no - more like hiring on family/friends because they were too lazy/cheap to find someone who was actually qualified... To me it was more a symptom of poor judgment and bad management - but my few bad experiences all had this in common.
I have no objection to hiring family if they are actually qualified to do the work (I once worked for two brothers and it was a pretty awesome experience) - but why would you keep around anyone who is disruptive and does not respect the work or your staff? It just doesn't make good business sense.
archie - that really sucks... glad you're out of that place...
Yeah, I'm not sure what the point of criticizing this thread is....
Well besides for the fact that people want to be bossy and try to dictate what kind of information is passed on through here.
We're not naming names or anything.
Oh and here is another story of nepotism. One of my peers who I used to work with at that last firm was a daughter of some big shot developer who was friends with several of the partners. This girl really didn't contribute anything but bad blood within the office (including the apperent egging on of the screensaver incident) yet obviously survived 6 rounds of layoffs.
This girl wasn't only naturally born a total b*tch but strived to become the biggest one in the entire world.
Although I agree that it is best to be positive, sometimes hearing war stories serves a purpose. I was young when I worked for the guy who treated us so badly. Honestly, I thought that's the way the whole world was, and it took quite a bit to get me to quit. I was a very dedicated employee and took a lot of abuse that I really should not have. If I had known what I know now, I would have left earlier. I did not complain, just took it. I don't hate him. He was pretty much totally self centered, probably from the time he was a child. He was and is an unhappy person who sees a psychiatrist on a regular basis. He provided me with a job, and it was my decision to stay or leave. You kind of have to feel sorry for him in a way. He taught me (not intentionally!) great lessons in how to treat people, both employees and clients.
A few years after leaving, I started my own firm, which is now more than two times the size of his, and we regularly compete against him for work, and win. His firm is laying off people, mine is hiring.
I am now an employer. Sometimes people need to hear how bad things could be to appreciate what they have. I have employees who complain when we run out of the type of soda they prefer. They complain if I ask them to work a rare couple of extra hours to meet a deadline. They complain that the parking lot we rent is not paved. Geeze, they are treated 10 times better on their worst day than I was on my best.
Oh, and you didn't even hear about my first drafting job for an engineering firm when I was 18. The other drafters liked to tape pornography to my drawing board every morning so they could see my reaction when I got to work in the morning. Look! A picture of the man with the world's largest penis!! I was the only female non-clerical employee out of over 100 people. What fun that was!! Ahh, the 70's! I was very happy when summer ended and I moved on to college.
I was once accused of specifying pink paint for all the wall finshes in a refuse transfer station, by the number one partner in the office. He didn't even give me the opportunity to check my Sherwin Williams
paint chips....It was broadcast all over the office in a very loud voice. My encounter was to say the least just a small dusting....he actually had one of the Senior Principals shoved out the door. Six months later he bailed and went to work for a hospital client.....Think everyone was happy to see him gone.
Oh ya my color was far from pink. That evening while I was working unpaid overtime I slipped my Sherwin Williams color fan on to his desk with a sticky note with the color code from the paint finish schedule and a note it doesn't look pink to me. Turns out it was the primer coat over cmu. which did infact look pink.
I left that office a couple of months later because I was headed back to school and he didn't want to pay me at the same scale because I would be part time. I jumped had three interviews and took the one which suited my lifestyle and ended up making more money per hour working than I was full time.
i this job in one office where all the old people were constantly telling me what to do. everyday, all day long. they threatened to take my phone too...it was so bad i'd have to hide in the bathroom just to keep up with the text messages from my friends. glad i'm out of that place!
just an fyi, i was at an open house party for a midcentury modern last weekend. we were having a discussion about the changing idea of privacy and anonymity due to social networking etc. the owner of the crib said that he created a blog that criticized certain work/employers etc and wrote it under another name and that he was bought out by employers because they wanted him to stop writing the blog. apparently this is where he got the dough re mi to buy the crib.
Let's hear your very bad experience at firms.
lol vado.
me too. sadly few of them involved nudity.
no - more like hiring on family/friends because they were too lazy/cheap to find someone who was actually qualified... To me it was more a symptom of poor judgment and bad management - but my few bad experiences all had this in common.
I have no objection to hiring family if they are actually qualified to do the work (I once worked for two brothers and it was a pretty awesome experience) - but why would you keep around anyone who is disruptive and does not respect the work or your staff? It just doesn't make good business sense.
archie - that really sucks... glad you're out of that place...
