As Bushie's World Turns (The Update Thread)

[J-Mann]

Well, I might as well return for a guest appearance this season ...

Jeff, I think your going on a mission trip was fantastic. I'd like to do the same ... I have a child in India that I sponsor and it has been a rewarding experience just exchanging letters. If the organization is legitimate and vetted, sponsorship can indeed be a great thing.

Your sudden feelings of wanting to move to Kenya are just a result of the satisfaction from the trip -- if you don't stop talking this "I'm a Kenyan, Kenya is my home, I will be there in 1,045 days from now" crap, you're going to end up just like you did in every other situation that we've tried to help you with ... rushing into a scam job, rushing into an engagement, and now -- undoubtedly -- you will rush into moving off to another country. It's inevitable. All of your "I'm taking it slow" assurances are bullsh**t. We've seen this theme play out too many times.

Stop pretending that you're listening to God. You're not ... you're just excited from the trip. And if that IS God speaking to you, he's apparently a three-year-old with severe ADHD: "Oooh, yeah, a job with Australians, cool! Aww, yeah, marriage ... awesome! Bitchin', you can live in Africa!! Go go go go go!!!!!!!"

Someone said earlier that you don't have the qualifications to truly contribute long term there, which you brushed aside by saying that God has the qualifications. Er, sorry ... the dude has kind of let the place go, if you know what I mean. Don't expect any heavy lifting out of him.

We'll all plead with you to think it through, and this show will play out exactly how the others have. First, it'll be two years till the big move. Then 15 months. Then October. Then, before we know it, you and Tiffanye will be on an OnCompany-sponsored joyride to Nairobi.

Devoting more time to Kenya may well be your life's calling ... just slow down and stop talking like a goddamn fool. Countdowns are irrelevant, you're not a citizen there, and you're likely to get a lot more support if you seriously plan this out rather than having the full blueprint hacked out in less than a week.

And do yourself a favor and DON'T take advice from the friends who have nothing more to say than, "PUT IT IN GOD'S HANDS." They're dumb. God gave you a freaking brain for a reason. Use the thing. He's not a chauffeur -- you're driving this thing.

Oh, and thanks for keeping me as a Facebook buddy. In spite of the harshness of my replies, I do care :-)

[J-Mann]

RE: Current status on Facebook

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*dies*

[J-Mann]

The funny thing is looking at it from a charismatic perspective, the people who put the most emphasis on God talking to them (see memphis' link a few pages back, as noted my church belongs to that movement), I think most would conclude that God is actually talking through us to BushOklahoma to save him from his own reckless, bad decisions. This is something talked about at my church a lot, listen to your family and friends because it may be God speaking through them. Imagine if he listened to us in regards to all those scams in 2010. I mean if you believe both that God exists and is involved in human affairs, as BushOklahoma clearly does (and I do too), that's a more logical way of thinking than his way of simply that he should do whatever his first inclination is and God will make things work for him.

I mean I try to avoid saying anything comes from God or someone speaks for God always because of unfortunate implications and obvious reasons (as one of the pastors put it, "anyone who claims that they always know the voice of God speaking to them is probably a sociopath"), so I won't say that's what happened (there's one recent event in my life where I don't have any doubt God was speaking to me through someone, but that's a completely different situation), but it does make more sense if you accept that theology than what Bushie believes. So it is all the more amusing how he continues to ignore all the advice given despite the fact that we've basically been right and he's been wrong every single time.

That's a very interesting ... and sensible, if you believe in God ... way of looking at it. Jeff, why is it that going on gut feeling strikes you as the work of God, but advice from the folks here (which has been incredibly sound again and again) is characterized as essentially "un-Christian?" I think BRTD has a great point -- the feedback you're receiving here may very well be God speaking to you, and your willingness to share about your life is God speaking through you to us, requesting our help to set you on a different path.

[J-Mann]

am i the only one getting the feeling that bushie is screwing up on this job?

i definitely not trying to be mean...but bushie you seem to be sick a lot.

I'm worried as well. As an employer, I do have a certain amount of sympathy for unavoidable illnesses, but there are limits to my tolerance in the first few weeks on the job. I suppose that Jeff has his ducks in a row on this, though, with doctor's notes and whatnot.

[J-Mann]

Simfan34, this thread is not about 'actions', or about 'carrying things through'.  This thread is about dreams, heartbreak, despair, and hopelessness that we cannot even imagine.  And a man who keeps going regardless.  It is the most heroic thread on the forum.

Agreed. And none of us can turn away.

[J-Mann]

Haven't read this in a week or so. Anyone got the cliffnotes?

