Josh, I'm sorry to hear that. As CPA's we worked at a great office for all of our careers. Then one particular upper manager was moved in, who changed things. We got through it, but morale dropped...
It seems like this is a common occurrence in every field nowadays; new managers come in and feel the need to disrupt the status quo -- even one that was working fine -- in order to justify their appointment to the managerial position. I call it the "dog-pack mentality:" everyone feels compelled to pi$$ on the tree just to leave their mark...
In past jobs, I found myself in a situation where a colleague of sorts (someone at my level within the company, but working in a different-but-related engineering area) was moved into the position as my immediate supervisor. He was moved into this position (and I'm not exaggerating this) solely based on his good-ol'-boy relationship with the new flight test department head; so, in essence, we got a double-whammy of management changes...
The man who was promoted into the supervisory role of the FTE's (
flight
test
engineers) literally had no previous experience in flight testing -- he'd never apprenticed under a more senior flight test engineer nor logged even one
second aboard a test aircraft; he couldn't even meet the requirements that were being imposed on all of the FTE's about pilot ratings because he couldn't qualify for even a
student certificate due to medical issues... Frankly, I wondered if he could even spell "FTE" correctly... But now he was my boss, and felt compelled to make that fact plain. His method of doing so did not sit well with the FTE staff, myself in particular (and again, I'm absolutely
not exaggerating this): he would receive assignments from the department head, many of which were probably intended for his personal attention in an effort to bring him up to speed on flight testing practices and methods; once the department head was safely out of the picture, he would then 'delegate' these work assignments to me and the other FTE's -- then go sit at his desk and play computer games. When the work assignment was completed, he expected us to turn the finished work over to him, which he could then present to the department head. Needless to say, he and I immediately began to lock horns; which -- after I'd successfully challenged him over a number of other confrontational issues -- all came to a head when he suggested that I sequence a series of build-up tests in an unsafe order so we could save a little time in the schedule (he loved to create elaborate schedules -- which was about the only thing he knew how to do on his own -- almost none of which have any real meaning in the world of flight testing, where one has to adapt to unpredictable things like weather, unscheduled maintenance on the aircraft, etc.). I refused -- rather correctly, emphatically, and publicly -- which, of course, made his lack of qualifications for the job position all the more glaring to everyone. But having him claim credit for my paperwork was one thing; and having him roll the dice with
my life just to make
his scheduling fantasies come true was another matter entirely... You can probably guess where it all wound up...
... As for Tim and all the others affected by COVID 19 (job-wise), we are praying for you too. We are trying best to support our local community, but this is going to hurt so many. The good thing is forums like this where we can vent and find support and escape for a little bit, to get away from it all.
Thanks, Susie. I'm trying to keep my gaze forward and stay productive. But for the past seven or so years it has just seemed that I've been getting steamrolled by life... I've lost my parents, my godparents, and my job. I had to mount a legal battle with a non-family-member over my uncle's estate, which also consumed financial resources during my period of unemployment -- needlessly, I might add, since the ultimate resolution was exactly what I said it should be
before I had to engage the lawyers... And living nomadically on my own, so far from family, I've largely had to endure all of these setbacks without any real emotional support -- which certainly has not helped in keeping my hair from turning progressively more gray... Frankly, it's become pretty tough to find the silver lining in it all...
So in the coming days, if you guys see my Taylor collection starting to dwindle, you'll probably know why...
