Ethics and Honor - A Rain Man Rant - Page 16

**Rain Man** · 05-02-2005, 08:49 PM

Gol'dang it, I'm ticked off.

We've implemented a very challenging and time consuming process to hire people in my firm, in an effort to get the people who are most likely to be successful. We implemented it last year, and it took us three months to find a strong candidate for a relatively quantitative position. It was a college student who was supposed to graduate in May, and we made her the offer in January, with the agreement that she would start part time in January and then go full time in May.

Well, she's been working for us part time for four months, and was supposed to start full time two weeks from today. So what does she do today? She turns in her two-week notice. Her two-week notice!

Now, if the job wasn't a fit, that's fine. But it was. She was doing good work for us, we all liked her, and she seemed to be genuinely interested in the work. She had a great future here. But get this: It turns out that she continued interviewing for jobs after she accepted our job offer, and she actually accepted a second job offer AFTER SHE WAS WORKING AT MY COMPANY. She then strung my firm along for who knows how long, letting us think that she was keeping her commitment to start full time after graduation, while knowing full well that she was going to screw us over on short notice. Now we're having a busy month, and the person that I've been working my schedule around to accommodate a part-time schedule is freaking quitting, RIGHT WHEN SHE HAD COMMITTED TO STEP UP.

It ticks me off for about a thousand reasons. Dang it. What is wrong with people today? If someone treats you well, don't slam their fingers in the car door.

Stupid people. I hate people. From here on out, I'm just hiring cats.

jspchief · 05-03-2005, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

While it is true that a 3-4-5 triangle always forms a right angle, the converse statement that "a right triangles three sides are always a 3-4-5 ratio" is not true.

Whatever, Professor Wise-ass. The important thing is that I know how to use it to square corners and determine right angles.

Shouldn't you be grading papers or something?

**cdcox** · 05-03-2005, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jspchief

Whatever, Professor Wise-ass. The important thing is that I know how to use it to square corners and determine right angles.

Shouldn't you be grading papers or something?

Not till the weekend. I'm at a conference this week.

However, since my only function in life is to search for other peoples trivial mistakes and point them out to them, your post justified my existance for another day. Thank you for that.

Actually, grading papers is absolutely my least favorite activity associated with my job.

Logical · 05-04-2005, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENDelt260

A mildly interesting musing (to me, anway)... I wonder how many folks in the construction field sat in their eighth grade geometry class when learning about the Pythagoream theoreom bitched, "When am I ever gonna use this?"

And honestly most of them probably never did.

BIG_DADDY · 05-04-2005, 12:40 AM

Was she hot?

Logical · 05-04-2005, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENDelt260

You missed my point. They don't think they did. But, they have. They just call it the 3-4-5 rule now.

I did miss your point, but I would say outside architecture, engineering and construction there are very few people that ever have to know how to calculate sides of triangles and angles no matter what it is called. Maybe I am missing something.

Logical · 05-04-2005, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENDelt260

Well, I'm drunk now. So, I'll do a shitty job of explaining it. But, my point was that many folks in the construction industry are unwittingly using the pythagoreaom theorom for their job, after having bitched about having to learn it in school.

Being a nerd myself, I found mild humor in this fact.

Doh I did not read your post accurately. You said right in it (in the construction industry) exactly what you meant.

My error and I am not even drunk.

patteeu · 05-04-2005, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENDelt260

A mildly interesting musing (to me, anway)... I wonder how many folks in the construction field sat in their eighth grade geometry class when learning about the Pythagoream theoreom bitched, "When am I ever gonna use this?"

I wonder if kcnut or TK ever bitched in the same way about having to sit through English class.

jspchief · 05-04-2005, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ENDelt260

A mildly interesting musing (to me, anway)... I wonder how many folks in the construction field sat in their eighth grade geometry class when learning about the Pythagoream theoreom bitched, "When am I ever gonna use this?"

Funny you should say that. Geometry was hands down my worst subject in school. It's the only class that I ever came close to failing. A large reason for my poor grade in that classs was my stance that it was all useless crap anyway (kind of a teenage civil disobedience thing).

Now I sit back and wish I had retained half of what they taught me. There's probably no subject more important to what I do than geometry. I still think at least a small portion of the blame lies in a curriculum that fails to put those theories into real world scenarios though.

**Iowanian** · 05-04-2005, 07:16 AM

I failed an entire year of Geometry in HS. I think most of it had to do with a biatch teacher, and a stubborn Sophomore.

I use Geometry every day in my job. I still don't know most of the big words, but am using alot of it.

Nightfyre · 05-04-2005, 07:53 AM

Rainman,
I am a freshman in college. If youre looking fora future hire, my major is business, but hey, im flexible. Ive got my basic calc down. I doubt you are dabbling in otherwise more complex math and stats are a huge part of business. Eh. I am a quick learner, and I wont shit on you, if youre as loyal as you expect me to be. I'm pretty good at math (720 on the SAT) and if you offer me a job with pay increase and job-potential based on work performance, Id be more than happy to live in Denver.

**Rain Man** · 05-04-2005, 08:51 AM

You're on, nightfyre. Send me a resume in a few years.

On a serious note, if you like market research, we do have interns on occasion. You'd probably have to be a junior or higher to apply, though.

Nightfyre · 05-04-2005, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

You're on, nightfyre. Send me a resume in a few years.

On a serious note, if you like market research, we do have interns on occasion. You'd probably have to be a junior or higher to apply, though.

Do you do summer internships?

**Rain Man** · 05-04-2005, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

Do you do summer internships?

Hey, we just did a spring internship and didn't even know it.

