Let's see if I can catch you up on everything post-hair....
Um...yeah too much to go into....
I will say that things are better since one of the Frick and Frack duo resigned (and he was slated to be fired for incompetence) but not after he made my life a living hell for a week while we were doing our shows on the West Coast. I have never met such a spoiled, self-centered waste of human space in my life. I mean, seriously. The fact that he didn't lose his job following the disastrous shows in December in Ft. Lauderdale and Atlanta is amazing enough. The fact that he chose to not show up at our erotic in show until about two hours before the actual show (and a total of FOUR HOURS LATE!) and had the balls to whine about being given a shit job of standing at the door to let people in and not being allowed to move from that spot was appalling.
However, lets just get into it shall we...
Frick calls out the Wednesday prior to the shows in West Hollywood and Seattle. I say "sick" because it was clear to us that he was out interviewing for a job. When the boss called him, he was out on the street and said he was out buying Pepto Bismol. Of course that triggered to me that he had either an upset stomach or diarrhea -- both of which he could have lived with at the office. So the boss called him and said that when he got back to the office he needed to call in and get some info and numbers from the sales assistant so he can make calls from him because we had spaces left to sell. Frick tells his boss that he didn't know that there was space left to sell.
This is where I lost it. When his boss told me that, I said that was a "fucking lie" (and yes I used those words) because he sat right across from me as we did the floor plans together and I pointed out all of the space that was left to be sold (which was still a considerable amount at both shows). I then followed up that statement by saying it was "total bullshit" of him to be out of the office less than a week before his shows. His boss was already pissed at him for being out and then being outright lied to didn't make him happier. So Frick calls me back around 2 asking for the phone numbers of people to call. I get the message, I make the PDF files and called him THREE TIMES to email this to him. No response. I even confirmed with the sales assistant to see if he called him and of course he hadn't. I did make sure that this was reported back to his boss. If anything, I am good at documenting what I do.
So when he comes back into the office on Thursday, he says that he didn't think that we were filling those spots to which I said that was bullshit because I pointed out the empty spots and encouraged him to sell or find non-profits to fill the space. The fact is that myself and the guy who handles marketing for the company and I busted our butts off to find non-profits who could fill in the empty spaces at his shows which was not easy to do on late notice. Ultimately we get the show filled the best that we can. It's not 100% perfect but the reason the shows were as filled as they were is because of the work that myself and the marketing guy did to fill it out. The Friday night before the shows I sat down with the CEO of the company and vented my frustrations and gave the proviso that if I totally bitched Frick out during the trip, this is where it's coming from. I figured it's better to prepare him for a possible future occurence rather than have it sprung upon him. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the CEO give me full rights to take him out if it came to that during the shows.
Yep, the CEO was pissed at him, too. His sales numbers hadn't budged on the West Hollywood and Seattle shows ever since he made his target numbers and the NYC and Boston shows weren't budging either. His sole job was to sell and he wasn't doing it.
Fast forward now to West Hollywood. I get to the hotel and try to check in but can't since they don't have a credit card on file so I know that the CEO is coming in a few hours so I opt to park my bags at the hotel and take a stroll through the city since it will be lone opportunity I have to actually see the city. Around 12:15, Frick calls. He's at the hotel and can't get in because the CEO isn't there. I tell him not to worry because he's just landed and will be at the hotel in 45 minutes. He can park his bags at the hotel like I did and spend some time in the city since we don't really have anything major to do that day. I even advised that the company was only paying for the room and we were on our own for incidentals. That didn't go over well with him and he pouted about how he had to talk to the CEO about that because he didn't want to wait for reimbursement.
This wasn't good enough for him. He HAD to be in his hotel room and committed a HUGE cardinal sin. He put his DEBIT card down for the room BECAUSE HE HAD TO BE IN HIS HOTEL ROOM AND COULDN'T WAIT 45 MINUTES!!! Now, for the uninitiated, when you put your debit card down as a hold on a hotel room, they automatically debit you for the money on the hold. When they charge you for the room and incidentals, they charge you a second time. Well, the boss comes in and secures the rooms and advises Frick that we're paying JUST for the room. Well as we're departing to head to Seattle, he complains that the hold on his debit card isn't gone. I call him on it and even throw in a "Well if you had waited 45 minutes this wouldn't be a problem..." Thankfully I had advised the CEO of what he had done when I spoke to him during his car ride in so he was prepared.