Basically, I got a promotion at work and am moving to Salt Lake City, Utah on August 18.

How long were you working at this job again?  You must have made quite an impression because wouldn't you still be under probation and not even covered by health insurance yet?

I started June 18.  When I first started, they kept mentioning over and over about the likelihood of a quick first promotion.  Sure enough, at the end of Week 4, they announced that interviews for these higher positions would be starting very soon.  I had the interview for the supervisor position on July 23 and found out that i had the job in Salt Lake City on July 30.  I'm not eligible for benefits until January 1, but I can still keep the Indian Clinic here in Oklahoma for my medicine and for a yearly checkup.  Probation was supposed to end on August 17 after 2 full months, but they liked me well enough because I was there early everyday, I passed all my tests by much more than the minimum score, and I had great Customer Satisfaction Survey results.

What in the hell kind of company makes you wait over six months for benefits!?

[J-Mann]

Jeff, I'm interested to know how you got a supervisory position after such a short amount of time with the company (where, prior to promotion, you had a bad feeling about your chances of making it) and -- to my knowledge -- no supervisory experience. I find it strange that a company would put anyone in a position of coaching and mentoring others when they don't have either a) a long tenure with the business, or b) significant prior experience. Three of my current sales reps worked with Xerox through distributors, and it's not an industry for those with weak constitutions.

Also, this job doesn't start until October 1, correct? What will you be doing for a month-and-a-half in Salt Lake City? What will be your funding source until the job begins?

I'm certainly not trying to be a downer ... God knows (as well as some of the members of this forum) that I truly wish you the best. But there are a number of details about this move that concern me. If nothing else, consider them questions designed to satisfy my curiosity. I like to believe I'm fairly savvy ... in business and in common sense. Something about a promotion that leaves you jobless for seven weeks, a company that doesn't provide benefits for more than six months, and a rapid departure without an apparent source of income involving an individual who was making less than $20,000 a year doesn't make sense to me. Please clarify.

[J-Mann]

Do you still have your OK job, Bushie?

No.  Even if I did, though, $8.75 an hour with gas prices skyrocketing would barely even get me gas money.

Torie,

I've already shredded that job offer because it's no good anymore.  Like I said, though, I'm still looking in Salt Lake City, but I'm not in any hurry out there.  I have, though, learned my lesson and will stay away from call centers.  They are unstable critters and I have been going round and round with them and always end up in the same spot.  I want off the call center merry go-round!!  I'm not going to let desperation get the best of me this time.

Honestly, Jeff, everything about this was fishy from the start. My guess is that you actually lost your job with Xerox (or maybe left in a hurry, as you did with the gas company) and were concocting a story to cover for yet another sour turn of events.

Think about it: you went from being convinced that they were "jacking" with your pay to accepting a promotion to a position for which you have little qualification (and after just a month with this company) in an entirely different part of the country where you would be jobless for a two-month period but living off of the supposed generosity of a company that wouldn't even provide you with benefits for more than six months. Your moving date changed repeatedly, as did your moving plans, from no movers to movers to a quicky flight to SLC to meet face-to-face with a manager who was worried that you would back out prior to a sudden and unexplained rescinding of the job offer.

Simply put: W T F ...

Either you're flat-out lying about the circumstances surrounding the last couple of weeks, or Xerox (or Apple? Why did you mention that Apple was involved at one point?) invented a Rube Goldberg-esque scheme to get rid of you ... and trust me, companies like that don't bother with ridiculously intricate fabricated promotions in order to get rid of someone. They simply fire them.

What is the truth?

[J-Mann]

I’ve got a phone interview with J-Mann tomorrow at 2:00 pm!!

Why not just conduct the interview in this thread?

I'm sure you'll get a full overview afterwards.

If nothing else, my hope is that some advice and direction in a more-formal setting than the forum will help Jeff get on the right track.

[J-Mann]

Torie was hardly 'fat' before.  

By the way, BushOK, if we may pry - whatever happened to that telephone interview with what's-his-name, the helpful forum member..

Opebo, you've forgotten my name already!? I'm wounded ... we've had such fun together over the years!

My conversation with Jeff was preliminary to any formal interview with my company, which would be handled through human resources first. We discussed his current situation, looked at an assessment which covered his strengths as a contributor and a leader (with the goal of making him aware of those strengths so that he can focus on them in interview situations), and did a resume critique so that he could make his look stronger. We have one position at my company that Jeff may be qualified for, and I encouraged him to apply after he'd cleaned up his resume.

