i'm noticing a pattern

update & bump - read below

many years ago, my friend's dad was a long time santa fe railroad worker. just before the santa fe and burlington northern railroads merger, the atsf management began to (as he put it) "make his life more difficult", primarily with a couple of senseless relocations, and with other bureaucratic headaches of various types. from previous experience, he knew all of those were intended to get him to retire early, and not collect the final (and highest) tiers of retirement benefits.

several years ago, as mom's company was being bought out, she noticed several examples of similar managerial tricks being used to dissuade their employees from holding out for the severance package due to them.

this year, my company is in merger talks, and (while not being forced to relocate) i have been subjected to a larger number of anti-sensical bureaucratic headaches than in any previous year of my employment there.

coincidence? i think not!

;)

i just hope the severance package is enough to hold me until obama's out and the economy recovers...

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another pattern to be noticed:

after about seven years at a previous job, my then-boss decided to hold a series of meetings to expound some anthony-robbins-type of self-improvement principles he had found. though his method of presenting them was not particularly obnoxious, he did not realize what little motivation we would have to take "life lessons" from such a quirky (and pornography-addicted) scatterbrain.

at the time, that episode reminded me of a scene i had read (possibly in the h.h.g.g. trilogy) where the protagonist goes to ask advice of some acclaimed guru. when he arrives, he discovers (and the guru admits) that the guru is actually poor, sick, smelly, and hated by all his neighbors. the guru then tells the protagonist to "only follow my advice if you want to end up like me".

i quit that job within a few weeks.

fast-forwarding to today: it was suggested that i attend a "career path seminar" that was presented at work. though i actually like the supervisor who suggested it, the presenter was someone who represents everything i hope to avoid in my life and career.

now, while i'm not quitting this job without a safety net, i refuse to become a smarmy loud-mouthed suck-up for any reason, including getting or keeping a job or promotion.