manager, I’ll tell you I respect someone who calls me on my rudeness than someone who simpers about it and complains behind my back.
The fact is that sometimes worker bees need a little kick in the ass, and if they can’t take it, they should find a new situation. Frankly, in the uncertain economic times, if someone saves me the expense of giving them a layoff package, so much the better.
No Comments » | 
Fine Analysis, Sorry Charlie, jerks | Tagged: jerks, rudeness, shrinks, workplace | 
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Posted by jobknobber
I suppose I had to come out and say it: JobKnobber is a place where you can share your nightmare work stories, your career marketplace analysis, amusing workplace anecdotes, rants, or similar to drone@jobknobber.com . Or just post them in the comments section.
We’ve had a few submissions, even in this WP-beta period (likely moving to another host by Sept), but, while we intend to use them all, they are not a representative cross-section. We want to thrill you, make you laugh, AND horrify you.
Because shooting the shit about work is fun when you don’t work with (or, frankly, even know) the people your talking to. When all the gloves can come off.
No Comments » | jobknobber, meta | Tagged: about, jobknobber, meta | Permalink
Posted by jobknobber
A reader offers a rare moment of clarity on the job market as it pertains to online job-seeking services. I wouldn’t know a thing about searching for positions nor, frankly, hiring. I have people that deal with both (though my headhunter landed me here, as CEO of Jobknobber, so I may have to deign to pick up the phone to at least find a new one of those). In any case, I admire this young fan’s vitriol, even if I have no way to judge his claims:
“I friggin’ love it when a good publication the the Wall Street Journal writes a puff piece on something that they should be turning a critical eye to. “Looking For a Job? Try Craigslist” screams a headline from the career journal page.
We know Craigslist is a classifieds killer, and that brand of assassination isn’t limited to old cardigans and last-generation video games consoles. No, it’s for jobs too. Let me tell you something in all seriousness: in my 8 years as a hiring manager I almost exclusively hired from CL — even when I interviewed candidates from elsewhere, like sector specialty sites, the response and responders were a class above. And the ads are cheap cheap cheap (I’m in San Francisco, where job ads have been $75 all along; not sure about other cities).
Whatever hotjobs, monster, and all those other complicated job banks think, too much technology is just that: too much. This is job stuff; we want simplicity, not signing up for alerts and trying to shoehorn ourselves into some f-cking sector or another that doesn’t quite fit.
So why am I pissed at CL? Well, there’s little monitoring. Little accountability. Community flagging does not work. I’m ready to move on in my career, and I’ve been looking. Hard. Crafting cover letters carefully. Spending good time on them, like I know hiring managers like candidates to. Almost every job I’ve applied for on CL in the past week has been a scam that redirects you to Monster. You spend all this time only to get an email auto-response saying that you need to register for Monster, then, once signed up, reference job X, which doesn’t end up existing.
After the first time, I was upset. Second time, I was pissed. Third time I figured, ‘Why the fuck isn’t Craigslist, which is undoubtedly making money hand over fist, in direct proportion to the job listings money that newspapers have lost, doing a little due diligence in making sure folks that have, say, three adds flagged and removed can’t post ads again? I’m at the end of my rope!”
There you have it — the frustrating world of job hunting via Craigslist. Sounds like it’s good for employers that are dealing in good faith, and online job banks with silly names that are dealing in bad faith. Not so good for the “end-user” when there’s no backup from the people offering the product.
Again, my personal knowledge in this is tenuous — any readers care to back him up (or tear him down? Craigslist catfight, perchance?
No Comments » | the hunt | Tagged: craigslist, douchbags, job hunting | Permalink
Posted by jobknobber
Because I’m going to ram it into your bank account!
California’s chief executive officer, the curiously-named Arnold Schwarzenegger (yes, just like the prominent actor from the 1980s) wants to cut state-workers’ pay to minimum wage until such a time that those gadabouts in the legislative body pass the state budget. They were legally obligated to pass a budget on July 1.
Our response to this: state employees make more than minimum wage? Is this why it’s so hard to find a good employee these days?