He came across well over the phone (more confident in tone than I would have imagined) and honestly has some skills of which I wasn't aware. Jeff has potential ... he just needs to focus on his strengths, cut the fat in his life (literally, as well as in terms of poor advice and the following of whims) and commit to turning decent employment into a career.

I find this personally embarrassing, but I am at the point where it must be done. One pic is three years ago, the other a couple of weeks ago. All it takes is will and personal discipline, and once you get with the program, it is not hard. What we have here, is neither - just pathetic excuses. But it's Jeff's life. I find it all quite sad - and depressing really.
 

Torie, you look great! Nice work! I hadn't worked out ... well ... ever in my life up until about six months ago. I am close to turning 30 and though I was "healthy" -- underweight, in fact -- I knew that I could and should look and feel a lot better. In that time, I've gained 25 pounds of muscle, feel a lot better and have a pretty nice looking body. It's all possible, you've just got to commit.

[J-Mann]

On the plus side, I'd at least be able to confirm it! I'm proud of Jeff -- he's made it fairly far in a hiring process with a legitimate company that is not a call center! It's typically competitive to land one of our positions, but I'm very happy to see him going through this process and (apparently) putting in a strong showing.

[J-Mann]

On the plus side, I'd at least be able to confirm it! I'm proud of Jeff -- he's made it fairly far in a hiring process with a legitimate company that is not a call center! It's typically competitive to land one of our positions, but I'm very happy to see him going through this process and (apparently) putting in a strong showing.

Thank you for the vote of confidence, Jesse!  Mom and I were talking this afternoon and if I were given a choice between Kansas and Oklahoma City, I would choose Kansas.

Just so you know ... if you do happen to make the cut and move here, I'm not going to take it easy on you. But I can guarantee you'll be better off out of Oklahoma and with a little solid mentorship.

[J-Mann]

Thanks, Thomas.  This weekend and much of next week while I watch the GOP Convention, I'm going to be making preparations to move up to Manhattan.  I doubt I will be up there by September 1 like I had thought, instead, it's looking more like September 8 or 15.

Although I don't know anything about their hiring process at the moment, take your planning one step at a time. Plan for the on-site interview and don't get too overly distracted by moving plans. You've set a goal of getting this job ... that's your "big picture," so to speak. But if you get too invested in planning to execute the final stage in the plan, you'll overlook steps in between.

[J-Mann]

Things have changed dramatically just over the last 5 hours. First of all, the opportunity in Kansas busted.  That wasn’t the end of it, though.  I got a call from a firm in, guess…, Utah, Ogden, Utah.  I’ve got a job up there as a junior web developer if I want it starting Monday, September 10, 2012.  I have talked it over with my parents, and I will be on my way to Utah on Monday, September 3, 2012.  I will be staying in an extended stay hotel for probably the first two months until I get a real good feel for how I will like the job.  This is my opportunity, and I’m taking it!!  This application process started earlier in August even while Xerox was playing its game with me, but I just kept it under my hat for a while as Kansas was my first choice.

Are you going to tell us why the Manhattan "solution" went bust?  So many job offers made and then withdrawn. Odd that.

"Bust" is a poor description. Jeff was going through an interview gauntlet, and we have a number of steps in all of our hiring process. Nothing was ever a guarantee with my company and offers are never made until the hiring managers are positive that they want to move forward. I'll let him share details about his experience if he wishes, but I hope that speaking with me and my HR specialist were positive regardless of the outcome on the hiring front. If nothing else, Jeff got some decent coaching on his resume, interview skills and strengths that he may want to focus on in future employment.

[J-Mann]

Maybe J-Mann knows if this is real or not?

Unfortunately, I don't -- all I have is Jeff's word to go on. My company had one specific position that he applied for, but we didn't talk about any other possibilities.

Jeff -- I would hope that, if nothing else, the little bit of counseling and interview experience that you got with us proved that legitimate organizations have a detailed vetting process that (even if you don't get the job) can be of great benefit to both the company and the candidate.

I find it very odd that you're saying that you'll have to wait until you get to Utah to see whether or not this opportunity is what you believe it to be. You know I'm supportive ... but I'd be awfully disappointed in you if this supposed new job wasn't as thoroughly vetted by you as it should have been. You know better.

EDIT: I'd also be disappointed if you are not telling the truth. Extremely disappointed.

[J-Mann]

I wish I'd have asked about your itinerary so I'd have known you were going through Salina, KS. I'm only about an hour from Salina and would have met you there to wish you luck. If you're ever driving back the same way, you'll have to let me know.

[J-Mann]

Out of curiosity, how are you managing the hotel bill? I can't imagine that it's cheap, even for a long-term stay. I'd think a month-to-month apartment lease would be significantly cheaper.