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Friday, February 04, 2005
Date Rape
Or, in Rocky and Bullwinkle fashion: the Ruby Yacht of Omar-how-almost-fucked Ayyam.
Just got off the phone with the President of my company. You know, the one who offered me 1/4 time so I could go pretend to be Walker Evans. He was totally pissed at me.
Turns out a "friend" of mine had used my resume to bolster a bid he was making to our largest fucking customer. I knew that he wanted to do that, but I told him there might be a conflict of interest and that I'd need to talk to my boss before anything went forward. I never heard back. Until today.
Apparently our customer thinks I'm really good at what I do (I'd agree, but that would be arrogant), so somebody took notice that I was mentioned in a bid for another company (shit, I didn't even know the name of the company in question until now!). My boss found out while he was at the big summit our customer has in Las Vegas (which I was actually going to attend, but ended up not going--wow, that would've been a fun plane ride home).
So he called to let me know he was angry, disappointed, and willing to give me a second chance. I explained the situ and also called my friend, mentor, and person in charge of the customer at the center of this maelstrom. He's actually in the air right now, likely seething about my alleged betrayal, and will be hearing a very upset voice mail from yours truly when he lands.
I was just stunned that somebody would abuse my friendship like this. I feel violated. And now I have to work my ass off to restore 13 years of loyalty and trust that went out the window as quickly as a fresh fart in a summer breeze. I am absolutely ripshit and completely ashamed by my naivete.
Now where the fuck did I put my Prozac? Gonna need to double the dose this weekend...
ntodd
[Update: now that I've sat around thinking about this, the big irony is that the "friend" in question is also responsible for the worst and the best times in my working career. He almost got me fired over 10 years ago, and that incident spurred me to become an instructor at my company, which ultimately opened all sorts of new doors for me. So, what great things will come of this fiasco?]
February 4, 2005 | Permalink
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Comments
*hands him one of her Lexapro*
Posted by: Kat | Feb 4, 2005 3:49:01 PM
Since I know all the players involved, all I can say is ouch. Bad news. Have a Guiness on me. Lighthouse at 5:00.
Posted by: Ken Camp | Feb 4, 2005 4:29:43 PM
kat - thanks!
Ken - Alas, no Guinness right now. Pinot Noir. And I'll fill you in on the juicy details later--thank god PMW is an honorable, reasonable guy. Whee!
Posted by: NTodd | Feb 4, 2005 4:41:50 PM
That's an ugly little tale. Hope the storm passes soon.
Makes me so glad to be in academia, where one never encounters personal betrayal and ghastly intrigue... nope. Nuh-huh...
Posted by: Thersites | Feb 4, 2005 7:34:48 PM
Just remember whenever God closes a door somewhere He opens a window. Too bad it's on the 13th FUCKING Floor and HE pushes you out!
FLY motherFucker FLY! (Been watching too much of The Wire.)
NTodd, dude, that sucks! I was in a deal like that once, I saw the furious face of my client over a shitty thing that my boss did. Even thougth I didn't do it, I was shamed to work for that slippery, money- grubbing halitosis-breathing asshat.
He ended up having to confront the two women he screw (ethically) in a surprise meeting. Man was THAT cool to watch. "Bill, we want to talk to you!" The meeting was out in the open too!
Later when they tried to screw me out of a commission I basically made them grovel and give me all sorts of goodies.
Posted by: spocko | Feb 5, 2005 12:57:44 AM
Thers - whew! I am so very glad to hear there's no such thing as politics in academia. I always suspected it was utopia. Maybe I'll go get that MS afterall so I can become a full-time prof next year...
spocko - alas, I'm probably not in a position to make this person grovel and give me goodies. Oddly enough, he's always been one to help create opportunities for me (even recently with some photog stuff). I think I'll just end up being passive-aggressive and not talk to him. I hate conflict.
I just thank my lucky stars my boss was willing, yet again, to go to bat for me.
Posted by: NTodd | Feb 5, 2005 9:04:40 AM
He's Ferris to your Cameron.
Posted by: digamma | Feb 5, 2005 10:52:39 AM
When Cameron was in Egypt's land..."let my Cameron go!"
Posted by: NTodd | Feb 5, 2005 11:50:01 AM
Jeez, I'm so dense I just figured this out. I read it first as your "friend" working for the same company as you. But he works for a competitor, doesn't he? Holy shit, that was rotten.
Has he returned your call?
Posted by: Alex | Feb 6, 2005 4:43:58 AM
Note to self: don't blog when you're fucking pissed; you don't write clearly.
My friend used to work for us, but went out on his own in an adjacent market space.
I'm probably not going to call him, but will compose a wimpy e-mail chalking it up to misunderstanding/miscommunication. I don't want to get fired, but I don't want to burn bridges with this guy, either. He's done a lot for me through the years, including getting me a photo gig last year so I could start learning the biz.
Posted by: NTodd | Feb 6, 2005 9:08:45 AM
You must have found your Prozac. :-)
You don't want to get fired; I thought you just announced that you quit? Or did you just go from full time to part time. Jeez, I can't keep up with you and your exciting life.
Have I mentioned how much I enjoy your cat and dog and groundhog blogging photos? And my family cracks up, too. When I get a visitor and I am on your site, I have to shift my laptop a little so they can see your latest creation.
I have a question that has been bugging me. I know what SLR cameras are (duh), but how is a digital SLR different from a regular digital camera? And, man oh man, you wouldn't have liked the digital shots I had to shoot tonight -- a below-the-knee amputation, during the process of amputating. Awful, awful, awful case! Amputations are just ghastly; that's one reason why I detest this war so much.
Posted by: Alex | Feb 8, 2005 5:23:55 AM
It's hard following all my adventures, eh? Anyhoo, last week I just moved to 1/4 time at my training company. Since being an academic pays squat, and I haven't made any money from photog yet, I don't want to lose that lifeline. We'd survive, but I'd like to do more than subsist.
I'm glad you like the critterblogging. I find it interesting that the photo posts usually get way more comments than anything else I put up. Mayhaps I should take that as a hint.
SLR digital cams are the same as film in terms of overall function. The difference is instead of having a place for film, the digitals have an array of electronic sensors that capture the light and store the images in a memory card. Howstuffworks.com has a nice discussion on digital cams, BTW.
A lot of old-school photogs prefer film because it's capable of higher-resolution images, but I prefer digital because it captures what I want and gives me great flexibility. As I've observed to some folks, I am not a photographer--I'm a digital photographer. It's my medium of choice, and I have to learn how best to use it, just like a film photog or a painter.
As for amputations, you are indeed correct: I would not have liked shooting that. I'd never make it in the medical field. Although I admit I have looked at lots of photos of our maimed troops. An absolutely dreadful cost of this war I really don't want us to keep paying.
Posted by: NTodd | Feb 9, 2005 10:29:00 AM
Buy me stuff off my 