No Comments » | ahnold, funny names, salary | Tagged: Arnold Schwarzenegger, budget, california, legislative shenanigans, procrastinators, salary | Permalink
Posted by jobknobber
One of the best employment-related blogs around, Waiter Rant, has sorta called it quits. Not quitting blogging, Waiter says, but no longer waiting tables (what with the publication of his new tell-all book and such).
It’s a shame; it is/was really one of the best “vertical” job blogs (focusing on one profession) out there. I intend to read his book, should I ever put down the gin bottle long enough to concentrate.
I’m not sure how optimistic I am about how good his pending, not-waiter-related copy will be, but I will certainly give it a shot. Four years of a consistently great blog (about three of which I read) has earned him at least that much, from me and his considerable audience.
No Comments » | other blogs | Tagged: other blogs, rants, waiter | Permalink
Posted by jobknobber
No, I’m not at all referring to my strange fascination with the HBO television masterpiece “Oz.” Why would I need to wish that a fond farewell? (Or hide it? Particularly after the IT department’s admission — and water-cooler broadcast — that they had to scrub something that was in clear violation of company policy from my company laptop. No matter; good luck holding the boss to his own rules. Hah. I hear their hurtful comments, though).
Sorry for the digression –observe this strange case of a prisoner, finally with enough time on his hands to write write write (and lack of opportunity to do much more). But, according to prison officials, he can’t benefit from the publication of his novels.
Very “Twilight Zone.” “Time Enough At Last” indeed, eh?
No Comments » | Sorry Charlie, TV Tie-ins, Uncategorized | Tagged: authors, legal matters, prison, unusual jobs | Permalink
Posted by jobknobber
Finally, an electronic memo from a reader that we can actually print (the others were simply too complimentary; you’d have thought we were sockpuppeting our own beta Web venture). “BD9″ writes a tale of workforce woe that he claims is “not funny at all, but really nuts.”
A woman I worked with a long time . . . told everybody that she was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer. She took a number of sick days so that she could go to the doctor, and was always in a lot of pain, which prevented her from being productive. My boss was so distraught about it, and went out of her way to be accommodating (buying her lunch, sending her food, letting her come in late and leaving early all the time, etc.) At a point, the woman quit. My boss told her that she should just go on long-term disability, because otherwise she was going to lose her health insurance. The woman insisted that she didn’t think she would ever be able to work again because of how serious her condition was and so “the right thing to do is to quit.” So, we had a big going-away party, lots of food, tears, etc.
Two weeks later, my boss went to the hospital to visit the woman the day she was supposed to have a major procedure done. The hospital had not even heard of her. [A former coworker of hers] finally let it slip that this was all a rouse. She had faked having cancer so that she could take time to interview with other companies and hang out with her boyfriend. When she actually got a new job, she just continued the charade.
The kicker?
A month later, the woman came by the office to go to lunch with [a former coworker], and made no qualms about us seeing her.
Balls!
Sorry, BD9 — while it’s not “funny ha ha,” we’ll take exception with your assessment that it’s “not funny.” It’s quite darkly amusing — and admiringly opportunistic. Were your Jobknobber still a wage slave, I might well consider such a subterfuge. Alas, being the boss bears quite a burden; I can’t lie to myself (at least about being disease-ridden).
Any readers should feel free to share inappropriate workplace stories with Jobknobber via our electronic mail account.
No Comments » | subterfuge | Tagged: cancer, liars, lies, sick days | Permalink
Posted by jobknobber
Please, everyone — a moment of silence for an as-yet-unnamed Japanese man who gave his very life in service of his employer, Toyota. According to the Associated Press:
The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota’s blockbuster Camry line.”
Among the causes cited: working more than 80 hours per week per month. Pussy. I know lawyers that work more hours than that. (Oh, wait — I know lawyers that bill more hours than that; I don’t know that we can call diddling paralegals and making junior partners clean up your dog poop “work”).
In any case, let’s raise a glass to the workaday warrior who gave his very life for his company and, indeed, the environment (or, to be precise, his company’s efforts to make money off the environmentally friendly).
1 Comment | death, overseas adventures, workplace injuries | Tagged: death, engineers, lawyers, thos wacky Japanese, Toyota, work ethic, workplace injuries | Permalink
Posted by jobknobber
