neugey

Preface - thanks you guys for being awesome, and sorry when I miss my B&G PM's. I'll try to get in a better habit of checking them!

Now onto more serious matters.

I wish I could say things are better since I posted my "suicide note" - https://blackandgold.com/saints/1041...cide-note.html (Woulda coulda shoulda suicide note) about 4 months ago. But they just took an immediate turn for the worse this week.

On Monday, I was unexpectedly terminated from my job after 2 months of working for this new company. Ironically, it occurred on the same day NFL coaches usually get fired. So what I expected to be an afternoon of occasionally checking such headlines on ESPN turned into my manager's boss Mark scheduling an impromptu "check-in" meeting at 2PM and by "check-in" he meant using a Zoom call to fire me.

I never received any direct indication that there were serious concerns with my job performance or contributions. I was dismissed without any warning or probation period. Never had a performance review. The reasons he gave? He said they didn't do a good enough job evaluating my abilities during the interview process. I don't agree with this as I felt they did okay, and I was transparent about my technology strengths and weaknesses coming into
the position. Another thing that came up is my manager was apparently claiming it was taking too long to train me and correct my work. It was said I was becoming a "burden" and it would take too long to get me up to speed. What I told Mark in response is that I took an independent approach and rarely interrupted my manager or pulled him away from what he was doing. My manager in general seemed to be irritated about doing my code reviews and correcting my work. He often had some good feedback, which I thanked him for and put into action. But at times it seemed like he was splitting hairs. His critiques often also came along with generalized attacks. He'd say my work was "overly complicated" or totally wrong. I was chastised for approaches that were realistically similar, but just not how he wanted it done. When things were not done to his liking, he showed little patience and near-zero flexibility. Nonetheless, I told myself this guy wasn't the only bad boss in the world, and was putting in the effort to mesh with his style. But then the termination happened. What I've now learned is there's just no way to adapt to a black-belt narcissist.

I was also lied to during the interview process and hired under false pretenses. Mark had said I'd be joining
a software team with two other engineers and my manager. This was a "growth" position. All of them were listed to attend my coding interview. But one of the engineers was not present. On my first week of work, it became apparent this engineer was no longer with the company - for whatever reason as everyone was being very vague and I decided not to pry. What I have since found out is they abruptly fired this engineer for no good reason sometime during my interview process. So they threw him under the bus thinking I was the second coming of Christ possibly. Mark also then asked if I knew any other engineers looking for work. I have an old friend I used to work with (Jeff) at Wells Fargo 10+ years ago so I gave them his name and they interviewed him. Fortunately, Jeff decided during the tech interview my manager's style wasn't for him and withdrew himself from consideration. He dodged the bullet I got and I wish I had been as perceptive. (Jeff since found a new job he's excited about)

More about the 2pm termination call from Mark. I asked Mark if there was any consideration for a trial period, or moving to another role within the company. He adamantly rejected these questions and insisted the termination was immediate. There was no interest in hearing my view of what I was contributing to the team. During the Zoom call, he also shut down my work email and various work account. As I'm talking to him most of my apps and browser tabs are literally logging out for good in front of my face.

Another thing that's in progress is that they never paid me for my first 4 days of work. I'm advising them of this and asking for this amount to be included in my final paycheck, along with some severance pay. We'll see where this goes. If they're not fair with me on this I'll be retaining a lawyer.

The last few days have been a whirlwind. I contacted my manager from my previous job but unfortunately my position there is already filled and they don't have budget to bring me back until maybe next year. So I'm at ground zero. Yesterday I got most of my unemployment setup. Last night I felt somewhat better and inside I felt like the anger from this employment betrayal was fueling me. My wife is now very flexible with her job situation (she's been a work from home nurse recently) and we may sell our house and relocate to a different city if needed.

But this morning as I was in the shower, all the unanswered questions just boomeranged back at me. Did anyone in the company object or have concerns that I was dismissed, especially considering I was only there 2 months? Am I losing my talents as a programmer and falling out of touch? Was I ever any good for the almost 30 years that I've been working? Does my paycheck matter more than my life? Does my life have any value? Could I make my death have more value?

