the sweet ability to 'just say no'

[socca]

A prospective client called me about a project she was hoping I would accept. After discussing the project with her, I said that I wasn't the right person for the job, which was a polite way of saying that I wasn't interested.

If I had still been in the corporate world, and had been called into my boss's office and given this project, my response would have been very different: "Thank you so much for thinking of me, boss (kiss, kiss, kiss). What a wise, generous, and kind human being you are (kiss, kiss, kiss). Of course I'll ignore the fact that this project is beneath the dignity of a summer intern (kiss, kiss, kiss). I'll get right on it, boss (kiss, kiss, kiss)."

Anyone else remember those days? :confused: :confused:

[ProspectiveBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socca Anyone else remember those days? :confused: :confused:

Yep. Every day, when I walk into work.

Must be nice! I guess that twinge of jealousy is what I get for hanging around in the 'Life After Fire' forum when I'm not yet FIRE'd.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socca Anyone else remember those days? :confused: :confused:

"Why, yessir, I'd be happy to!"

Luckily every once in a while I also got to say "Match sonar bearings and shoot tube #2" or "Golly, that's a great idea, and as soon as we get your funding we can-- (*click*)-- hello? Hello?"

Keep in mind that the grass on the other side of the fence can be just as chewy. I'm getting another resurgence of those requests that start with "Hey, you're the retired guy, could you help me...?"

[Moemg]

Would you mind staying in recovery room until closing ? Of course no problem ( I enjoy working 14 hr. days and not having a life ).

[chinaco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socca A prospective client called me about a project she was hoping I would accept. After discussing the project with her, I said that I wasn't the right person for the job, which was a polite way of saying that I wasn't interested. If I had still been in the corporate world, and had been called into my boss's office and given this project, my response would have been very different: "Thank you so much for thinking of me, boss (kiss, kiss, kiss). What a wise, generous, and kind human being you are (kiss, kiss, kiss). Of course I'll ignore the fact that this project is beneath the dignity of a summer intern (kiss, kiss, kiss). I'll get right on it, boss (kiss, kiss, kiss)." Anyone else remember those days? :confused: :confused:

Yes, just a couple of days ago.

[fisherman]

I remember 2AM calls about the plant being down and can I come in ASAP to help! Why do computers always break in the wee hours?

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fisherman I remember 2AM calls about the plant being down and can I come in ASAP to help! Why do computers always break in the wee hours?

'Cause that's when the exhausted users spill their coffee into the keyboards, towers, or routers...

[CuppaJoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socca A prospective client called me about a project she was hoping I would accept. After discussing the project with her, I said that I wasn't the right person for the job, which was a polite way of saying that I wasn't interested. ....

I usually said, "all our clients are by referral." It was a quick way to get rid of the unwanted cases who found us on the internet. It's really nice working for a small company that can pick and choose projects. But that said, I don't miss w*rking.

[unclemick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords 'Cause that's when the exhausted users spill their coffee into the keyboards, towers, or routers...

Or the stupid #@*& control room goes above 90 and the computers shut themselves down, flip you the electronic equivalent of the middle digit, til you get a power cart out to the test cell and get the temp down.

Used to be a joke - the computers had a internal clock - screw humans - we're gonna start at 3 am.

heh heh heh - Ah the ancient joys of the old rocket biz.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclemick Or the stupid #@*& control room goes above 90 and the computers shut themselves down, flip you the electronic equivalent of the middle digit, til you get a power cart out to the test cell and get the temp down. Used to be a joke - the computers had a internal clock - screw humans - we're gonna start at 3 am. heh heh heh - Ah the ancient joys of the old rocket biz.

Or someone manages to leave the cover off the access panel, and someone manages to step on and break the water coolant pipe...

[Urchina]

Mine was the Sunday night call -- the grease trap at the local supermarket backed up, or somebody was digging around a driveway and broke the lateral line to the sewer, and now there's sewage running in the street and can I go down and make sure it's cleaned up properly? (I didn't have to do the cleanup, just 'supervise' the job).

Blech.

[LeatherneckPA]

"Hey, LT, your relief just banged in. Have a nice second shift. Call me if the place is on fire."

or

"OK, LT, we have 350 inmates on the rec yard who are refusing to clear. I want you to take your two squads (40 men) and restore order to that yard. Oh, and don't injure any of them. We don't want the press."

