Spreading trepidation and odium by standing my ground.
It was early in the morning and I was still in a daze after administering a big dose of melatonin to myself as I could not seem to fall asleep. I was nervous about the whole situation I had gotten myself into, again; because of desperation for any kind of income, again. Still nervous as I woke up I made myself a cup of tea and wandered around the apartment, trying to calm myself down.
“Hey Lizzie, have you sent them your email yet; telling them to stuff it, in a polite way of course?” She told me she was going to and wrote a simple email stating she got another job and were coming in today with the stuff they had handed to us. “I’m thinking about doing that too,” I told her. I continued with, “they are both with the same company, but at the moment I don’t care if I jeopardise the other job. I can’t stand this crap any more.”
I have been fucked over by so many companies now I couldn’t care less about what would happen. What ever they say or do to me I have heard it or experienced it before. It’s like threatening a bare-knuckle fighter to give him a good old beating if he doesn’t behave well; the one serving the threats will be the one being served the bloody knuckle sandwich.
My phone called and my blood turned to ice for a short period of time. I knew why it was ringing, but I didn’t want to hear it. The email I had sent stated that I would talk with those responsible when I drop off my things, but assuming that sentence was a waste of seconds and pixels on the screen.
I stood my ground and told them my experience and my point of view of the whole situation. Several times I had to say I wouldn’t do the job at all as they haven’t stepped up to the plate, so I saw now reason for me stepping up to the plate.
I am not a strong believer, nor a supporter, in the ‘you should be glad to have a job’ attitude.
Again I was asked, “Can you explain why I can’t work this weekend?” I was completely honest and said that, “based on what I have experienced I personally can’t do the job. It doesn’t feel right and as they haven’t met my expectation I have to put my foot down and say no.” Luckily this person was professional, for a change, and was willing to listen to me. Obviously someone who actually cares about the company and wants to learn from previous mistakes, and found out how to avoid future experiences like this.
I think it is fair to say that how I handled this is not just because I have been dicked around so much; but also because I am a Nordic Viking with pride in myself. I remember just from a previous job that the Nordic team was giving our non-Nordic team “manager” a migraine as we had no remorse saying no to new policies that we disagreed with. When a Nordic person says no, it means no.
We were cruising down the road like crazy, swerving side to side in the lanes to avoid people who seem to have ordered their driver’s license from China; and trucks who didn’t know which lane to stay in. It was a miracle we arrived in one piece with our things we had been given. We could have sold the stuff, but we didn’t feel like getting in trouble for something as small like that. If it was literally a truck load we could consider it; or not.
We met with the person we had met the first time and that person was also professional and understanding towards our decision. Meeting people we actually understood, or at least didn’t judge us face-to-face, was very good and made the day a bit easier to handle; would be easier if it were less humid.
After cruising back home like we had stolen the car and skipped for paying for the full tank of gas I got two more pleasant phone calls. They just wanted to have a chat with me, the other team (the professional one), and to remind me to finish my personality test today.
The test was actually fun, but I really hope I will be able to see my result. Hopefully I won’t scare them to death; but they did ask me to be honest.
It was like a hugs rock had been lifted from my squashed body after telling them, in a diplomatic way, to get stuffed; and later get some more positive news to look forward to. To give you an idea how badly this affected me, the only thing I had for breakfast was that cup of tea. I was thirsty like guy that had been wandering in a desert with out water for two days and hungry like a grizzly that was blood thirsty.
Rest of the day we spent sweating and relaxing our great battle with “the-man”.
It kind of shed some light on why I tend to be turned down for certain entry-level jobs. I am not a 16-year-old who is looking for his first job. I am a thirty something guy who is living in his fourth country and worked in four three of them. Any corporate bullshit told to me I have heard it before; I have experienced most old tricks in the book, and not to mention I tend to know my rights a bit too good.
You can’t con a con.
Even if I don’t believe in superstitious fairytales I can’t help thinking that there is some kind of force not wanting me here in Australia. Maybe Targan is trying to tell me something, but I am too blind to see his words.
The night is old now and it needs some rest so it can harvest the crop tomorrow morning.
Note: Some of the scenarios and what was said might be fiction or not. In this article it’s hard to tell what is true, false or exaggerated.