BlueGoose, do you find it productive criticizing this thread?
and sometimes, small doses of venom make for good medicine.
outed: our profession is very, very interconnected. be careful for what may come back around on this.
yes, lets face it, the only really good reason why we don't want to 'name and shame' is because we are practical cowards.
Yeah, I'm not sure what the point of criticizing this thread is....
Well besides for the fact that people want to be bossy and try to dictate what kind of information is passed on through here.
We're not naming names or anything.
Oh and here is another story of nepotism. One of my peers who I used to work with at that last firm was a daughter of some big shot developer who was friends with several of the partners. This girl really didn't contribute anything but bad blood within the office (including the apperent egging on of the screensaver incident) yet obviously survived 6 rounds of layoffs.
This girl wasn't only naturally born a total b*tch but strived to become the biggest one in the entire world.
Blue Goose;
Although I agree that it is best to be positive, sometimes hearing war stories serves a purpose. I was young when I worked for the guy who treated us so badly. Honestly, I thought that's the way the whole world was, and it took quite a bit to get me to quit. I was a very dedicated employee and took a lot of abuse that I really should not have. If I had known what I know now, I would have left earlier. I did not complain, just took it. I don't hate him. He was pretty much totally self centered, probably from the time he was a child. He was and is an unhappy person who sees a psychiatrist on a regular basis. He provided me with a job, and it was my decision to stay or leave. You kind of have to feel sorry for him in a way. He taught me (not intentionally!) great lessons in how to treat people, both employees and clients.
A few years after leaving, I started my own firm, which is now more than two times the size of his, and we regularly compete against him for work, and win. His firm is laying off people, mine is hiring.
I am now an employer. Sometimes people need to hear how bad things could be to appreciate what they have. I have employees who complain when we run out of the type of soda they prefer. They complain if I ask them to work a rare couple of extra hours to meet a deadline. They complain that the parking lot we rent is not paved. Geeze, they are treated 10 times better on their worst day than I was on my best.
Oh, and you didn't even hear about my first drafting job for an engineering firm when I was 18. The other drafters liked to tape pornography to my drawing board every morning so they could see my reaction when I got to work in the morning. Look! A picture of the man with the world's largest penis!! I was the only female non-clerical employee out of over 100 people. What fun that was!! Ahh, the 70's! I was very happy when summer ended and I moved on to college.
the only really good reason why we don't want to 'name and shame' is because we are practical cowards.
That's why this is such a repressive profession.
Same BS before, same BS now and same BS in the future.
I remember bunch of people at SOM were seriously talking about getting this profession UNIONIZED years ago :0
.......He was pretty much totally self centered......
I always think 89.9% of the architects are self centered. NO?
I was once accused of specifying pink paint for all the wall finshes in a refuse transfer station, by the number one partner in the office. He didn't even give me the opportunity to check my Sherwin Williams
paint chips....It was broadcast all over the office in a very loud voice. My encounter was to say the least just a small dusting....he actually had one of the Senior Principals shoved out the door. Six months later he bailed and went to work for a hospital client.....Think everyone was happy to see him gone.
Oh ya my color was far from pink. That evening while I was working unpaid overtime I slipped my Sherwin Williams color fan on to his desk with a sticky note with the color code from the paint finish schedule and a note it doesn't look pink to me. Turns out it was the primer coat over cmu. which did infact look pink.
I left that office a couple of months later because I was headed back to school and he didn't want to pay me at the same scale because I would be part time. I jumped had three interviews and took the one which suited my lifestyle and ended up making more money per hour working than I was full time.
i this job in one office where all the old people were constantly telling me what to do. everyday, all day long. they threatened to take my phone too...it was so bad i'd have to hide in the bathroom just to keep up with the text messages from my friends. glad i'm out of that place!
just an fyi, i was at an open house party for a midcentury modern last weekend. we were having a discussion about the changing idea of privacy and anonymity due to social networking etc. the owner of the crib said that he created a blog that criticized certain work/employers etc and wrote it under another name and that he was bought out by employers because they wanted him to stop writing the blog. apparently this is where he got the dough re mi to buy the crib.
puddles, telling you what to do is still better than asking you (loud, in front of everyone) to make xerox copies for them :)
puddles do you still have those pleated khaki dockers, frayed button downs and funny neckties that made up your business casual attire?
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