Sunday, June 29, 2008

Reeva Dubois Revisited... Part 3...

Fast Forward slightly from the previous episode and arrive at September of 2004. After an awful summer of slinging over-priced food at Ruby Tuesday’s, I packed my car, kissed my dog, and drove off to Cincinnati. I was super-pumped to be reuniting with Viv, super-nervous about living in a big city, and super-poor. Ah, to be young and foolish. My first few months were filled with job-searching, meeting new friends, and not a little bit of debauchery… activities that resulted in a fabulous good time, but also the unceremonious maxing out of all three of my credit cards. After several weeks of doors slamming in my face, I ended up waiting tables… again… at another frikkin’ Ruby Tuesdays (UGH!). After a few horrid months of that, I landed a temp gig at an investment company, answering phones during their busiest time of year. I can barely stand to be on the phone when I’m talking to my dearest friends, so you can imagine how much I loathed this job. The only good thing about it was the pay. I started in December of 04. Right after the Christmas holidays, an “incident” took place at work involving a girlfriend of mine and another guy we worked with. To summarize, they were engaging in email conversations of a frank and explicit nature, which started innocently enough, but then spiraled out of control. My friend, being unsure of what to do, forwarded snippets of these conversations to myself and another girl, apparently to solicit our advice as to how to proceed. Of course, we told her to report him and STOP IT! Well, she didn’t, but the other girl and I did, because it was really, really inappropriate (and gross). We never thought the girl would get canned, but… she did. And one by one, the other girl and I were picked off as well. Something about “wiping the slate clean,” according to HR. My friend was devastated that we got caught up in the scandal, especially since she forwarded the emails to us, which was why HR felt they had to fire us. But WE reported her and the guy to authorities, which wasn’t really our business to do. Basically, we all screwed up, which made it all less of a tragedy. I kept in touch with those girls for a few months afterwards… I wonder where they are now, shopping together...

Even though this whole debacle ruined what may have turned into a really good year for me, I’m not sorry I got fired, because, like I said, that job royally sucked, and it made me clear about one thing: Corporate jobs just aren’t worth it. Life is just tooooo short. Stay away from them if you can help it. Also, don’t have email sex in your company email account! I mean, DUHHHHH!!


January 19, 2005

Ok -

So, i got fired today. I had a super headache on Friday, so i called in - and apparently, the other girl involved was fired on Friday. I think she may have tried to call me but i haven't checked my messages - and i really really wish i had. I showed up today and wasn't even able to sign into my computer. I got called into the office (i felt like i was a little kid in the pricipals office). After about 10 minutes of exasperation - i still stand by the whole "i didn't do anything wrong" bit, the HR woman lowered the axe. Even though she basically agreed with me, it is the policy of the company to just wipe the entire slate clean. So there you go, four staff members gone because of one naughty email. I was upset at first, of course,(bemused, bewildered, baffled, betrayed...oh..and BAMBOOZLED) but i think its for the best. I really sort of hated the job anyway, and the only reason i showed up was the $12/hour. Looking back on it, it really seems like a dream, like a bad episode of the Apprentice. Remember when the Donald fired two people in one episode? I thought the TV was going to explode. Let Job Search 2005 commence - AGAIN - Take 3.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like these visits to your past posts, especially the way you look back and add the insights you've gained since.

Erin G said...

me, too... but oh, sweetie, $12/hr SO is not worth that! You could make more with the Ruby, even though I know you don't want to hear it.

(Word verification... take 3.)

Ryan D. said...

Actually, Erin, considering the crap I went through waiting tables, I thought 12/h was sooooo worth it. Like, beyond worth it. I enjoyed the consistency of a paycheck, too. Now, I think I'd rather set myself on fire than work at a restaurant. No offense to those who do...

And Mary - I'd like to say I'm way smarter now, but sometimes... well, I'm not so sure ;-)

Erin G said...

yeah, I guess I can see that... even if you make more waiting tables (which you probably did), you worked way harder for it! nothing like manual labor. does waiting tables count as manual labor?