The New Taste of Hater-Ade

Ah yes...you knew it would happen and I guess I'm just a little surprised that it happened so quickly (even though I probably shouldn't be).

As you saw from the last post, things were shaken up a bit at the job and I now occupy my former boss' office. Now, of the five people in my department, three of us are left (and they are going to hire a fourth at a severely reduced salary from what the previous person had). I moved to my current position and the other two were absorbed into the sales department. One of those two is actually very happy for me and they know that I will excel in the new position. The other one is another story altogether.

The other one was very good friends with the other sales guy that was laid off along with my boss. They were pretty much joined at the hip and the boss would frequently refer to them as Frick and Frack. These two pretty much thought they could get away with absolutely anything and everything under the sun and to a certain extent they did. A lot of stuff that should have been done was never completed and there was never a "penalty" of sorts or even their job jeopardized. I never really vocalized any of this to my boss until one day Frick (the one not laid off) and I had a run in that came about due his poor leadership and management of one of our projects that I and my coworker had to bail him (and Frack to a certain extent) out of or risk the entire department just imploding. I pretty much told my boss that I had never been at a company where you could totally disregard a direct order (for over two months!) and still have a job.

Anyhoo, so after Frack was let go, I was given my offer of staying in sales or taking my current position. As we had always kept things kinda open in our department, I went to both guys who were still employed and told them what I was offered and where I was leaning. The first guy was VERY happy for me and told me I should jump on it right away and make it my own. He offered no resistence whatsoever and was genuinely happy for me. Frick was in shock. He might not have let it be known in his words but definitely in his reaction. The Hater-Ade was slowly being poured into the jug.

Later that day I let the powers that be know of my decision and also informed my two cohorts that I was transitioning out of the sales arena and, out of full disclosure again, I let them know that the CEO wanted me to move into our boss' former office so I could be nearer to him as he would be my direct supervisor and I would need the additional space to map out the various projects. By no means did I ask for the office. I was told that's where I'm moving and that's where I'll be working. Frick pretty much responded with, "Well here, you'll be needing this," and picked up a thick file and handed to me. THat was then followed up with, "Well I don't know what I'm going to be doing anymore."

This is the point where I held back because I wanted to scream out at him, "SELL! You're supposed to SELL! You're now strictly a sales person!" However, knowing that his ego was probably bruised a bit since he's been with the company longer and wondering why my other cohort wasn't asked to take over the spot I now occupy or, possibly, why they didn't ask him. I did as much as I could to assuage his fears that I wasn't "taking over" or was going to cut him out of any of the conversations and that I was still going to rely on him for guidance since he knows the clients better than I do. At most I got from him was a shrug. I wanted to beat him senseless. Water now being poured into the Hater-Ade jug.

The next day I began moving into the office, cleaning up and organizing files that were strewn about the place and making it look more like it was actually going to serve its purpose. Yes, it felt (and to a certain extent still does) feel weird sitting in there or having my former coworkers sit across from me. However, when Frick comes in and drops more materials on my desk and makes a crack about how I have so much room in my "spacious office" I have to resist the urge to yank him back into the room, sit him down, and read him the riot act. The Hater-Ade is being stirred.

See, I know the majority of this is all related to the fact that he's young and incredibly immature. Our former boss was practically a father figure to him so it's not surprising to see this type of reaction from him. I guess what I am surprised about is how fierce of a response it has been. He clearly resents the fact that I'm in my new position and that I'm in an office when he is not and that I, for lack of a better word, was given a promotion and he wasn't. I could spend all of next week saying that I had the choice between having a job or not and all of the nuances involvd with that but I don't think he would get it.

At the end of the day, we both have jobs to do. Frick can sit there and bitch and moan about the fact that I'm not in sales and to a certain extent can dictate stuff to him but at the end of the day, I'm going to do my job and I'm going to do the absolute best that I can, no holds barred, no holding me back. I have a job that I'm actually excited about because it's challenging, it's difficult, and it's going to have me constantly busy. Maybe he's just not as happy and fulfilled in his position as he could be and that may ultimately be the problem. He can give all the snarky remarks and backhanded comments he wants, but I'm not going to let it bother me.

Hater-Ade's ready. Who wants a glass?