Well now he's whining that he doesn't have any money now for the next 2 days. Boo freakin' hoo, I say. But then it hits me...he had money to put the hold on the room, but he was whining about not having money for the Super Shuttle service to the airport that we were told to take and get reimbursed for. Obviously that's a total lie as well because he HAD to have the money on his debit card to get into his room. Sadly this doesn't hit me until much later when I could have busted him on it in front of the CEO.
So we get to Salt Lake City where we are picking up our transfer flight to Seattle, we realize that the boss is on the earlier flight and we're on the second flight. Frick starts whining about having no money to get to the hotel so I agree to pop for the transfer and call the guys in the office to find out what we can do to get to the hotel -- taxi, shuttle, walking? I get a call back and learn that there is a shuttle bus that will take us one block from the hotel and we can hoof it from there. THe cost of that is half the price of a cab from the airport. I relay this info to Frick who apparently doesn't believe me and calls the hotel himself and says that a cab is $40 and we should take that. Here's how the exchange went down:
646Guy: "According to Office Colleague, the hotel told him that it's about the same amount of time either via taxi or shuttle bus. We'll take the shuttle bus."
Frick: "The taxi will take us right to the hotel."
646Guy: "Are you paying for it?"
Frick: "No..."
646Guy: "Right. So we're doing it my way."
We took the shuttle. It took 30 minutes to get there. When I talked to the CEO during our briefing meeting, his $40 cab ride took 45 minutes. On top of that, Frick didn't even thank me for paying for his fare.
On the shuttle ride, things got a lot of fun. Frick made the comment about hoping Matthew would open room service charges for him since he had no money. I made the comment that he may but he would probably wind up reimbursing the company for it.
Frick: "Why? So they can reimburse me back?"
646Guy: "No. We don't have a per diem anymore."
Frick: "Yes, we do. We get $50 a day."
646Guy: "That's when Steve worked for the company. Things are different."
Frick: "But we get $50!"
646Guy: "Again that's when Steve ran the division."
Frick: "Did CEO say this?"
646Guy: "Do you think I just pull these things out of my ass when I say them?"
Frick got VERY quiet. The boss did open up room service for him and the boss even commented as we were checking out of the hotel that he racked up the charges.
Now, let's talk about the shows. Frick's sole job is to sell. He can have input on where people are placed, but ultimately the final decision comes down to me since I am responsible for production. I get a call from him that he's going to move two tables -- one of which can't be moved because they need the wall space for their display. So I firmly tell him that it's not his job to move them, it's mine since I handle production. I make the determination if they even get moved at all. He doesn't take the hint at all because he tries it again in Seattle and says he's going to move someone. I tell him (in front of a client) that he's again usurping my role and that I ultimately am the one who makes that determination. In fact, the client he wanted to move out of the way would have been the wrong client to move.
During the shows, rather than being on the floor communicating with his clients, he chooses to remain at the front table and makes the occasional visit inside. In Seattle, those visits were, primarily to get him and his friend a drink from the bar -- at the company expense since we had drink tickets. This does not go unnoticed by myself or by the boss. During our car ride home on Friday from the airport, the boss and I talk about our displeasure at Frick's performance during the show and from the way the boss is talking, I can tell that Frick's days are numbered. The only question I have is whether or not he gets canned immediately or if we will wait until after the NYC and Boston shows.
Well we don't have to wait. He resigns on Monday to go to a new job. The first thing that hits me is that he basically used the company to get a free trip home to see his family because he knows that if he told anyone that he had gotten the job and taken it, they wouldn't let him go on the trip to the shows. On Wednesday, they told him to pack up his stuff and go. His services were no longer needed at the company and they walked him out the door.
I then had the lovely task of going through his emails and forwarding any show related stuff to myself and found the recommendation letter his friend wrote to his new company. Nothing but LIES LIES LIES. To be honest, I have no clue who this person was talking about when they were describing Frick because it was so laughably wrong on so many levels. Part of me was tempted to email the guy at the new job and say, "Oh do you want the truth about Frick. Call me." But I didn't. I also refrained from emailing his mother to tell her what a fucked up son she has and how he should be thankful he got the new job because he was about to be fired.
I did, however, forward the email that he sent to his friend to his former boss who then sent it to the CEO. In the email, he was telling his friend how to get the best rate possible on an ad in the magazine including what day to call in and at what time and what exactly to offer in terms of pricing. His former boss was more than a little pissed about that and told me that Frick is going to be eaten alive at his new job since he knows the woman who runs the company and she's not going to put up with his crap like we did.
The upside -- he's gone from the company. The downside -- we're more than 50% UNDERSOLD for both shows because he didn't do his job.
So that's teh update. I vented. I feel better. Maybe next time I talk about my hair again.
Wow...what to say...