NOPE!!! Not missing it at ALL!!!

[freebird5825]

I never kissed much at w*rk, but the killer clause was

"Other Duties As Assigned"

Forgive me, most esteemed guys on the board, but this is what really happened in my career, over and over and over...

my boss usually got the frantic call from Public Affairs.
"we need someone for a local school job fair TODAY. who can you send?"
my boss would come to me, in the middle of a long running lab experiment of course, and say something clever like
"we need our young people to see female engineers and I'd like you to go to East Nowhere High School [or College] and represent us."
i would smile sweetly and say, "which of the guy engineers is going to escort me for that extra duty?"
he would stop, gasp, then recover and say
"Other Duties As Assigned. Call PA" and scurry off.

once i figured out i got free lunch, especially really good ones at the college job fairs, and got to hob knob with local business folks, i secretly looked forward to these things.
but i continued to give the boss a hard time.

and then there was the FWP Manager who informed me i should "Dress for Success", i.e. wear a skirt if i wanted to ever get promoted there. i wore slacks every day. Especially so at my Patent Award ceremony.

[friar1610]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socca If I had still been in the corporate world, and had been called into my boss's office and given this project, my response would have been very different: "Thank you so much for thinking of me, boss (kiss, kiss, kiss). What a wise, generous, and kind human being you are (kiss, kiss, kiss). Of course I'll ignore the fact that this project is beneath the dignity of a summer intern (kiss, kiss, kiss). I'll get right on it, boss (kiss, kiss, kiss)." Anyone else remember those days? :confused: :confused:

The one I used to love was when I was a junior officer in the Navy. A senior officer would say to me, "ENS Friar, here's a job I need done and it'll be really good experience for you." Whenever I got that "good experience" bit, I knew it was going to be either really nasty or really boring. Of course, my only option for a response was, "Aye, aye, sir."

[kumquat]

Had a few beers with the old mega-corp gang last week. Was asked if I'd like to return for a month or two if they get funding for a project. Pure geek work, no politics etc. Didn't flinch at my price. Couldn't bring myself to say no........YET.

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by friar1610 The one I used to love was when I was a junior officer in the Navy. A senior officer would say to me, "ENS Friar, here's a job I need done and it'll be really good experience for you." Whenever I got that "good experience" bit, I knew it was going to be either really nasty or really boring. Of course, my only option for a response was, "Aye, aye, sir."

A CHANCE TO EXCEL was used where I was. or
It will help your promotion potential.
<the sound of a bucket loader pulling up>

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 A CHANCE TO EXCEL was used where I was. or It will help your promotion potential. <the sound of a bucket loader pulling up>

The phrase I heard was : "Opportunity to excel."

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by friar1610 The one I used to love was when I was a junior officer in the Navy. A senior officer would say to me, "ENS Friar, here's a job I need done and it'll be really good experience for you." Whenever I got that "good experience" bit, I knew it was going to be either really nasty or really boring. Of course, my only option for a response was, "Aye, aye, sir."

What would scare me even more was when an E-6 with a few years of experience would stick his head in the door, breathing hard because he'd been running the entire way, and say "Sir, I really need to talk to you right now...

[BunsGettingFirm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socca A prospective client called me about a project she was hoping I would accept. After discussing the project with her, I said that I wasn't the right person for the job, which was a polite way of saying that I wasn't interested. If I had still been in the corporate world, and had been called into my boss's office and given this project, my response would have been very different: "Thank you so much for thinking of me, boss (kiss, kiss, kiss). What a wise, generous, and kind human being you are (kiss, kiss, kiss). Of course I'll ignore the fact that this project is beneath the dignity of a summer intern (kiss, kiss, kiss). I'll get right on it, boss (kiss, kiss, kiss)." Anyone else remember those days? :confused: :confused:

Since 2 of the 3 interns left, guess who's been doing their jobs? Yep, yours truly. I already can see my next internview, I mean interview, in which the prospective employer say, "Hm...looks like you could have gotten more interesting experience had you chosen to bum around Europe after your MBA." I really should have pursued that analyst job with the credit card company. At least they have enough systems in place to give the technician in me some more meaty analysis work.

To be completely fair to my current job, I did get quite a bit more program-management experience than I had imagined I would, but the programs turned out to be one still-born program after another, so while the experiences were useful, I just wish that we could find a direction and drive one big project from start to finish.