This led me into a very depressed state this morning. I talked to my wife about how I was feeling and it helped. But soon after she was sending me job links to my phone while I'm there lying in bed fantasizing about finding my manager wherever he is in Utah and taking a baseball bat to him, making every swing count and "unburdening" him. I don't want this company to change their ways. I want them to feel pain. Thoughts of getting even, whatever that could look like in my life, are a big thing that is keeping me going.

I think that's about it. I'm technically available for the Saints HC position, and I'm pretty sure I'm an improvement over Dennis Allen. But I've been disparaging Loomis for too long to have realistic shot. Nonetheless, if you could put in a good word for me on Airline Drive I'd appreciate the help.

SaintFanInATLHELL

I feel your pain. I hope everything works out soon.

I've been reading about this overemployed movement where people take on 2, or even 3 remote jobs at the same time. This is one of the reasons for this. Being unexpectedly let go from a position doesn't sink the ship. And while it seems to be gray ethically for some folks, the ways some companies mistreat their employees makes it reasonable in my eyes.

Let those a-holes go. Don't spend any mental energy on them. Focus on the next thing. I hope that you can keep your spirits up. This will hopefully pass soon and you'll soon find yourself in a better position.

My like on your post is support for you. Not a like of the situation.

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

stickman

Very sorry you are having to go through all this brother.

And as for the Saints job, what the hell, you can't really do any worse that DA can you?

Oh, and judging from what you posted, I' think you'll be better off once you find another gig. If that is how they do business, you are probably better off somewhere else.

That part about them misleading you in the interview is the kind of thing that pisses me off. How can they lie about what's going on and then be upset with what happens?

Pete

Keep pushing soldier..
You'll find a better job I'm sure.
It's the world we live in man.
You have to keep pushing.


I'll send you a rubber bat for the GM in case the interview goes sideways lol
💥Use it regardless💥


Hang in there

SmashMouth

So sorry to hear, Neugey.

Hope springs eternal with the new management fixing to take over on the 20th. They are already offering tons of opportunities for the transition teams, DOGE too. Check them out. They have links on X.

Saints should be considering any from any source. We all know you care, as all of us do. Saints could use more guys like us, rather than people like Loomis who've gotten too fat and stale in the organization.

turbo_dog

Neugey,

I've had very similar experiences lately. I've been a software engineer for most of my career. I was working for a silicon valley company in 2021, and got laid of with no warning or performance plan, etc. It took me eight months to find another job.

I finally took a job with a health tech startup, as a technical product owner. I basically served as a tech advisor to the engineering teams, and steered them towards automation and cloud architecture. This year, there was a lot of interference from C levels, where priorities were changed at the last minute and I had to argue about switching gears so often, leaving work that had been ongoing at 50-75 percent complete. I also am big on patient data privacy, and those same executives wanted to partner with several AI startups to train models. However, they wanted to use patient data that still contains patient information. I argued against this, as I know most of these AI startups just use API to connect to chatGPT, and it's not safe for patient privacy.

Long story short, I got laid off at the end of November. And these *******s only gave me two weeks of severence. Since I was already unhappy, I've been trying to get another job for most of this year. I've submitted almost 300 applications, had two interviews, and no offers. It's rough out there right now.

Despite all that, I never think about 'ending it'. But I'll be happy to take on an equipment manager job if we can get you to head coach!

Good luck and keep your head up!

neugey

Thanks Turbo. Glad to know I'm not the only one. I'll be sending you a PM soon.

QBREES9

Neugey, keep that chin up. things will turn around. Keep the faith.

neugey

Thanks everyone. Today I've been more depressed and heartbroken. Classic comedy is helping me power through it. Norm McDonald, Andrew Dice Clay, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Rodney Carrington, Denis Leary, among others. But as of late it's Dangerfield. I get no respect.

saintsfan1976

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