Internships are not a normal part of our operations, but we've had probably three or four on an opportunistic basis. I think we're bringing a guy on this summer for an internship, but it's only because he came to us and was interested and tested well. If you're interested once you get a couple more years under your belt, let me know. We have a Chief fan affirmative action program here.

On another note, thanks, everyone, for the discussion. I'm still ticked off about this, but venting here and hearing everyone else's take on the situation helped me in figuring out how to deal with it.

Nightfyre · 05-04-2005, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Hey, we just did a spring internship and didn't even know it.

Internships are not a normal part of our operations, but we've had probably three or four on an opportunistic basis. I think we're bringing a guy on this summer for an internship, but it's only because he came to us and was interested and tested well. If you're interested once you get a couple more years under your belt, let me know. We have a Chief fan affirmative action program here.

as much as I hate affirmative action, im ok with it for Chiefs fans

I'll look you up in a couple years

**Rain Man** · 05-04-2005, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

as much as I hate affirmative action, im ok with it for Chiefs fans

I'll look you up in a couple years

Sound good. But I'm warning you, if you accept our internship offer, don't keep looking for other internships.

View Poll Results: In which situations is either party being unethical or dishonorable?
A. Employer makes job offer to college student, student starts work, employer fires student within 90 days for poor job performance.	0	0%
B. Employer makes job offer to college student, student starts work, student quits within 90 days after finding 'better' job.	0	0%
C. Employer makes job offer to college student, student starts work, employer lays off student within 90 days due to slow business.	3	21.43%
D. Employer makes job offer to college student, student accepts job, employer rescinds offer before start date because a stronger candidate came available by pure happenstance	9	64.29%
E. Employer makes job offer to college student, student accepts job, employer continues to interview candidates for that position, employer rescinds offer before start date because a stronger candidate was located.	11	78.57%
F. Employer makes job offer to college student, student accepts job, employer rescinds offer before start date due to slow business.	4	28.57%
G. Employer makes job offer to college student, student accepts job, student reneges on offer before start date because another 'better' job offer arrived by pure happenstance.	3	21.43%
H. Employer makes job offer to college student, student accepts job, student continues to actively interview for other jobs, student reneges on offer before start date because another 'better' job offer was received.	9	64.29%
I. Employer makes job offer to college student, student accepts job, student reneges on offer after beginning pre-job paid training program because another 'better' job offer arrived by pure happenstance.	7	50.00%
J. Employer makes job offer to college student, student accepts job, student continues to actively interview for other jobs, student reneges on offer after beginning pre-job paid training program because another 'better' job offer was received.	11	78.57%
None of these represent unethical or dishonorable behavior.	1	7.14%
It depends on which one is me.	1	7.14%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 14. You may not vote on this poll

05-02-2005, 08:49 PM
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $2768491 VARSITY	Ethics and Honor - A Rain Man Rant Gol'dang it, I'm ticked off. We've implemented a very challenging and time consuming process to hire people in my firm, in an effort to get the people who are most likely to be successful. We implemented it last year, and it took us three months to find a strong candidate for a relatively quantitative position. It was a college student who was supposed to graduate in May, and we made her the offer in January, with the agreement that she would start part time in January and then go full time in May. Well, she's been working for us part time for four months, and was supposed to start full time two weeks from today. So what does she do today? She turns in her two-week notice. Her two-week notice! Now, if the job wasn't a fit, that's fine. But it was. She was doing good work for us, we all liked her, and she seemed to be genuinely interested in the work. She had a great future here. But get this: It turns out that she continued interviewing for jobs after she accepted our job offer, and she actually accepted a second job offer AFTER SHE WAS WORKING AT MY COMPANY. She then strung my firm along for who knows how long, letting us think that she was keeping her commitment to start full time after graduation, while knowing full well that she was going to screw us over on short notice. Now we're having a busy month, and the person that I've been working my schedule around to accommodate a part-time schedule is freaking quitting, RIGHT WHEN SHE HAD COMMITTED TO STEP UP. It ticks me off for about a thousand reasons. Dang it. What is wrong with people today? If someone treats you well, don't slam their fingers in the car door. Stupid people. I hate people. From here on out, I'm just hiring cats.
Posts: 141,870

05-04-2005, 12:40 AM	#229
BIG_DADDY THE RED MENACE Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Texas Casino cash: $4838410	Was she hot? __________________ The diabolical genius of Marxism-Socialism is that it provides the emotional and intellectual road map for autocrats to persuade millions of people to support their own enslavement to government. ~Mark Levin April 15, 2019
Posts: 32,389

05-04-2005, 07:16 AM	#234
Iowanian Supporter Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Utopia Casino cash: $4568454	I failed an entire year of Geometry in HS. I think most of it had to do with a biatch teacher, and a stubborn Sophomore. I use Geometry every day in my job. I still don't know most of the big words, but am using alot of it.
Posts: 61,567

05-04-2005, 07:53 AM	#235
Nightfyre MVP Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Helena, MT Casino cash: $3268849	Rainman, I am a freshman in college. If youre looking fora future hire, my major is business, but hey, im flexible. Ive got my basic calc down. I doubt you are dabbling in otherwise more complex math and stats are a huge part of business. Eh. I am a quick learner, and I wont shit on you, if youre as loyal as you expect me to be. I'm pretty good at math (720 on the SAT) and if you offer me a job with pay increase and job-potential based on work performance, Id be more than happy to live in Denver.
Posts: 18,571

05-04-2005, 08:51 AM	#236
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $2768491 VARSITY	You're on, nightfyre. Send me a resume in a few years. On a serious note, if you like market research, we do have interns on occasion. You'd probably have to be a junior or higher to apply, though. __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,870